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!
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":
Suddenly, from inside the computer, the Stranger's arms reach out, grab Kenny, and drag him inside!:
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!
2 comments:
"fresh from his guest-star turn in Power Girl's mini-series"....?????
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