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 #45

Captain Marvel #1 — Writer: Brian Reed;  Penciler: Lee Weeks;  Inks: Stefano Gaudiano This reminds me of Young Avengers #1, in that it benefited greatly from reduced expectations: I went in ready to make fun of it, but it’s actually pretty good. Reed’s able to weave an actual theme (we’re here to make a mark, to accomplish something worth remembering) throughout the story, get inside Mar-Vell’s head enough to make us sympathize with him, and even clean up some of the damage from that awful Paul Jenkins one-shot by hinting that it was all a big misunderstanding/mistake. The Weeks art … Continue reading

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #44

Comic Strip Masterpieces #1 — Creators: Various For a buck, you get four-color, oversized, one-page reprints of 14 of the greatest comic strips of all time, including Popeye, Krazy Kat, Dick Tracy, Terry and the Pirates, and Peanuts, with short historical summaries of each strip and its creator. Sure, it’s basically an ad for the reprint versions of each creation, but it doesn’t matter: this is primal American storytelling, and if you know comics but not about “the comics,” you need this to get an idea of the rich heritage you’re missing. Jonah Hex #25 — Writers: Justin Gray & … Continue reading

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #44

The Vinyl Underground #2 — Writer: Si Spencer; Penciller: Simon Cane; Inker: Cameron Syewart Hipster 20-somethings in London solving occult crimes. Not bad, but it continues to be derivative of early-’90s Vertigo (you get the feeling that the creators grew up reading and admiring those books, particularly Morrison’s The Invisibles and anything by Peter Milligan), and it seems more repetitive than cutting-edge (of course there are scenes of dancing at clubs; of course there are evil skinheads; of course the police detective is a chain-smoking, bald black woman, etc.). It’s readable, but there’s nothing new about it, no “Oh, crap!” … Continue reading

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Ask The Professor #1: Darcy's Discoveries

John Eaves sent in the following message on Nov. 1 (the old Professor has been swamped with actual professorial duties for the last two weeks, and so apologizes for the delay in answering it): Howdy!! do you remember Darcy, of Darcy’s Discoveries???  If so does she have a store or website or anything like that???  If so please give me a go. I got my first job in Hollywood thanks to her and wanted to drop her a line of thanks. Answer: For newcomers, Darcy’s Discoveries was one of the first comics stores in Phoenix, back in the early 1980s … Continue reading

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Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #43

X-Men: Messiah Complex #1 — Writer: Ed Brubaker; Penciler: Marc Sylvestri; Inkers: Joe Weems with Marco Galli Some really powerful mutant baby gets born — the first since the “No more mutants” thing — and the X-Men go looking for it, only to find that the Marauders and the Purifiers got there first. Now, they have to track it down, in one of those 13-part crossovers that’s going to wind through X-Men, Uncanny, New X-Men, and X-Factor. I mean, OK, whee, and it’s not like Brubaker/Sylvestri is a bad team for this first chapter, but look: Marvel’s charging $3.99 for … Continue reading

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