Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #103

The Spirit Special #1 — Creator: Will Eisner Four Eisner seven-pagers: “Sign of the Octopus,” from 1947,  “Black Alley” from 1949, and the two-part introduction of Sand Seref from 1950. The only reason it’s on the “put back” list is because I already have all the stories; I chanced upon Denny Colt via the Warren magazine reprints 30 years ago, and have been a fan ever since. That being said, this is a wrongheaded package: the lead story prominently features Ebony, making this book problematic as a give-away to non-fans interested by the movie (insert your own joke here) and … Continue reading

Posted in New Comics, Reviews | Comments Off on Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #103

Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #102

Invincible Iron Man #8 — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Artist: Salvador Larroca Thor God-Size Special #1 — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Artists: Dan Brereton, Doug Braithwaite, Mike Allred and Miguel Angel Sepulveda Uncanny X-Men #505 — Writer: Matt Fraction;  Penciler: Terry Dodson;  Inker: Rachel Dodson I’ve become increasingly impressed with Matt Fraction; his Iron Man has been a textbook example of how a creator can blend the best of a popular movie version of a character with the ongoing, continuity-laden comic version, and manage to please both old and new readers. Here, he has the unenviable task of synching Tony Stark and … Continue reading

Posted in New Comics, Reviews | Leave a comment

Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #102

DC Universe Holiday Special #1 (of 1) — Writers: Various, including Dan Didio, Joe Kelly and Paul Dini;  Artists: Various, including Ian Churchill, Dustin Nguyen, Rafael Albuquerque and Kevin McGuire Lots of anthology specials this week; how you feel about them, of course, depends on whether there are enough “good” artists and writers to justify the price. Here, for $6, there’s a beautiful Frank Quitely Christmas cover, a pretty-good JLA 7-pager by McGuire, a Didio Aquaman story whose dialogue you can make fun of (“Back down, Aquaman, or I, Captain Blanco, will kill her where she stands”: who talks like … Continue reading

Posted in New Comics, Reviews | Comments Off on Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #102

Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #101

Phonogram: The Singles Club #1 (of 7) — Writer: Kieron Gillen; Art: Jamie McKelvie The first Phonogram had a story whose intentions never quite got matched by its execution, but it was a noble, interesting effort with a clear and appealing voice; the after-essays by Gillen, about writing and about British pop music of the last 20 years, made the books worth keeping. Here, both he and McKelvie have a narrower narrative focus, and they’re assured enough to tell a good one-issue, character-driven part of a larger story. Nicely done, and there’s another essay about British pop, too, one that’ll … Continue reading

Posted in New Comics, Reviews | Comments Off on Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Bought #101

Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #101

Action #872 — Writer: Geoff Johns;  Artist: Pete Woods Comic math: Action plus The Creature Commandoes and Ultraa the Multi-Alien (all found in Brainiac’s ship, but don’t ask) plus New Krypton (really don’t ask) minus Gary Franks’s humanizing and luminous art all equals I’m not buying this any more. Green Arrow and Black Canary #15 — Writer: Andrew Kreisberg;  Penciller: Mike Norton;  Inker: Josef Rubenstein New guy Kreisberg gets off a nice framing device, but also falls into the new-guy trap of wanting to summarize the character’s life and immediately try to hammer on What Makes Him Unique, which leaves … Continue reading

Posted in New Comics, Reviews | Comments Off on Phil's Reviews — Stuff I Read and Put Back #101