"Return of the Eastern Dark"

Last issue, the Phantom discovered that a cult his ancestors had destroyed emerged from the ashes in a new eerie form.   The Eastern Dark captured the Phantom and his companion Jaime, a woman he saved in a previous adventure.  Jaime's slated for sacrifice.  Bad news for the cult.  She's under the protection of the Ghost Who Walks.
 
You're not buying The Phantom for a deep discussion about Proust.  You're buying The Ghost Who Walks to see the Phantom brand his skull ring on the jaws of plug-uglies, and that's what you get.  The Phantom escapes from his cell, beats the living crap out of the Eastern Dark and rescues Jaime.  That's bliss.

Sylvestre Szilagyi makes you feel every hit. The way Szilagyi orchestrates the Phantom's moves speaks of the Phantom's power. The Phantom throws his some two-hundred-and-ten pounds of muscle into every strike. They say the Phantom has the "power of ten tigers." Brother, you had better believe it. That's got to hurt.

Szilagyi delights in depicting the Phantom shattering masks to unveil wondrous looks of excruciating pain. I mean, let's think about this. Each of the Phantom's blow is breaking apart a wooden mask. The impact of each blow is still smashing a scumball's face and the impetus of the smackdown still scars the thug for life as he plummets unconscious to the ground. That is wicked strength. Bob Pedroza for the new series darkened the Phantom's purples. As a result, he cuts an even meaner figure. Letterer Josh Aitken employs a neat psychological trick. He encompasses the Phantom's speech balloons in purple. It tricks you into "hearing" a deeper timbre. In my head, this rebooted Phantom sounds like Mighty Mightor from Hanna-Barbera cartoons. His voice echoes. It seems to come at you from a tunnel.

All of these factors give The Phantom an easy four bullets, but Bullock wasn't just satisfied introducing weird foes for the Phantom to pummel. He also gives the Phantom's enemies a strong rationale for resuscitating the Eastern Dark legend. He ties them into a nasty crime based on a classic urban legend. Bullock, however, is smart enough to build on the crime and create realism through technology and a lack of basic morality among modern criminals. The Ghost Who Walks earns my highest recommendation.

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