Phantom Stranger #1 (2012)

One of DC's favorite mystery men returns to us via the New 52. Brent Anderson and Philip Tan's art is highly appropriate for the book. The problem is the whole concept in general. The origins of the Phantom Stranger have been speculated on for over 50 years. And for those 50 years, nothing has been set it stone. That's the beauty of The Phantom STRANGER! What Dan Didio and the idea men at DC's New 52 have come up with as the concept here is just tragic. Spoiler Alert! Everybody pull out your New Testament and say Judas! (For you non religious types, Judas Iscariot was the apostle who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.) So now, Judas, I'm sorry, The Phantom not so Stranger any more, travels the New 52 universe screwing over soon to be superheroes so that they can become said heroes. So far, after just 2 issues, The PS has redeemed 2 out of 30 pieces of silver to stick it to the future version of the Spectre and Raven from the Teen Titans. The good news is that in theory, this one-trick pony can only go for another 28 issues. The bad news is that another wonderful character has been tied down by that most horrible of diseases, an origin! Why can't we just enough a mystery man who suddenly appears, helps out, and then disappears for no good reason? Why did we have to turn him into a jerk who messes with people. By the way, nice way to make sure a kid gets killed on page 3, Stranger! The good news is that the Phantom Stranger's outfits collar is even higher than Superman and Aquaman's. Woo-Hoo.