There's 2 directions I can take this review: the reason you SHOULD buy this book, and the reasons you shouldn't.
Thankfully, both of them are just long enough I can touch on each without taking up too much of your valuable reading time.
WHY YOU SHOULDN'T BUY: Well, there's the obvious $7.50 cover price. That was a blow to the head and the wallet. I'm sorry, but I'm going to expect BIG things...BIG THINGS for a BRAND NEW COMIC BOOK that costs as much as half a tank of gas for my car. Sadly, all of the issues in this series had terrific covers, but were prose stories, this one included. I just couldn't get into them...however, I loved the Phantom (
and DOUG KLAUBA'S cover art for the first 10-12 in the GENERATIONS series were stellar) so I bought them anyway. With a comic that's prose on one page and a full splash on the other to compliment the story, there's little connection and investment in the story for me as a reader. I feel detached from the character much like a ghost (no pun intended) walking through the book and watching but never interfering. Besides, I still love my word ballons and sound effects. :) Still...interesting. Just...not THAT interesting.
WHY YOU SHOULD BUY: The Phantom has a HUGE fan following, especially outside the US.
MOONSTONE BOOKS are not easy to get at your local American Comic Shop (unless you live in Illinois), much less overseas, so with low print runs, and this PROBABLY being THE LAST comic with Moonstone's PHANTOM mythology, I'd say this one will be a
sleeper collectible for those fans. There's also a
variant virgin cover. Good luck with that! I was lucky my shop ordered the regular one.
Overall, it was a bittersweet end to a good run. I'm disappointed with the "
take a bow" feel of the book, but I'm glad I bought it, if for no reason to say I stuck it through until the end. 2 out of 5 stars for
The Ghost Who Walks..Off Into the Sunset. *cue music*