The Phantom Phoenix #1 is a comic written by Philip Kosloski with art by Michael LaVoy. In 1920’s Chicago one man is attempting to bring justice to the city. The star of this tale is a black man named Martin Claver, better known as the Phantom Phoenix. He fights crime using fists and gadgets and is disliked by the fuzz. He does have a supporter in Father Karol, a priest at a local church. The plot isn’t doing anything crazy; it’s your average vigilante vs. law enforcement mixed with vigilante vs. villain. It seems like this’ll be one of those stories carried by the characters. The action does feel like an old black-and-white film in that it gets a bit rough but not too violent. The dialogue moves nicely though you must remember this takes place 100 years ago so they do seem a bit wordy. And sometimes they get a bad case of the backstory-exposition bug. This is an alright debut comic for a superhero story that takes place deep in the past.

            I came into this expecting pulpy art and while it isn’t exactly that you can see the influence. The way this comic handles the light and shadow help bring life to the page. The main part of this story takes place in either the church or the streets and alleys. There is a lot of eye candy in the background during the various scenes. The characters are decently expressive but the full range is unrealized; the main look is that of anger. The faces are nicely chiseled but not to the point of looking stiff, and we can notice smaller details on close-ups. The superhero costume is a pilot’s uniform with a trench coat, so not much new ground being broken there. He does have some interesting gadgets that I won’t get into here, but it gives me light steampunk vibes. The action here is easy to follow and pretty swift.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like pre-WW2 stories starring black folk who are superheroes and have to deal with two different adversaries this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Are you an undercover priest or something?”

 

Purchase Link: https://shop.voyagecomics.com/collections/comic-books/products/the-phantom-phoenix-1

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 20

Violent Pages: 5, for 25% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 2

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 2

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 1

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”