We get the tales of two Phantoms in this one. To begin we learn of the eighth Phantom over three hundred and fifty years ago who travels to the European country of Koqania to battle the Hanta Witch. The chronicle is incomplete and so while it's obvious that the Phantom survived the encounter it's unclear how. For the modern Phantom, news reports of vampires in Koqania killing citizens provokes his interest and when a sensor in the Phantom's hideout in that region signals trespass, he heads to Koqania with Devil. He finds a country terrorized by the fear of fearsome and deadly vampires as well as sightings of the Hantas Witch. He also encounters several brutish fellows in law enforcement and otherwise who seek to stop his investigations.
This story is strong in that it focuses on the Phantom the entire time. We experience the story as he does, and we encounter the mysteries as well. Falk presents us with a Phantom who runs into trouble and who even might have a hesitation or two as the story rolls along. While he's mighty, he's not inhuman, especially when the Hanta Witch, a hag who seemingly becomes a great beauty lures him into her clutches. There's no doubt this would've been this Phantom's last adventure if not for the assistance of Devil.
The weakness of the story is that it tries to do a bit too much. Falk seems to be blending the two source stories into one and that adds complications as well as making the motivations a bit murky for the crimes. The ending drags more than a bit as the mysteries are resolved in a very chatty manner. We even get a third Phantom story tagged onto this main yarn when we learn about his encounter with the Gooley-Gooley Witch. It's great lore, but the narrative seems overburdened a bit.
That said it was still full of grand Phantom action and I look forward to the next volume titled The Island of Dogs.
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Sounds like an interesting episode!
ReplyDeleteIt was weird for certain.
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