An appreciation thread for the PHANTOM STRANGER!
Screen Shot 2020-07-02 at 7.32.50 AM.jpg
An appreciation thread for the PHANTOM STRANGER!
Screen Shot 2020-07-02 at 7.32.50 AM.jpg
Always seemed odd to me when inferring a Marvel Dr. Strange analog, most seem to default suggest Dr. Fate.
Yet Phantom Stranger (who also debuted before Strange) always seemed the more appropriate to me.
Last edited by Güicho; 07-02-2020 at 05:34 AM.
I like how Moore incorporated him into the proto-Justice League Dark team.
Although it's frustrating that when Guillermo del Toro was offering to make JL Dark loosely inspired by it, DC/WB didn't move heaven and earth to make it happen.
Also (the Glob not withstanding) another curiosity much is made of the parallel thinking that brought us the similarly Heap inspired debuts of Swamp Thing and Man-Thing.
Yet never referenced debuting about that same time (a few months apart) was this Neal Addams drawn Phantom Stranger cover.
Neal Addams cover run on Phantom Stranger was quite sensational.
Last edited by Güicho; 07-02-2020 at 06:23 AM.
While the New 52 book had its moments, I wasn’t a fan of the fact that they gave him a new definitive origin as Judas. I much prefer the Phantom Stranger to be a mystery. But if I had to choose an origin I would pick the Alan Moore story in which the Stranger was an angel who didn’t pick a side in Lucifer’s rebellion in heaven, so he’s condemned to walk the earth forever.
I kind of remember an issue of Justice League Dark from a year or so ago in which the Phantom Stranger once again has an ambiguous origin, so the Judas stuff may have been retconned.
Last edited by Robotman; 07-03-2020 at 03:32 PM.
The issue of Secret Origins that had the Moore origin tale (and three others) is one of my top 5 single issues of all time...
I really dig the Moore origin, but prefer the origin to be ambiguous. However, as a huge folklore nerd, I think the take of the Stranger as the Wandering Jew was my favorite of the 4 takes.
-M
Comic fans get the comics their buying habits deserve.
"Opinion is the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding." -Plato
The PHANTOM STRANGER's first appearance from 1952.
I liked the Stranger's brief use in Batman: Brave and The Bold.
So, what do you guys think about the Phantom Stranger being defeated by Wonder Woman? I thought he could only lose at the hands of The Spectre and, maybe, Doctor Fate. Isn’t kind of odd?
I tend to agree.I file The Phantom Stranger under the same heading as The Joker: People Who Should Never Have Their Origin Or Identity Revealed.
I like some of the bronze age stuff with Doctor Thirteen. Though reading the '50s stuff was kinda odd after that.
Cover to WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #249 by Jim Aparo.
WFC249.jpg
I'm kind of divided about the Phantom Stranger (and the Specter also). On the one hand, he's a very cool and mysterious character, larger than even our heroes are.
On the other hand, it solidifies the idea that Abrahamic God is the real one and I really don't like it for plenty of reasons.
But I'm surprised to see that he retained his New 52 origin. Do you think it means Pandora and The New 52's Question still exist somewhere ?
Yeah, I found out that he's still Judas Iscariot. What the heck? I don't really like that concept, and it has nothing to do with anything now that The Trinity of Sin concept is no longer used.
I kinda feel like they're just don't wanna think about a different concept just yet so they used the last one. Especially with the status of the new timeline is still unsure.