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 #269

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Phil

She-Hulk #5 — Writer: Charles Soule;  Art: Ron Wimberly Captain Marvel #4 — Writer: Kelly Sue Deconnick;  Art: David Lopez Lumberjanes #3 — Writers: Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis;  Art: Brook Allen Bee and Puppycat #2 — Writers: Natasha Allegri and Garrett Jackson;  Art: Natasha Allegri Four comics this week starring women — two superhero and two cartoony/kid-oriented. Superhero first: both of the offerings here stand out because neither emphasizes the adolescent-male-fantasy demographic of, say,  DC’s “Bombshell” covers; these are fully-realized characters, not shallow shells. She-Hulk has the most interesting — and maybe divisive — art, as fans may miss normal … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #268

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Phil

Trees #1 — Writer: Warren Ellis;  Art: Jason Howard Ellis is, at base, an sf guy — his earliest big hit, Transmetropolitan, was a near-future, high-tech riff on Hunter S. Thompson, and he has a soft spot for space opera, aliens, hard-science speculation, and all the other trappings of the genre. This offering is a good example: ten years ago, huge tree-trunk-like alien constructs plopped down all over the world, as casually as humans would plop the legs of a barbecue grill down over an ant colony, and ever since they’ve sat there, occasionally venting toxic waste and otherwise inscrutably … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #267

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Phil

The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #1 (of 6) — Writer/Artist: Howard Chaykin The Shadow’s one of those classic characters who attracts creators — Denny O’Neil and Michael Kaluta in the ’70s, and Chaykin himself in the ’80s — who see him as an effective springboard for slam-bang pulp adventure. This story’s set in 1949, a period whose fashions and people Chaykin has always loved to draw (Satellite Sam, his other current work, is set the same era — and written by Matt Fraction, who knows full well how to keep his artists happy), and watching him set up his plot, craft … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #266

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Phil

The New 52: Futures End #1 (of 52) — Writers:  Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen;  Art: Patrick Zircher This is yet another week with a bunch of first issues; most are either Marvel, Image or smaller publishers, but let’s start with DC’s second weekly comic. It helps a lot if you come into this having read the Free Comic Book Day Futures End #0, since that sets up the premise — the DC Earth of 35 years from now has been taken over by Brother Eye (in this continuity, created by the New-52 version of Mr. … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #265

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Phil

Amazing Spider-Man #1 — Writer: Dan Slott;  Art: Humberto Ramos;  Inks: Victor Olazaba So, the odds of Marvel releasing a new Spider-Man #1, with Peter Parker back to normal, 24 hours before the debut of the new Spider-Man movie, were… 100%. Amazing! Canny, too — the editorial and creative teams deserve a lot of credit for taking the “old” Spidey away from us for so long, and building up anticipation for his return; I think we’ve all missed him. Good to have him back, too — the “standard” cover on this book seems a little goofy at first, but it’s … Continue reading →

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