The Long Run takes place outside of our normal continuity of episodes, and features table discussion of an entire work or long selection of a series. In this episode of The Long Run we talk about X-Statix, by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred. For this episode we read The X-Statix Omnibus.

Originally called X-Force, this team of reality-show superheroes took over both the name and comic of the original X-Force with issue 116 of that series. After 13 issues the series and team were renamed and relaunched in X-Statix #1, that series lasting for a further 29 issues before cancellation.

Released in 2001, X-Statix sits at the far edge of the Marvel Universe. It came out during a strange, experimental time for Marvel Comics, sharing shelf space with Morrison’s New X-Men and the first wave of Ultimate Marvel comics. It focuses on a team of media-obsessed celebrity mutants who spend more time worrying about their popularity and endorsement deals than they do saving the world.

Vain, petty, and prone to bickering, the X-Statix serve as a cynical and satirical examination of popular media told through the lens of a world populated with superheroes. It also examines many of the tropes that underpin the superhero genre itself, most notably the apparently immunity to death or lasting harm that most heroes seem to enjoy.

On the next Long Run, we will be changing our format slightly. Instead of reading an entire series, we will be reading a selection of comics all featuring a specific character. For episode 8 we will be following the career of Stephanie Brown, aka Spoiler (aka Robin [aka Batgirl]), from her initial introduction to the end of the pre-52 DCU. The exact list of issues can be found here.

Our hosts on this episode are Andrew Chard, Joe Preti, Kirbotron 2000, Tobiah Panshin, and Cade Reynolds.