Top of the Pile 9/5/2012

Phantom Stranger #0
Written by Dan Didio
Art by Brent Anderson and Scott Hanna
DC Comics

I like the fantastic elements of both the DC and Marvel universe’s. If its Dr. Fate or Dr. Strange, I kind of dig the supernatural tales. So when Phantom Stranger #0 came out, I had to pick it up and see what they were going to do with this odd character in the New DC Universe.

Starting with his origin where he is sentenced to be “a stranger” by the council of wizards, he is told by a disembodied voice “to walk this land until the debt for your sins is paid.” Flash forward a couple of millennia and we see The Stranger being told to take an angry cop to a place where he will rescue his kidnapped fiance. And from there, things take an unexpected turn.

Now, I have some issues with the whole New 52 from DC. I understand that they are rebooting everything and after a year are refining their lineup. But I found this to be a less than interesting re-introduction to The Phantom Strange. I’m not sure what Dan Didio was trying to do, but after reading the book, I have no clue what to expect from this book. But that might be a problem with this type of character. I loved when he made appearances in the recent Madam Xanadu series. He was present, and certainly influenced events. But he didn’t get directly involved, like he did in this book. Also, some of the dialog was really stilted and pretty badly written. The interaction between the angry cop and his supervisor could easily been lifted from the Simpson show where the “McBain” parody cop movie they spoof.

The art by Brent Anderson is pretty good. His style doesn’t have any really unique quirks that make it distinguishable from most other comic book art. Characters are kind of generic and other than anger, we really don’t see any facial expressions. I kind of get a Gil Kane vibe if I squint and cock my head a little, but that’s a real stretch to compare to this work to his.

So, will I continue getting The Phantom Stranger. No. I have too much baggage from reading older stories with him to understand how he’s going to fit in this new storyline that the DC books are trying to tell.