Dork Note: ARRRRRGGGGGGHH! DORK MAD!!!!!! DC NO LUV Phantom Stranger!
FIRST - DC was going to release a TPB back in 2015 (see below) with...THE PHANTOM STRANGER #1-4, ACTION COMICS WEEKLY #610, 613-614, 617, 623,
631-634, 636, 641, SECRET ORIGINS #10 and DC COMICS PRESENTS #72; which would have been awesome! Super-duper awesome!
THEN - DC DELETED the TPB! DEEEEEELLLLLLEEEEEETTTTTTED IT!
SECOND - DC was then going to release a DC Universe by Mike Mignola TPB with...
SUPERMAN: THE WORLD OF KRYPTON #1-4, ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #2, SUPERMAN
#18 and 23, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #54, BATMAN: GOTHAM
KNIGHTS #36, SWAMP THING ANNUAL #5, PHANTOM STRANGER #1-4; which would have included The Phantom Stranger #1-4 mini-series. This would have been cool! Not as awesome as the original TPB that was planned, but better than nothing!
THEN - DC DELETED that TPB too! DC, oh DC...why oh why...do ye hate me!
UPDATE: Coming Soon as a TPB at Amazon - 12/01/15 - The Phantom Stranger
Includes - THE PHANTOM STRANGER #1-4, ACTION COMICS WEEKLY #610, 613-614, 617, 623,
631-634, 636, 641, SECRET ORIGINS #10 and DC COMICS PRESENTS #72.
Writer: Paul Kupperberg and Various
Artist: Mike Mignola and Various
Publisher: DC Comics (1987)
Includes: The Phantom Stranger #1-4 and Secret Origins #10
"Man will seek hope in any form when all about him seems hopeless. He will follow the loudest voice in the darkest, deepest pits... he will set mortality aside in the name of survival. He will ally himself with the Devil in the name of salvation." -- Phantom Stranger
Mini-Series Plot: A subtle darkness is gripping the world. All across the globe, disasters ranging from the mundane to the catastrophic are occurring with increasing activity. Mount St. Helens erupts, a nuclear facility goes into meltdown, tensions increase in the Middle East and Soviet/American relations erode. The Phantom Stranger studies the patterns of these events and it brings him to the Temple of Divine Light in Gotham City. He recognizes cult leader, Lycaeon, as the Chosen of Darkness. Lycaeon summons a large demon to challenge the Stranger. The Phantom Stranger fights the demon until the Gotham City PD led by James Gordon burst into the church. Miraculously, Commissioner Gordon opens fire on the demon dispelling it. The Phantom Stranger observes the heroism of mere mortals and wonders whether or not his mission still maintains validity as there is no personal cost to the Stranger himself. He traces the demon's activity to the dungeon lair of the evil entity known as Eclipso. The Stranger knows that he cannot destroy Eclipso's evil influence on a global basis, so he decides to consult with Eclipso's human foil, Dr. Bruce Gordon.
Secret Origin #10 contains four different origin stories for the Phantom Stranger
"Tarry Till I Come Again": On a Christmas Eve night, a priest despairing that good will win out in the world is visited by the Phantom Stranger, and hears of how he was once known as the Wandering Jew, a man who lost his child when King Herod had all the babies in Bethlehem destroyed while Jesus escaped, and so purchased his way to pose as a Roman soldier to scourge Jesus during His crucifixion. Expecting Jesus to speak vile curses to him, He instead told the man he will "tarry till I come again". After Jesus' death and resurrection, the man found himself wandering through the earth, trying to remove the curse placed on him, until he comes to the rescue of a woman during the Inquisition period who died at the hands of her torturers. From that point on, the man used the curse as a blessing to help those who were suffering, and even though God eventually offered to remove the curse, the man chose to remain under the curse until Jesus came again. The priest eventually believes the story and is renewed in his faith that good will overcome evil.
"And Men Shall Call Him Stranger": A man in an ancient Middle Eastern country who lost his family in a divine judgment that befell his city committed suicide, but was prevented from joining the dead by an angel sent to him, telling him that he must now walk the earth as a stranger.
"Revelations": In a future time when society has reached its nadir, scientists were on the verge of discovering their universe's origin when the Phantom Stranger visits them, warning them that they could destroy their universe. One of the scientists believe what the Phantom Stranger tells him while the other scientists were unswayed, and so wears a protective spacesuit while the universe around him was destroyed, resulting in both a new creation of the universe and the scientist becoming the Phantom Stranger.
"Footsteps": During the time of the rebellion against Heaven by a third of the angels, one angel chose neither side, and, as a result, had his wings torn away and was accepted by neither side in turn. Thus, he became the Phantom Stranger. In the present, he comes upon a man beaten and rejected by both Guardian Angels and Subway Survivalists, and offers the man his hand, as a brother who can walk with him for a little while.
: inlcludes Collects 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL #9, stories from THE FLASH #306-313, THE
IMMORTAL DOCTOR FATE #1-3, DR. FATE #1-4 and DC CHALLENGE #11
