Another beautiful cover by Jim Aparo, maybe my favorite he did on the series. I love the different faces on the witnesses as the guy in the chair gets it.
Inside, we meet a man about to walk his last mile:
We follow the two men on a rainy night as they carry the corpse to a place ominously called Massacre Mountain. They then carry the body to an even more ominous location:
Turns out Glory and the cult's leader, Cerebus(!!), know each other--Glory was a member of the cult, and in agreement for being revived, Cerebus has a task for him to perform--murder!
The victim in Chandu Gamal, the spiritual leader of a small mid-eastern country who has been trying to move his people away from their supernatural fears and into the modern age. The country's government wants Gamal to disappear, and that's where the cult comes in.
The next day:
Gamal is thankful to the Stranger for saving his life (for a guy who doesn't have pupils, the Stranger is exceptional at making friends with heads of state), and they both get into Gamal's car and drive off.
Once arriving at a nearby hotel, Gamal and the Stranger get out. Gamal notices one of his assistants wearing something unusual:
Once arriving at a nearby hotel, Gamal and the Stranger get out. Gamal notices one of his assistants wearing something unusual:
As Gamal tells the Stranger about the medallion, they are met by his beautiful daughter, Indira. Turns out she out seeing the city, along with a nice man she met...Johnny Glory!
Gamal walks off with his daughter, telling her there's something about this man he doesn't like, and forbids her to see him again. Good advice.
But later that night, Indira defies her father and sneaks out to see Glory, and they meet on a foggy, quiet street corner. Turns out Indira should have listened to her father:
I don't know whose idea it was to add that little musical note in the last panel, to signify Glory whistling mindlessly as he walks away with Indira. No matter whose it was, its a distinctly frightening touch.
Later, Gamal is shocked to find a ransom note! He commands his men to find her, just as the Stranger arrives and says he will do the same. He heads out onto the streets. We see that Indira is tied down to a table, and Caddaver and Tork are torturing the girl just for the fun of it! Luckily The Phantom Stranger quickly arrives, and uses his mystical powers to smash some scaffolding down right on the heads of these two creeps.
While Gamal wonders where his daughter is, the demon from the pendant, Sikiva, The Death-God, comes through a wall and attacks him!:
Later, Gamal is shocked to find a ransom note! He commands his men to find her, just as the Stranger arrives and says he will do the same. He heads out onto the streets. We see that Indira is tied down to a table, and Caddaver and Tork are torturing the girl just for the fun of it! Luckily The Phantom Stranger quickly arrives, and uses his mystical powers to smash some scaffolding down right on the heads of these two creeps.
While Gamal wonders where his daughter is, the demon from the pendant, Sikiva, The Death-God, comes through a wall and attacks him!:
At times, The Phantom Stranger felt the right move was to just haul off and punch a demon in the face.
As Johnny Glory deals with what he saw in the mirror, Gamal has a heart attack from all the stress. But the Stranger holds Gamal in his arms, and commands Gamal to live, saying his people need him and it is not yet his time!
Meanwhile, Johnny Glory makes it back to Cerebus, and announces that he knows the truth--he was never really "alive" since being exhumed, he's been dead all along:
As Johnny Glory deals with what he saw in the mirror, Gamal has a heart attack from all the stress. But the Stranger holds Gamal in his arms, and commands Gamal to live, saying his people need him and it is not yet his time!
Meanwhile, Johnny Glory makes it back to Cerebus, and announces that he knows the truth--he was never really "alive" since being exhumed, he's been dead all along:
One of Wein and Aparo's best PS stories, a mix of crime thriller and supernatural horror.
I've said before that some of the previous PS stories reminded me of those classic Universal monster movies, but this story--at least the first few pages--is more like those 59 minute-long "B" programmers that Universal used to put out as the bottom half of a double bill, ones that usually starred Lon Chaney Jr. or Lionel Atwill.
Aparo's art drips with mood, and its sort of amazing that the mood isn't broken when it shifts to the middle eastern locale and then takes a hard right turn into pure horror.
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