New Comics

Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #186

Batman, Inc. #2 — Writer: Grant Morrison;  Pencils: Yanick Paquette;  Inks: Michel Lacombe So far, this version of Morrison’s Batman is a lot of fun — no overarching cosmic significance, or Invisibles-like time-spanning conspiracies: just brainy, fun superhero action in Japan, with relaxed, grown-up repartee between a confident Bruce and Catwoman (because, really, giant octupi and murderous reincarnated skeleton guys have no chance against the two of them when they’re at the top of their games), and a nice little bow at the end, to wrap up this first installment in the franchising of the Dark Knight in fine style. … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #185

Fables #100 — Writer: Bill Willingham;  Pencils: Mark Buckingham;  Inks: Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy … but wait, there’s more — and rightly so, since the price of this book is $10.00. Still, in addition to the 63-page main story, a huge magical battle with Willingham’s typical closely-plotted strategy and tactics and Buckingham’s lush, imaginative art, there’s: a nine-page short story written by Buckingham and illustrated by Willingham (everyone forgets that he got his start on Elementals as both a scripter and artist) that seeds a major plot development for future issues, 16 pages of various short pieces written by … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #184

Ultimate Spider-Man #150 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Art: Various, including David Lafuente, Sara Pichelli, Joelle Jones,  Jamie McKelvie and Scottie Young … and that’s just the major artists; the backup story has  a couple of  pages each from, among others, Alex Maleev, Dan Brereton, John Romita Senior, Frank Cho, Jim Mahfood, Craig Thompson (!), James Kolchalka (!!), and another dozen or more people. That adds up to 96 pages of story and art, so the $6 cover price isn’t that bad — and, as a celebration of the best mainstream superhero comic of the ’00s (yep, the first issue … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews — Stuff I Bought #183

Strange Tales II #2 (of 3) — Writers/Artists: Various … And by “various” I mean a six-page Gilbert Hernandez Iron Man and Toro vs. the Leader story, followed by a six-page Jaime Hernandez everybody-at-the-beach story (look at that cover!), plus offerings from Jeffrey Brown, Farel Dalrymple, Paul Hornschemeier,  and Tony Millionaire, among others.  Nine stories total (ten, if you count the one-page Watcher intro on the inside front cover), from some of the weirdest and wildest alternative creators out there, with creator biographies so you can follow up on the stuff you like. Not all of it works (Sheldon Vella’s “Look … Continue reading

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Phil’s Reviews: Stuff I Bought #182

Hellboy/Beasts of Burden #1 (of 1) — Writers: Evan Dorkin with Mike Mignola;  Art: Jill Thompson Alan put this book out as my contribution to the “Pick Hits” wall for the week without even asking, because he knows how much I love Dorkin and Thompson’s spook-chasing critters, and this crossover with Hellboy (with Mignola providing the Big Red Demon’s dialog) doesn’t disappoint: same clever bits, same effective characterization, same refusal to go for the easy cuteness, same wonderful, award-winning art. If you’ve never encountered Beasts of Burden before, this is a great intro, and a perfect Hallowe’en present; if you … Continue reading

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