DC Comics 2017
By Neal Adams
Lettered by Clem Robins
The Spectre, Etrigan the Demon and the Phantom Stranger smell death around Deadman—and they’ve come to get a whiff! But they’re about to learn how little they know.
I am so enamoured with this book. I haven’t been that thrilled with DC for a while now but there are some bright spots and this for me is definitely one of them. I think even more important is that Neal is doing the entire book, okay yes sans lettering, and get to shine again. The right move for sure and this, along with Black Lightning just prove that going back to basics and letting the men who know them intimately do what they do best. This is the DC I remember with a compelling story and fantastic interior artwork.
We all evolve over time and Neal has too the story while darker than I’m used to still has that feel to it that I remember and yet it really isn’t. I love the direction this book has taken and when The Spectre, Etrigan and The Phantom Stranger showed up I was elated beyond measure. The supernatural realm of DC has always been a darker place while also being one of its most interesting so to see it like this well it’s about damn time.
There’s something about seeing Boston back the circus that warms my heart. It has been the bane of his existence for so long and yet everything about revolves around it. Also to see his family all around and Cleveland, interesting how the other two weren’t named for cities and yet two were weird. Yeah dear old dad trying to muscle his son into continuing the act when he wants to quit. I mean after Dave died anyone would be spooked especially a Brand. Though let’s be real there’s so much more to dad’s insistence than meets the eye right. This kind of and level of characterisation is utterly sensational!
Neal still loves storytelling and we can see that here. The way he’s structured the book and how takes us on the journey through its pages as the ebb & flow feels like going white water rafting, and if you’ve never been go. The dialogue, the interaction of the characters how the story development and advancement all seem to weave in, out and around each other like a couple doing the perfect waltz. Everything we learn in this issue feels like a culmination of Boston’s journey to date as he searches for the truth behind his murder.
The interiors here show an evolved yet familiar style of his work. I love the attention to detail that we see and the use of various line weights to highlight places of interest or just because it would seem that’s what should happen. The use of page layouts with the angles and perspective that we see in the panels is magnificent and shows his eye for storytelling is that of a master. There is however a decided lack of backgrounds being used and one wonders why that is. However his skills and talent with faces and facial expressions are superb.
I absolutely freakin love the family dynamic that we are seeing unfold. Not only does this help him with quest for knowledge, knowledge that in all honesty he doesn’t really want to know, as well as develop something for the future, possibly even here in this limited run. The way we see things happen here and the revelations that will rock the family in ways you’ll never expect is done so that as the pieces come and are put together your eyes will go wide and surprise you.
Sigh this is what I want to see in comics, characters used effectively and true to who they are. With a story that holds your interest and takes you on a journey. This needs to be a regular deal, Neal telling Boston’s stories as limited series that tell the arc’s story. This reminds me of why I fell in love with DC and Neal’s work.