PHANTOM STRANGER #1
by Dan DiDio and Brent Anderson with Philip Tan
The Phantom Stranger #1 is a book I decided to try, just because of its connections to the Dark side of the DCU. Is it a frightfully good time or a strange failure?
At first, when I read the book, I thought: "Wow. The story here is really bad." For the first half of the book, the characters are lifeless and bland, the plot is bad, and it includes a suckish new version of Raven. The second half improved a little bit by giving the Stranger a bit more life (metaphorically and literally), but it still doesn't manage to stand out... UNTIL DiDio throws in a massive curveball in the last three pages with a shocking reveal about the Stranger. The twist alone was enough to bump my initial score for the issue up by one point.
The art in this issue looks gorgeous. Anderson and Tan create a dynamic and breathing world that kept my interest despite the terrible first two parts of the issue. It's simple, but filled with tons of tiny details that foreshadow the cliffhanger that you can spot during a second read.
The Phantom Stranger #1 is just an okay buy because of a terrible story that takes up a majority of the issue, despite some nice art and a mind blowing twist.
STORY: 2/5
ART: 4/5
VERDICT: 3/5
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