By Jason Bourgeois
I've talked a little bit about DC's Zero Month already, and the books I read were mostly okay. They did their job of telling some decent origins, and still setting things up. I think I still prefer the original Zero Month from the mid 90s. A lot of this batch's attempts were merely okay to mediocre. Again, based on the ones I read.
Oh, but one of them stood out in particular. And sadly, not because it blew me away with its amazing writing. No, this one was just plain awful. I dropped the book so fast. I've always been intrigued by the Phantom Stranger, but always felt he worked better as just that; a stranger. A character that passes through, gives vague statements, and moves on. He works great as a plot device, and less so as a character. He fills much the same role that The Watcher fills for Marvel. When you see these guys show up, things are about to get serious. And if they *speak*? Oh man, things are bad!
The reason the Phantom Stranger works, is because of that mystery. You don't want to know TOO much about this guy. You want him to be mysterious, all powerful, and enigmatic. You can fill in some details around the edges, but the more you learn, the more he becomes just some guy with magical abilities. The less you know, the more YOU get to make up what sort of guy this creature is. Or maybe he's not a guy! The moment you pull back that curtain and reveal the wizard, you ruin the character.
Granted, the same was often said about Wolverine, but he was less mysterious as a plot device, and is a character more capable of surviving having an origin. Because he clearly IS a guy, on some level. That's a question that's up for debate, and maybe some other column. Let's stick to DC, shall we?
One of my favourite Phantom Stranger stories, and issues of Secret Origins, from back in the day, was the issue all about the PS. And how did they get around the problem of giving him an origin? Easy. They gave him THREE. Is one of them true? Are none of them true? Could they ALL be true? That's a brilliant way to do it, and makes him MORE mysterious. A very similar take was done with the Joker in the Dark Knight movie. It gives you insight by NOT giving you insights!
And then there's Phantom Stranger #0. Sigh. What did they do? They spelled out the guy's origin. In every, excruciating detail, in every little nuance, removing every bit of mystery, and making him just some guy.
Well, not just ANY guy. They at least made him Judas, condemned to spend an eternity atoning for his sins. That's actually a compelling idea. I just fail to see it as a good one for the Stranger.
They spell out his origins in the very first few pages, in an expanded scene, from Judas's perspective, of a scene earlier told for Pandora over in a backup in Justice League. Now, the idea didn't bug me then, since the Stranger wasn't the feature player there, and you could worm your way around it, maybe spin it as being a ruse of some kind. But then this book comes out, and nope. It is exactly what it appeared, and even expanded upon to make it even MORE clear.
The best part is how the book goes to such lengths to hammer home that he is a stranger, and none shall ever know who he is...EXCEPT THE READERS. It is almost laughable watching them try and have it both ways.
In addition to that, the book also introduces Jim Corrigan, and any longtime DC fan could guess that the Spectre might not be far behind. And they would be 100% correct. This is also fair enough, since the two characters were closely tied to each other before New 52, so it makes sense to bring them together here as well.
The Spectre's origins aren't terrible, and more or less in line with how they should be. But the problem with his scenes is the writing. Now, I am not a hater of Dan Didio as a writer, and certainly not as an editor. I get why much of what DC has done during his tenure, and even agree with most of it. I am not bothered by the deaths, but the scale of just how many we were getting a few years ago became a bit much...but again, another day, another column for that topic.
Dan's writing on this issue is just so...heavy and obvious. It feels phoned in. The Judas stuff is okay, but just ill-advised for the PS. And the scenes with Corrigan are downright laughable. In brief, they're about Detective Corrigan arguing with his superior at the precinct, and this is a scene we have all seen a million times. It is in every cheap cop movie, and in every police procedural. It wasn't even satirical or poking fun at the convention of the scene, but tried to play it absolutely straight. It is one of the cheapest, most obvious scenes I've seen written, in a very long time.
If DC really wanted to make a Phantom Stranger comic, they could not have done much worse. They really should have used him in some sort of anthology type book, or as almost a guest in his own book, exploring the mysteries of the magic of the New DCU, but never answering too much of this mystery itself. Instead, they blew the biggest mystery of all, they did it badly, and I just don't care.
The capper to the whole thing came at the end of the issue, with the new Phantom Stranger profile page at the very end of the title. "What little is known about the Phantom Stranger remains rumour and conjecture. His true identity forever unknown..." Yeah, forever ended 20 pages ago, apparently. If you want to try and do profile pages, official bios like the old Who's Who books from days gone by, it is ill-advised to have them absolutely contradicted, completely out of date, and entirely worthless BEFORE YOU EVEN READ IT.
Sigh.
So, that's the failure of Phantom Stranger #0. I am not continuing to support this comic.
Jason M. Bourgeois
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