The Phantom (2003 Series) #16

May 4, 2007

The Phantom #16 (Moonstone)
By Mike Bullock, Silvestre Szilagyi, Bret Blevins

Mike Bullock takes his first journey into the jungle since taking over this title full-time. The Phantom encounters a woman who works for an animal conservation organization, a woman who has come under fire by a group of trappers who feel she’s encroaching on their business. What they don’t know, though, is that for the past 150 years, her family has been marked by the rarely-used Goodmark of the Phantom’s left ring, the stamp that indicates they are under the protection of the Ghost Who Walks. As I’ve come to expect from Bullock, the book gives us a lot of strong action and stronger characterization. Angela Carlyle is a bit of a sterotype as a character — the activist who rebels against her family — but she works nonetheless. Silvestre Szilagyi‘s artwork is just great — clean and effective. Moonstone is really treating this classic character right.

Rating: 8/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: Marvel Team-Up (1972 Series) Annual #5

Wondering what Somebody’s First Comic Book is all about? The explanation is on this page!

TITLE: Serpent Rising

CREDITS:
Writer: Mark Gruenwald
Breakdowns: Mark Gruenwald
Embellishment: Jim Mooney
Letters: Diana Albers
Colors: Bob Sharen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Cover: Ed Hannigan & Al Milgrom
Publisher: Marvel Comics

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: I know Spider-Man, of course, and I remember the Thing from that Fantastic Four movie. Don’t know the other two heroes or the guy riding the giant snake.

IMPRESSIONS: Ah, apparently the snake guy is actually a good guy, Quasar, who also happens to be the head of security at an “energy project,” Project Pegasus. Evidently, the whole project is being invaded by a magic snake-god from ancient times. Quasar gets out a distress signal to the Thing, who comes to the rescue, and Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch (both of whom evidently have had encounters with the thing before) get some sort of psychic wave alerting them to the danger. Spider-Man recruits Dr. Strange for help, but the Scarlet Witch dumps off her red-skinned husband and tells him to call the Avengers if she doesn’t come back. Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to call the Avengers now and have him come with her? Eh, anyway.

This book was kind of hard to figure out, at first, but about a third of the way through Dr. Strange conveniently provided us with a complete history of the Serpent Crown and all the different characters that have encountered it over the years. (Including, apparently, Conan the Barbarian.) That, plus the character beats we get throughout the story, make it possible to get into the story eventually. Ya gotta feel bad for Quasar, though – he gets billing with the rest of the heroes, but he really comes off looking like a chump in this issue.

All things considered, in the end, this book wasn’t bad. I pieced it together and the story made sense.

GRADE: B

JSA Classified #12

May 22, 2006

Quick Rating: Good
Title: The Fall and Rise of Vandal Savage Part Three

It’s Vandal Savage versus Green Lantern – for the last time?

Writer: Stuart Moore
Pencils: Paul Gulacy
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: I.L.L.
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Mike Carlin
Cover Art: Paul Gulacy
Publisher: DC Comics

In a way, I’ve been slightly disappointed in this series. One of the cool things about JLA Classified is that the creative teams have permission to go to any era of the Justice League, but in JSA Classified, the book is rooted in current continuity. For the world’s first superhero team, that just seems like a wasted opportunity. On the other hand the current arc, featuring a dying Vandal Savage plotting revenge against his greatest foe, the Golden Age Green Lantern, has been a pretty darn good one.

Savage, dying, remembers a fateful encounter with own daughter as Alan – who recently lost his own child – races to confront the villain with an old friend. Savage, however, has been around for millions of years, and even as he faces his final, imminent death, he’s got something up his sleeve.

Moore has done a pretty good job with this arc. I’m a big fan of Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern for those embroiled in the endless Hal/Kyle debate, and it’s nice to see him get something of a spotlight. However, he’s still technically the antagonist this issue, as the focus is squarely on Vandal Savage, one of the most interesting villains in the DCU. Part of me doesn’t believe they’ll actually kill him off, but then, they haven’t even finished counting the bodies from Infinite Crisis yet, so what would one more be?

Moore’s story is fine, but I’m slightly disappointed in Paul Gulacy’s artwork. He doesn’t quite have the right sensibilities for the sci-fi and magical aspects of the two lead characters – the panels look somewhat awkward, and the revelation of a monster towards the end isn’t as grotesque as it should be – the creature winds up looking like a cross between X-Statix’s Doop and Mr. Potato Head.

Overall, this has been a solid arc weighed down by less-then-stellar artwork. Gulacy, to my liking, is better suited for street-level characters like his run on Catwoman.

Rating: 7/10