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 #214

Daredevil #8 — Writer: Mark Waid;  Art: Kano DD continues to be a bright spot among the Marvel books — literally, since its pages are splashed with lots of reds, blues and other primary colors. That gives it a unique look (even when a different artist is drawing it, as here, although Kano turns out to be a good match for the previous pencillers), and suits its sunny, optimistic stories. This issue, the second part of a crossover with Amazing Spider-Man, features Spidey, DD and the Black Cat battling bad guys (and sometimes each other), and ends with an intriguing … Continue reading

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It Came From the Back Room #40

Standard recap: I’m slowly going through AABC’s one-million-plus back-issue room, restocking the boxes on the sales floor and pulling stuff to sell as discount/overstock/special items (these are featured at the discount racks at the west end of the store for a couple of weeks after each post, and then go to the discount racks on the east end of the store for a few weeks, and then disappear into our warehouses, so get them while you can). I’m going through the alphabet backwards (don’t ask), and at my speed (especially with the school semester starting up again), this amounts to … Continue reading

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Ask the Professor: Marvel Cover Variants

We got something last week we haven’t gotten in quite a while: an “Ask The Professor” question, from fan Greg Beesch. Here it is: Question for the Professor: I have Marvel comics from the late ’70s thru the mid ’80s.  There are variations in the top left symbols and UPC (when UPCs were introduced). In my youthful exuberance I had both a subscription (brown wrapped comic) and went to the news stand, so I have two of the same in a number of cases, with different top left corner and UPC (UPC or, say, Spidey face) that seems to be … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #213

Fatale #1 — Writer: Ed Brubaker;  Art: Sean Phillips Fatale is the latest crime/noir book from the Brubaker/Phillips team; it’s distinguished from the various Criminal stories because it mixes in a fantasy/horror element. It’s also very well done; this first issue is a textbook example of how to set up an intriguing cast of characters: a damaged hero, a mysterious woman, shadowy pursuers, etc. Brubaker and Phillips, as always, make a smooth team — if you’re going to build a story around a woman who’s irresistible to men, you need an artist who can deliver that, and Phillips can do … Continue reading

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It Came From the Back Room #39

Standard recap: I’m slowly going through AABC’s one-million-plus back-issue room, restocking the boxes on the sales floor and pulling stuff to sell as discount/overstock/special items (these are featured at the discount racks at the west end of the store for two weeks after each post, and then go to the discount racks on the east end of the store for a few weeks, and then disappear into our warehouses, so get them while you can). I’m going through the alphabet backwards (don’t ask), and at my speed (especially with the school semester starting up again), this amounts to a two-and-a-half-year … Continue reading

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