Wmq&a By Wmq Comics

This week, longtime Archie Comics illustrator Fernando Ruiz joins the show to talk about his current Kickstarter project, "The Haunted Cowboy," his "Die, Kitty, Die" series with fellow Archie alumnus Dan Parent, teaching at the Kubert School and being the first artist in Matt Lazorwitz's Batman sketchbook. We also play news roundup after a fruitful C2E2, and Dan makes his feelings known about the Hickman announcement and the current crop of X-Men writers.

New friend of the show Veronica Furman joins Dan and Matt to give her take on "Captain Marvel" - the feminist messaging, the love story between Carol Danvers and Maria Rambeau, a younger, lighter, two-eyed Nick Fury and more - with tangents into Disney's "Gargoyles," the Freeform "Cloak and Dagger" series and Dungeons & Dragons. WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS.

This week, writer Mat Heagarty talks with Dan and Matt about his middle grade graphic novel "Unplugged and Unpopular," coming this fall from Oni Press, his other upcoming work, the burgeoning children's comic and graphic novel market and how Marvel could better market the X-Men to a younger audience.

This week, Ivy Noelle Weir and Christina "Steenz" Stewart stop by to talk about winning the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics for their 2018 Oni Press graphic novel "Archival Quality," the importance of libraries in fostering young comics readers, the comics scenes in Philadelphia and St. Louis, whether Cyclops is the wrong kind of good boy and, of course, Gritty.

Writer/illustrator Kyle Starks joins Dan and Matt to talk about his upcoming Image series with Erica Henderson, "Assassin Nation," as well as "Rock Candy Mountain," "Rick and Morty," housebreaking puppies, board games, action movies and "NBA Jam." The newer version, not the original.

This week on the podcast, Dan Grote and Matt Lazorwitz chat with Seanan McGuire, whose "Age of X-Man" tie-in, "The Amazing Nightcrawler," debuts this week. We talk a lot about X-Men, including Emma Frost's preferred alcoholic beverages and Matt's deep-seated desire for a Mystique and Destiny vs. Sherlock Holmes story, but we also talk about Seanan's other interests as a novelist, a herpetologist and a cat owner, as well as why podcasters would make great vampires.

Another holiday means another congress of the Three Amigos. This time around, Dan Grote, Matt Lazorwitz and Rob Lynch talk about some of the most interesting couples in comics, from Scott and Barda to Francine and Ketchoo to Wilson and Vanessa. Plus, listeners submit their own Valentine faves. It's worth noting this episode was recorded a year to the day Dan, Matt and Rob sat down to record the very first WMQ&A. Since then, Matt has become the show's co-host and Rob one of its most invaluable recurring guests. Together they form an unstoppable Voltron of comics knowledge and friendship.

This week, Dan and Matt chat with Jeff Rougvie, the writer of Image's "Gunning for Hits," a thriller set in the music industry during the 1980s, a time when the biz was flush with cash from the confluence of MTV and the rise of the CD. We talk about the new book, Jeff's work with David Bowie and love of Darwyn Cooke, the Spotify playlists that will accompany the series, and, briefly, a caricature in the first issue that caused a stir online.

WMQ&A All-Star Will Nevin (Wednesday Warriors) is back to help Dan and Matt parse recent comics news, including retailer woes, the new AHOY Comics titles and whatever the heck Major X is going to be. We also talk a bit about what we've been reading this month.

This week, Steve Morris, who runs the comics site Shelfdust and is features co-editor for The MNT, is here to talk about the top 100 comics issues of all time, a list he curated at Shelfdust with input from nearly 100 comics journalists from all over the web. We talk about that, we talk about lists in general, we talk about the mission of the MNT, and we talk about whether Matt Fraction and David Aja’s “Hawkeye” is the younger generation’s “Watchmen.”

This week, Dan Grote and Matt Lazorwitz chat with Jamie Rotante, a writer and editor at Archie Comics, about her current "Betty & Veronica" series and the "Vixens" motorcycle-gang series that preceded it, her other jobs as a music writer and a creative-writing mentor, the pressures of being a high school senior, and how we tackle our respective to-read piles.

This week on the podcast, Dan and Matt welcome writer Alex Paknadel to talk about his series "Friendo" (Vault) and "KINO" (Lion Forge), his upcoming "Incursion" at Valiant, techno dystopias, our dark political present and, for funsies, turn-of-the-millennium alternative music.

For the final WMQ&A of 2018, Dan and Matt chat with Anthony Marques, an artist for Dynamite and IDW and the owner of Dewey's Comic City in Madison, New Jersey. They talk about the year in comics retail, from bait-and-switch weddings to Batman's penis, his creative projects, including his short story in A Wave Blue World's "All We Ever Wanted" anthology, and whether "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" holds up (Spoilers: It does not).

This week on the podcast we're celebrating a new volume of X-Force, featuring the return of the original lineup, with Charlie Davis, co-host of the Young Ones podcast and publisher of the X-themed cuisine zine the Guide to X-Ceptional Baking. We will be talking about Shatterstar A LOT.

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Super Solstice! Happy Holidays! In this week's episode, the Three Amigos (Dan Grote, Matt Lazorwitz and Rob Lynch) reunite to talk about their favorite yuletide comics, from that time the Joker kidnapped Tim Drake on Christmas Eve to that time the X-Men returned treasures stolen by the Reavers to their rightful owners to that time Spider Jerusalem claimed he killed Santa with his genitalia.

This week on the show, writer Ron Marz joins us to talk about his upcoming World War II graphic novel, "Harken's Raiders," art from which you can see above and the Kickstarter campaign for which is going on right now. The book reunites Marz with artist Darryl Banks, with whom he co-created the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. We also talk about Marz's upcoming run on Turok at Dynamite and his deep catalog of previous work, including "Green Lantern," "Silver Surfer," his friendship with the late Bernie Wrightson and his time at late-'90s/early 2000s publisher CrossGen. Also, dogs!

In addition to being a comics journalist, comics writer, comics podcaster and comics consumer, Chris Sims bills himself as the world's foremost Batman-ologist. But what happens when the writer of "X-Men '92," "Swordquest" and "Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker" goes cowl tip to cowl tip with our own resident Batman expert, Matthew Lazorwitz, in a Batman trivia contest? Tune in to this week's episode to find out!

Throughout November, a number of comics podcasts have been participating in a crossover affectionately called Acts of Friendship. This week on the show, it's Dan and Matt's turn to host, so we've laid out a veggie tray and hidden our good silverware from our guests, Chris Eddleman from Chrises on Infinite Earths and Chris Osborne from Play Comics. We talk about why we started our respective shows, favorite episodes, choice guests we've had, and just for fun, crow about the "Uncanny X-Men" relaunch.

This week on the podcast, writer Eliot Rahal stops by to talk about his AfterShock series "Hot Lunch Special" and his work with Valiant, including "Quantum and Woody" and "Bloodshot's Day Off." We also take a minute to talk about the death of Stan Lee, the comics scene in Minneapolis, and Eliot's background as a standup comedian.

In honor of the return of "Uncanny X-Men," Dan and Matt chat with Trent Seely, who recently wrote a history of Marvel around the time of the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover. We talk about our hopes, fears and dreams for the new era of X-Men, puzzle over the upcoming "Age of X-Man," and talk a bit about the passing of Stan Lee. Also, Dan and Trent talk about "Final Fantasy VI," just because it's one of the greatest video games ever made.