BatChat - COMICSXF https://comicsxf.com The comics criticism you crave Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:49:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 https://i0.wp.com/comicsxf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/cropped-orange-favicon-2.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 BatChat - COMICSXF https://comicsxf.com 32 32 107498702 BatChat With Matt & Will: Robin Redeemed (w/ Josh Weil) https://comicsxf.com/2026/07/23/batchat-with-matt-will-robin-redeemed-w-josh-weil/ Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=57408 Some writers just get a lot of work. Joshua Williamson is one of those guys who has written in a lot of corners of the DC Universe. He had a long run on Flash, wrote the Dark Crisis event, is the current writer on Superman, and is soon taking over Legion of Super-Heroes. He also...

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]]> 57408 BatChat With Matt & Will: The House of al Ghul (w/ Matt McThorn https://comicsxf.com/2026/07/16/batchat-with-matt-will-the-house-of-al-ghul-w-matt-mcthorn/ Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=57350 Ra’s al Ghul and the members of his family are important figures in the Bat mythos, whether they are related just to Ra’s or to Batman himself. This week, Matt McThorn is back to talk about some stories involving the House of al Ghul. We start with Greg Rucka’s tale of a post No Man’s...

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]]> 57350 BatChat With Matt & Will: The Mean Streets of Gotham https://comicsxf.com/2026/07/09/batchat-with-matt-will-the-mean-streets-of-gotham/ Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=57294 Welcome to the streets of Gotham. While Batman is a “street level” character, he still is usually fighting with killer clowns, obnoxious geniuses and crocodile men. So who handles all the day to day crime? Well, the Gotham City Police Department of course. And while it is a legendarily corrupt force, there are still cops...

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]]> 57294 BatChat With Matt & Will: A No Man’s Land EC Comic https://comicsxf.com/2026/07/02/batchat-with-matt-will-a-no-mans-land-ec-comic/ Thu, 02 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=57207 We’re back to the runs that we’re covering in order, with a twist. We’ve reached the next chapter of “Knightquest: The Crusade,” where AzBats fights a super assassin with psychological conditioning, and “No Man’s Land,” where we see what the Justice League is doing to help Gotham. But with the Morrison run done, we’re filling...

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]]> 57207 BatChat With Matt & Will: Supergirl Comes to Gotham https://comicsxf.com/2026/06/25/batchat-with-matt-will-supergirl-comes-to-gotham/ Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=57173 So, as I (Matt) work my way through my 365 movies in 365 days project, last week I watched the Supergirl movie from the 80s. What a weird, wild movie. I bet some of you didn’t even know that this week’s Supergirl movie isn’t even the first one. Well, it’s not, and as good as...

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]]> 57173 BatChat With Matt & Will: Remembering Gerry Conway https://comicsxf.com/2026/06/18/batchat-with-matt-will-remembering-gerry-conway/ Thu, 18 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=57121 A few weeks ago, comics lost one of the legends of the late Silver and Bronze Age. While Gerry Conway is probably best known for his work on Spider-Man at Marvel, where he killed Gwen Stacy and creating the Punisher, and to a somewhat lesser extent creating Firestorm at DC, Conway had a solid run...

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]]> 57121 BatChat With Matt & Will: The Love of a Faceless Man https://comicsxf.com/2026/06/11/batchat-with-matt-will-the-love-of-a-faceless-man/ Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=57079 Matt and Will cover three arcs tied to the New 52 "Death of the Family" crossover in Batman, Batman & Robin, and Detective Comics.

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]]> 57079 BatChat With Matt & Will: BatChat Pride 2026 https://comicsxf.com/2026/06/04/batchat-with-matt-will-batchat-pride-2026/ Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56991 It’s our annual Pride episode of BatChat. It’s nice to see that we have plenty of stories we can cover about queer, out Bat characters, you know? We’re covering the first of DC’s big Pride anthologies, which features stories including Batwoman, The Question (Renee Montoya), Harley and Ivy and Alan Scott Green Lantern, who might...

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]]> 56991 BatChat With Matt & Will: That Story Is a Stretch https://comicsxf.com/2026/05/28/batchat-with-matt-will-that-story-is-a-stretch/ Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56943 Of all of DC’s obscure characters outside the Bat family, two of Matt’s absolute favorites are the Elongated Man, Ralph Dibny, and his wife, Sue. Inspired by Nick and Nora Charles from Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Thin Man, Ralph and Sue are a bantering, loving couple who solve mysteries. They are, as the kids at...

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]]> 56943 BatChat with Matt & Will: The Man Behind the Black Mask (w/ Sam Hopper) https://comicsxf.com/2026/05/21/batchat-with-matt-will-the-man-behind-the-black-mask-w-sam-hopper/ Thu, 21 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56851 There are plenty of legacy characters in the Bat universe; how many Robins are there now? But there are far fewer legacy villains than there are heroes. But before Flashpoint and the New 52 scrambled things, or repositioned them anyway, one of Batman’s solid B-tier villains was replaced. Black Mask, a character introduced in the...

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]]> 56851 BatChat With Matt & Will: Some Sharp Art (w/ John Wickham) https://comicsxf.com/2026/05/14/batchat-with-matt-will-some-sharp-art-w-john-wickham/ Thu, 14 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56795 Patreon backer John Wickham returns to BatChat to help Matt and Will discuss three Batman stories with art by Liam Sharp, including one WILD Garth Ennis story.

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]]> 56795 BatChat With Matt & Will: Seeley’s Nightwing Team-Ups (w/ Josh Weil) https://comicsxf.com/2026/05/07/batchat-with-matt-will-seeleys-nightwing-team-ups-w-josh-weil/ Thu, 07 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56738 When a writer works on a character for an extended period of time, it’s fascinating to watch how their interpretation of that character evolves. When Patreon backer Josh Weil came to us and wanted to cover the Robins mini-series that won DC’s fan voted Round Robin competition, the natural stories to pair with it were...

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]]> 56738 BatChat With Matt & Will: Batmanga Begins https://comicsxf.com/2026/04/30/batchat-with-matt-will-batmanga-begins/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56657 Not long ago, we did an episode entirely dedicated to Batman stories that originated in Japan. Amongst those stories was a collection of creator Jiro Kuwata’s 60s Batman manga, that were adaptations of earlier American Batman stories. This week, we dive into those stories, reading three of them and seeing not just how they rank,...

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]]> 56657 BatChat With Matt & Will: The State of the Future(w/ Matt McThorn) https://comicsxf.com/2026/04/23/batchat-with-matt-will-the-state-of-the-futurew-matt-mcthorn/ Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56608 Event comics are a weird thing. And those events that slip in and take over the monthly slots of other comics are even weirder. Could you imagine if Law & Order was cancelled for two weeks to be replaced by Anarchy & Chaos? People wouldn’t know what to do with it. But we comics fans...

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]]> 56608 BatChat With Matt & Will: How Are We At Story 700? https://comicsxf.com/2026/04/16/batchat-with-matt-will-how-are-we-at-story-700/ Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56559 When I, Matt, came to Will in the waning days of pandemic lockdown with the idea to this podcast, legally completely unrelated to Battle of the Atom, a podcast I may or may not have mainlined 300-ish episodes of during the pandemic, I figured we’d goof around for a bit, and maybe get in about...

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]]> 56559 BatChat With Matt & Will: From the 5th Dimension https://comicsxf.com/2026/04/09/batchat-with-matt-will-from-the-5th-dimension/ Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56508 Bat-Mite is a silly character. He is this hopeless fanboy who just doesn’t get what a pain in the tuchus he is. But he’s not the only mite in the DC Universe, and the others aren’t quite as benevolent, if hopelessly backwards. The most notable imp (sorry, Bat-Mite) is Mr. Mxyzptlk, Superman’s nemesis who is...

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]]> 56508 BatChat With Matt & Will: Return to Will’s Bookshelf https://comicsxf.com/2026/04/02/batchat-with-matt-will-return-to-wills-bookshelf/ Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56440 BatChat returns to Will's bookshelf for three randos, one of which is an oddly well-timed tribute to Sam Kieth, and another is more Batman '66.

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]]> 56440 BatChat With Matt & Will: A Mother & Daughter Reunion (w/ Abigale Heartbalm) https://comicsxf.com/2026/03/26/batchat-with-matt-will-a-mother-daughter-reunion-w-abigale-heartbalm/ Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56356 Abigale Heartbalm joins BatChat to talk about three stories featuring Cassandra Cain and her mother, Lady Shiva.

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]]> 56356 BatChat With Matt & Will: That is the Question https://comicsxf.com/2026/03/19/batchat-with-matt-will-that-is-the-question/ Thu, 19 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56308 When she was created for Batman: The Animated Series, I can’t imagine the series creators realized what a life Renee Montoya would have in the comics. Technically appearing in comics before B:TAS premiered because of the much longer lead time for animation, Montoya has gone from beat cop to detective to vigilante to police commissioner...

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]]> 56308 BatChat With Matt & Will: Some Bones About It https://comicsxf.com/2026/03/12/batchat-with-matt-will-some-bones-about-it/ Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56240 The DC Universe has a lot of strange looking characters. King Shark is a bipedal shark man. G’Nort is a walking, talking dog alien. Animal-Vegetable Mineral Man is… well, look him up. Dude looks weird as all hell. But amongst the more macabre looking characters is super villain turned superhero turned super spy Mr. Bones,...

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]]> 56240 BatChat With Matt & Will: The Fall of the House of Wayne https://comicsxf.com/2026/03/05/batchat-with-matt-will-the-fall-of-the-house-of-wayne/ Thu, 05 Mar 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56159 BatChat arrives at the final arc of Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated, as well as the next arcs of "No Man's Land" and "Knightquest: The Crusade."

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]]> 56159 BatChat With Matt & Will: Shadow of the Cat (w/ Sam Hopper) https://comicsxf.com/2026/02/26/batchat-with-matt-will-shadow-of-the-cat-w-sam-hopper/ Thu, 26 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56126 Catwoman has been around for over 80 years, and like all good Bat villains, she has changed with the times. But it’s amazing how much of the character has been there through the ages. Patreon backer and friend of the show Sam Hopper joins us to look at the evolution of Catwoman, what has stayed...

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]]> 56126 BatChat With Matt & Will: Riddle Me This, Will (w/ John Wickham) https://comicsxf.com/2026/02/19/batchat-with-matt-will-riddle-me-this-will-w-john-wickham/ Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=56026 We’ve read plenty of his stories, and if you are a long time listener to the podcast, I’m sure you realize that Tom King is a writer who has some serious variety of placements on the big board. He has multiple stories in the top 10, plus a number of stories lingering near the bottom....

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]]> 56026 BatChat With Matt & Will: Date Night (w/ Josh Weil) https://comicsxf.com/2026/02/12/batchat-with-matt-will-date-night-w-josh-weil/ Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=55927 Love is in the air. It’s nearly Valentine’s Day, and for the past couple of his appearances, Patreon backer and friend of the show Josh Weil has mentioned that he’s been considering selecting one of the few truly whimsical and just plane fun stories Tom King has written: “Date Night,” where Batman an Catwoman go...

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]]> 55927 BatChat With Matt & Will: Batmanga! https://comicsxf.com/2026/02/05/batchat-with-matt-will-batmanga/ Thu, 05 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=55847 Superheroes were an American invention, at least the modern conception of them. But they have spread across the world and taken on many forms. We’ve done an episode about Batman stories across the world before, but this weeks we’re focusing specifically on Batman stories from Japan. We’re reading the first collection of stories that spun...

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