Tag: Bill Anderson

The Maze Agency 7 (June 1989)

275572I’m not sure what does more damage this issue, Barr’s melodramatic writing or the art. Greg Shoemaker’s so bad, it doesn’t make any sense to mock him. He’s just not ready for a full comic. Or a tenth of one. I suppose his scenery is all right; at least it’s fully visualized, which I can’t say about his figures.

But then there’s Barr’s writing. He takes leads Jennifer and Gabe to the Hamptons for a weekend of murder and lots of expository dialogue. Even for a mystery, there’s a lot of exposition because Barr thinks Jennifer has to talk about her feelings.

Gabe’s always been Maze’s erstwhile protagonist, but this issue he’s not just reactionary, he needs to be reminded to act. Barr thinks he’s come up with something great for Jennifer (it’s not); he downgrades Gabe.

There’re some decently written scenes, but Barr flops with the omnipresent romance stuff.

CREDITS

Hearts of Glass; writer, Mike W. Barr; penciller, Greg Shoemaker; inker, Bill Anderson; colorist, Julia Lacquement; letterer, Tom Addis; editor, Michael Eury; publisher, Comico.

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #253

Asm253

Where to start… I’m tempted to start with Rick Leonardi, who comes up with these great layered panels (or maybe Bill Anderson inked them to make them layered), but simply cannot keep any consistency when drawing people. Maybe he does all right when he’s got football helmets on them–it’s a football corruption story, luckily Peter was assigned to the sports department this issue.

DeFalco manages to overwrite and underwrite at the same time. He’s pushing everything he can into the issue to get an emotional response–the football player throwing games, his disappointed kid brother, Aunt May being mad at Peter for dropping out of college. He even ends the issue with Peter being compared to the football player, they’re both throwing it all away.

But there’s almost no Spider-Man stuff in the issue. Some swinging around, some black costume stuff. There’s no focus on the character though.

The Amazing Spider-Man 253 (June 1984)

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Where to start… I’m tempted to start with Rick Leonardi, who comes up with these great layered panels (or maybe Bill Anderson inked them to make them layered), but simply cannot keep any consistency when drawing people. Maybe he does all right when he’s got football helmets on them–it’s a football corruption story, luckily Peter was assigned to the sports department this issue.

DeFalco manages to overwrite and underwrite at the same time. He’s pushing everything he can into the issue to get an emotional response–the football player throwing games, his disappointed kid brother, Aunt May being mad at Peter for dropping out of college. He even ends the issue with Peter being compared to the football player, they’re both throwing it all away.

But there’s almost no Spider-Man stuff in the issue. Some swinging around, some black costume stuff. There’s no focus on the character though.

CREDITS

By Myself Betrayed!; writer, Tom DeFalco; penciller, Rick Leonardi; inker, Bill Anderson; colorist, Glynis Wein; letterer, Joe Rosen; editors, Bob DeNatale and Danny Fingeroth; publisher, Marvel Comics.