Ari Bard

Ari Bard is a huge comic fan studying Mechanical Engineering so he can finally figure out how the Batmobile works.

Future State Swamp Thing 2

The Future is Actually Eternal Darkness in DC’s Future State: Swamp Thing #2

Jason Woodrue and Obsidian threaten to plunge the world into eternal darkness and our only hope is…vegetables?!  Join us in looking at Future State: Swamp Thing #2, written by Ram V, penciled by Mike Perkins, colored by June Chung and lettered by Aditya Bidikar. Ari Bard: Hey Vishal… I think plants are our only hope. …

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That Which Devours: Exploring Image Comics’ Lost Soldiers

I’ve never been drawn to war stories. There’s an impenetrable incomprehensibility that I’m not often able to move past. It’s like our inability to comprehend large numbers but applied to extreme emotional settings of violence and trauma. When faced with such powerful, loud, visceral or violent imagery, I often just … dissociate. Many creators, especially…

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Xavier Files’ Best Comics Of 2020

As we close out the year that was, the staff at Xavier Files wanted to take a moment to highlight our favorite comics from throughout the year. There were so many great books that we couldn’t list them all, but we wanted to give our team the chance to highlight an issue, an arc, a…

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What if Empathy Were One of Us? Just a Slob like One of Us? Commanders in Crisis #3 Explores

The Crisis Command interrogates a ticking clock corpse! But how can heroes save a world without empathy? First, they have to figure out how to save it within themselves, as Nina Next, the science hero Frontier, takes John Doe Empathy out on the town … to discuss their seeeeeeecrets. Let’s rejoin our heroes in Image’s…

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The Adventures of the Young, Hot Ex-Presidents Continue in ‘Commanders in Crisis’ #2

The Crisis Command, last survivors of the multiverse, are faced with an impossible task: avenging the death…of an idea! DOA is empathy itself, and while empathy withers and dies across the world, Originator uses her abilities to bring the John Doe back for 24 hours to reveal the name of his killer. It’s Image’s “Commanders…

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Can Krakoa Recover From Such A Devastating Start? X Of Swords Barrels Towards Its Conclusion In X-Force #14, Hellions #6 & Cable #6

Ten swords, ten champions, ten nearly forty battles for the fate of the world. The soul still burns as the tournament continues. Kenneth Laster & Ari Bard lead us through Saturnyne’s whims in X-Force #16 by Benjamin Percy, Gerry Duggan, Joshua Cassara, Guru-eFX, and Cory Petit. Then Liz Large & Austin Gorton try something completely…

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Image’s ‘Commanders in Crisis’ Tells Big Superhero Story Away from Big Two

Commanders in Crisis #1 is the first issue in a new superhero epic from writer Steve Orlando, artist Davide Tinto, colorist Francesca Carotenuto and letterer Fabio Amelia. Told via a dramatic murder mystery, five survivors of doomed multiverses live as heroes in another, and together, they can save this multiverse before it falls, too. The…

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X Of Swords Advances As Storm And Wolverine Take Centerstage In Wolverine #6, X-Force #13, & Marauders #13

Ten swords, ten champions, ten battles for the fate of the world. X Of Swords continues this week with three comics about two heroes. First Pierce Lightning & Tony Thornley set the stage with Benjamin Percy, Viktor Bogdanovic, Matthew Wilson, and Cory Petit’s Wolverine #6. Then Ari Bard & Kenneth Laster keep things moving with…

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