CBR: The Phantom Returns at Dynamite

[CBR News]

The creative team of Alex Ross, Scott Beatty and Eduardo Ferigato bring the Ghost who Walks to Dynamite Entertainment with "The Last Phantom," a dramatic re-imagining of the character coming out this summer.


Full article here.

[Ed Love]

Wow. All the talk about how much they respect and love the character's history. Which is why they want to change all of it.

"I love you. But I want you to change how you dress, how you talk, the way you laugh, get some plastic surgery, change your religion, get new friends. But other than that, you're perfect."

[Ziza9]

That actually looks cool. It makes me want to read a Phantom book. It also makes me wish that SyFy had gone this route instead of condom-hoodie style with their Phantom revival.

[booziehand]

Looks good to me I look forward to seeing what they can come up with

[Matt Spatola]

So is Moonstone done with the character now? I thought they were still publishing a few series featuring the Phantom.

[Nicholas]

Wow! Seriously raw!
I'm in for this anticipated series.
Cheers!

[sythspawn]

So is Moonstone done with the character now? I thought they were still publishing a few series featuring the Phantom.

I was wondering that, too. There's been no talk of how, or even if, this will affect Moonstone's releases.

I'm hoping for a Green Hornet-esque roll-out with a couple titles at various times in the character's lineage.

[zeitgeist07]

But back in that Defenders cartoon - with Flash Gordon and others - the Phantom could call the power of 10 tigers.
PS: I will give it a try.

[MikeM]

Moonstone finishes publishing The Phantom in June, which is a shame. Mike Bullock did a great job writing the Phantom.

Ill pick up Dynamite's version of course, but I am worried that the character will be unrecognizable. Alex Ross is a sweet painter. I like these pictures, but how is the Phantom supposed to fight crime in a loin cloth, boots and covered in blood (or whatever that is)

MikeM

[Mia]

So is Moonstone done with the character now? I thought they were still publishing a few series featuring the Phantom.

Their licencing ran out and they either opted to not renew it or lost out to Dynamite.

[bjarten]

I've grown up reading Phantom comics and although the original costume is kind of ridiculous this new design is even worse. Now he just looks like Tarzan with guns, boots and a hair dye gone wrong. (It also looks really impractical to climb trees with boots like that )

[Matt Spatola]

Their licencing ran out and they either opted to not renew it or lost out to Dynamite.

Actually wasn't that a big thing last year when Dynamte first announced this, that both they and Moonstone were talking of publishing the character? I'm assuming that the overlap of licensing has expired and now only Dynamite will be doing it. Moonstone might still do prose books like they do for Green Hornet.

[DyslexicDan]

It doesn’t read like they are changing any of it. The legacy/back story is intact. Here is the plot of every new take on the phantom story

Some guy finds out he is the next in line to be the phantom. He doesn’t want to do it but some events ultimately drive him to become the phantom. Then the series promptly gets canceled and we do this song and dance all over again a few years later.

This reads like a “what if” with the next guy never gets pulled back after he decides he doesn’t want to be the phantom and what happens because of it. So they are changing the formula a little bit. If the interior art looks alright I’ll give it a try. I'm all for old school pulp like stuff.

[Ed Love]

It doesn’t read like they are changing any of it. The legacy/back story is intact. Here is the plot of every new take on the phantom story

Some guy finds out he is the next in line to be the phantom. He doesn’t want to do it but some events ultimately drive him to become the phantom. Then the series promptly gets canceled and we do this song and dance all over again a few years later.

This reads like a “what if” with the next guy never gets pulled back after he decides he doesn’t want to be the phantom and what happens because of it. So they are changing the formula a little bit. If the interior art looks alright I’ll give it a try. I'm all for old school pulp like stuff.

Only, it's the "current" Phantom that has decided not to pursue being the Phantom. This is sorta like saying you got the license to do Batman and you decide that Bruce Wayne does not devote his life to training to become Batman, but to continue his father's charitable works, get married and have children and it's in adulthood something else drives him to become "Batman" only with a different, much kewler costume. And, then you give interviews how this shows how much you love and respect the character of Batman.

A "What If" Phantom is fine. But, What If's are meant to be reflections of the main character, history and storyline. Before you produce the "What If" version, you first need to establish the median that you are diverting from. But, what we increasingly are getting from the comic companies are the deviations. When Hollywood does this with comic properties to film, you see plenty of fans complaining about the liberties taken, but the comic companies are turning around and doing the very same thing when they license characters. It doesn't mean that it will necessarily be a bad comic book, but it's a sign that it will be a bad Phantom comic. There have been several attempts at doing "updated" Phantoms. They all lasted less than the attempts at being truer to the Lee Falk version. Factor in the potential for sales overseas...

[Mr. Q]

I was wondering that, too. There's been no talk of how, or even if, this will affect Moonstone's releases.

I'm hoping for a Green Hornet-esque roll-out with a couple titles at various times in the character's lineage.

Same here, dunno who would pen a classic rendition of The Phantom. Matt Wagner has done both Zorro and the original Green Hornet justice, so he seems a likely candidate.

Maybe that's why Dynamite is going with The Last Phantom run at this point. Hopefully, once Moonstone's contract is finished they will put out a classic Phantom title later in the year.

Mr. Q