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 #244

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Phil

Batman Incorporated #8 — Writer: Grant Morrison;  Art: Chris Burnham and Jason Masters If it seems a trifle unfair to be reviewing a book you can’t buy (since it’s sold out, thanks to DC’s publicity machine and national media exposure), don’t despair — there’ll be a second printing soon. I’ll assume that no spoilers are needed for the plot development, since the cover itself tells the tale — although it has to be pointed out that Morrison’s Batman: R.I.P. story did not actually kill Bruce Wayne, and that, when he was “killed,” weeks later in Final Crisis, that death didn’t … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #243

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Phil

Green Lantern #17 — Writer: Geoff Johns;  Art: Dan Jurgens, Phil Jimenez and Doug Mahnke Green Lantern Corps #17 — Writer: Peter Tomasi; Pencils: Fernando Pasarin;  Inks: Scott Hanna Green Lantern: New Guardians #17 — Writer: Tony Bedard;  Art: Aaron Kuder These are the first three parts of Johns’s final GL serial; he; and all the other creative teams, are leaving after that, so one expects that a number of threads involving the now-evil Guardians, the various colored rings, Black Hand and all manner of other subplots will get wrapped up.  The “First Lantern,” the bad guy driving the plot, … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #242

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Phil

Young Romance #1 (of 1) — Creators: Ann Nocenti and Emanuela Lupacchino (Catwoman/Batman); Cecil Castellucci and Inaki Miranda (Aquaman/Mera);  Ray Fawkes and Julius Gopez (Batgirl/Random Guy);  Peter Milligan and Simon Bisley (Apollo/Midnighter);  Kyle Higgins and Sanford Greene (Nightwing/Ursa Minor); Andy Diggle and Robson Rocha (Superman/Wonder Woman) DC exhibits rare good timing, with a 48-page Valentine’s Day special the week before the event. If your significant other is a DC fan, this $7.99 package would be a decent present: the leadoff Catwoman/Batman story is good, while there’s welcome diversity in the Apollo/Midnighter tale (and the best art); the Superman/Wonder Woman story … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #241

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Phil

Avengers #3 — Writer: Jonathan Hickman;  Art: Jerome Opena Uncanny Avengers #3 — Writer: Rick Remender;  Art: John Cassaday Young Avengers #1 — Writer: Kieron Gillen;  Art: Jamie McKelvie with Mike Norton Three Avengers-related books this week, so let’s start with those: Avengers is the conclusion of the book’s first arc; you have to admire Hickman for only making it three issues, and not stretching it out to the more-usual trade-sized six, although his writing is dense enough to make the story seem longer.  Maybe a little too dense (I’m never quite sure about Hickman’s plots, and this one resolves … Continue reading →

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It Came From the Back Room #54

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Phil

I knew it had been a while since we did one of these back-room-special posts, but when I checked the archives I was surprised that the last one was way back in early October. It’s not that I haven’t been working on backstock; it’s that Batman comics took a long time to sort, and then while we put them out in early December I never did a post on them, and now for the last month and a half or more I’ve been working on Avengers comics. It turned out that we had 17 long boxes (or almost 6,000 comics’ … Continue reading →

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