The Phantom Stranger was the perfect character for Jim Aparo to illustrate. Aparo's mastery of mood and shadow really got a chance to shine when depicting the mysterious Stranger, forever cast in dim light. The Watcher has had a few different looks over the years, from a chubby guy in a fancy toga to a more alien looking design with huge gaping white eyes. I decided to make Uatu a little more proactive on this cover because it seems that most times he shows up, he winds up breaking his vow of silence anyway!
My favorite artist (Jim Aparo- whose B&B compendium goes on sale next week)and one of my favorite characters (Phantom Stranger) are mentioned and featured today. All these years of loving the Stranger and his appearances, and I STILL don't know what the heck his prior or rebooted origin is (Who's Who was useless!). DC really must really want him to remain an enigma.
ReplyDeleteI think he is one of those characters that benefit from an air of mystery.
ReplyDeleteGreat, great combo--two dudes whose schtick is to stand around passively, but who somehow get involved anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd Aparo is forever linked to me with The Spectre. His 1970s Adventure issues were awesomely lurid and gory.
The SECRET ORIGINS series DC published in the second half of the 1980's was supposed to give the new definitive origins of characters who survived Crisis. Issue #10 had four mutually conflicting origins of the Phantom Stranger. (Most issues were double length and focused on two or three characters; the Phantom Stranger got a whole issue to himself.) My favorites are the Mike W. Barr/Jim Aparo story revealing that he was the one who speared Christ's side and must walk the Earth forever to atone (the spear became the Spear Of Destiny, which keeps recurring in DC/JSA mythos) and the Alan Moore/Joe Orlando story in which he was an angel who refused to take sides in Lucifer's rebellion and is now banished from both Heaven and Hell. Both stories keep being slyly referred to over the next twenty years following that issue.
ReplyDeleteone word: MAUS. Make it happen.
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan pf MAUS... but I am not sure if I could think of an appropriate team-up, given the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteJason Lutes' "Berlin"? I mean, Sgts. Rock and Fury would be the right period, but entirely the wrong tone. How about a Captain Carrot Roy Thomas-style time travel story? Even worse? Ragman? Marvel's Golem? How about a contemporary post underground character like Michaael T. Gilbert's The Wraith?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I really want to make a Holocaust themed cover!
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't break it, anymore, I'm afraid. Ever since he pleaded "guilty" at that review hearing on the Watchers' homeworld, Uatu has been tighter-lipped than a Denebian shellmouth!
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