Reading The Phantom

[IrishX]

So I've been considering jumping into some Phantom but I'm a little hesitant because I'm not sure how much I want to read about someone not wanting to take up the mantle. Can someone perhaps give me a few reasons why they'd recommend the series?

Would the Moonstone books also be recommended? Also I was wondering if there is any continuity leading into the Dynamite series?

[Captain Canuck]

With any of Dynamite's incarnations, before recommending them (or not), I would always ask how much of a traditionalist you are. Dynamite has a tendency to try to modernize the characters and that rubs some the wrong way.

[IrishX]

With any of Dynamite's incarnations, before recommending them (or not), I would always ask how much of a traditionalist you are. Dynamite has a tendency to try to modernize the characters and that rubs some the wrong way.

Well considering I've never read any Phantom I don't have any expectations but I do have a great appreciation for characters traditions and history.

[comixfan1980]

I've never read any Phantom tales previous to this and now I'm addicted to this book, but yeah, traditionalists need not apply...

[The Ghost Who Walks]

I'm a "traditionalist" in that I adore the character and will do so till' the day I die, but I was still pleasantly surprised by this book, some issues aside. I hope it'll continue, Beatty is a very talented writer.

[Captain Canuck]

I'm a "traditionalist" in that I adore the character and will do so till' the day I die, but I was still pleasantly surprised by this book, some issues aside. I hope it'll continue, Beatty is a very talented writer.

No sarcasm: Good on you for having an open mind.

I do sympathize with those who don't like to see certain changes to characters they enjoy. I've been a huge Deathstroke fan since the first Titans series and I don't know what the hell is on the cover of THAT book.

But I do like to see them evolve too. Sometimes it won't be to your liking.

As far as this book goes, I quite like it but I'm having a hard time explaining why to IrishX. It's just...good.

[General]

I would love to see the Phantom evolve as well, but in the way Lee Falk set his character up to evolve — by having a new generation take up the family mantle. It seems that every writer who has tried to "modernize" the Phantom has only one thought about the storyline, that the next Phantom comes after a break in the Phantom line. Witness Phantom 2040, the SyFy Phantom movie, and now The Last Phantom. Give me a good writer like Ben Raab or Mike Bullock that can create a great Phantom story by building on what Lee Falk created, not by tearing it down.

IrishX, definitely pick up Moonstone's Phantom books!

[The Ghost Who Walks]

No sarcasm: Good on you for having an open mind.

Yeah, it helps.
Due to financial reasons, I have to wait for the paperbacks to arrive, so I read the entire Ghost Walk arc in pretty much one sitting, which I think is THE way to read this series, as it dawns on you that there is real depth to it that might not be visible at "first sight". Through the course of that series Kit Walker (if anybody calls him Kitridge again I will give them skull marks) slowly becomes a better person, more worthy to be the person he is destined to be: the Phantom. And that is fascinating.

Moonstone did a tremendous job with the character, and I highly recommend picking up their trades, they are modern takes on the 21st Phantom unlike The Last Phantom, which is about the 22nd. If you can locate the DC series by Mark Verheiden I recommend that too, as they are among the best Phantom tales ever written IMO. Also, I would have recommended the new US books reprinting Lee Falk's earliest stories if they didn't sell out so quickly (which is fantastic)!