Author Archives: Phil

X-Force #2 — Writers: Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost; Artist: Clayton Crain Even worse than the first issue — it’s like a parody of the worst ’90s comic you can think of, with pointless fighting and killing (and pointless discussion about the fighting and killing), murky art that tries to be kewl but just seems krappy, the kind of plot that involves one of the “good” guys somehow wiring an entire building with explosions with no one knowing it, and then blowing it up and failing to take out any of the main bad guys (who all miraculously survive the … Continue reading →

Yow! Over 20 titles in the “buy” column this week, and even though many of them could use extended commentary, we’ve only got time and space to talk about a fraction of them.  If you think the comics industry is in trouble, though, check out all this stuff (if it’s not the best single week ever, it’s the best in a long time, kids): All-Star Batman and Robin #9 — Writer: Frank Miller;  Penciller: Jim Lee;  Inker: Scott Williams I wonder if all the haters will hate this one, too, or finally admit that Miller has something going on here … Continue reading →

Narcopolis #2 — Writer: Jamie Delano;  Art: Jeremy Rock What is it about the art in Avatar books? They get the good writers, like Ellis and, here, Delano, but the drawing always looks a little… off. Is it the coloring, the way the faces, especially, are shaded? Is it just that the artists are mostly new, and can’t quite make, say the shape of the heads and the eyes look quite realistic enough? (There’s usually something too staticy about the figure posing and the action sequences, too.) This would still be buyable if the story was great, but it’s too … Continue reading →

The Spirit #14 — Writers: Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier;  Illustrator: Mike Ploog;  Inker: Mark Farmer Ploog apprenticed with Will Eisner, so he’s a good choice for artist here (his one weakness is that he can’t draw drop-dead gorgeous women like Eisner — or Cooke — could, but his talent for caricature more than compensates for it).  Aragones and Evanier offer a similar trade-off:  there aren’t the kind of “whoa” visual moments that Cooke threw in, but their storytelling is better; they know how to offer a well-constructed plot that plays to the characters’ strengths, and has a satisfying resolution. … Continue reading →