The Phantom Stranger Dynasty!

As a result of buying the Phantom Stranger Showcase, I've been posting a lot about PS here lately. How could I not? He's mysterilicious.

Devon suggested to me that I apply the Absorbascon's patented "Dynastic Centerpiece" model to Phantom Stranger; and so I shall!


Dynastic Centerpiece: The Phantom Stranger

Although there are lots of mystic DC characters, I don't think any of them really have a dynasty built around them. Oh, there are hints of it: Blue Devil and Zatanna each have "kid sidekicks" or "junior counterparts" in Kid Devil and Zatara. But there aren't any full-blown dynasties, and maybe that's part of what's kept such mystic characters on the periphery.

You'd think that one of the mystics who hangs out with superheroes regularly, like a Dr. Fate, would be the best bet for building such a dynasty. I submit the irony that the Phantom Stranger -- one of comics' pre-eminent loners -- comes the closest to becoming a Dynastic Centerpiece. After all, he is a member of Justice League... .


Junior Counterpart: the Ghost of Vibe

Just kidding! Still, how fabulous would it be to have a ghostly breakdancing Puerto Rican gang member as the Phantom Stranger's junior partner? Answer: Very. I can just picture PS giving one of his sententious orations while Paco mockingly vogues behind him.

My actual nomination is a different ghost entirely: Deadman. Like the Stranger, he wanders around, mucking about in other people's private lives, then moves on. He makes a nice contrast, too; the Phantom Stranger appears to be just a man with lots of supernatural sound and fury, whereas Deadman is a very regular, plain-talking guy who just happens to be a ghost.



Female Counterpart: Madame Xanadu

Like the Phantom Stranger, Madame Xanadu has no apparent past. Whereas the Stranger always seems to know what is happening, Xanadu, a fortune-teller, specializes in knowing what will happen.

And, like a good female counterpart, Madame Xanadu has a sassy independent streak. There aren't a lot of people who stand up to the Phantom Stranger; she's one of them.


Kid Sidekick: Song the Buddhaboy

Song is the young Tibetan flautist whom PS saves from falling off a cliff. He's a tough customer, he's devoted to the Stranger, and his brother's the Dali Lama, which might occasionally come in handy.



Black Sheep: Dr. Terry Thirteen

It's actually pretty obvious, when you think about it. The "Black Sheep" isn't bad per se; he's just the person who swims against the very grain that the rest of his dynasty swims with.

No one fits that description better than Dr. 13. He reduces the most supernatural-appearing situations to common phenomena; the Phantom Stranger, on the other hand, lends a mystic importance to even the most mundane of settings.

Besides, Dr. Thirteen has always been associated with the Phantom Stranger. In fact, the Phantom Stranger was originally a supporting figure in Dr. Thirteen's stories, a relationship that reversed itself when the PS got his own series in 1969.


Civilian Companion: Cassandra Craft

Cassanda Craft is the blind seer who took the Phantom Stranger home when he got his clock cleaned in the Manhattan subways. PS can navigate the mountains of Tibetan and battle demons, but can't manage to avoid get mystically mugged on the Manhattan subway.



Elder Statesman: Dr. Occult

Elder than the Phantom Stranger? What on earth does that mean, when no one knows how old he might be? Well, that might be meaningless within the comics, from our perspective lots of characters are older than the Phantom Stranger, since he first appeared in 1952.

Dr. Occult first appeared in 1935. In a sense, he was the Golden Age's "Phantom Stranger": an (apparently) normal man with (comparatively) normal clothes but great (and vague) mystical powers. He's the ideal person to serve as the "Elder Statesman" of the Phantom Dynasty.


Animal Companion: Detective Chimp.

We already know they're friends; it was Bobo who saved the Phantom Stranger when the Spectre turned him into a mouse. One function of an Animal Companion is to add a lighter, more "human" touch to a hero's dynasty; Bobo's earthiness would be a helpful counterbalance to PS's famous portentiousness/sententiousness.


Authority Figure: ????

First off, let me clarify something for those of you of certain generation: no, by "????" I do not mean Malachi Throne.

What I mean is I'm not quite certain who this should be. In our model, the Civilian Authority Figure is non-superhero who contacts the dynastic centerpiece and asks for help or otherwise helps spur action. Think "Commissioner Gordon". Who on earth (or elsewhere) would serve as the Phantom Stranger's Commissioner Gordon?

At one time, I would have been tempted to put John Constantine in this role. That was his original role in the Swamp Thing saga: directing Swamp Thing (or others) to mystic troublespots without so much engaging in the action himself. But I'm pretty sure that, as a headliner with a title of his own, he's pretty much grown beyond that.

Ah, but there is another character! He's currently unused, doesn't participate in things first hand, and has a history of calling in others to tackle situations. And he lives in Georgetown: Baron Winter. Like PS he appears normal, but his origins are shrouded in mystery. Unlike PS, who can never stay in one place, Baron Winter has to stay in one place: he's magically trapped in his own house.

Baron Winter would be a good Commissioner Gordon for PS. That is, if such a thing is ever necessary, given that the Phantom Stranger is famously self-actuating. Part of what makes the Phantom Stranger cool is that he simply shows up in a place where he's needed. It's one of his powers.


Contextualizing City: LOL!

That's just not the way the Phantom Stranger rolls. The whole world is his city.

Why We Love the Phantom Stranger Some More 4

One of the best reasons to love the Phantom Stranger? The Phantom Stranger's Hat.

I bet you're thinking, "Yeah, it's so cool how his hat always stays on his head, except for that one time in got knocked off in Hell in that big Swamp Thing story!"

But you're wrong.

The Phantom Stranger's hat, you see, is not a mere object he wears at will. It's some kind of semi-sentient, quasi-independent entity, that simply chooses to stay with him most of the time. Kind of like my dog.

Sometimes, however, it simply goes walkabout.

In this panel, for example, the Phantom Stranger puts his hat on, which has been noticeably absent for most of the action in the story.

"Even I..."
Modest, isn't he?

Where was it? How did he get it back? Even I do not understand all the workings of the Phantom Stranger's hat. But you know all those times the Phantom Stranger mysteriously disappears? It's not him; it's the hat, and it simply takes PS along for the ride. Kind of like walking my dog.

Here's another one from the Archives of the Phantom Stranger's Naked Head:

Phantom Stranger, corporate consultant.

This is one of those stories where the hat is absent. UNTIL... the Epilogue.

All the Phantom Stranger does in this epilogue is put his hat on. Yes, really.

What the heck is PS's hat doing lying in a previously unseen alley? Rumor has it, the hat sometimes goes off tomcatting with its alley-buds.. You know....Sargon's turban, the Helm of Fate, Eclipo's Phyrgian cap. Sometimes they get in fights and beat up Felix Faust's desert-hat-thingie or the Matter Master's dunce-cap. Other times, they meet up with Zatanna's Red Caterpillar Hat, and... well, you know.

And what's the meaning of juxtaposing the Phantom Stranger putting on his hat with some guy shooting a security guard? What does "meaning' mean in a Phantom Stranger story...?!

Sometimes, the hat gets feisty and decides to chase cars...

"Bad hat! Come back here this instant!"

or just start howling at people it doesn't like.

Oh, yeah. My dog makes THAT noise, alright.

The Phantom Stranger's hat deserves its own Who's Who page, a Heroclix pog, and an indy band named after it.

Groovy Chick Month 10: Cassandra Craft

Okay, put on your thinking cap: without knowing anything about her at all, who is automatically, conceptually, by definition the grooviest chick in the entire DCU?

Why, the Phantom Stranger's girlfriend, of course. I mean, Julius H. Schwartz, I feel special just because I'm in the guy's extended network, and she's his GIRLFRIEND.

She's the girlfriend of the Phantom Stranger, who could have any man, woman, or mythical construct he wanted. And she just gets groovier from that point on, if such a thing is possible.

Kind?


She rescued the Phantom Stranger after he got mugged on New York subway and nursed him back to health. And she was smart enough to know to leave his gloves on, because if you take them off, the multiverse ends. Happened once, in 1985, I think.

Oh, and, yes, he really did get mugged on the subway. Mystically mugged, mind you, but mugged nonetheless.

Beautiful?


And tough enough to survive simultaneous attacks by Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. She's also psychic. Not a "the Padres will win this year" kind of psychic. A "I know certain things when I need to know them" kind of psychic. Would you expect any less of the Phantom Stranger's girlfiend?

If you're wondering how any mortal could possibly gaze upon the full glory of the Phantom Stranger naked (well ... except for the gloves) and survive, well ... she can, because she's blind. Hence the pink outfit.

Her own grooviness is the only fashion accessory she needs. Although in Grant Morrison's Zatanna miniseries (issue 2) she's wearing the Phantom Stranger's medallion.

Just let that sink in.

The Phantom Stranger
let
her
wear
his
medallion.

That's Cassandra Craft. Here she is sassing the friggin' Phantom Stranger when he tries to pull his "I walk a path none should follow" routine.

Wait -- did she just call a man in an opera cape and fedora ridiculous?

"What? Like I'm going to stay here rather than traipse off to a desert in Egypt with a weirdly dressed nameless guy I found unconscious last night in a subway station?
What kind of a wuss do you take me for, Mister?!"

I've read lots of comics and most of the ones that have the Phantom Stranger in them. In all of that, I can think of only five characters who've ever sassed the Phantom Stranger and lived to tell about it: The Spectre, Darkseid, Eclipso, Dr. Thirteen, and Cassandra Craft. That's might impressive company.

There are none so blind as those who will not see the grooviness of Cassandra Craft. If you know her, you love her. And if you love her, you are ...

the Phantom Stranger.

Zeroing In: Phantom Stranger

Oh, Phantom Stranger, why hast thou forsaken me?

Or, more accurately, why has DC forsaken thee?

I've written a lot of the Phantom Stranger, a character I adore.  From beginnings as part of an Odd Couple with Dr Thirteen to his pre-new52 status as the Guy Who'll Smack-talk Darkseid and the Quintessence gang, the Phantom Stranger has been remarkably...

well, I was going to say "consistent".  But in fact he is anything but.  His inconsistency is, in a way, part of what is consistent about him.  You cannot say what his powers are.  Or how or why he does what he does.  Or even what it is he does.

You don't know his name.  Or his origin.  The main things you know about him that are constant are:

• he seems to come and go as he pleases ("Phantom") and 
• no one, including you, knows jack about him ("Stranger").  
• Oh, and that he's basically a good guy, who helps good guys do good things, using his superior knowledge and vaguely mystical powers. 

In the Zero issue of "Phantom Stranger", DC has abandoned all that, pretty much ruining the character completely in just one story.

Oh, he still looks the same.  And he sounds the same.  But he's a phantom of his former self, and he's become a stranger to me:

• They gave him a definite origin.
• That origin is tied (pretty unambiguously) to the Jesus Christ mythos.
• He is punished by kind of characters he used to challenge with impunity.
• He no longer follows his own mysterious agenda, but is the pawn of others.
• He has no idea what he's doing, or why.
• He seems apathetic about humanity.

They did everything I can think of that would ruin the character short of making him do a rap version of his own theme song.  And somehow the real Phantom Stranger would have still made that work.

Why We Love the Phantom Stranger Some More

Well, the Showcase Presents: The Phantom Stranger Volume 2 came out, and you know what that means: more lessons on Why We Love the Phantom Stranger.

Really, there are few characters odder than old PS. He should be called the Phantom StrangEST. No real name, no origin (and, no, the "unfallen angel" story does not count), no consistent powers, no clear guidelines as to when he will or will not appear and/or act. In other characters, these would be flaws; in the Phantom Stranger, they are strengths. Along with the outfit. And "Rod Serling on 'shrooms" way of speaking.

Speaking of shrooms, one of the reasons we love the Phantom Stranger is that, well... you never quite know what he's going to do. Maybe he's about to disappear or let loose with the cosmic zippity-zap; maybe he's just going to bitch-slap somebody across the room or start making out with some endangered hippy-chippy. Or maybe he's going to do....

THIS

What a joker! Last Halloween he came over and pulled this trick on some kids who rang my doorbell for treats. Nearly wet myself laughing. Then he ruined it all with some meandering series of bromides about "life not being what it seems" and "fraught with dangers for the unwary" and how that's "a lesson that may serve such youngsters well for they need to beware of ... strangers." Sigh. Of course.

See, just when you think you know him, he turns out to be... a stranger. Still, you know he totally had this poster in his college dorm room:

Can't you just see him, in the turtleneck and medallion, staring at the poster and practicing the Face-Melting Trick? All the while telling his roommate he's preparing "not to fear the face of Evil, but to teach it to fear the Face of Him", when really he's just doing it to get hippy chicks...

Special Powers!

As anyone who follows Heroclix at all probably already knows, sweeping (and in my opinion long overdue) improvements are being made to the game. These changes are designed to increase the comic book feel of the game and tilt game mechanics toward comic book accurate theme teams.

Yay! For more details see here .

Anyway, individual characters can now have unique powers, rather than just different combinations of standard powers. The Human Torch, for example, might have "Fire Wall", the ability to create a barrier that does damage to anyone adjacent to it.

Not only does will this allow figures to "act" even more like the characters they represent, it allows for the creation of characters that simply didn't translate very well onto the existing power dial system. Two characters of that type specifically mentioned in the announcement (and planned for the new Justice League set in August) are Deadman and the Phantom Stranger.

Oh, yes. The Phantom Stranger heroclix figure is coming.

There are so many "special powers" the Phantom Stranger deserves. In fact, the Phantom Stranger should have nothing BUT special powers. Hat Wearing. Lion Evaporation. Wrist Breaking. Chick Kissing. Speedboat Surfing. Ice Giant Clobbering. And, most important...

Smack Talk. As a free action, the Phantom Stranger can lower by 2 the Defense Value of any opposing figures within four spaces, just by judging them harshly. Any adjacent opposing figures also receive "Tongue Lashing", which does two clicks of penetrating damage.

With the further news that there'll be a Justice League set in August 07 and a Teen Titans set in Feb 08, each with 60 different characters in it, and the possibilities for new/redone characters with fabulous special powers is mindboggling...

All kidding aside, I'm convinced the JL set will contain a Vibe, since they're trying to represent as many of the various versions of the Justice League as possible. Imagine a Vibe who (in addition to standard powers like Force Blast, Quake, and Explosion) might have...

Breakdancing. Any turn where Vibe doesn't make an attack, he may as a free action use "Breakdancing" to distract any one opposing figure that can see him, preventing it from attacking anyone on the next turn.

Of course, it might up with something unfortunate like "Choked to Death by an Android" (Any opposing figure with the keyword "Robot" automatically succeeds when making a close combat attack against Vibe).

Imagine the other fun possibilities, such as:

Determinism. Anywhere within Supergirl's range, re-roll abilities like Probability Control do not function.

Ghostbreaker. Any figure within view of Dr. Thirteen loses its Mystic Team Ability.

What else can you think of?

Why We Love the Phantom Stranger VI

I scoff at James Bond. James Bond is a WUSS compared to the Phantom Stranger. The Phantom Stranger is a true International Man of Mystery.


If the Phantom Stranger doesn't like you, he will beat the living tar out of you.

When miscreants have beards, you have to hit them extra hard.

And that is why he wears opera gloves.

Let's get ready to RUUUUUUUUUMMBBBBLLLLLLE!

If you have minions, they'd better have insurance,
'cuz when P.S. starts a-wailin' it's like an Act of God.

No P.S. beatdown is complete without a severe and haughty tongue-lashing.

"Unhand that tricapital ophidian, you miscreant!"

Nuff said!

Once he's done pummelling you half way to Jesus and back, then he'll steal your girl.

What are you going to do about it? Shoot him?

As if.

Then, once he's done with both of you, he'll do something so gratuitously, awe-inspiringly fabulous that Bond would simply wet his pants even to view it.

Now that is a man. In an opera cape.


What indeed.

I'm sorry, but anyone who can see that without wanting to have the Phantom Stranger's baby simply isn't human.

Words fail me.

And all of this is done, of course, in The Outfit, which no one else (certainly not James Bond) could carry off.

Guest Star Poll Results: The Phantom Stranger

I'm suprised (but shouldn't be) that the winner of our Favorite Guest Star Poll turned out to be the Phantom Stranger.

It makes sense. Although virtually nothing is know about the Phantom Stranger (other than that he favors Wendy's), he was designed to be a guest star; it's what he does.

"Stop," commanded the Stranger. "The decision you make now could affect your life, the lives of others... the fate of the world! If you choose wisely, things will be good. If you choose poorly, things will be bad. You have been warned, but I can help you no further for I am no friend, merely... a stranger."

Uh, thanks, PS. Now that you've reaffirmed my belief in the radical theory of "cause and effect", can I get back to perusing the menu in peace? I hope my choice of Combo Meal 4 with Dr. Pibb won't collapse the multiverse...

The man was basically a guest star in his own title, always lurking about as a shadow on the wall. That's how all the spooky comics worked back in the day. Some overarching interlocutory force (Cain or Abel, the Cryptkeeper, the Three Witches, Fate) was used to give a sense of continuity to one-shot EC style stories. Phantom Stranger was the most "pro-active" and actually appeared in the stories, but he's a comic book Greek chorus. He comments on the action, warns people, helps readers understand what's at stake and how they should feel about it. But in the end, the characters' fates are in their own hands, not his.

He has been traipsing around the DCU, as hard it is to believe, since 1952. Hard to believe because the character resists even well-meant attempts to give him backstory, explanation, or context. Those are just stories to him, and he remains exactly as unknown and unknowable as he was 50 years ago. But all that walking must be tiring....

The New History of the DCU

Having just read the second and third issues of The New History of the DCU, I want to share my thoughts on this masterpiece of synoptic lore-spinning.  It is a tremendous, unenviable undertaking with impressive results, even if I don't agree with each decision made in the process.

I am delighted that the creators choose to represent the original Teen Titans with one of their most absurd adventures, where they fought giant disembodied body parts.

Well, that caption box packs a wallop. By describing Wonder Woman as a "born of clay and endowed with godly powers" in strongly rejects her new-ish "secret origin" as the daughter of Zeus in favor of her traditional origin.  But PERHAPS it is simply that Barry doesn't KNOW the secret origin?  That's my hope since I like Wonder Woman more as a demigod than as a Galatea.  It also embraces the concept (first offered by John Byrne, I believe) that there was a Wonder Woman in WWII, but that it was Diana's mother, Hippolyta.  I guess I'm not the only fan who wants to have his cake and eat it, too.

Bulletproof cape?  An understandable, if strained, attempt to soften the idea of letting a kid run into battle with gun-toting gangsters... as if he would ever actually get the chance to use the cape, WHICH FLOWS BEHIND HIM, to protect himself.

My feelings about Cyborg remain unchanged, by the way.

More cake having/eating.  This telling keeps Cyborg in the JLA's new initial adventure fighting Darkseid, but cleverly puts him in suspended animation afterwards,  keeping him out of the formal formation of the League with the Martian Manhunter after the battle against the Apellaxians and making him still young enough to be a Titan.  That is an impressive bit of legerdemain, accomplished with only one phrase.

Yes. I Ching and his contempt-filled relationship with pantsuit Diana Prince remains in continuity.  

Thank you for reasserting that Guy Gardner was a gym teacher. In Baltimore, by the way, which I suppose is where the ability to overcome great fear comes from.

I REALLY think we all could have done without Kobra, of which no one is fond and upon whom no significant continuity hinges.

Really? I had thought this was gone from continuity, as it certainly seems as though in current continuity Arthur and Mera just has their first child.  I would have to read more carefully, but perhaps this is something that DID happen, but then Unhappened due to Crisis, meaning Barry could still write about it knowingly, even though it has no longer happened.

Ambush Bug, who to my knowledge has zero fans (if he ever did) and zero importance to lore, REALLY should have just been left out of history.

ART FAIL.

I do not know who the lip-obsessed artist for this comic was.  But I DO know that the Phantom Stranger is not The Phantom and does NOT wear a mask.  His eye are simply shadowed by his hat. AND his eyes are not actually blank; they just APPEAR that way when he wears the hat, because he's the Phantom Stranger and doesn't have to make sense.

"Legends" was an under-remembered but great crossover (the one in which the Phantom Stranger keeps smack-talking Darkseid and Glorious Godfrey turns the common folk against superheroes).  I am glad to see it remembered here as well as its connection to the JLI.

I am touched to see this remembrance of a young Paul Kupperberg's X-men-like version of the Doom Patrol, including tentative hero Scott Fischer, who no one remembers was the first fatal victim of the Dominators' Gene Bomb, and Arani ("Celsius"), who claimed to be Niles Caulder's wife, and who sacrificed herself silently in battle when he returned and denied ever knowing her, which was one of the saddest and most mysterious plot resolutions I have ever seen.

Look, I know Barry Allen is a scientist, not a humanist, by trade. But I refuse to believe that Barry could write a sentence as clumsy as "Would that such deep tragedy limited itself to the stars, but no."  He's read too many comic books to write that poorly.

Wow. I'd almost forgotten The Ray.  So... where is he now?

I had forgotten that the Eradicator was the one who saved Superman.  It make sense; the Eradicator was focused on preserving Kryptonian stuff (including Kal-El). But I certainly didn't remember it.

Heh. "Slowly healed."  This is tacit acknowledgement that we can all forget about Bruce's love interest Shonda Kinsolving and her magical healing touch (which is what ACTUALLY happened).  I really think they just should have thrown  Wonder Woman's Purple Healing Ray into the mix; what are super friends for, after all?

Happy to see Static, of course, but... when are they going to take advantage of the opportunity to link him to Black Lightning?

Why are we not allowed to erase this? Other than complicating Lex's backstory (and making some powerful real-world allusions), it has zero impact on continuity and causes considerable headaches.  Like, does the Secret Service still protect ex-prez Lex?

Well, whatever else, Jean Loring is still crazy!