Sometimes when you have a list of artists on a cover, it can be worrisome. Mostly because if there’s that many people (and this isn’t an anthology issue) then the mix of completely different style of artists could be bothersome. But with Lemire giving us a clever reasoning behind the mix of artists and having a strong duo of colorists by their side, then you could have an enjoyable issue with a huge amount of artists. At least I hope we do…

There isn’t much to say about the overall story in that it isn’t a special as the art in this issue. But I will say that Lemire definitely makes me want to have a Phantom Stranger ongoing in the worst way. This is basically a Phantom Stranger issue because we see his thousands upon thousands of years fight with Tannarak and how the evil magician seemingly comes back to rule the world. Even though this should be a Superboy book first, it’s nice that Lemire took the time to bring more history with these characters which somewhat amps the conflict in the present day. Also, I’m surprised Lemire is so good at the magical elements of the DCU and it makes me wonder if he could do a magic book in the future for DC.

Onto the art though and it’s the real highlight of this issue. Again this issue shows why colorists are important other then obviously coloring a book. Because artists like Woods, Cafu, Siqueira, and Gallo are completely different in style the colorist have to somehow manage to make them look similar. By using the same palette for each sequences, colorists Jamie Grant and Dom Regan are able to make each sequence look very similar. Pete Woods section taking place in 45,025 BC (so specific) to Gallo’s present day pencils look eerily similar. But with how each artist layout each sequence you can see the different between them. The opening splash page in particular by Woods is really impressive which is something you wouldn’t hear often by me in regards to Woods.

So this issue is more of an art tour de force then anything else. But Lemire does a pretty good job giving us a nice backstory with Stranger and Tannarak for making me actually care what is going on. But let’s give it up to the amazing colorists for this issue to show just how an ‘anthology’ like issue can be done. For so long we can see how a colorist can somewhat ruin a comic, but here we see how they can save an issue. Also, the four artists here aren’t slouches in their own right.