Truly A Stranger
The anticipated (for better or worse) introduction of The Phantom Stranger is upon us. Was it worth it?
The Good:
The art, first off. It is clearly evocative of older, more "weird crime"-esque comics and that plays well with the Phantom Stranger.
There are also pages here and there that really give off a classic Phantom Stranger feel to it. Though these parts were often fleeting they were greatly appreciated.
The story/concept was admittedly decent, and has potential to be built upon.
The Bad:
Let's get this out of the way. The origin. Giving the Phantom Stranger an origin could have potential even though it does work against the basis of the character. The issue did not deliver on that potential...but could in following issues.
The introduction of The Spectre. Given that The Spectre is such a high profile character within the DC universe you'd think that he would receive more than a few pages and a one-off origin story. Done too quickly and too sloppily.
The writing. While Dan Didio's writing style worked in his favor for OMAC (a bombastic and fun series that didn't take itself too seriously), it is not a good fit for The Phantom Stranger. The inner monologue was at times cringeworthy and the dialogue of other characters...laughable at points.
Verdict: 2/5
Not a terrible issue, not a good one either. As said before there's a lot of potential to be tapped into here, but this was not able to. There's hope for future issues if the quality that at times leaked into the issue is brought to the surface, but expectations are low.
