Ever since this year’s Free Comic Book Day offering from DC Comics, many questions have arisen about the Phantom Stranger and the role he will play in the New 52. By the end of this issue, it’s hard to say whether any of those questions have truly been answered. Dan Didio writes in an endless stream of expository caption boxes that tell a vague story, give a vague outline of the Phantom Stranger's character, and only manage to generate an equally vague amount of interest.
Starting just a moment before Geoff Johns’s FCBD issue, readers are given a straightforward look at every step of the Phantom Stranger’s origin. The tale attempts to be mysterious but lands on the more uninspired side of things without any insightful character developments or gripping plot twists. There is a surprise of sorts towards the end, but it feels so disconnected from the story being told that it comes off awkward instead of awesome. If you want a surprise done right then check out the end of Brian Azzarello’s Wonder Woman #12.
The art by Brent Anderson gets the job done, but his layouts and character designs are as ho-hum as the story they depict. Didio tells his story with an air of mystery about the Phantom Stranger’s true identity, but it’s hard to imagine anyone not realizing that he is Judas, as in the guy who betrayed Jesus. For a Jewish man born two thousands years ago in the Middle East, he sure does look an awful lot like a modern day Caucasian guy. Maybe that’s part of the mystery?
Joshua is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter or IGN, where he is hell-bent on making sure you know his opinion about comic books.
Source : ign[dot]com
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