Mike W Barr - COMICSXF https://comicsxf.com The comics criticism you crave Thu, 04 Jul 2024 00:47:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://i0.wp.com/comicsxf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/cropped-orange-favicon-2.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Mike W Barr - COMICSXF https://comicsxf.com 32 32 107498702 BatChat With Matt & Will: Subtle As a Bag of Hammers https://comicsxf.com/2024/07/04/batchat-with-matt-will-subtle-as-a-bag-of-hammers/ Thu, 04 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000 https://comicsxf.com/?p=49499 Batman works outside the law pretty much all the time. And while he often runs afoul of civic authorities in Gotham City, it’s surprising how rarely he winds up in the crosshairs of the feds (well, we’re just starting Absolute Power in the main line, but again, exception that proves the rule). But it has...

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]]> 49499 BatChat With Matt & Will: Stop Trying to Make Geo-Force Happen (w/Austin Gorton) https://comicsxf.com/2023/10/19/batchat-with-matt-will-stop-trying-to-make-geo-force-happen-w-austin-gorton/ Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=46932 Over his 85+ years, Batman has been a member of lots of different teams. This week, fellow ComicsXF writer Austin Gorton stops by to talk about three different teams Batman has been a member of. We fill in another gap in Will’s knowledge of the roots of the Morrison run, Snapper Carr is kind of...

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]]> 46932 BatChat With Matt & Will: Batman With a Gun? https://comicsxf.com/2023/08/24/batchat-with-matt-will-batman-with-a-gun/ Thu, 24 Aug 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=46331 Joker is Batman’s most dedicated foe. Ra’s al Ghul is the deadliest. The Penny Plunderer is the most ridiculous (that’s up for debate, but he’s my pick). But no criminal is more integral to the Batman mythos than Joe Chill, the man who killed the Waynes (except in Batman ’89, but the point still stands)....

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]]> 46331 BatChat With Matt & Will: The Darkest Episode of ’66 Ever https://comicsxf.com/2023/07/20/batchat-with-matt-will-the-darkest-episode-of-66-ever/ Thu, 20 Jul 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=46014 It’s taken three episodes, but we’ve finally covered every story in the original Batman #1. That means this week, we’re covering the first appearance of Catwoman, and so we’re also covering a couple other Catwoman stories, one a story that’s place in continuity is weird even by DC Comics standards, and one that started off...

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]]> 46014 Bat Chat With Matt & Will: The Players On the Other Side https://comicsxf.com/2023/05/25/bat-chat-with-matt-will-the-players-on-the-other-side/ Thu, 25 May 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=45552 Of all superheroes, Batman seems to have spawned more characters that are dark reflections of him than any other. Sure, Superman has Bizarro, and Spider-Man has Venom, but Batman has a legion of the them: Killer Moth, Bane, Hush, Owlman (the Lincoln March one), Wrath, Prometheus. There are enough to fill multiple episodes, so we...

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]]> 45552 BatChat With Matt & Will: The Hope In Crime Alley https://comicsxf.com/2023/05/11/batchat-with-matt-will-the-hope-in-crime-alley/ Thu, 11 May 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=45453 Batman’s allies are known for many things. Their brains. Their fighting skills. Their dedication. And while Dr. Leslie Thompkins, the woman who comforted Bruce Wayne the night his parents were killed is lacking in the second of those three attributes, she more than makes up for it in the first and third. Leslie is a...

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]]> 45453 BatChat With Matt & Will Ep. 46: Batman Loves Dinosaurs https://comicsxf.com/2022/08/04/batchat-with-matt-will-ep-46-batman-loves-dinosaurs/ Thu, 04 Aug 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.xavierfiles.com/?p=42343 So, Matt spent most of his long drive into work trying to come up with a Batman version of the Green Lantern oath, but he’s not a poet, so instead we’re admitting that here. This week, we’re reading three stories where Batman wields a power ring. One of these books is far and away the...

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]]> 42343 BatChat With Matt & Will Ep. 32: Is There a Single Likeable Character In This Book? https://comicsxf.com/2022/04/28/batchat-with-matt-will-ep-32-is-there-a-single-likeable-character-in-this-book/ Thu, 28 Apr 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=40355 As The Batman is now streaming on HBO Max, Matt and Will thought it was time to look at one of the stories that served as a prime inspiration for this year’s blockbuster Bat movie- Batman: Earth One. And to go with it? Two other stories of Batman’s origins and early years. Batman: Earth One...

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]]> 40355 BatChat With Matt & Will Episode 21: Love, Gotham Style (w/ Abigale Heartbalm) https://comicsxf.com/2022/02/10/batchat-with-matt-will-episode-21-love-gotham-style-w-abigale-heartbalm/ Thu, 10 Feb 2022 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=37875 We’re less than a week from Valentine’s Day, and what says love more than a guy in a Bat costume pursuing a woman in cat themed leather or a beautiful assassin? Or a disastrously dysfunctional relationship between two clowns? Talking about those things with thee ones we love, of course. That’s why this week, Matt...

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]]> 37875 BatChat With Matt & Will Episode 11: Don’t Fear the Unicorns and Bunnies https://comicsxf.com/2021/12/02/batchat-with-matt-will-episode-11-dont-fear-the-unicorns-and-bunnies/ Thu, 02 Dec 2021 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=35546 “Fear State” wraps up in the monthly Bat comics this week, so Matt and Will are reading three stories that feature the mastermind behind the most recent Batman crossover: Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow. See him be whimsical, see him be pathetic, see him be epic. And find out which three of these stories features the...

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]]> 35546 BatChat With Matt & Will Episode 4: The Dark Knight Detective https://comicsxf.com/2021/10/14/batchat-with-matt-will-episode-4-the-dark-knight-detective/ Thu, 14 Oct 2021 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.comicsxf.com/?p=34570 There are many ways to describe Batman. Superhero. Martial Artist. Scientist. Adventurer. But for your hosts, Matt & Will, one beats all the rest: Detective. This week, we look at three stories that have a theme of Batman as the Dark Knight Detective. Blades (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #32-34) The Doomsday Book (Detective...

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