Sean Phillips

Cowboys and Nazis and Giants and Aliens

August 18, 2020 // 2 Comments

So it’s been a while since we had time to sit down and really talk comics. And it’ll have to be a short talk, even now. But the constant grind of work, pandemic, and politics is starting to have some deleterious effects on my psyche, so… Let’s talk comics for a minute. I’ve got a big pile of books to discuss here on my desk, and I don’t even know where to start. Oh, wait! Yes I do! PULP by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips The current masters of funnybook noir [...]

Patient Melancholy and Ridiculous Grandeur: FUNNYBOOKSINREVIEWAREGO!!

October 29, 2019 // 1 Comment

So, whoo boy, do we have a ton of funnybooks to discuss this week. The launch of the monthly version of Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men! New Gideon Falls and Criminal! My first time reading Michel Fiffe’s Copra! Frank Miller’s continuing renaissance! And, holy crap, this first book… Immortal Hulk 24 & 25 by Al Ewing, German Garcia, and Joe Bennett So, wow. WOW. Issue 24 of Ewing and Bennett’s Hulk run pretty much wraps up the storyline involving General Fortean and [...]

Happiness, Sadness, and All Points In-Between

October 15, 2019 // 3 Comments

So we once again have a good stack of funnybooks to discuss this week, recent columns having been rather focused affairs. We’ve got new Craig Thompson, a first-season cliffhanger for Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s The Green Lantern, and new chapters of Criminal and East of West. First, though, let’s take a look at the end of the beginning for Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men… House of X 6 / Powers of X 6 by Jonathan Hickman, RB Silva, and Pepe Larraz So, holy crap. [...]

The Past is the Future: FUNNYBOOKSINREVIEWAREGO!!!

August 27, 2019 // 1 Comment

So we’ve got two weeks of funnybooks to catch up on, and they all seem to involve the past shaping the future. New Criminal, Gideon Falls, Silver Surfer Black, and the second issue of Frank Miller’s Superman: Year One. Plus, Mark Waid pulls a historical fast one in the second issue of History of the Marvel Universe. But first, as has been the case in recent weeks, we’ll be starting with our weekly fix of Jonathan Hickman, and the X-Men… Powers of X 2&3 by Jonathan [...]

Xeens and Things: FUNNYBOOKSINREVIEWAREGO!!

June 11, 2019 // 1 Comment

So it’s time to get back to the funnybooks. After two weeks of talking movies, I’ve got a nice little backlog piling up, including the conclusion of Heroes in Crisis, the beginning of the end for Ed Piskor’s X-Men: Grand Design, and new issues of Stray Bullets and Criminal. But first, the comic I enjoyed most from the last two weeks… The Green Lantern 8 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp Y’know, just about any issue of this book is likely to be filled with ridiculous [...]

Haunted by the Memories

May 14, 2019 // 0 Comments

So we’ve been a bit distracted here on the nerd farm of late. And while our attention’s been elsewhere, a month’s worth of funnybooks has piled up. A month’s worth of funnybooks that seem very concerned with the past… The Wicked + The Divine 43 by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie This issue, WicDiv gives up maybe its ultimate secret: the origin of the God-Cycle, and possibly the way to break it. I like how Gillen and McKelvie have couched this. Godhood [...]

Dreams and Things

March 26, 2019 // 3 Comments

So it’s a good week for funnybooks. We got Spider-Man’s Life Story, we got the return of Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s Lazarus, and we got some Criminal proceedings from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. But first, as is often the case, we got ourselves a little Batman to discuss… Batman 66 & 67 by Tom King, Jorge Fornes, and Lee Weeks My new reading pattern for Tom King’s Batman run is to pop in and out, depending on whether or not I like the art. Because what [...]

THE LIST, Part One

February 19, 2019 // 3 Comments

So I did some funnybook filing this weekend, organizing, bagging, and boxing what was probably the last six months’ worth of comics. And I made the decisions I always make when I’m doing that: what books go into the permanent collection, and what books get dumped off into the “maybe I can sell this” pile. Normally, the latter of those two groupings is pretty small. It’s generally for stuff I didn’t like, or stuff that I liked okay, but know that I’ll never read [...]

Criminals, Aliens, Barns, and Pygs

January 22, 2019 // 3 Comments

So we’ve got some reviews to catch up on this week, which means… Funnybooks. In Review. Are Go. Batman 62 by Tom King and Mitch Gerads I bought this comic because it was pink. Pink! Inside and out! That’s a bold color choice for a Batman comic, and I thought I should support that. But I also bought it because of Professor Pyg. He’s one of my favorite Batman villains. One of the last truly great Batman villains, I think, to be introduced to date. I like Pyg. He’s [...]

A Lesson in Quality: FUNNYBOOKSINREVIEWAREGO!!

July 3, 2018 // 1 Comment

So last week was, as so many of them are, a damn fine week for funnybooks. But this was a particularly good week, one that saw the release of what might just be my four favorite current comics. And while none of them quite managed to earn that elusive five-star rating… If that’s not a hook for this week’s column, I don’t know what is… Kill or be Killed 20 by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser The latest Brubaker/Phillips joint draws to a close [...]