Author Archives: Phil

Fall of the Hulks: Gamma — Writer: Jeph Loeb;  Pencils: John Romita, Jr.;  Inks: Klaus Janson Great art, with a large cast, too (both heroes and villains), as a major character “dies” (and I’m using the quotes because he’s “died” at least twice before that I can remember). Loeb, to give him credit, lets his art team carry most of the load; he throws in five full-page splashes, plus two double-page splashes, and they’re all just about pretty enough to be worth the cost of the book. Unfortunately, there’s 29 pages of story, so even with nine of them being … Continue reading →

Fables #91 — Writer: Bill Willingham;  Penciller: Mark Buckingham;  Inkers: Steve Leialoha and Dan Green This is always good, but I’m putting it first this week because all the other books are Marvels (it being a light week for decent nonsuperhero stuff). Note how easily Willingham is able to keep two storylines going at once, ending one while cranking up the other, and how smoothly he doles out information to new readers, keeps his enormous cast balanced and fascinating, and throws in plot twists and asides to keep it impossible to resist. Buckingham, Leialoha and Green are all old pros, … Continue reading →

Hulk #18 — Writer: Jeph Loeb;  Pencils: Whilce Portacio;  Inks:  Danny Miki Dark Wolverine #81 — Writers: Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu;  Pencils: Guiseppe Camuncoli;  Inks: Onofrio Catacchio Inexplicably, although each of these books has 22 pages of story, with the same paper and packaging, DW is $2.99 and Hulk is $3.99. It’s not just the prices that are puzzling here, though — it’s that Marvel, apparently, thinks you’ll buy just about anything. Superhero comics are supposed to be about flash, excitement, danger and dazzling action, right? In Hulk, we have Doc Samson spending an entire issue being psychoanalyzed; in … Continue reading →

Amazing Spider-Man #614 — Writer: Mark Waid;  Art: Paul Azaceta Invincible Iron Man #21 — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Art: Salvador Larroca New Avengers Annual #3 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis;  Art: Mike Mayhew Your readable mainstream superhero books for the week, linked because the artists on each are solo, doing both pencils and inks. This gives them a consistent, unique style, unlike so many current DC and Marvel books, which use a tag-team inking process that discourages individual flourishes, and reduces the art to a mediocre corporate sameness. Here, though, Azeceta’s indy-influenced work, Larroca’s careful page construction (lots of narrow … Continue reading →

Necrosha: The Gathering #1 (of 1) — Writers: Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost;  Artists: Ibraim Roberson, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Leonardo Manco, Kalman Andrasofszky/Cam Smith, and Mateus Santolouco A one-shot anthology, with five stories recounting how the current X-villianess, Selene, recruited the five members of her vampiric inner circle. Lots of lines like “Kill him, my children.” and “Why do you exist, Mortis?” “To kill.” and “My queen. Who would you like me to kill?” “Everyone.” and… well, you get the idea; this is not a subtle comic. If you like the current incarnation of X-Force, with its dark artwork, grim … Continue reading →