Writer – Peter David
Artist – Joe Orlando
Inker – Dennis Janke
Colours – Anthony Tolin
Letters – Todd Klein

The third issue of The Phantom opens up on the fourteenth person to bear that mantle, still a prisoner in the hold of a slave ship and now in more peril than ever before as the ship starts to take on water after being attacked. Desperation lets the Phantom access reserves of strength that allow him to break his chains and take the fight to his captors. Now the pirates not only face the British Navy, they face the Phantom and there is no chance they will make it out alive. In the present, author Peter David has the Phantom on the run as his plan to confront the man called Chessman has gone sideways, though not before giving the man a solid right which leaves the villain with a lasting mark that many have come to know over the centuries. Diana Palmer, Kit’s more-than-a-friend friend is not impressed and is quite angry that the Phantom would go after Charles Chessman after she told him to lay off, that Chuck was a good guy. She leaves without letting him explain and while it is disappointing, he cannot stop his investigation and he will put a stop to Chessman no matter what. David writes a very fun and exciting tale while Joe Orlando makes it come alive on the page in the best of manners. Once again, David and Orlando jump back and forth through time effortlessly while telling two simultaneous tales that see each Phantom go about the job of ridding the world of a pirate named Chessman. The fourteenth Phantom, a man who has sworn vengeance upon each and every man who saw him without his mask, who denigrated him and the legacy he represents, has arrived on Tortuga. It is there where he begins to cut down those responsible. In the present, the Phantom has continued to collect what he needs to take down Chessman and as he moves towards that goal by going through those closest to him, the book is left on a cliffhanger from both periods and readers would not have it any other way. As this series moves from one issue to the next, it has gotten far more exciting and even more important, far more enjoyable than when it began. David keeps upping the ante for the heroes and Orlando injects a lot of energy into his pencils to make this a rollicking good time. Great stuff!

4 out of 5