Writer – Peter David
Artist – Sal Velluto
Colours – Eugenio Mattozzi
Letters – Kenneth Bruzenak

Following the last issue’s cliffhanger, The Phantom just narrowly survives death in the air as two planes collide, which was by design of course, and takes a member of the Singh Brotherhood prisoner so that he might find the lost kingdom of Ophir. Still aboard the plane piloted by The Baroness are Diana Palmer and Jimmy Wells, the latter of which swears The Phantom is dead much to the vociferous objections of the former. Peter David and Sal Velluto take the reins once more in this fourth issue and they start out firing on all cylinders with a great bit of action, The Phantom finally getting to stretch his muscles so to speak before it settles into quest mode, both The Ghost Who Walks and his comrades with their sights set upon one goal. For the most part, The Phantom’s journey is easy enough until he finds himself under attack when near his final destination. The Singh pirate is killed and The Phantom is about to become the victor in his current battle when an unexpected player enters the game and he ends up being subdued, knocked unconscious and taken prisoner himself. As for his companions, they manage to land the plane in the jungle before they too are ready to set off for fabled Ophir. David and Velluto craft a fun tale with this issue, moving things forward at a decent pace though Ophir still evades the heroes for the most part. There is one funny moment within, unintentional, but humourous nonetheless. It involves Jimmy Wells telling Diana that they must leave The Phantom behind because he is dead, as there is no way that he survived. Then a few pages later, Diana says she believes him to still be alive, despite saying so earlier, and Jimmy simply taking her word for it, even though he did not previously. David knows how to hook the reader in and the pace is quick enough in this issue that it breezes by in no time at all, perhaps even a little too fast. As for his partner in crime, Velluto does a fantastic job on the artistic front once more, with The Phantom looking especially good during the action scenes that take place within. It is nice to see Velluto let loose as he did here and hopefully, as the series enters its final act, there will be a lot more of the same for those readers who took a chance on this book. Fun stuff from all involved.

3.5 out of 5