Part the second…

Phantom Stranger #15-16

Writer: J.M. DeMatteis

Artist: Fernando Blanco

Colorist: Brad Anderson

Letterer: Travis Lanham

I jumped into Phantom Stranger #16 right after the last issue, and was a bit confused, since I had grabbed a handful of DC books, I wasn’t aware of what was crossing over with what, luckily I had also grabbed Justice League Dark #25-27 so I at least got some of the missing story here. John Constantine is in a magical straight jacket, recovering from a spell from JLD #27, with Nightmare Nurse and the Stranger waiting for him to recover, with Nighmare Nurse also still a bit under the influence of the spell. She and the Stranger give into some some passionate smoochie-face but the Stranger breaks it off. Then it’s they head into… well Constantine’s head, where John is a child, hiding from tiny trench coated monsters, manifestations of the darkness within John. The Stranger first fights the creatures, unleashing his own demons, then surrendering, allowing himself to be attacked so that instead of cowering in fear, John is forced to find the light within to fight back. This frees John in the real world and it’s off to Nanda Parabat to send Deadman, in the body of the Crime Syndicate’s Sea King to infiltrate…the Crime Syndicate, since Deadman is trapped in this body, he is able to fool Felix Faust and Nick Necro into thinking he really is Sea King. I only picked up the JLD books because I saw it was also written by DeMatteis, and I’m glad I at least got those. I really like this trip into the Dark Corner (get it) of the DC universe, though really I wish this crossover was done. Maybe I’ll hang with Phantom Stranger and JLD for a bit, because I really do like DeMatteis on books with a mystical bent. I just want Forever Evil to end dammit.

-Kris