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 #249

Avengers #11 — Writer: Jonathan Hickman;  Art: Mike Deodato Secret Avengers #4 — Writer: Nick Spencer;  Art: Luke Ross Uncanny Avengers #8 — Writer: Rick Remender;  Art: Daniel Acuna Avengers Assemble #15 AU — Writer: Al Ewing;  Pencils: Butch Guice;  Inks: Tom Palmer with Rick Magyar Lots of Avengers comics this week (plus Avengers Arena, although only the title of that mini-series really connects it to the franchise), and they’re a mixed bag. Hickman’s Avengers is the best; wisely, this is a special-ops, done-in-one story, so it doesn’t add to the title’s increasingly-complex backstory: it’s got Shang-Chi, Spider-Woman, Black Widow, … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #248

Young Avengers #4 — Writer: Kieron Gillen;  Art: Jamie McKelvie with Mike Norton A lot of good books came out this week, but I’m putting this one at the top just because Gillen and McKelvie are having such an obvious blast creating it — between the playful layouts (especially a double-page splash involving a Marvel Boy fight), the skillful mix of drama and deadpan humor, and the young Loki’s expressions as he walks his tightrope act (is he trying to do the right thing, or the wrong thing? How do you trust a trickster god?),  this is a comic that … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #247

Hawkeye #9 — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Art: David Aja This continues, in its quiet little way, to be one of the best monthly comics out there — while it’s not like much happens this issue (a couple of the tracksuit Russian mobsters get beaten up, but otherwise the only major action occurs on the last page), it’s a perfect little glimpse into the life of its stubbornly adolescent hero and the five women in his life. Aja continues to be just the right artist for it, too: everyone’s immediately distinguishable, even with Fraction’s “no costumes on anyone” rule, and the … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #246

B.P.R.D.: Vampire #1 (of 5) — Writer: Mike Mignola;  Art: Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon This sequel to B.P.R.D.: 1947 offers the return of the Brazilian twin brothers Ba and Moon (their last work was the magic-realist Vertigo mini-series Daytripper), and between their evocative art and Mignola’s well-staged, every-word-counts writing, this is one good-looking, creepy horror book. You really don’t need to know any more than that, so you? Young Avengers #3 — Writer: Kieron Gillen;  Art: Jamie McKelvie with Mike Norton Another great writer/artist team (everybody’s read their two Phonogram series, right? The second one, especially? The one I … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #245

Age of Ultron #2 ( of 8 ) — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis;  Pencils: Brian Hitch;  Inks: Paul Neary Uncanny X-Men #3 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis;  Pencils: Chris Bachalo;  Inks: Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Al Vey and Victor Olazara First, for a story set in an Ultron-destroyed New York, Age Of  is a very pretty book — all the little bits of rubble are lovingly drawn, while the desperate human refugees look unfailingly handsome; even a reveal of Black Widow’s injured face looks oddly attractive: this is what happens when you get Bryan Hitch to draw your comic. When you get … Continue reading

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