Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger #1

In "The Three Signs of Evil," the enigmatic Phantom Stranger races against time to stop a cult of assassins from completing a dark ritual at three ominous locations across New York City—Columbus Circle, Times Square, and Washington Square Park—where a human sacrifice could unlock terrifying power. With his usual blend of mystery and supernatural flair, the Stranger confronts the cult’s escalating threat, but the true nature of their plan remains shrouded in shadow.

In "I Talked with the Dead!", Terry Thirteen—driven by a lifelong vow to seek rational explanations—discovers the truth behind his father’s mysterious death and the family’s cursed reputation. As he uncovers long-buried secrets, he begins to question everything he thought he knew about the past, the supernatural, and the line between belief and proof.

In "Defeat the Dragon Curse... or Die!", the Phantom Stranger teams up with Doctor Thirteen and his wife Marie when a mysterious dragon image begins terrorizing San Francisco’s Chinatown, bringing destruction to new buildings. As the trio investigates the supernatural origins of the curse, they must unravel a deadly mystery before the city is consumed by ancient forces.

In "How Do You Know My Name?", the Phantom Stranger investigates a suspicious death at an amusement park, where he encounters young Jo and his friends. As he probes the eerie circumstances, he recalls a past incident ten years prior when he unmasked the seer Vasti, who had tried to scare the park’s owner, Cahill, into selling the park by pretending it was haunted. Now, Jo reveals his own parents—the current owners—are consulting the Ghost Breaker about a new wave of strange events, drawing the Stranger deeper into the park’s lingering mysteries.

In "No Such Thing as Ghosts!", Dr. Thirteen, the self-proclaimed Ghost Breaker, sets out to calm the fears of the Cahills, whose amusement park has been plagued by strange accidents. Drawing from his own past, he recounts how he once traveled to Paris to expose the truth behind a series of mysterious deaths linked to the Paris Opera—where whispers of a phantom killer had taken hold.

In "Some Day in Some Dark Alley...", the Phantom Stranger and Dr. Thirteen track a mysterious figure haunting an abandoned amusement park, only to uncover a twisted obsession rooted in a brother's desperate desire to reclaim what he lost. When Jo is taken inside the park, the duo must untangle a web of illusion and grief before the park's shadows claim another victim.

In "Out of This World," a chance encounter on a lonely road leads a man to share a magical evening with a mysterious hitchhiker named Jo. The next night, he returns to her home only to learn she died a year before—leaving him to wonder what kind of world she truly came from.

In "Death... Call Not My Name!", a sleek, otherworldly alchemist named Tannarak prowls the pulsing shadows of a modern dance club, feeding on stolen souls. After renewing himself with the life-essence of Lotti, he abducts Michelle, plunging her into a mystery that defies death itself.

In "Charlie's Crocodile," meek Charlie Cuddy makes a desperate bargain with a mysterious figure known only as "Mr. Scratch" to rid himself of his shrewish wife, heedless of the Phantom Stranger’s warning. What begins as a simple wish for peace spirals into something far more dangerous than Charlie ever imagined.

In "The Iron Messiah!", cyberneticist John Kweli returns to his African homeland to confront an oil company's brutal campaign to displace his people from their ancestral land. Determined to protect his community, he fuses ancient myth with cutting-edge technology, forging a metallic, cybernetic avatar of the god Chuma—only to find the creation begins to think, feel, and act with a will all its own.

In "Satan's Sextet," a charismatic rock frontman lures a group of revelers—including a wealthy host and his young guests—into a deadly trance during a beach party, leading them toward a watery fate in a chilling, almost supernatural fashion. When the millionaire host, Willard Wentworth, narrowly escapes drowning after breaking free from the song's spell, he seeks out the enigmatic Doctor Thirteen to uncover the dark forces behind the tragedy.

In "Image in Wax," Judah Tallow, a reclusive wax museum curator with a fascination for the occult, takes a dangerous gamble by awakening Dalia—once a powerful sorceress, now preserved in wax—believing her return will unleash a forgotten sorcerous empire upon the present day. As the line between illusion and reality blurs, the fate of both past and present hangs in the balance.

In "And the Corpse Cried 'Murder!'", the spirit of Paul Williams—whose death on a mountain road seemed like a suicide—haunts Doctor Thirteen, insisting he was murdered and begging for justice. As the supernatural investigator delves into the case, the line between the living and the dead blurs, and the truth behind the crash begins to unravel.

In "A Far Away Place," George Wheemy is approached by a mysterious man with a peculiar request: to take Mr. Letterman on a long journey. Though the trip never happens, George soon learns that Mr. Letterman passed away on the very day the journey was set to begin.

In "The Resurrection of Johnny Glory!", a man executed for his crimes is brought back to life by the enigmatic Dark Circle, tasked with a deadly mission: assassinate the spiritual leader of a small Middle Eastern nation. The story unfolds with a chilling blend of supernatural intrigue and moral ambiguity, as the line between vengeance and redemption begins to blur.