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 #55

Ultimates 3 #2 — Writer: Jeph Loeb;  Artist: Joe Madureira Marginally less stupid than the first issue, but it still feels like an early- ’90s Image book (not surprising, given the creative team), with lots of characters running around and screaming and punching, and art that’s more concerned about looking kewl and selling on eBay than about telling a smooth story. Much dialogue is spent trying to patch holes from the previous issue (like why Thor’s suddenly speakething like an illiterate Elizabethan) and the overall impression is of a slapdash grab for your money. In fairness, 12-year-old fans will think … Continue reading

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #54

Amazing Spider-Man #547 — Writer: Dan Slott; Penciler: Steve McNiven; Inker: Dexter Vines This continues to be better than I suspect we all wanted it to be (given the events that got us here), because McNiven can deliver clean, precise art that’s effective at both the faces and the action sequences, and Slott’s able to nail the combination of humor, lovable-loserness and sense of responsibility that makes Peter Parker work (his various reactions to JJJ’s medical problem are all exactly right). I’d still argue that nothing here wouldn’t have worked just as well with Mary Jane, but hey, at least … Continue reading

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Phil's Reviews: Stuff I Read and Put Back #54

Checkmate #22 — Writers: Greg Rucka and Eric Trautman; Art: Travis Lanham The conclusion of a two-parter introducing the new Mademoiselle Marie, in a very Queen and Country-flavored action story involving the solo rescue of a young kidnap victim in the MIddle East. Decent enough, with competent art and a couple of effective scenes, but it’s marred by some uncharacteristically-clumsy staging in the climax (wait: she hit him with that? Um… how, exactly?) that pulls the reader out of the story. Booster Gold #6 — Writers: Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz; Pencils: Dan Jurgens; Finished Art: Norm Rapmund The return … Continue reading

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #53

Teen Titans Lost Annual #1 — Writer: Bob Haney;  Pencils: Jay Stephens;  Inks: Mike Allred This story, set during the early ’60s, was originally done as an Elseworlds book in 2003, but for reasons known only to DC, they sat on it, and are only now releasing it in this “lost annual” format. For longtime Titans fans, the over-the-top Haney script, cover by Nick Cardy (with six pages of his sketches of the characters inside) and Stephens/Allred retro art should be reason enough to buy it. It guest-stars John F. Kennedy, and… well, you’ll have to read it; Haney (who … Continue reading

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #53

Punisher War Journal #15 — Writer: Matt Fraction; Artist: Scott Wegener The second part of a two-parter with the re-villainized Kraven, son of Kraven, and the first in a long while where Fraction’s hit the right spot between sincerity and parody (Wegener’s idiosyncratic art helps enormously). He tends to have his own take on characters like the Rhino and the Vulture, and it’s sometimes only casually related to previous versions, but if you can get past that it works; the scenes of the two battered old pros and their associates trying to survive capture by the insane bad guy had … Continue reading

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