The Phantom Stranger #28. The Counterfeit Madman?

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There is no labyrinth so twisted, no world as uncharted, no puzzle so obscure as the workings of any normal mind! And if the mind be abnormal, then those who try to trace the tangled thread risk even their own sanity!

Wise words indeed.

And wise they should be.

For they come from no lesser gob than that of the Phantom Stranger, a man with a bucketful of words for any occasion.

In this case, that occasion is issue #28 of his book, the purchase of which was the first time I ever encountered the hat-happy man of mystery.

Needless to say, it was Nick Cardy's dramatic cover that drew me in, although, even at the time, I spotted, at once, that it contains a noticeable error.

But is it an error?

Or is it a deliberate hint as to the true nature of the tale's events?

And, Reader, can you spot what that, "error," is?

Inside the book, the deal is this. Willie Lemmick's a nice kid, helpful to all he meets...

...until those occasions when he becomes possessed by his alter ego Joseph Ganz.

For, you see, Ganz is a homicidal maniac with a love of armed robbery and a tendency to think everyone and everything he meets is a monster.

After his attempt to hijack a plane is foiled by the Phantom Stranger, Willie's put on trial but the jury's struggling to decide whether his lifetime of committing pointless but demented crimes means he's genuinely mad or just putting it on to get himself off the hook.

Happily, the Phantom Stranger's in the habit of hanging around in jury deliberation rooms and has a solution.

He'll use his powers to probe Willie's mind and get to the truth, finally doing so by confronting him with a physical incarnation of Ganz.

At this point, a horrified Willie declares that Ganz can't be real because he made him up.

Armed with this confession, surely the jury is guaranteed to convict.

Except it's not that simple.

After all, as one of the jurors points out, surely only a true madman would go to such lengths as to commit a string of totally pointless but demented crimes, over a period of years, purely in an attempt to prove himself insane.

And, so, we leave our story, as the Phantom Stranger departs the courtroom and we, he, the judge and jury ponder upon the true nature of insanity.

It's a surprisingly short tale and relates much of its info by flashback but it is one that sticks in the mind and may be the first psychologically-based comic I ever read.

I've always had a liking for Gerry Talaoc's artwork, and Arnold Drake does a solid job, even though, with its quick jumps in time, and flashbacks, it does feel, at times, as though something's been cut out.

It does strike me, however, that the Phantom Stranger's behaviour would get the case thrown out in a real court.

Would he really be allowed to hang around in the jury deliberation room, eavesdropping on its discussions?

Would he really be allowed to visit Willie in his cell, with no lawyer present?

And would any confession thus obtained be at all admissible as evidence?

I suspect not.

We can only conclude that it only goes to show the level of respect the criminal justice system has for him.

Even though it's hard to see how it could even know he exists.

So, there you go. If you're ever stricken by a legal conundrum, call in a corny man in a hat and a cape.

Just don't expect him to ever solve the conundrum.