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 Bought #289

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Phil

Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration #1 — Creators: Various These anniversary packages can be a drag sometimes, with too much self-importance and congratulation weighing things down, but this one gets it right: it starts with a James Robinson/Chris Samnee story about the day the FF went up in that rocket and kickstarted the Marvel Silver Age, focusing not on the event but on what a bunch of other characters were doing at the same time; it’s jammed with little bits of continuity and Easter eggs, and… well, come on, it’s Samnee art, and it’s a great opener. Then, Bruce Timm illustrates … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #288

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Phil

The Wicked and the Divine #5 — Writer: Kieron Gillen;  Art: Jamie McKelvie;  Colors: Matthew Wilson This is a sharp-looking book — you could cut yourself on McKelvie’s precise, thin lines — and the theme’s about death and art, so it can be grim and gory (particularly so in one scene in this issue), but there’s also a warmth in both the words and the pictures, and a passionate humanity at its core that makes everything work. This issue concludes the first arc, and the last scene (which I assume will also be the end of the first trade) is … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #287

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Phil

Miraculously, we have a week without dozens of new titles, or sparkly 3D covers, or other major debuts or milestones (yeah, Wolverine “dies,” but c’mon…). That’s good, because it gives us a chance to spotlight some of the better ongoing titles, the ones that sometimes get lost in the pr hype of the new stuff: Trees #6 — Writer: Warren Ellis;  Art: Jason Howard Supreme: Blue Rose #4 — Writer: Warren Ellis;  Art: Tula Lotay Case in point: Ellis is doing some of the best work of his career with these two books. Trees is creator-owned, and continues its hard-sf … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #286

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Phil

Yet another week with a large number of first issues, including a couple of highly-advertised Big Event books from Marvel and DC. Before getting to those, however, there are a couple of less-hyped, but more worthy, books to mention… Batgirl #35 — Writers: Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher;  Breakdowns: Cameron Stewart;  Art: Babs Tarr Strictly speaking, this isn’t a first issue, but it’s a “soft reboot” of the title, with a new creative team, location, look and tone for the character, so it should count. Also, it turns out to be really good: I was skeptical of a couple of … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #285

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Phil

No more DC special animated covers, but we’re back to lots of first issues — significant debuts from Marvel, DC, Image and a few other companies too — so that should be more than enough to keep us busy: Thor #1 — Writer: Jason Aaron;  Art: Russell Dauterman Marvel gets the most buzz on its new books this week, especially with this distaff version of one of their oldest characters. This isn’t quite a brand-new relaunch of the title (in the way, say, the new Batgirl completely changes the character’s setting, circumstances, creative team, etc.), since Aaron’s still the writer, … Continue reading →

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