Action Comics Weekly #623 - Oct. 1988

"The Devil Was A Baby" by Paul Kupperberg, and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez.

Now this is cool! This issue's Phantom Stranger installment was pencilled and inked by the master, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez.

This also happens to be one of Paul Kupperberg's best Stranger stories, so I present the entire tale for you to enjoy:

...perfect combo of story and art, this is a minor classic.

If all of The Phantom Stranger stories had been this good, he would've been one of DC's biggest stars!

Action Comics Weekly #617 - Sept. 1988

"Channel Switching" by Paul Kupperberg, Joe Orlando, and Fred Carrillo.

Longtime Phantom Stranger editor Joe Orlando took over the pencilling chores for this installment of The Phantom Stranger:

The being known as Ky'lhorr doesn't believe what he's seeing, thinking its all trickery. He fights off the Stranger well enough that he has time to escape, and hit the streets.

The Stranger keeps trying to calm him down, and finally manages to get ahead of Ky'lhorr, and via his magic the Stranger becomes aware of the terrible curse put upon him by a sorcerer eons ago:

...a bit of an abrupt ending, I think this story maybe needed one more page to be fully fleshed out. In any case, it was neat seeing the Joe Orlando drawing The Phantom Stranger...for the second, and last, time.

Invasion! #2 - 1988

"Book Two" by Keith Giffen, Bill Mantlo, Todd McFarlane, P.Craig Russell, Al Gordon, and Joe Rubinstein.

Ok, this is going to be a unusual post--this comic was listed on several of the indexes I found online listing all of The Phantom Stranger's appearances. Not owning the book already, I dutifully picked up a copy of the book on eBay.

Well, I've been through this comic four or five times (and what a treat that was), and I can not find any trace of the Stranger anywhere!

So I'm posting this here to ask you, The Phantom Stranger's faithful fans, if you can set me straight--is the Stranger in this book somewhere, and I'm just (repeatedly) missing it? If I am, leave a comment and let me know!

The Spectre (Vol.2) #18 - Sept. 1988

"Zombie Transit" by Doug Moench, Chris Wozniak, and Mark Badger.

Jim Corrigan, aka The Spectre, ends up in the Land of the Just Dead, and of course someone is there waiting for him:

...at this point in the blog, I think I hope to find The Phantom Stranger waiting for me when I go. I think he'd appreciate this blog.

What The--?! #2 - Sept. 1988

"Doctor Deranged" by Peter B. Gillis and Phil Foglio.

The Phantom Stranger made another trip--sort of--to the Marvel Universe in their short-lived humor comic. In this story, Dr. Strange, sick of dealing with the denizens of the Marvel Universe, tries to find a new home, like perhaps over at another company:

...I remember really liking the What The--?! title, thinking it was pretty funny. A second glance at this issue confirms that--it was a pretty funny book.

For some reason, humor comics just don't sell anymore, especially ones spoofing superheroes. Maybe most comics fans just don't like their comics of choice being spoofed, no matter how well done.

Swamp Thing #76 - Sept. 1988

"L'Adoration De La Terre" by Rick Veitch and Alfredo Alcala.

Alan Moore may be gone, but The Phantom Stranger's presence in Swamp Thing's life continues:

In this issue, Swamp Thing and Abby try to have a baby, which as you can imagine requires some extra effort.

As they make love in the swamp, the Stranger and The Demon are not too far away:

You have to put up with a lot of nonsense if you want to hang with Etrigan.

Power Girl #4 - Sept. 1988

"Destiny" by Paul Kupperberg, Rick Hoberg, and Arne Starr.

After Power Girl returns home from her adventure, The Phantom Stranger is waiting there for her:

...of course, the Stranger doesn't hang around for Power Girl's guests to arrive. He's funny that way.

Power Girl #3 - Aug. 1988

"Heritage!" by Paul Kupperberg, Rick Hoberg, and Arne Starr.

Paul Kupperberg was a busy guy, DC mini-series-wise; not too long after finishing up his Phantom Stranger series, he wrote this four-issue Power Girl mini, and he managed to work the Stranger into it!

As Power Girl goes through her paces fighting demons, sorcerers, and super-villains, we see that The Phantom Stranger is watching from afar, looking out for our heroine.

After she deals with various threats, the Stranger makes his presence known:

To be concluded!

Action Comics Weekly #614 - July 1988

"Death God" by Paul Kupperberg, Tom Grindberg, and Brett Breeding.

Continued from last issue, the Stranger is face-to-face with a Mayan Death God named Ah Puch:

The Stranger, physically decimated by Ah Puch, is tossed into the water below with nary a thought.

As these strange attacks continue via the book, the Stranger learns his suffering is not yet over:

The Stranger is attacked by the souls of the dead who are under Puch's power, but the Stranger fights back. Since they are not at fault, merely under the control of Puch, he takes pains not to harm them too much.

He hurls himself out of the water, with Ah Puch chasing him. They battle furiously, and the Stranger feels overwhelmed.

But he shoots a tiny beam of light into Ah Puch's head, inside of which Daniel Gleason resides:

...the end.

I love the last three panels of this page, where with a snap of his fingers, the Stranger's hat and cloak return.

After the goofiness of the first story by Kupperberg and Baker, this one is a more traditional Stranger tale, and yet both worked equally well. Paul Kupperberg had what I thought was a good handle on the character.

Action Comics Weekly #613 - July 1988

"Can't Judge A Book..." by Paul Kupperberg, Tom Grindberg, and Dennis Janke.

This story opens up with a grim warning of future events:

Meanwhile, The Phantom Stranger is enjoying a night out with his new pal Bruce Gordon, including taking in a Woody Allen film:

The Stranger sees the newspaper's strange headline, and wants to read more about it.

Soon after, we see another incident occur, in California, and the news of it reaches the Stranger's ears. While he is pondering these events, he senses someone at the door, and on the other side its a man named Daniel Gleason, an occult fiction writer who needs help in dealing with a strange situation:

The Stranger is alarmed at the emanations he felt coming from the book, and demands to know what the incantation is that is in the book. Gleason speaks it out loud, which brings forth something terrible:

To be continued!

Action Comics Weekly #610 - June 1988

"Kenny and the Demon!" by Paul Kupperberg and Kyle Baker.

Fresh from his mini-series, The Phantom Stranger earned his own regular feature again, written again by Paul Kupperberg:

The Stranger is still hanging with Bruce Gordon, and soon we get to see an example of the evil the Stranger feels is everywhere: a little nebbish named Kenny is tired of getting pushed around by Life, and wants revenger.

One day while at his computer, a malevolent force bursts from it, and attaches itself to Kenny!

The evil says it will show Kenny "The true meaning of vengeance":

The Stranger disappears into the phone, Atom-style, while Kenny is in the thrall of his evil computer. He gets screwed by the gas company, and after feeding his computer the data it needs, all of sudden there's a huge gas main explosion!

Suddenly, from inside the computer, the Stranger's arms reach out, grab Kenny, and drag him inside!:

...a fun, goofily-prescient story, vividly brought to life by Kyle Baker.

With only eight pages to work in, writer Paul Kupperberg changes the focus of the Stranger's stories back to closer to what they were in Saga of the Swamp Thing--more about someone else with the Stranger stepping in.

But, as we'll see, they didn't stay that way...


I feel compelled to make a brief note about the unusual experiment that was Action Comics Weekly. I remember, even at the time, a lot of people really, really hating this change, but I loved it--I liked all the different content, and a weekly comic I thought was a lot of fun.

Sure, some of the material was a little weak, and I can't imagine what a logistical nightmare it must have been, putting together 48 pages of new comics every single week.

I think if ACW had been given more time, it really could've amounted to something. And as we've seen with series like 52, weekly comics are doable, and can manage to find a audience. Frankly, I think Action Comics Weekly was a little ahead of its time!

The Spectre (Vol.2) #11 - Feb. 1988

"Housewarming Party" by Doug Moench, and Gray Morrow.

As if The Phantom Stranger wasn't busy enough dealing with Eclipso, Lycaon, and the destruction of the world over in his own mini-series, he found time to do another guest appearance in The Spectre, along with his fellow supernatural heroes:

...others get involved, like Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, The Enchantress, Baron Winters (via a terse phone call to the Stranger), and of course, Deadman:

...this story ends with seven fatalities, which the Stranger refers to as "Seven new ones, although quite old, for me to escort." A Stranger's work is never done!