Advance Review: `Phantom Road’ #2 Is Less Than The Sum Of Its Parts

By no stretch of the imagination is Phantom Road a bad comic book. It’s just that it isn’t a particularly great one.

If that seems like damning with faint praise, it is intentional. That’s because the series – at least through its second issue – is less than the sum of the parts of its impressive creative team. With superstars like writer Jeff Lemire, artist Gabriel H. Walta and colorist Jordie Bellaire, this book should be an instant classic. It isn’t, though. And it doesn’t seem likely that it will turn into one.

It’s fine. That’s it. Just fine.

The story involved truck driver Dom and his inadvertent passenger Birdie, who have both somehow been transported into a kind of parallel dimension – a place that leads to other places. Most things are where they are supposed to be, but there aren’t many humans around, just some faceless humanoid beings. Think of it as the Upside Down from Stranger Things.

A mysterious stranger who speaks in riddles (why do they ALWAYS speak in riddles?) explains that the pair must deliver the strange cargo in Dom’s truck back East to a place called Golgatha. Why? What is the cargo? Why them? They’ll find out when they’re ready, according to the smiling stranger.

Lemire’s writing is fine. Walta’s artwork? Fine. Bellaire’s colors? Intentionally muted to set the tone. In other words, they’re fine.

Perhaps it’s unfair to judge the series on what could have been instead of focusing on what it is. But when you’re dealing with a top-tier creative team – and when the publisher’s marketing for the book reminds us of how great those team members are – it’s only human nature. And perhaps the team has some surprise in store that will wow readers. Based on their past work, they have earned our trust in producing a memorable story. We just haven’t seen it. Hopefully that trust is well placed.

Phantom Road #2 will be available for purchase tomorrow.