By Paul Andreas Jonassen
I have now finally read Legacy, and somehow, it managed
to live up to my huge expectations and to a certain extent,
it even exceeded them. I find it strange that people either
love it or hate it, no middle-thing here, and I would place
myself in the “loved” group. I think it is by far Moonstone’s
best Phantom story to date, and it is one of the best
Phantom stories I have read in some time.
But sure, there are some nitpicks, and I’ll just get them out
of the way first: There were some things that broke with
Falk lore which made me think. For one, in the original
version, the Skull Cave was literally carved out by the
Phantom himself, not the Bandar. However, the
explanation of it is quite good, in that it was “Carved by
ancient hands, no doubt with the need to believe in a
being with greater strength than their own”.
Also, I wish that Pat Quinn had kept the original design of the Demon God of the
Wasaka; Sy Barry’s version is very, um, iconic to fans, and I still think it’s the best one.
Still, the fact that the statue seems to be purple explains the Phantom’s rather strange
choice of costume-colour.
I am mightily impressed by Ben Raab’s writing. It must be VERY hard to manage to
adapt a convincing 1500-like language, and I admire him for doing it so well. After a
couple of minutes, I forgot who Ben Raab was and felt that the writer of the story was
Christopher Standish Jr. I can not pay a bigger compliment to Ben than that.
The art is just perfect. Need I say more? It really looks like something that could have
been drawn in 1566. The colouring is nice too; I have never seen anything like it.
But now, to the story itself: It is one of the most emotional Phantom stories ever created,
and it managed to give us a believable portrait of why a man chooses to dress up in
purple, PURPLE, tights to fight evil. The Singh Brotherhood is portrayed as the barbaric
cowards they are.
The highlight of the book is by far the pirate attack, the most important happening in the
history of the Ghost Who Walks. Raab’s writing here is just brilliant. The feelings of the
Phantom are expressed perfectly, and the way he is sometimes carried away with hate
against Singh, is very nice to see. Everything from the attack itself, to the death of Sir
Standish and Kit fighting away from drowning, is awesome. Definitely one of the best
moments in the history of Phantom stories, as I see it.
I liked how Marabella, originally not a part of the origin story, was introduced. The
Phantom’s love for her is described very well.
I quite liked the new take on his first costume… Instead of the Bandar finding clothing in
the jungle, he paints his body purple, and uses more natural stuff to adapt the image of
Kua. Very well done, and I also like the fact that the story of the Wasaka leader being
expelled from his tribe ties in neatly with Raab’s story Curse of the Phantom.
The Phantom’s relationship to the Bandar is described really well. I had been a little
concerned if Moonstone had chosen to go the way of early Falk stories, and making
him “the great white overlord”, but instead, Raab really managed to portray a nice
feeling of friendship and sincere respect for each other with Kit and the tribe.
The profit of the man coming from the sea receives more focus here than in Falk’s
version, and I think it’s a very nice result. Raab takes Lee’s brilliant idea and explore it
further than the old man was able to do in the limited newspaper format.
But the best of it all is not the fact that I had a great reading experience, but it should
prove to everybody (maybe except the few, but extremely vocal critics) that Moonstone
really care about this character. Legacy is not a very commercial book, because of its
unique way of storytelling, and I doubt if it was made to earn huge $. It seems to be
a labour of love to the character! I have a feeling that the Phantom won’t really kick off
in the US before Mike Bullock’s run starts, and hopefully, many more readers who
enjoys his stories will check out Legacy. It deserves to be read by as many as possible.
Overall, I’ll give it a 4 out of 5. I have a feeling that I will long to read it again before too
long, which doesn’t happen too often with any graphic novel stories these days.
4/5
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