Author Archives: Phil

About Phil

With 40 years of experience in comic reading, collecting and reviewing, English Professor Phil Mateer has an encyclopedic mind for comics. Feel free to ask Phil about storylines, characters, artists or for that matter, any comic book trivia. He will post your questions and answers on the AABC blog. His knowledge is unparalleled! He is also our warehouse manager, so if you are looking for that hard to find comic book, ask Phil!

Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #104

Posted on January 4, 2009 by Phil

Ultimate Hulk Annual #1 — Writer: Jeph Loeb;  Art:  Ed McGuinness/Dexter Vines and Marco Djurdjevic and Danny Miki Zarda (from Squadron Supreme, or Supreme Power, or whatever it’s called now) has a big fight with the Hulk involving his lack of pants, after which they eat waffles, and then go to a motel and have sex. No, I’m not kidding.  Loeb seems to be going for some kind of weird satire (the jokey, faux-Stan Lee intros suggest it), but, like all of his Ultimates work, this represents a creepy, repulsive view of an “adult” superhero world, and it just doesn’t … Continue reading →

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Ask the Professor #21 — What Old Comic Do I Remember?

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Phil

In the 60’s, there was one comic issued by DC that had about 100 pages and it had a story line that involved most, if not all, of the DC heroes. Back in the late 60’s or 70’s, there was a giant comic book with a story line about a mirror that allowed you to enter a different world. I’ve been trying to find this comic, but I don’t quite remember whether it was DC or Marvel. I seem to remember that the story line had a host that narrated the story. Whats the story where Conan the cimmerian is … Continue reading →

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #103

Posted on December 28, 2008 by Phil

Batman #683 — Writer: Grant Morrison;  Penciller: Lee Garbett;  Inker: Trevor Scott OK, so let’s get this straight: the whole Batman: R. I. P. thing had no effect whatsoever on Bruce Wayne’s life and/or death; he came out of it fine, beat the bad guys, and then went off to join the JLA for Final Crisis, where he was captured, stuck into a mind meld with that Lump thing from the Kirby Mister Miracle books, and that’s where we are now. The reason I can live with that is that these last two issues of mindplay have given Morrison a … Continue reading →

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #103

Posted on December 27, 2008 by Phil

The Spirit Special #1 — Creator: Will Eisner Four Eisner seven-pagers: “Sign of the Octopus,” from 1947,  “Black Alley” from 1949, and the two-part introduction of Sand Seref from 1950. The only reason it’s on the “put back” list is because I already have all the stories; I chanced upon Denny Colt via the Warren magazine reprints 30 years ago, and have been a fan ever since. That being said, this is a wrongheaded package: the lead story prominently features Ebony, making this book problematic as a give-away to non-fans interested by the movie (insert your own joke here) and … Continue reading →

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #102

Posted on December 21, 2008 by Phil

Invincible Iron Man #8 — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Artist: Salvador Larroca Thor God-Size Special #1 — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Artists: Dan Brereton, Doug Braithwaite, Mike Allred and Miguel Angel Sepulveda Uncanny X-Men #505 — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Penciler: Terry Dodson;  Inker: Rachel Dodson I’ve become increasingly impressed with Matt Fraction; his Iron Man has been a textbook example of how a creator can blend the best of a popular movie version of a character with the ongoing, continuity-laden comic version, and manage to please both old and new readers. Here, he has the unenviable task of synching Tony Stark and … Continue reading →

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