Weekly Comic Book Review

About WCBR

Weekly Comic Book Review is your source for analysis, commentary and conversation for all things sequential art.

About The Authors

J. Montes (Founder)

J.Montes has always wanted to work in the comics industry. He tried briefly in the early 1990s to break in as a self publisher, but failed miserably. He did have the opportunity to work with the then budding talents of Tomm Coker (Agents of Atlas), Jeremy Love (Bayou), and Calvin Irving (Chapel). Since then, he’s gone on to other things like the co-founding of IGN.com and other projects related to the video gaming industry.

Despite all these accomplishes, Jay’s #1 passion is still comic books. He still, some day, hopes to work in it at some capacity. Web of Spider-Man #1 is considered as one of the books that got him into comics (in a big way) and he has a great fondness of Spider-Man’s black outfit. Jay has been reading comics since 1985.

Raymond Hilario (Editor-In-Chief)

Raymond Hilario is a writer from the Silicon Valley whose interest in comics dates all the way back from episodes of Batman the Animated Series, and reruns of the Adam West Batman. Like most 90’s kid, the first comic book he owned was Chris Claremont’s and Jim Lee’s X-Men #1 (Magneto cover). Before coming to WCBR, his work in the comics industry include serving as a managing editor for Comictopia.

Today, most of the titles that Ray buys either comes from DC or the more independent labels, but he still reads anything that anyone’s buzzing about. Some of his favorite writers and artists are: “80’s Frank Miller,” David Lapham, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, Jacen Burrows, Jordi Bernet, Sam Keith, Ethan Van Sciver, and Frank Quitely. One of his favorite Batman oneshots is Batman #634, and to this day he still believes that some of the best Batman stories ever told came from Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.

Tony Rakittke (Senior Editor)

Twenty years ago, Tony Rakittke bought a copy of Uncanny X-Men #240 with four quarters he had stolen from his parents’ coin jar. It was hist first comic as well as his first petty theft, but he credits that moment for igniting his love of comic books. After comics took a turn for the worse in the 90′s, Tony took a break to pursue girls. However, Tony was soon pulled back in when he took a chance on the first issues of “The Authority,” and “Planetary” and realized that comics were great again. Tony lives in the suburbs of Chicago, IL with his wife and two dogs. He currently follows the works of Warren Ellis, Matt Fraction, Geoff Johns, Jason Aaron, Grant Morrison, Brian Azzarello, and J. Michael Straczynski. If you’re ever in the mood for a good discussion on comics, please drop him a line and let him know what’s on your mind. Because hey, it beats working, right?

Kyle Posluszny (Senior Editor)

Kyle Posluszny got drawn back into comics thanks to the Warren Ellis/Mike Deodato run on Thunderbolts. What was supposed to be a dip into the Marvel pool quickly became a full plunge. It was all downhill for Kyle’s wallet from there…

A member of the Weekly Comic Book Review team since April 2008, Kyle is dedicated to bringing his readers honest, timely reviews each and every week. He mostly focuses on writing about Marvel, Image, Devil’s Due, and small press, but Kyle does occasionally check out what DC’s Vertigo and Wildstorm labels have to offer. As Senior Editor, Kyle does whatever he can to help keep W.C.B.R. strong and ever-evolving.

Kyle’s Current Favorites: The Walking Dead, Hack/Slash, Witchblade, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dark Avengers, New Avengers, Exiles, Invincible Iron Man, Deadpool, and Secret Warriors

Alex Evans (Contributing Writer)

Alex Evans is a Canadian currently living in the UK. When not working on dissertations, presentations, or other things academic, he is a lover of comics, both as a reader and as an aspiring writer. His first taste of comics came at a young age, when, like many, he became addicted to the Batman, X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons of the nineties. This would lead to a childhood love of all things X-Men and Daredevil.

Then he forgot all about comics for almost ten years, before reading Watchmen in 2004 and becoming hooked once again. From that point, Alex progressed backwards in a sense, starting out among Vertigo and Image comics before being sucked into the Marvel and DC Universes. He fervently believes that Garth Ennis’ Preacher is the best series of the last twenty years and will fight anyone who says otherwise, since that’s what Jesse Custer would do. Other favourite writers include Robert Kirkman, Bill Willingham, Warren Ellis, Brian Wood, Jason Aaron, Joe Kelly, Ed Brubaker, and Brian Michael Bendis.

DS Arsenault (Contributing Writer)

DS Arsenault was ten years old when his mother handed him Uncanny X-Men #128, Micronauts #12 and Dr. Strange #43.  He was immediately hooked. Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Jim Starlin influenced his imagination.  He collected comics until the mid-90s.  Now, after a 10-year hiatus, he’s returned to find the comics field much more sophisticated than when he left.

He is a science fiction and fantasy writer working in Ottawa, Canada and has sold short fiction to Asimov’s, Black Gate, On Spec and sub-TERRAIN.  He is currently writing science fiction and mainstream novels and marketing them to agents and publishers.

Joe Lopez (Contributing Writer)

Joe Lopez was inducted into the secret society of comic book fans when he was eleven years old.  His classmate Ahmad had a copy of the Incredible Hulk #341 which he let Joe read over his shoulder during recess.  Ahmad later beat the crap out of Joe, possibly over a protractor dispute, but Joe can’t be sure (it was a long time ago).  Joe vowed to start practicing karate thanks to a book called What Is Self-Defense?, but, due to laziness and what he’s convinced was a mild case of agoraphobia, he first convinced his mother to buy him his own comics, eventually leading to weekly trips to the Optimo Cigars shop and, later, Wow Comics in the Bronx, NY.

Joe’s obsession with comics, his eventual love of writing, and his discovery of how easy it was to use AOL Instant Messenger to pester too-kind industy pros led to his writing articles and the interview column, D.W.I.,  for DigitalWebbing.com and even hosting several panels for WizardWorld conventions.  His crowning achievement was getting to hang out in the Marvel Comics offices.  After taking a long break from comic book commentary,  Joe joined the cast of characters that make up W.C.B.R. in late 2009.  After a brief sojourn in the Bay Area, he now lives back in New York City with his lovely assistant, Katie, makes short films, writes lots of things with words, and does post-production video work.

Joe never got around  to learning how to kick anyone’s ass with karate, but he’s still reading comics today.

Brittany S. (Contributing Writer)

Brittany Summers is a relative newcomer to the comics scene; though she was a casual reader from a young age, it was not until the tender age of 25 that she began making that weekly pilgrimage to the comic shop a regular part of her life. In addition to writing reviews for WCBR, she also maintains a blog, which you are free to visit for more comic-related discussion, in addition to articles about gaming, movies and books. Her favorite comic book characters include Batwoman (the recent Kate Kane incarnation), Wonder Woman, Captain America, and Deadpool.

Dean Stell (Contributing Writer)

Dean was big into Marvel comics back in the early 1980′s. Uncanny X-Men, Alpha Flight, all the Spider-man titles, Secret Wars, etc…  Then after drifting away from comics for nearly 20 years, he jumped back in a few years ago reading Dark Horse Star Wars titles of all things that lead to a steadily growing pull list that is heavy on Marvel, the Batman titles and a very liberal sampling of creator driven stuff from Image, Vertigo, Avatar, Oni, etc…  Dean also has gotten bitten by the comic binding bug which has turned him into a obsessive back-issue buyer as he seeks to recreate runs of comics from the 80′s and 90′s.  He also tries to use a combination of eBay and binding to enforce a strict “one-long box only” rule.  Stay tuned for how that works out! Dean also maintains a blog at allthiscrap.blogspot.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Minhquan Nguyen (Contributing Writer)

Having dragged a deathly bored seven-year-old into a wholesale warehouse, Minhquan’s mother, with a sigh of relief, left him in the book department.  She hoped he’d amuse himself with the stack of new Boxcar Children serials.  He immediately headed for the spinning wire rack of comics, flipped open an issue of Chris Claremont and Jim Lee’s X-Men, and got his first taste of comic book fandom (and comic book cheese/beefcake—good times).

Significantly older, arguably wiser, Minhquan has spent the majority of his thoughtful life studying, teaching, and working with the written word in all its forms—fiction, nonfiction, journalism, comedy, law, blogs, YouTube comments—and fancies himself an up-and-coming expert in the craft of writing.  If his reviews can help elevate the integrity of comic book writing, making them more inviting to the masses, he’ll gladly do his part, though he sacrifices quality karaoke/nap time in so doing.

Much as he’s tried to do the whole Twitter, Facebook, blogging thing, he finds himself hopelessly incapable of keeping with any of it regularly, leaving his fans (both of them—he counts himself and his sister’s dog) to follow him through his sporadic writings in the virtual and physical world.

Roman Colombo (Contributing Writer)

Roman didn’t really read comics until a coworker left a stack of Marvel’s Civil War behind the register and he found himself having to read every single issue and tie-in. Since then he brought comics into his education, taking writing classes and eventually teaching graphic novel workshops at Rosemont College and Drexel University, while also presenting at conventions such as C2E2 for the Comic Study Conferences. It only took him a couple years to realize what makes
comics so amazing, and now he is determined that no student in the greater Philadelphia area will finish college without having read at least one graphic novel (somewhere he laughs evilly). Some say he is doing a great thing by introducing graphic novels into the classroom. Others say he is destroying everything that makes comics magical by turning them into college textbooks. All he knows is that he gets paid to teach Spider-Man. He can also be found at
here.

Jim Middleton (Contributing Writer)

After receiving praise for a hand-written paper on Batman he scribbled out in sociology class on the day it was due, Jim rediscovered a love of super heroes instilled in him from Saturday morning cartoons. He later found, rather to his surprise, that comic books were still being published, and dove into the medium with an enthusiasm others categorized as “weird.” He was immediately taken in by the industry’s wholehearted embrace of the most outlandish and bizarre elements of story-telling, the unique narrative provided by the graphic medium, and the raw gratification of watching good guys in spandex beat up super-villains.

After spending an inexcusably large amount of time locked up in his dorm trying to get himself caught up on the last 70 years of comics history, he slowly began to develop opinions on what he was reading. Finding this very blog, he was excited to find that others actually thought about mutants, aliens and time travelers as much as he did. He still considers himself quite a newcomer to the world of comics, and loves to compare his thoughts with others. His list of favorite creators still changes with every new book he picks up, but he has a special place in his heart for Brian Michael Bendis, Grant Morrison, and Alex Ross. He is extremely excited to be apart of WCBR.

If you’d like to ask a writer a question, or discuss reviewing a book, please e-mail us here.