That special something, that hidden talent, that wildcard, that X-Factor. Itâs that thing you just canât quite pin down, and itâs as applicable for the colloquialism as it is the X-Men franchise that bears the name. There have been many different squads who go by the moniker X-Factor, and today, weâre going to rank them…
Since comics are a silent medium, mispronunciations of character names can be a common problem. Youâre not alone if you grew up thinking Magneto was pronounced with a ânetâ instead of the correct âneatâ syllable and felt a little surprised hearing it out loud in the animated series or the arcade game. Well, today we…
Released this year from Secret Acres, The Marchenoir Library is the latest work in Alex Degenâs unusual career. Degen, an American cartoonist, has created a unique graphic novel told entirely through the front and back covers of a fictional superhero series. We are given brief descriptions of the titular Marchenoir, her recurring allies and enemies,…
Last week when I said I need to write? This was one of those weeks. Today (July 6): Clifton Park, New Yorkâs Adirondack Taekwondo Reopens âThe virus is with us, but with need to live with it.â Thatâs what the anonymous Trump administration official told NBC News, and I swear to Christ it was the…
âAnywhere can be paradise as long as you have the will to live,â is a surprisingly hopeful quote from an incredibly depressing place at the end of the film The End Of Evangelion. It has inspired me to keep living, and keep trying to live, through a manner of situations on countless days over the…
A Look at the Finale of Superior Spider-Man (2019) Twilight will come for the gods, and the status quo will be reset; Batman will be young again, Spider-Man will become unmarried, and everything begins anew. The idea of this Ragnarok for these characters is divisive for many. Conceptually, losing out on years of progress and…
Star Wars. Conan. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Firefly. Usagi Yojimbo. Alien. Predator. Did I miss any? The above is a list of licenses Dark Horse Comics has lost since 2014.The last two happened just this past week, as Marvel announced Thursday it had acquired the Alien and Predator licenses with an eye toward publishing comics based on them…
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. Comics have always been political. Even during the years when…
Looking Back at Denny OâNeilâs Iron Man, and Marvelâs First Black Flagship Hero The first time I encountered Denny OâNeilâs Iron Man, he was wandering New York in the snow on a December night. His hair was shaggy and unkempt, a wild beard hanging off his chin, and his stained dress shirt was dangling loose…
Hi, Xavier Files friends, family and fiends â Iâm Will (a Libra, bourbon fan and fake doctor), and Iâll be here every Monday with your weekly planner, the thing thatâs gonna keep you on track for success. Or keep you informed. Or something. Look, I canât figure out for this bit whether Iâm your secretary…
A proud New Orleanian living in the District of Columbia, Jude Jones is a professional thinker, amateur photographer, burgeoning runner and lover of Black culture, love and life. Magneto and Cyclops (and Killmonger) were right.Find more of Jude’s writing here. It always begins the same. They arrive. They are different – some in ways barely…
God Loves, Man Kills II (2003) isnât a great story. Itâs part of the larger X-Treme X-Men line, in which Chris Claremont got to do Claremontian things with the characters Grant Morrison wasnât using for New X-Men. Like much of X-Treme, the arc suffers from inking and coloring that make characters look glassy, inert, a…
Dear Comic Creators: Wow. What a year, right? Brexit. Impeachment hearings. Remember when we almost went to war with Iran back in January? That was crazy. And now here we are, months into global pandemic, isolation orders implemented across the country amid crazy protests, and no real end in sight. Some of us are coping….
For centuries, man has looked to the stars to find glimpses of the future using the artistic science of astrology. The original symbols were based often on stories and characters from antiquity that few but the biggest mythology geeks are familiar with today. For the sake of updating them for common use, and because Marvel…
Comics, especially X-Men comics, and trading cards have a long history together. The X-Men trading cards, followed by the larger Marvel sets, started right as the comics hit their most financially successful period. Trading cards were included in some of the biggest launches, like X-Force #1 and X-Cutionerâs Song. Marvelâs acquisition of the trading card…