Mutant And Proud’s "X-Men ’97 "Premiere Watch Party
Queen And Rook Cafe
123 South St.
Philadelphia
July 1, 2026
On Wednesday, I went to Queen & Rook Game Cafe on South Street to check out an "X-Men ’97" watch party held by local con organizer, cosplayer, and comic enthusiast Lady J. under her Mutant and Proud initiative, which hosts events like this one for the Philadelphia comic book and cosplayer community. This was the first Mutant and Proud live screening, following two years of anticipation since the end of the first season of "X-Men ‘97." "X-Men ‘97" is a sister act to the iconic animated series that ran from 1992 to 1997, featuring an updated animation style and explorations of slightly darker themes. "X-Men ‘97"season one picks up where the show’s original series finale left off; the X-Men are now under Magneto’s leadership, navigating a future without Professor X, and dealing with rising anti-mutant sentiment. In season two, Xavier is back to help his beloved X-Men.
With sharper continuations of the original animation and more relevant subject matter (the character Morph/Changeling is nonbinary, for example) the show feels more modern, like an update of the beloved series with new canon being created in each episode. There are new voice actors for the characters Gambit, Jean Gray, Cyclops, and Jubilee, while the original actors for Rogue, Beast, Nightcrawler (my personal fave), Storm, and Wolverine, as well as the show’s original producers and show runner, have returned. And, thank God, they also kept the awesome original theme song that shares a melody with Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight.”
While I’m not an avid follower of Marvel stories in general, I was raised by one, and I do appreciate the intention that has been going into X-Men’s storytelling since before I was even born. Unlike many other stories that come out of superhero culture, X-Men consistently avoids devolving into copaganda and military-industrial complex dickriding. My father maintains that Professor X and Magneto can function as a metaphor for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and the general discussions of social otherness in the comics, shows, and movies have definitely helped shape me as a person. Although I had zero expectations for this event, I definitely didn’t know that Mutant and Proud, while being open and accessible to all, is largely a community of Black nerds.
Unless you live under a rock or are one of the assholes I’m talking about, you probably are aware that fantasy, comics, and video games, three pillars of nerd culture, have a tendency to be exceedingly racist, sexist, and homophobic. Ironically, or maybe not, many people’s fandom and imagination begins and ends with being granted the same powers of exclusion that often drives them to these stories in the first place. When I sat down with Lady J to ask her a few questions about herself and Mutant and Proud, I was charmed by the compassion with which she powers her organization. Mutant and Proud is the first-ever all X-Men celebration to exist, originating from her lifelong fandom of the story.
“Growing up, if you felt bullied in any way, or slighted in any way, by the world, by the universe, you connected to X-Men,” Lady J told me. “They made anybody who the world tried to make feel less than, feel wanted.
They also stood up for both the people who were making them feel like that, and their people. So I just was like, ‘I know it's not just me out here,’ and then you go to cons and you realize it's not just you out here. I just wanted to bring everybody together. We could watch it on our own, but it would just make it so much more meaningful to experience it all together.”
It’s Lady J’s very organic and grassroots style of organizing that fosters this community, and her effortlessly genuine and welcoming presence both exemplifies the themes of the original source material while defying the reality of the continuing bigotry in the culture. People traveled from out of state for this. She has hosted Catherine Disher, voice of the original series Jean Grey and Val in ‘97, Lenore Zann (Rogue), Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler), Holly Chou (Jubilee in ‘97) and Gui Agustini (Sunspot in ‘97), and has plans to host Alison Sealy-Smith, voice of Storm, in the future. By simply working hard and welcoming everyone, people gravitate to her. Mutant and Proud very plainly seems to be made up of a passionate group of people from a number of different backgrounds, all connected by how they relate to the show and see themselves in it. Lady J and her love for this culture are patently apparent as she makes sure that everyone gets the freebies she brought to the watch; there’s fan art, flyers for future events, ribbons that say “You are X-ceptional,” and even commemorative engraved whiskey glasses (which I just realized I had forgotten to bring home with me, damn!)
As we watched through Season two’s first three episodes, the audience sat at rapt attention, clapping at the beginning and end of each and cheering during pivotal moments or when their favorite characters came onscreen. It was my first time, and I was comfortable. Between episodes, Lady J held a raffle and shared trivia about the series, sometimes quizzing people in the audience. At the end, I waited a smooth 20 minutes while she held court, exchanged information, and posed for pictures with other attendees of the event before we spoke. On our way out, I was struck by a passing remark about the ribbons — she said to a group of us that everyone deserves to feel X-ceptional, and that’s why she had them made. It’s the little things, man.
