DC Comics Review: The Phantom Stranger #42 (Blackest Night)

By Peter J. Tomasi

Art: Adrian Syaf & Vincente Cifuentes

I'll preface by saying that this was an enjoyable issue. I was not into comics at the time of the original Phantom Stranger series, but I've always found him to be an interesting character, and this issue for the most part confirms me being right.

(Spoiler Warning)

Plot: The Stranger and the Blue Devil are where they were left at the end of Blackest Night #2 (A long way back at this point) Staring down the terrifying prospect of the Black Lantern Spectre. Quickly for the uninitiated; The Spectre is the Judeo-Christian god's hand of Vengeance. Cain (him being marked as a murderer that is), Sodom and Gomorrah, the 10 Plagues were all that guy. More relevant to the DC Universe, he was a large part of the solution to 2/3 of the Crises. He is one of the most powerful creatures in the DCU, and can do just about anything. Needless to say even the mysterious Stranger, is wetting himself a bit at this point.

The Phantom Stranger has a large point (perhaps mandate) of non-interference, though how much that matters, or is true is up for nerd debate. The Phantom Stranger, throws first motivation, and then insults at the Spectre to see if he can commune with the Spirit of Vengeance itself, rather than its human host Crispus Allen, who has been possessed by the black ring. The Spectre does not respond kindly to insults, and proceeds to try to claw his way out of his host body. Unfortunately we have a sort of Warhammer 40k conundrum of everything being the most powerful something, and the black ring ultimately wins. The Spectre gets called to the pages of Green Lantern #50 (coming tomorrow) where evidently the Stranger can't follow, so he and Blue Devil go in search of a way to rescue Deadman (Boston Brand).

Basically the rest of the issue is the Spectre gathering mcguffins and heading to Nanda Parbat to rescue Deadman, who is jumping in and out of Black Lanterns forcing them to kill themselves (In a sense). A black ring finally grabs the incorporeal Deadman, and either makes him manifest, or drags him to his body (I'm not really sure). The Stranger does a little song and dance, and some art shows parts of his potential origin, and in the end rescues Deadman. A nice cliff-hanger is reached with them mentioning something about Deadman's body being useful for something or another.

(End Spoilers)

Art: Syaf is a very talented artist. His technique reminds me of somewhere between the Kuberts/Tony Daniel, and Ivan Reis. Strong use of straight lines, for shading and effects, but when it comes to outline characters, and other important things, curves are used adequately. Needless to say it is also very detailed, very similar to Blackest Night Batman. However I'm worried that what worked there in BN Batman doesn't quite work for a magical tale of the Phantom Stranger's sort. A lot of this book is scenes of the Stranger talking, and being profound. That is fine but someone who oozes magic and mystery needs to have something going on behind him to emphasise his power, or just to give people something to dwell on. An Artist more in Tony Harris J.H. Williams or Ethan Van Sciver (When they let him off of his meds, like the speed force scenes in Flash Rebirth) might have been more appropriate, at least for some of the standing around scenes. However I understand that those guys are high profile, and probably mega expensive. Still the art is good, just not quite what was needed.

Overall Impressions: I liked this issue. It doesn't really change any part of the game, or introduce anything new; but it is solid. The story is pretty linear and straightforward, and was accessible enough to me who is only wiki educated on the Stranger. I can't say how its done justice or not to the original series, but I think the point of the Blackest Night title resurrections were to garner interest in past series, and on that note it succeeded. The artwork is fine, on its own merits, but I personally don't feel like it suits the story. Finally just to add my own little flavour to this issue...It doesn't mesh perfectly but try The Grand Conjuration by Opeth with this issue. If you know the song, you'll know the pace to read at and it actually fits pretty well.

Also, sorry I haven't been keeping up with this (All 100 of you who have at least stumbled this). School has started again, so I'm stuck between real reading, and leisure reading. I'll try to have this weeks issues up by Sunday or Monday depending when I stop drinking/being hung-over from my birthday this Sunday.