The Phantom Stranger #6 - Part 1 - Follow Me... For I Am... The Phantom Asshole.
The Phantom Stranger was a DC Comics character that was created in the 1950's as a supernatural character, his title was shit canned after only six issues. This probably is due to the advent of the Comic Code Authority in the late 50's that pretty much shat all over every type of comic book that featured horror, or crime. However, the horror genre for comic books made a come back of sorts (not all the titles were canned, but had to adhere to CCA standards) in the late 60's and early 70's. However, with the exception of titles DC Comic's House of Mystery and House of Secrets these books took on horror with a super-hero dynamic. Birth was given to titles like Man-Thing, Swamp Thing, Son of Satan and so on, that were horror titles, but with super-heroic twists. Even Tomb of Dracula which was a continuation of Bram Stokers Dracula story couldn't escape the super-hero fuck-a-row, giving license to the prince of darkness having to fight a team of colorful vampire hunters, and occasionally guest staring in issues of Spider-Man or X-Men. Phantom Stranger was brought back during this time and suffered from the same faults. In spite of my obvious bias towards DC Comics and their brand of comics stupidity, I have to say that Phantom Stranger wasn't such a bad series. It was less goofy than your Aquaman's or Superman's of the time, however the series suffered from weak story telling and relied on deux ex machina more often than not. The format of the story usually involved some possible supernatural mystery which would not only attract the Phantom Stranger (A super-naturally powerful beacon of light and good) but that of Doctor Thirteen (dubbed the "Ghost-Breaker" an eternal skeptic of the supernatural who believed the Stranger to be a fraudster.) Often the mystery would remind both characters of a previous case and would take time to stop and explain that previous case and use it to justify how it applies to the current case and supports their beliefs. Often times it was executed very weakly or at inopportune times (Dude, there's a death goddess running around do we need to stop for story time right now?) and often times these "flashbacks" (earlier ones being reprints from the Phantom Stranger series from the 50's) would take away from the central story. I find a lot of character and plot development was sacrificed as a result and the endings are often rushed. Additionally, the need to give Phantom Stranger a regular villain to fight found the awkward insertion of the female villain Tala into many of the early issues when it would have been just as well to leave her out of the damn story to begin with. Dr. Thirteen's constant criticisms for debunking the Phantom's super-natural explanations for things get tiresome at times, since more often than not he usually thinks "mass hypnosis" is the reason people see Phantom Stranger's supernatural abilities. But enough of this general evaluation of the series, let's take a look at Phantom Stranger #6, which is possibly the best example of what I was just talking about, and it also has a stupid ending that would make any DC Comics writer feel all warm and tingly (and this time it's not the crotch fungus!) |
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