The Last Phantom #9
Written by Scott Beatty
Art by Eduardo Ferigato
Colors by Vinicius Andrade
Letters by Simon Bowland
Covers by Alex Ross, Stephen Sadowski, Fabiano Neves
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 28th, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

If you’ve never read The Last Phantom this is not the issue you should start with. That being said, this IS a pretty great issue. It’s got everything that a comic book should have—heroics, action, mystery, and most of all FUN!!!

Scott Beatty does a fantastic job of characterizing The Phantom as a serious hero, giving him a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but not making him boring or overly grim. He keeps a sense of humor when not being threatening to the villains of the story, which is a nice change of pace from most masked men with issues.

Story wise, there is a LOT going on. Never too much for the reader to get lost or confused, but this issue will definately hold your interest and I found myself reading it cover to cover and not wanting to put it down.

Artist Eduardo Ferigato is a perfect fit for this book. His style isn’t hyper-realistic, and it’s not quite cartoony, but it’s somewhere in the middle and the results are fantastic.

All around, a great comic. As I said, if you don’t normally read The Last Phantom, this isn’t a great issue to start with, but track down at least the previous two issues. They’re worth the time and money.