Writer: Mike Bullock
Artist: Carlos Magno, Nick Main(c)
Publisher: Moonstone
Mike Bullock for this Phantom tale chooses to tweak the narrative. As a result, we find ourselves just as disoriented as the Phantom. Last issue, the Ghost Who Walks emerged from the jungle triumphant. The poachers had been bound and sat under the guard of Bangallan tigers.
The book opens with a flashback describing the villain's rationale. It naturally doesn't hold water nor does it make the villain remotely sympathetic. A nice change from so many shades of gray types of antagonists.
After the flashback, the issue opens with the Phantom strapped to a table and under the influence of a powerful narcotic produced from tiger parts. Bullock explains the Phantom's predicament in flashback. Hence, the book's one drawback. It depends on too many flashbacks.
The Phantom's flashback however is necessary. The Phantom's memories exemplify to the reader that their hero isn't infallible. The Ghost Who Walks enters a most charmingly baited trap, and it's his want to protect innocent life that blinds him to the obvious.
Batman arose from the purest of tragedies. Before his eyes, crime took away his parents. Crime shattered his life. Because of this defining moment, Batman assumes the worst and thus acts suspicious of all. The Phantom incorporates into his origin rebirth as well as death. Because the Phantom is many men, the Phantom cannot die. He also cannot develop a distrust of the world. He has been trained to see the world as it is by the Phantom before him, and the successor has been prepared for the Phantom's death. The Phantom's worldview is much more complex and more realistic. Not everybody is out to get you. Some are neither for you nor against you, and some actually will support you.
With this in mind, Bullock laces humor to the Phantom's voice. When attempting to save a life or defeat a foe, the Phantom sounds like he's having a ball. Even injury doesn't deter him, and he laughingly thanks his foe for the narcotics that dull his pain. This is but one mistake the villain makes. In another nice twist, the villain's rough treatment of the Phantom gives our hero a plausible out he needs to escape. The damage incidentally offers a plausible reflection of traditional pulp tricks.
Carlos Magno and Nick Main contrast the proportionate and muscular Phantom against nightmarish hallucinations done almost in a Neal Adams style. They keep this stand-alone story that still serves as a second chapter in constant motion. The villain appears to know la savate, but the Phantom has a mean right hook, and Magno gives you an idea of how much it hurts when beaten by the Phantom.
The Phantom it is said possesses "the power of ten tigers." He didn't even need one to do away with his current nemesis. Nobody beats the Phantom, and this villain doesn't even walk away from battle with his skin intact. After obsessively carving the Phantom's symbol into a bar table last issue, our Big Bad proves to be a big loser. He thus adds to the legacy of losers who thought they could best the Ghost Who Walks. You can immediately recognize them by the skull-shaped scar on each of their jaws.
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