When comics fans now think about Marjorie Liu, we may think about her creator-owned book Monstress. When we think about who made the X-Men the X-Men, we may think first of Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson and collaborators in the 1970s and 1980s. And if we think of Liu’s work for Marvel, we might think of…
When A Series Relaunch Doesn’t Stick Its Landing Warning: The following contains spoilers for Champions (2018-2019), Doctor Strange (2018) The most important issue of a comic is its first. Not all comics get to see their intended last issue, but they all get to see their first. First impressions are key when introducing — or…
IDW went through a bit of a leadership shakeup last week, as President, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall was announced to be stepping down to develop his own publishing venture. A day later, IDW said Jerry Bennington and Jud Meyers had been tapped for Ryall’s previous roles as president and publisher, respectively, while…
Rise and Fall of the Roamin’ Empyre Three years ago, I made a terrible decision. High on youthful exuberance, and unwilling to dip my toe back into the world of comics except in the most obsessively completist way imaginable, I decided to read every Marvel comic published since 1961. Not just the big ones: everything….
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:…
Matt Fraction, David Aja, and eventually Annie Wu, changed the superhero comic landscape in 2012 with the debut of Hawkeye. Effortlessly cool, equal parts a laugh and a gut punch and, above all, incredibly distinct, the series met with such universal acclaim and sales success that the re-writing of Clint Barton’s character passed by with…
Big, big news that I am proud to break this week. Let’s get right to it. Today (July 20): DClassified: Week of Announcements Begins After last week’s news that DC will be releasing Rorschach, a 12-issue maxiseries by writer Tom King and artist Jorge Fornés that represents a mystifying return to the Watchmen well, the…
Each week, Xavier Files staff offer their recommendations for what to read. New DC comics come out Tuesdays, everything else Wednesdays. DAN’S PICK: Chu #1: Tony Chu’s criminal sister Saffron steals the spotlight – and other stuff – in the debut issue of this prequel to John Layman and Rob Guillory’s classic Image series “Chew.”…
Pandemic or no, change was always coming. According to ICv2 and Comichron, the North American comics and graphic novel market topped more than $1.2 billion in sales last year, an 11% increase over 2018. It was a heady year, topped by bestsellers like Detective Comics #1,000, Spawn #300 and a new X-Men #1. But those were comics. And in comics, comics…
We are all the hero of our own story. It is an idea hammered home from an early age, with countless books, TV shows, movies and other media showcasing noble figures we can see ourselves in, knowing we would be just as heroic if given a chance. (This is not to say that everyone deserves…
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…
As an addendum to today’s Giant Size X-Men: Magneto discussion, Ian and Stephanie offer their thoughts on a particular scene that inspired discussion. Ian is a Jew by choice with a degree in Jewish Studies; Stephanie grew up Jewish and attends a Reform shul now and then. Ian Gregory As the previews for this issue…
On March 23, Diamond Comic Distributors halted shipment to comic shops as a response to the mass shutdown stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the circumstances, this was unavoidable. However, much has been written about the systemic problems within the comics industry that led to the monopoly Diamond held. This shutdown, and the resulting retooling…
Dear Content Consumer, Please forgive me. You see, I’m taking this week off after the heaviness of our last time together. But don’t worry — I’ve arranged for my brother Bill to take over my duties this week. Bill is 43, a successful concrete contractor and is Extremely Offline. We are not close. And forgive…
Unearthed from the Summa Marvelogica, 13th century saint and philosopher Thomas Aquinas brings us answers to the most pressing questions of our day. In this piece, he looks at both Knull, the King In Black, and The Batman Who Laughs as they relate to each other and to the current comics landscape as a whole….