Dan DiDio’s first written series of the New 52 was a surprising amount of fun, and was admittedly one of the more interesting books to follow along with up to it’s cancellation. Apparently DiDio caught the writing bug, and now he’s helming a new book — but this one is “important” to “continuity!” Oh my!
Let’s see how well he pulls it off in the review.
Written by Dan DiDio
Illustrated by Brent Anderson– Learn what happened to The Phantom Stranger after the FREE COMIC BOOK DAY story! – Who has been sacrificed? Who is guilty? Who can save us? And who…is The Phantom Stranger? – Major players in The New 52 will be introduced in these pages!
The DCU pre-52 was always such an interestingly diverse place, at least in terms of the type of characters inhabiting the world of not the specifics about them. Perhaps it’s because they have less franchises overall that they cater to and perhaps it’s because they were seemingly more willing to have a wider variety of characters populate their overall universe with frequent appearances (over their main competition, anyway), but before everything was culled and dumbed down the DCU was such a fun place, full of surprises. A big part of that was characters like Phantom Stranger: here was a character who no one really knew anything about, whose origin was a mystery, and yet his involvement in the widespread DCU was varied and intriguing. He’d pop up in a Vertigo title like “Madame Xanadu” as her friend, council and paramour, and then reappear in Smallville, helping out Superboy in his eponymous title, and every time he showed up you knew something important was about to take place.
Of course, the way of the DCU is not the way of the DCnU. Things need rhyme, logic and reason now; we’re comfortable enough to have mysterious characters, but even they need some sort of definition apparently, which the Free Comic Book Day short (and, truth be told, this entire Zero Issue/Origin Story endeavor) proved. No longer is Phantom Stranger a man of unknown origin and unlimited power, but now he is that Judas, forever walking the Earth without a hint of subtlety until his Great Sin (you know the one) is atoned for. That’s where this new ongoing comes in, seemingly: the Phantom is no longer the battler of the occult and quiet protector of reality, but rather a disheveled and broken man seeking atonement while wandering aimlessly through a universe still budding with life, and through him DiDio and friends will be able to casually introduce several characters who have not yet made an appearance in their new playground. He’s basically Moore’s Orlando from “LoEG,” who wandered through history passing through various important moments and influencing them ever so slightly — and that’s admittedly both very intriguing and incredibly droll.
Let’s start with the positive. When looking at the DCnU, there is a lot obviously left undone. We’re missing central figures who were incredibly important in past continuity, but with DC’s new policy there doesn’t seem to be easy room to bring in occult-based characters in an easy venue; Blue Devil is being brought in through “DCU Presents,” a book that has little ties to the precious Central Continuity, and “Justice League Dark” seems like the only home for this sort of thing. A book like “Phantom Stranger,” written by the man who has wanted to relaunch the universe for who knows how long now, does give an excellent place to bring back some of the more interesting figures to clash with or against Phantom, which could be — dare I say it? — a lot of fun. More importantly, though, it’ll be in line with the future vision for the company, and for DC that seems to be the name of the game; give them a place to exploit that and you’ve got a “can’t miss” book. Add to that that a catch is indeed added, that the Phantom has to do a specific amount of good deeds to be forgiven, and you’ve got a tired-but-true story ready for an occult DC overhaul.
On the other hand, it all comes down to the execution. Let it not be said that DC isn’t home to a few cool ideas, because they certainly are — but when it comes time to put money where their mouths are they sink more often than they swim. That’s the case with “Phantom Stranger;” the first issue plods along at a slow and unforgiving pace as DiDio tries to do much at once. While attempting to match his writing style to two different time periods, one of which is known for a particular set of wit, DiDio fails to create an environment or story that ever feels quite genuine. From the reiteration of the FCB scene to the final revelation, there’s no real “point” to the issue; it’s not really ever about Phantom as a source of intrigue and mystery, but rather a) a place to throw some pseudo-religious rhetoric in out of the blue in a universe where gods literally walk the Earth (not unheard of, but still oddly done) and b) a place to fix-up a few things lost after “Flashpoint” due to oversight. When you take all of that and the complete lack of subtlety in the whole Judas thing (mentioned earlier in the review, but it really is one long “oh, come on!” moment), and what you get is a great idea in the hands of someone using this as a marketing tool instead of a place for a story.
Continued belowSo the “Phantom” basically becomes “DCU Presents Jr,” and all hope is seemingly lost. Perhaps in better hands than DiDio’s something like this could honestly be a hit. If the middle ground could be reached in which the Phantom is allowed to be a character while also bringing characters X, Y and Z back into the greater picture, then “Phantom Stranger” could very well be one of the best books in DC’s arsenal, a home for lost stories of yesteryear to find a home in this strange new world. Heck, that’s working quite well for a book like “Justice League Dark,” which allows weird characters to slip back into the world as if they were never gone, and it never loses its focus or narrative. It just happens that DiDio seems disinterested in this concept, because hey, as long as you know that the Phantom is Judas, why bother dealing with anything else? Let’s just explain where his cloak came from (ugh) and that chain (ugh) and the eyes (ugh) and whatever else used to be a mystery, and once every answer is given we’ll put him in the backseat, because that sounds fun. Who needs stories now when we’re developing events for later? Pandora!
If you’re willing to be suckered into this blatant trick, then the good news is that “Phantom Stranger” from covers and solicits alone looks to be full of this kind of work. If, however, you want to see a bit more story and if you’re new to characters of this caliber, then spoiler alert: you’re better off digging up some Golden/Silver Age books, because when the character was undefined he somewhow made more sense.
Of course, Brent Anderson does manage to be somewhat of a saving grace to the book. DiDio’s complete lack of pace and character work aside, Anderson is the one who carries the book quite steadily throughout. His work is even, his lines are clean, and when we switch between locales and time periods he puts a unique and interesting spin on the environments. The representation of early New York is particularly nice, culminating in a rather impressive sequence as the issue reaches it’s conclusion. Anderson’s talents don’t seem fully taken advantage of with the issue, but they come with a certain promise. If you’re willing to stick with the series as a continuity hound of sorts and you’re ok with the negative, then Anderson will take you to some interesting places and introduce you to some interesting characters — you can be sure of that.
It’s weird: this might be an issue of enjoying a character over a creator, but there seems a lot of promise and potential with a book like this. Things could change over time, assuredly; perhaps (read: hopefully) there is a plan to develop the Stranger as a character and not just a tool, which would be nice to see. Then again, history tells us otherwise; the DCnU has so far mostly been a place to get ideas out there into the ether and see what sticks with fans with a large de-emphasis on singular central narratives versus ones that acknowledge a bigger world, and only books described as “fringe titles” (ie DC Dark) have been able to get away with telling their own story. DiDio seems like he always has good intentions, but this — like with so many other things — is just another example of a fully wasted opportunity.
Then again, I can’t say I’m not at least intrigued to read another issue to see if things get better. So at least there’s that.
Final Verdict: 6.0 – Browse
