Writer – Mark Verheiden
Artist – Luke McDonnell
Colours – Anthony Tollin
Letters – Bob Pinaha

With the first issue of The Phantom’s ongoing series from DC, they would tap Mark Verheiden and Luke McDonnell to take on the creative duties and while some might have fretted that they would not live up to the departing Peter David and Joe Orlando, it would be discovered that there was nothing to be worried about. Verheiden starts things off with a quick recap of who The Phantom is, good for readers new and old before diving into the story that finds the Ghost Who Walks in action against some disgraced soldiers who were trying to muscle in on a village unable to do much about it. Such as it is, The Phantom makes short work of the villains which then cuts to the present as an arms dealer named Cammell has come to Daraj to oversee a few sales. Readers discover shortly that Cammell is selling his wares to both sides in the civil war that plagues the area and when meeting with one of the rebel’s generals, he makes a fatal mistake by killing the local jungle patrol which loses him a customer and is noticed by The Phantom. From this moment on, it is a game of cat and mouse and for the longest time, Verheiden makes readers think that The Phantom is the cat but by the end of the story, the tables are turned. Leaving things on a cliffhanger is nothing new when it comes to comics so it is no surprise to find one here and Verheiden does a great job of making readers want to come back for more as The Phantom finds himself in a pretty sticky situation. McDonnell, fresh off of Suicide Squad at this point in time, does a great job on the artistic side of things, the man able to easily handle the script he is given and make it look as good, if not better than the previous series. There is a fair bit of action throughout, not to mention a wee bit of clandestine spying by the hero of the title and all of it leads to what should be a fairly interesting encounter in the next issue. What is quite interesting about it all is that even in this ‘present’ day, The Phantom is still battling pirates, they are simply clothed a little differently than one might expect and they are still looking to take advantage of those they think they can bully. Thankfully, there is one man on the case and those who cross him usually do not do so twice.

3.5 out of 5