The Phantom Stranger #10-13 by J. M. DeMatteis (Comics Review)

Part of DC’s third wave of launch titles for its New 52 reboot from 2011 was The Phantom Stranger, written by DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio and drawn by Brett Anderson. I picked up the zero issue (which was the first of the new ongoing) in September last year but I wasn’t too taken with it. The story just didn’t work for me, and I ended up ignoring the title altogether. But then came the Trinity War event this year and since a different writer was on the series at the time, I decided to read the tie-in issues and see if things had gotten better. They had.

I’ve been reading The Phantom Stranger since issue #10 (July), and I have to say that I’m really enjoying. There’s something about DeMatteis’ writing that really draws you in, presents a compelling character that you can really follow, with some great premises in each issue and a great build-up of all the mysteries in Phantom Stranger’s life. It also helps that Fernando Blanco is an excellent artist. All of which means that, first with Trinity War and now with the Forever Evil: Blight arcs, I’m really enjoying this series.

Note: This review contains spoilers for Trinity War and possibly the Forever Evil story so far.

Best of the Best Part 2

I last did something like this in July for the six months from January 1st all the way to June 30th. This list is for July 1st and all the way through to December 30th (the last day doesn’t count!). As I mentioned at the end of that list, this isn’t going to be regurgitation of my “Reading Awards” page, but something more varied. The list takes into account everything I’ve read in the last six months.

Let’s see what makes the cut and which comes close then!

NANP: The Naming of Things

Today’s guest on the blog is author Lou Morgan who had her debut novel Blood and Feathers published a few short weeks ago by Solaris Books (my review). Blood and Feathers is similar to The Collector novels by Chris F. Holm in content, being about angels and demons, but it has a much different perspective on them, and the protagonist is a well-and-truly-alive woman rather a man dead for like the last 50 years or so. Lots of possibilities and exciting things that make Blood and Feathers an awesome novel to read and Lou Morgan a name to watch out for in urban fantasy fiction. Most of Lou’s characters have really fun names and here’s what she had to say about them.

NANP: The Devil’s In The Details

Today on Names: A New Perspective I bring to you friend and author Chris F. Holm, whose urban fantasy/crime-pulp novel Dead Harvest has been one of my favourite reads of the year. The book launched earlier this year and the sequel, The Wrong Goodbye, came out just a couple days ago!! If it is half as awesome as Dead Harvest then it’ll be another top read for me and I look forward to getting around to it. And here’s Chris on what the names of his characters in these novels mean.