I have always considered The Phantom Stranger to be the Rod Serling of the DC Universe, with his tendency to show up at moments of crisis or pivotal decisions for various characters. Rather than being an overly proactive presence, he prefers to steer heroes in the right direction, but ultimately they still have to be the masters of their own destinies.
Thank you to Marc Tyler Nobleman, comics' historian and Patron of this blog, for suggesting this team-up!
This is a Beautiful cover Ross! And after the Twilight Zone teamed up with the Shadow a few years ago,this is very easy to believe.
ReplyDeleteJust read the original first issue of P.S. from the early fifties. He was pretty much the same way then as well. He seemed like a ghost who walks.
"Men call me The Phantom Stranger..."
ReplyDeleteAwesome cover!
The Phantom Stranger is a very cool character. I'm amazed that The Twilight Zone has had a comic book in one form or another since the original series was on the air... sometime in the '60's...
It's a shame that the Batman '66 title was cancelled. It would have been cool to introduce Julie Madison into that "Universe" and then develop a Batman '66 in The Twilight Zone crossover, a la The Man From UNCLE and Steed and Mrs. Peel.
A fan can dream.
I would have loved to see The Phantom Stranger in season one of Smallville...
TOTALLY RAD.
ReplyDeleteOMG! Look out, Rod!! The Emerald Eye of Ekron is trying to thwart your plan!!!
ReplyDelete@AirDave: Batman '66 at least had crossovers with other DC franchises, including Wonder Woman '77, and even Legion of Super-Heroes (with a 31st century descendant of Egghead); also Archie, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers (from the 60' TV show), and The Green Hornet.
ReplyDelete@det_Tobor: Don't you mean Phantom Stranger, not Twilight Zone?
ReplyDeleteOn The Flintstone Kids episode story The Twilight Stone (pun intended), the four primary characters were in fantasies paying homage to the later season openings of the ancestral cartoon The Flintstones.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDelete@det_Tobor: Don't you mean Phantom Stranger, not Twilight Zone?
November 4, 2019 at 9:01 AM
If you mean the team up, nope. Twilight Zone teamed with the Shadow. One of the stories had Lamont waking up to find he was a radio actor on the Shadow radio show.
They were written in the style of the Twilight Zone.
When it came to introductive narratives of the predictive and philosophical types, Mr. Roarke (Fantasy Island) appears to be an expy of The Twilght Zone's Rod Serling character.
ReplyDeleteNicely done. Thank you, Tyler, for this suggestion; and thank you, Ross, for doing it.
ReplyDeleteNext up to enter the Twilight Zone: Deadpool!
(I would've said Ambush Bug, but I'm still waiting on him to get the Infinity Gauntlet. "Ambush Bug Ruins the Marvel Universe"!)
As to the Phantom Stranger, I'm still hoping for a legit portrayal of that character. I understand that someone calling himself that was on an episode or two of the recent Swamp Thing series, but that character bore no real resemblance to the guy shown above. The current Crisis would've been a good time to see him show up in the Arrowverse, but that doesn't seem to be happening (which may be just as well, given all that's already going on).
Maybe he can be in the eventual Justice League movie sequel. I understand that Keanu Reeves has been wanting to do a superhero movie, and I think he'd be just right for the role in both look and character.
Bob Greenwade said...
ReplyDelete"As to the Phantom Stranger, I'm still hoping for a legit portrayal of that character. I understand that someone calling himself that was on an episode or two of the recent Swamp Thing series, but that character bore no real resemblance to the guy shown above. The current Crisis would've been a good time to see him show up in the Arrowverse, but that doesn't seem to be happening (which may be just as well, given all that's already going on).
Maybe he can be in the eventual Justice League movie sequel. I understand that Keanu Reeves has been wanting to do a superhero movie, and I think he'd be just right for the role in both look and character."
And hopefully they'll actually keep his origin a mystery...
@Anonymous930: I remember both versions of "Fantasy Island." Ricard Montalban RULED as Mr. Roarke! Malcolm McDowell? Not so much.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite episode from the Montalban era involved by a temporarily anthropomorphized ventriloquist dummy played by Maren Jensen (Athena on BSG: TOS). Man! Did she good look good in a half-tuxedo-with-tails and fishnets!
Makes me wish she could have played a live-action version of Zatanna, back then.
LOL! The opening sentence in that 2nd paragraph should've read "...involved a temporarily anthropomorphized-by-Mr. Roarke ventriloquist dummy..."
ReplyDeleteSee how distracting a voluptuous, raven-haired brunette in semi-tuxedo and fishnets can be?
A web-slinging Russian redhead in a form-fitting black unitard can be just as distracting. ;-D
ReplyDeleteFor those interested
ReplyDeletePicture if you will: in your own world, you're a fearsome crime fighter who stalks the night. But you wake up today in another world, where the fearsome crime fighter is just a character you play in a radio show that bears his name. You are no longer a man with a mission, just a 22 year old prodigy with an impressive voice, and a lot of questions... an honored guest who has been invited into... the Twilight Zone.
Specifications
Series Title
Twilight Zone
Publisher
Diamond Comic Distributors
Book Format
Paperback
Original Languages
English
Number of Pages
96
Author
David Avallone
ISBN-13
9781524101527
Publication Date
November, 2016
Great concept. In the Marvel Universe, I suspect Serling would be a Watcher or something like that, but the Stranger parallel is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI've read some British B&W reprints of old American comics (the 'Approved Comics' line of the 1960s, which reprinted stuff from Marvel, Charlton, Tower, Red Circle, and possibly others -- although not DC -- and usually with each issue usually containing one or two super-hero stories [possibly from different companies] mixed in with several "suspense" or 'giant-monster-from-space'ones) in which a mysterious 'Man in Black' narrated 'Twilight Zone'-ish stories...
ReplyDeleteNowadays, they'd probably be narrated by a Woman In Black...armed with a neuralyzer!
ReplyDelete"Can you say 'Agent M-E-2?' "
@Anon350: I think the other guys were referring to the metaphysical Man In Black from the Golden Age of Harvey Comics.
ReplyDelete