Happy holidays to all! As is our tradition, and as we aren't going to run out any time soon, the week of Christmas we read three stories of the holidays in Gotham. One is a little holiday kinda-noir from Bat legends Denny O'Neil and Frank Miller, one is a perplexing animated series style Brave and the Bold that might explain the intergalactic origins of Santa and the final is a mini-series where Batman teams up with one of the men who trained him: Kris Kringle himself.

Twenty years ago, Wanda Maximoff said, "No more mutants," and Marvel spent the next 14 years or so trying to figure out how to give everybody their powers back. Also Wanda's rep was damaged for a pretty long time. That, too. Then there was the whole not-a-mutant, not-Magneto's-daughter thing. And that time she turned the dead of Genosha into zombies.

The year was 2023. The war between Russia and Ukraine was still in its infancy. The Philadelphia Eagles lost the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs by a field goal but would come roaring back to trounce their cross-Kelce rivals two years later (GO BIRDS!). And, most importantly to this article, Marvel was trying very hard to make Kang happen across media, before actor Jonathan Majors was charged with domestic assault.

Each week, ComicsXF staff offer their recommendations for what to read. New comics come out Wednesdays. See your local comic shop for more info. And if you own a local comic shop and would like to sponsor the CXF weekly Staff Picks, email [email protected]. Matt’s pick: Absolute Wonder Woman #15: The Mark of Hecate at a crime scene in Gotham draws Wonder Woman into Batman’s orbit in dramatic fashion.

MTHR has done all she can to prepare the coven to face unspeakable threats, and now they must do so … alone. Adri, Em and Michele prepare for a final confrontation that holds not only wytchkind in the balance but multiple planes of existence. They have each other, but will that be enough to take down Eve and stop the endless midnight?

"All the best X-Men are women," the T-shirt says, and it's true. X-Men - at least since Chris Claremont - has been a franchise built on powerful, beautiful women, and the men who snikt, zark and bamf for them. There are no Outback-era X-Men without Storm, Psylocke, Rogue and Dazzler. There's no Blue and Gold without Storm, Jean, Rogue, Betsy and Jubilee.

The ComicsXF Interview Podcast · The CXF Interview Podcast Episode 381: Nick Cagnetti talks Oni Press' Spirit of the Shadows Nick Cagnetti joins the show to talk about his upcoming Oni Press comic Spirit of the Shadows. You can listen to The ComicsXF Interview Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Audible and at ComicsXF.com, where new episodes move Tuesday mornings.