Bonus Reading - COMICSXF

Bonus Reading Returns with a Patreon Request Look at the Comics of Marguerite Bennett

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 14:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to Bonus Reading, the column where we take a character, creator or concept and tell you about four stories you should read or avoid. But today, it’s all about the recommendations, thanks to WMQ&A’s newest Patreon backer, the Loyalest Content Consumer, Asimov Fangirl! She asked for a column about the works of writer...

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Lucifer and 3 of DC’s Other Notable The Devils

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Last week, to no fanfare, DC released the final trade paperback of the newest volume of Lucifer. This would normally be unsurprising, since trade collections are released every week and usually garner no attention. However, this volume was different: None of this material had been released before in any format. This final arc was another...

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Bonus Reading Looks at 4 Notable Stories by Saladin Ahmed

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 14:00:00 +0000

Saladin Ahmed had a good 2020. Well, relatively anyway; I don’t know that anyone had a good 2020. His first Kickstarter, Dragon, was an unequivocal success. He’s continued his runs on Magnificent Ms. Marvel and Miles Morales: Spider-Man. And now he’s kicking off 2021 with Abbott: 1973, the sequel to his excellent creator-owned Abbott from...

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Bonus Reading Looks at 3 Other Times DC Imagined the Future

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Superhero comics have regularly featured time travel, possible futures and glimpses of tomorrow for much of their history. Some are utopias, some are dystopias and most are somewhere in between. DC is in the midst of a two-month event, “Future State,” that gives readers a glimpse into the future...

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4 Times Classic Literature Invaded Comics

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Comics are literature as much as any other written form. There are works of soaring genius, there are works that please the masses and there are works that are just plain awful. From the days of Classics Illustrated, comics have reached out to traditional literature to find source material that was more “respectable” than what...

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4 Notable Mandalorians from Star Wars Comics (No, Not That One) (Not That One, Either)

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 14:00:00 +0000

If you are only slightly familiar with Star Wars — one of those people who has seen some number of the nine main theatrical films, say — and are not steeped in 40-plus years of lore, you might never have really heard of Mandalorians before the TV show that spotlights one of their number became...

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Just in Time for the End of the Series, a Primer on BOOM Studios’ Lumberjanes

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 14:00:00 +0000

This week marks the end of a series I’ve been following since its inception six years ago: Lumberjanes from BOOM Studios. This charming all-ages series, created by Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters, explores friendship, various camp skills, romance and a forest full of mythical creatures, interdimensional portals and magic. So it’s not exactly like any...

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Beyond ‘Voices’: 4 Indigenous Characters from across Comics

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 14:00:00 +0000

I think we all wish that comics were more equitable and diverse, both when it comes to who creates them and who appears in them. While recent years have taken steps in the right direction, there are still plenty of under-represented groups. Marvel this year launched a series of one-shots featuring characters and creators of...

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4 Lobo Stories to Unleash Your Inner Bastich

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 14:00:00 +0000

I’m going to be up front: I don’t like Lobo. He’s everything that’s wrong with the ultraviolent characters of the early ’90s. And the thing a lot of his fans forget about is this: He’s supposed to be unlikable and to represent everything wrong with those types of characters. When introduced in 1983’s “Omega Men”...

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5 of Comics’ Best Reptile Monsters, Because Pogg Ur-Pogg

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

If you read pretty much any coverage on Xavier Files other than my pieces (and if you are just reading my pieces, thanks, but there’s a lot of other great stuff on here. Go read that, too!), you will have seen a trend since the initial art previews for “X of Swords” were released. And...

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4 Robins Who Aren’t Dick, Jason, Tim or Damian

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Robin is the greatest sidekick in comic history. Whether it’s the acrobatic joy of Dick Grayson, the angry young man that is Jason Todd, the brilliant mind of Tim Drake, or the snark and skill of Damian Wayne, Robin brings something to every Batman story. This week’s tie-in to DC’s ongoing “Dark Nights: Death Metal”...

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5 Notable Teen Titans Stories that Aren’t ‘The Judas Contract’

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

It’s hard to be a Teen Titan when you’re celebrating a 40th anniversary, but they’ll keep trying. Yes, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the definitive “New Teen Titans” run by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, a run that rivaled the X-Men at the height of its popularity. “New Teen Titans” helped define superheroes...

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4 Marvel Villains with Adamantium Body Parts

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 19:00:00 +0000

For a rare metal, adamantium sure does show up a lot in the Marvel Universe. Whether it’s making a body for Ultron, coating Wolverine to “kill” him or being made into a giant chair for the Hulk by a spendthrift bird-themed billionaire, adamantium has many purposes. But mostly, it seems to make mutants and other...

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4 Notable Martial Arts Masters in Comics

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Since the 1970s and the boom of martial arts media, the martial arts master has become a standard trope in comics. Ninjas, samurai, karate fighters and kung-fu masters have been present in comics from a myriad of companies. In many cases, they are portrayed through the lens of a white creator and with a problematic...

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These 10 Sword Bearers Are Definitely NOT in ‘X of Swords.’ Sorry.

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 13:00:00 +0000

So everything around Xavier Files Central this week has been about swords, swords and more swords. I don’t know entirely why. Maybe something X-Men related. That’s usually what it is… But seriously, X of Swords has landed, and Sword Bearers and Sword Breakers abound. But not everyone who studied the blade while you were partying...

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4 Tales of Young Cyclops (Not to Be Confused with Young Sheldon)

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 13:00:00 +0000

I love Scott Summers. Cyclops has always been my favorite X-man, even when he was at his squarest back in the ’90s cartoon. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I’m pretty square myself. “X-Men #30,” the wedding of Scott and Jean Grey, is a favorite X-Men issue of mine. I can quickly rattle off...

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4 ‘Venture Bros.’ Characters and Episodes Ripped from the Comics

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 16:00:00 +0000

It’s been a roller coaster of a week for fans of the long-running Adult Swim animated series “The Venture Bros.” Series co-creator Jackson Publick revealed on Twitter Monday that the series had been canceled after seven seasons with scripts for season eight already in progress. Quickly, fans rose up, and just as quickly Cartoon Network...

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Bonus Reading: From Joe to Emma, a Brief History of the Kuberts

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 13:00:00 +0000

The Kuberts are the first family of comics. Joe Kubert produced comics from 1943, the heart of the Golden Age, until right before his death in 2012. His sons, Andy and Adam, have been two of comics’ best regarded artists for over 20 years. His granddaughter Katie Kubert has edited for both Marvel and DC....

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4 Legion of Super-Heroes members who make X-Men continuity look simple

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 13:00:00 +0000

People like to say the X-Men have the most complicated backstory and continuity in comics. And that might be true. For Marvel Comics. But at least a tie for messiest history would have to be DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes, the teen team from the future. And that’s not even factoring in that we’re on our...

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Bonus Reading Pays Tribute to the Big Two’s Superhero Handbooks (and the Weird Book about Their Pets)

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 16:00:00 +0000

There was once a dark age. A time when there was no internet. A time when the knowledge of comic book characters’ backgrounds could not be found in wikis, but in the memories of fans and in specially printed comics. Comics called handbooks or guidebooks. This week, DC released a guidebook to its “Dark Nights:...

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4 lesser-known Robert Kirkman stories

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 13:00:00 +0000

When someone says “Robert Kirkman,” what title springs to mind? For most people outside comic fandom, and many in, it’s likely his cross-media hit, “The Walking Dead.” For many other comic fans, it might be his superhero title, “Invincible.” There might even be some people who jump to “Outcast,” his demonic possession drama that was...

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Get spurred to read these 4 great comics Westerns

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 13:00:00 +0000

High noon in a desert town. Two men face off, hands on the butts of their holstered revolvers. [Grote’s note: Heh heh, butts.] A blur of motion, a crack of gunfire, and one (or both) falls. This scene is a hallmark of the American Western, a genre that was popular in comics throughout the 1950s...

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Fangs out for 4 fun comic book Draculas

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Dracula, as created by Bram Stoker, is one of the most written about and filmed literary characters. As with Sherlock Holmes, it feels like everyone has a Dracula story. Sometimes they’re comedies (Mel Brooks’ “Dracula: Dead and Loving It”), sometimes they’re rooted in history (Elizabeth Kostova’s novel “The Historian”) and sometimes they’re… odd choices (“Blade:...

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3 Ways You Can Listen to Your Comics

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Comics are a visual medium, a combination of written words and pictures. But movie adaptations have taught us that comic book stories, whether superhero, crime, biographical or otherwise, can be translated to other media. But even before there were superhero serials on the big screen, comic books were translated to another medium: radio plays, whether...

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4 great all-ages Star Wars stories for your young padawan

Matthew Lazorwitz — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Bonus Reading, a weekly feature in which Matthew Lazorwitz looks at four (or so) comics linked by a common character, creator or theme. Patreon backers of the WMQ&A podcast can request a custom Bonus Reading column built around their fave. Sign up here. This week, two new all-ages graphic novels are out from two...

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