American publisher Moonstone’s 14th offering in its regular comic-book series of new adventures of the Phantom has the Ghost Who Talks educating one of his offspring.
This issue is written by Mike Bullock, who assumed rein of the series from ish 12 (Tiger’s Blood Pt 1 of 2). It’s illustrated by Carlos Magno (Tiger’s Blood Pt 2 of 2), and colored by Bob Pedroza. The cover art is serviced by Joe Prado, Carlos Magno, Rod Reis. Lettering is handled by Troy Peteri.
The story is a tip of the hat to the classic daily tale Jungle City (18 Sep 1978 to 16 Dec 1978). Jungle City had the Phantom searching for muggers who took Dave Palmer’s badge. It is a grim and gritty story, and illustrates the Phantom’s code excellently.
But, we digress.
Walker’s Line is about the Phantom’s concept of justice, and serves as a clear differentiation between the purple-long-johns clad masked fighter and Frank Castle (the other guy in comics who sports the skull). The Phantom is not Judge Dreddesque in character, and is merely an instrument and not the ends of justice.
When young Kit Walker asks his father, the 21st Phantom, whether he killed “the bad guys“who killed the tigers in the previous issues in the series, he is subjected to a tale (peppered with cliffhangers no less!) of the 21st’s tryst with his oath in his formative years.
The tale thus told is set in the context of the 21st Phantom’s search for the gun-belt of his father (37th Sunday story, 7 Feb 1954 to 6 Jun 1954). Interestingly the reference to this quest utilizes Egmont’s recent rendering of the Year One arc, with the quest for the belt taking place in the 21st Phantom’s first year, and not much later.
So, back to the tale at hand. Kit Walker (the 21st Phantom) is visiting his aunt Bessie and uncle Ephraim in Clarksville. But grim news awaits young Kit. Aunt Bessie is the victim of a mugging and the necklace which bears the Phantom’s good mark has been taken.
Young Kit is shaken “to the core”. So, after a brief encounter with a senior citizen in what appears to be a busliner depot, the Phantom begins stalking Clarksville for the street gangs and mopping them up.
The street gangs are as bad as they can be Hollywood style and they look evil enough. You can look at the pictures and say, “Right. These are the bad guys.”
While the Phantom’s punching the daylights out of two thugs and questioning about the necklace, he is overheard by the rogue in question. Off heads the gangster to the hospital where Bessie is, saying “It’s time to finish what I started”. Meanwhile, the Phantom lets rage get the better of him and is smashed into unconsciousness by the thugs.
More to come, we are assured, by the To be continued… caption box.
The cover art is definitely eye-catching. But what’s up with the extra huge bulging thighs for the Phantom?! Better proportion is called for here!
The printing’s a bit too dark, and speech balloons are inverted between characters in one panel.
Carlos Magno’s art is definitely a huge departure from other styles of Phantom artists, but perhaps is suited to the grim tone of the story. The panels convey rapid action, and have a certain dynamism about them. At times the Phantom appears too much of a caricature of twisted rage though! But why do everyone’s fingers appear in bent and highly unnatural positions?
The opening argument for the story is too weak. Kit Jr should know better than to ask his father whether he killed the “bad guys” because they killed the tigers. Either he’s been badly educated or has been experimenting with Guran’s “amnesia drug” (see the daily strips for more information). Mike Bullock should/could have come up with a better springboard for the story.
The weak opening is compounded by rather jarring droppings of old jungle sayings throughout the story. They simply seem out of place in a first-person narrative. And for the most part they mostly feel gratuitous (at least in this story).
The quality of the dialog fluctuates a lot from witty to outright inane as the story progresses.
And oh, about the necklace which plays a central role - it doesn’t protect, the wearer is under the Phantom’s protection, and if any harm comes to them, or worse, if they are killed, they will certainly be avenged by the Ghost Who Walks. However, as per legend in the stories, the wearer of the mark receives protection since most thugs back off at the sign of the good mark.
But that is obviously not the case for the street gangs of Clarksville.
Walker’s Line shows that Mike Bullock and Moonstone still have miles to go before they get to cranking up the bar for the Phantom. But it’s definitely an interesting journey worth watching, seeing the portent of things to come.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
The artwork featured in this post is copyright King Features Syndicate, Inc. and published by Moonstone, and is merely presented for informational purposes.
Chatu, a.k.a The Python is a renegade Wambesi killer who made his first newspaper story appearance in the 2003 Sunday story 'Terror in Mawitaan'. Almost an equal to the current Phantom in physical prowess, Chatu nearly bests the Phantom during their encounter. As cunning as a fox in his plot for Bangallan supremacy, Chatu exploits the Phantom's only apparent weakness: guilelessness. Unlike many others, Chatu maintains a strong belief that the Phantom is but a mere mortal. The Python displays a flair for widescreen grandstanding, and craves wealth, pleasure, and power (not necessarily in the same order). Ironically, Chatu's first encounter with the Phantom was as a child, when the 20th Phantom visited the Wambesi.
