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 #202

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Phil

Ultimate Fallout #4 (of 6) — Writers: Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer;  Art: Sara Pichelli, Salvador Larroca, Clayton Crain This is the book that features the debut of the new, multiracial Ultimate Spider-Man. It’s only eight pages (the other parts involve Ultimate Reed Richards escaping the negative zone, and Val Cooper talking to a reporter who’s about to break a big story), but it’s gotten Marvel all the publicity it could have hoped for. Is it any good? Eight pages isn’t enough to tell; one downside for me was that the new guy’s Spidey dialogue is exactly the … Continue reading →

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It Came From the Back Room #28

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Phil

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. I’m going through the alphabet backwards (don’t ask), and at my speed, this amounts to a two-year project. This week, we’re in the middle of the letter “G,” and that means two Marvel titles — neither one a superhero title, both with rabid fan bases, but otherwise just about as different as they can be: Groo Groo is a humor comic, one with a significant cult following; it’s about a perpetually-addled barbarian, and is drawn … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #201

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Phil

Sergio Aragones Funnies #1 — Creator: Sergio Aragones A book of all-new Sergio, with two eight-page stories in color (the colorist, Tom Luth, is one of the few people on the planet who can color the obsessively-detailed Aragones art effectively), plus some one-page gags, plus a couple of puzzle pages (including a find-the-differences-in-the-panels game, and a find-the-two-identical-comics one, that are custom-made for that detailed style, and should be fun for any readers who can remember looking for Waldo). Aragones is a national treasure — of two countries — and the indicia’s indication that this will be a monthly comic is … Continue reading →

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It Came From the Back Room #27

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Phil

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. I’m going through the alphabet backwards (don’t ask), and at my speed, this amounts to a two-year project. This week, two titles are featured on the discount racks, one as part of the normal “G” sequence and one as a special. Let’s take that one first: Captain America These actually got put out a few weeks ago, but with the movie finally appearing this is a good time to cover them. They’re on the cover-price … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #200

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Phil

Flashpoint #3 (of 5) — Writer: Geoff Johns;  Pencils: Andy Kubert;  Inks: Sandra Hope This being the middle of five chapters, it’s the appropriate time for our lead character to regain his powers (by doing the exact same thing he did in the previous issue, only adding more… cowbell, or something), and try to get the JLA band back together — although, as it turns out, some of the members are in better shape than others. As a main event, this comic has been a lot more focused than Marvel’s Fear Itself — it’s shorter, and the problem (undo the … Continue reading →

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