Danny Phantom
Released: Nickelodeon Magazine Presents, Oct. 2005 (I have this feeling it was released prior to this, so if anyone can tell me, please give me an e-mail and let me know)
Plot: Steve Marmel
Script: Sib Ventress
Pencils: Butch Hartman
Inks: Ray Leong and Donna Zeller
Coloring: Bob Boyle
Lettering: Comicraft
SUMMARY: If you were expecting more beyond the “Danny Phantom”, then don’t. That’s it, that’s the title. I suppose when you’re making the first comic for a popular children’s magazine, a title plus a brief summary on what the show is about is sufficient enough. Especially considering the maximum page for this is only two. Jack introduces his son to his latest invention: The Fenton Hound, a robotic dog designed to smell a ghost. It gives chase towards Danny shortly after his capture of the Box Ghost, much to Jack’s confusion and irritation (“Hey, come back here, pooch! Danny’s not a ghost!”).
This continues even during his school hours, much to the annoyance of Lancer, the glee of Dash and the bullies, and the shock of Paulina (the little mutt pulls his pants down while he tries to flirt with her--that ragamuffin). Danny then gets an idea and for some reason turns ghost...just to let Box Ghost out from his Fenton Thermos and get robo-pup to gun him down. Yeah, alright, that was an incredibly pointless transformation, but hey, problem solved! And last but not least, an obligatory corny pun.
REVIEW: Because it’s only two pages, the story is kept simple and convulsed. What they do tell is good enough and to the point, so there’s nothing that mucks up the overall. It’s a cute story and a nice look at the earlier days of DP, one where Danny still thought highly of Paulina, where his DP chest insignia was nonexistent, when all he had to worry about was balancing school life with his superhero existence without fear of media exposure or grand world conquerors. It’s like I stumbled into a tiny time capsule.
But because it is two pages, what we get is a rather tight and crowded comic. Hartman shows off his artistic ability by not confounding his characters as they literally pop from panel to panel in unique glee; making the panels busy, but annoying stuffed; it's like none of the characters have any breathing room. Danny’s transformation sequence is a lovely little piece of artwork there in itself (pictured above), even if it makes no sense for him to transform (methinks the writers only did it as an excuse to show Danny henshining).
7/10
Danny Phantom in: Brat’s Entertainment
Released: Nickelodeon Magazine Presents, Oct. 2005
Story/Script: Marty Isenberg
Pencils: Ben Balistreri
Inks: Adam Dekraker
Coloring: Sno Cones Studios
Lettering: Comicraft
SUMMARY: The story starts off with a giant half page panel of Sam and Tucker in fear as Danny combats a shadowy ghost. We cut to a week earlier where the two boys are oggling over the Sidewalk Shredder, what looks to be either a motorcycle or a mountain bike (the artist seem to have made it ambiguous for some reason). Ignoring driving age requirement, Danny and Tucker quickly get themselves a job as babysitters to make up the cash, something Sam is none to pleased at; I mean, what do they know about babysitting? Well, the series did had the flour sack episode where Tucker proved to be an efficient father.
The trio are inside the Fenton basement lab as they get ready to leave to promote their business via flyers. One of them falls into the Ghost Zone and in about .03 seconds, giant scaly arms drag the three in. These monstrous creatures (their bodies being so damn huge that they don't fit the entire panel) hire the three to babysit their son: Youngblood. I think it’s clear he gets his look from his grandparents. What we get is Danny going ghost and dealing with Youngblood acting as his pesty self while donning his many cosplay costumes. What a geek. They can’t do a goddamn thing about his bratty behavior out of fear of him calling his parents whom Danny imagines would eat his friends (I don't see how it's any different for ol' ghost boy to give it the one-two). So they endure his tirade of terrors until the brat starts building a giant robot with building blocks. Fully functional, too. No batteries included. Yeah, I don’t know how that works, but okay. Sam manages to stop the robot by tripping it with her boots (she must’ve bought the industrial brand), causing the robot to literally fall apart. Danny quickly uses sonic speed to build a cage to trap the tyke in. Apparently in his youth, Danny was the reigning champion of block building. Youngblood’s parents return and commends Danny and his friends for finally treating their son with the discipline he sorely needed. It’s any wonder he plotted revenge against all adult kind.
Using the money they earned, Danny and Tucker head off to buy the bikes, only to be thrown out since ghost money does little good in Earth. Intriguing. Anyone wanna tell me why Skulker had to resort to stealing human cash in “Kindred Spirits” then? Whatever. Danny uses the ghost cash to buy various building blocks to build a robot for him and his buddies to pick on Youngblood.
REVIEW: Eh. That's my response. It's not particularly terrible by any means, it’s just incredibly mediocre and a bit spotty. If anything, it's good inclination that the DP comic book isn't as thoroughly canonical to it's original source materials and may even be outside of the show's continuity; but I still found it hard to accept Sam’s disdain for babysitting when Tucker himself has proven to be a worthy caretaker of little people. Then there’s the matter of ghost money which I actually like the idea of, but something never emphasized in the show itself (and with the “Kindred Spirits” thing I mentioned above, it seems human cash is worth as much there as it is here), though it is nice to see small insights into ghostly culture. I like to think this takes place somewhere in the beginning portions of Season Two, so Danny acting a little too careless isn't severely off, but a bit jarring. Fortunately, Youngblood remained consistent with his personality, giant beastly ghosts parents notwithstanding.
The artwork isn’t all that great. The characters are off-model in various places and the coloring is lacking with none of the vibrant tones that make it Danny Phantom.
5/10
Danny Phantom in: Win a Date with Danny Phantom*
Released: ??? (e-mail me and let me know)
Story/Script: Marty Isenberg
Pencils: Ray Angrum
Inks: Ray Leonh
Coloring: George Goodchild
Lettering: Comicraft
SUMMARY: Danny and Sam are both outraged that Tucker is raising money for college by getting all the rapid chicks to bet off on who gets to date Danny Phantom. Danny is about to tell him off until he finds the winner to be Paulina. All traces of anger is left as he dates the girl of his dream, naturally incurring Sam's wrath. Tucker eggs her on about it, but it's obvious she has a plan inside that Gothic mind.
The date goes swimmingly later that night. Danny hands Paulina a heart-shaped box, but instead of chocolate, the Box Ghost springs out with a box of tomato sauce. Danny stupidly attacks the box, it's contents spraying all over Paulina. Upset, she runs off, much to Danny's dismay. Even more so when he can't find [not-so] dastardly foe. He has fled behind a tree where we bare witness to his true intentions for mocking up the date, under behalf of one Sam Manson.
REVIEW: There are a couple of things wrong about this comic.
1. Tucker exploiting for money is a given and an essential part of his character, but why, why, why is he handling his get rich scheme by basically acknowledging his association with Danny Phantom? Considering it's pretty much established the main trio are a packaged deal with the rest of the students of Casper High, you'd think someone would put two and two together and find the boy's secret. This is just blatant carelessness.
2. Sam's jealously is also a staple of her character, however milked it was by Season Three. Here, it seems she's taken it to a whole 'nother level. One where she bribes/makes a deal/orders/whatever to Box Ghost to ruin Danny's date with Paulina, leading her to be incredibly petty; even worse then the flowers she kicked in a latter comic. Sam possesses a forceful opinion and attitude on a variety of matters, but when it comes to her friends--especially her romance with Danny--she has mostly played a passive, but fair role. She remained irritated, but never vindictive, especially given her rational mind; she's the one usually putting Danny and Tucker in place, not administrating it. Here, not so and it just makes her come off as a cruel bitch the likes of the popular chicks she so despises.
Only Danny himself remains in-character. His crush on Paulina is apparent, but he's slowly growing up. Though Sam accuses Danny of letting Tucker auction him off, it's clear from Danny's reaction that he hadn't played a part in this and is just as angry as Sam for his abuse of their secret. He quickly changes his mind merely because like the earlier days, his heart and emotions governs over his head, proving he still has much to learn and mature.
Artwork and coloring for the most part is beautiful and generally in-model. Not the best I've seen, but solid. If anything, out of all the DP comics I've seen so far, this is the clearest looking one yet.
4/10
Danny Phantom in: Ghost Fight*
Released: ??? (e-mail me and let me know)
Story/Script: Frank Romanuffy
Pencils: Butch Hartman
Inks: Issac Marzioli
Coloring: Sno Cones Studios
Lettering: Comicraft
SUMMARY: A small two-page of Danny fighting off hordes of generic ghosts and complaining how late he is--he has a history essay to write, damn it. The ghosts whine back, saying they got lives, too, and flies off. Danny curiously follows and catches them watching "America's Ghost Wanted". Ummm, shouldn't that be "Ghost Zone's Most Wanted?"
REVIEW: I was ready to make it a first on this site by not giving this comic a score; there's barely a story to form anything coherent or relevant for me to contribute an opinion. Rereading it a few more times have deducted that despite the shortness, it adequately sums up Danny's general behavior. Irritated by not just his heroic life, Danny concerns himself with schoolwork, serving a slow gateway to what he becomes in Season Three. Ultimately it's the comic's only saving grace; anything else isn't warranted repeated readings and is just plain average, even if it's only two pages.
Hartman's artwork is strikingly beautiful, on-model (he gave Danny muscles on his arms), and vibrantly colored here. He's crowded stint in the first DP comic is absent here, making the panels flow freely without worrying whether the hero would be squeezed to death in-between lines. The only annoyance is the generic range of ghosts. I know the man's busy, but he couldn't bother to diverse it up some?
6.5/10
Danny Phantom: Seeing Red
Released: Nickelodeon Magazine Presents, May, 2008
Story/Script: Kevin Sullivan
Pencils: Shaunt Nigoghossian
Inks: J. Bone
Coloring: Lee Loughridge
Lettering: Comicraft
SUMMARY: On an unusually warm Valentine’s Day, Sam and Danny complain about the town’s current display of red and pink. Tucker however is ecstatic, coming out of a candy store with oodles of chocolate boxes. Danny is shocked his best friend would get himself into V-Day (oh, really, are you? Think real hard, Danny, it’s Tucker) while the bespectacled one eggs Sam on her V-Day confession. Sam stoically answers, “Danny” much to the boys' surprise, though we (and they) find out it’s really to get his attention on a movie she wants to watch, Gargantua vs. The Axe Man, her idea of a V-Day treat.
In Casper High, the entire school is selling Valentine’s flowers, again much to the dismay of both Danny and Sam. Tucker trips on his own melted chocolate and gives Sam and Danny free candies. So, it’s not okay to buy candies because it promotes the commercialism of V-Day, but it’s okay to swipe your best friend’s chocolate goodies? Right, good moral message there. Two thumbs up! Next scene has Star (wearing a terribly discolored shirt) admiring all the flowers Paulina has received, one from Dash, the rest from herself. That’s sad. In a weird act of cheating, Paulina wants to lie to her own boyfriend that the flowers were sent by Danny Phantom, something Sam hears and gets pissed at, kicking her flowers! Oh, my God Sam, take a goddamn chill pill. In a weird, ironic twist, Paulina feels pity for Sam enough to give her one of her bouquet. Huh...never saw that coming. Then the flowers get all magical, growing into massive vines that encircle the entire school.
Danny turns ghost and reunites with *sigh* Undergrowth. He puts Danny to sleep via sleep spores. He wakes up to find the villain...rehashing the same plot he did in “Urban Jungle”, using humans as pods for his flowers (Undergrowth is pissed the students cut up his “children” for V-Day). Danny escapes and freezes him, but since this is a ridiculously warm V-Day, he escapes. So Danny decides to aim his ice elsewhere and in a matter of actual brain usage, Danny points his ice powers at the clouds, causing the place to snow. Undergrowth is frozen permanently (well, until the next battle), so Danny ends it by blowing him the shit up. DAMN.
With everyone back to normal, Sam takes the time to chew Danny out. Am I the only one concerned that Danny PHANTOM is walking through the school hallway with his two best friends without the possibility that someone’s gonna bat an eye on this?! Danny counters back, stating he didn’t send any V-Day gift to Paulina whatsoever and that she misunderstood. His only V-Day present are tickets to the movie for Sam...and Tucker. Cue little lovely-dovey scene with Sam and Danny reaching for the same popcorn, Danny blushes.
REVIEW: ...I'm...surprised. I'm shocked. This comic surprised me. Because Kevin Sullivan wrote it. Kevin. Sullivan. The man who single-handedly ruined Season Three with his mediocre take on the characters’ development and story arc. And yet, he made this brilliant little ten-page comic that has clearly become my current favorite of the DP comic. And ironically, it’s because he fully grasped the character and the story, if not Danny himself. Granted, Danny always did exhibit maturity in Season Three, but he topped it with a solid story which paces itself excellently whilst exhibiting intelligence into the boy--especially noticeable without Sam to dumb him down. I never suspected Danny wouldn’t approve of the cheap commercialism of holidays as Sam would, but in a theoretical look, it increasingly fits with his Season Three view as a cynical teenager who no longer sees fame and popularity as a positive. Even minor character Paulina gets a slight character boost when she takes pity on Sam not out of judgment (to keep in character, she does calls him “weird girl”), but enough to donate some of her flowers. In just one panel, she managed to inherit depth that the animation never did. Since it is V-Day (in Season Three time), there is Danny/Sam, yet even this isn’t overplayed as some of the other third season episodes, though Sam kicking Paulina's flowers is going too far. And Undergrowth, eh, he recycles his plot, but for ten pages, I’m not going to hold it against him.
The drawings range from decent to very good; characters are on model (the panel of Undergrowth exploding is a nice little piece of display) and the coloring, while not as vibrant as most of the Danny Phantom episodes sometimes feels like watching a still frame from one of them. Any flaws are minor at best--mostly character eyes looking out of shape and almost soulless and some miscolorings--though Danny's blushing face at the end is adorable. I am relieved the artist remembered/managed to keep Danny in his more buffer form; I refuse to believe the kid hasn't gained some sort of physical advantage after all those months of battling ("Micro Management" never happened).
Kevin Sullivan may have made some terrible Season Three episodes, but this comic is a little gem in itself.
9/10
Danny Phantom: Bring Back My Body to Me (Gay)
Released: Nickelodeon Magazine Presents, Oct, 2008
Story/Script: Marty Isenberg and Sib Ventress with Frank Pittarese
Pencils: Ray Angrum
Inks: Jeff Albrecht
Coloring: Wes Dzioba
Lettering: Comicraft
SUMMARY: It's a nice first page between Danny and Vlad (making his first appearance in the funny pages), both mumbling over their own happenings; Danny getting ready for the Freshmen Formal(and planning to woo Paulina while avoiding Dash's man crushing meat arms), Vlad admiring Liberace's necklace. Actually, it's the Spirit Stealer--a possession of the Fright Knight's--a pendent with the ability to steal another ghost's powers, but with the glowing and the flamboyant, who can tell?
We're accompanied with a nice transformation from Vlad and a nicer sepia tone flashback sequences as Plasmius talks to himself (and the audiences) of his plans to swipe Danny's powers and beat him about head and toe. There is something kinky in all this; I mean, the dude's gonna make Danny wear a fruity necklace. Fright Knight arrives before he could sneak off with it, warning Vlad of the unstable results of the necklace in a half ghost's hands. Vlad smacks Fright Knight with his duplication propa'. Then he flies off, the amulet around his neck. Elton John is proud of you, by the way; it accessories very well with his glimmering, oversize sunglasses.
Danny's ghost sense lets loose by the time he fixes his bow tie, so he marches off to the Fenton basement and meets Vladdie. Going ghost in an equally (if not poorly drawn) nice fashion, Danny doesn't get in one punch before Vlad forces the necklace around the boy. Gay. At the same time, the souls or whatever of Danny and Vlad switch into each other's body. Ahhh, the ol' switch-a-roo plot device. Also gay. They quickly make note of their discoveries, then Vlad-in-Danny's body kicks Danny-in-Vlad's body inside the Fenton Portal when he hears Jack's voice announcing the arrival of his friends, both wearing the same dress outfits from "Parental Bonding", baring Tucker's bow tie. For that matter, the same rule applies to Danny's garb. From this point on, Danny-in-Vlad will be known as Danny!Vlad. Vlad-in-Danny as Vlad!Danny.
Danny!Vlad encounters Fright Knight the moment he's in the GZ, so he has little time to contemplate the very fact that he's passed puberty. After eating a spark of his swoooooooooord laaaaaaaaaaaasssssssereeeeeeeer, Danny!Vlad somehow convinces FK that he be innocent and is really a fourteen-year-old boy trapped inside a forty-year-old men. Jazz would approve. Also gay. Fright Knight warns the kid-inside-men that he must return the pendent in one piece by sundown or they'll be stuck in their current bodies...forever. Honestly, I think Danny got the better deal.
At the dance, Sam points out Vlad!Danny's half amulet. Turns out each half ghost possesses one half of the jewel since the switch. He gets little time to think of his puberty degrade upon Dash dumping red punch over him. He doesn't go Carrie, but he does the next best thing: lift up Dash WITH HIS OWN TWO GODDAMN HUMAN HANDS, then beats him atop a goddamn basketball net. HOLY SHIT. That settles it, "Micro Management" never happened; make this part of the canon! All the while, Paulina finds that so damn charming.
Danny!Vlad flies to Casper High and reverts to human form (with a accidental black bow tie instead of red--arguably better). Ahhh, Vlad looks so cute when he's worried. Err...Danny-in-Vlad. After Vlad!Danny refuses Paulina's lust (Gay), Danny!Vlad dives in with anger in his heart--"Get away from here, you field!" Change one word in that sentence and you get Gay, Gay, Gay. While Tucker and Sam are shocked Vlad likes Paulina (Not Gay, but damn, that's stepping on some taboo issue), Vlad!Danny and Danny!Vlad start head locking each other (which Dash admires despite his earlier hoop incident) before Danny!Vlad, having the advantage of taller height, weight, and muscles, drags them both away. G. A. Y. With the sun setting, the two nearly delivers maximum punches of awesome until Sam and Tucker lends a hand, attacking Danny!Vlad with Fenton Battle Staffs (a curious red as oppose to the silver/green format the Fentons go for). Danny!Vlad warns Vlad!Danny of the pendent's side effects, but Vlad doesn't listen. His ego would never allow that. So Danny!Vlad operates Plan "B" and tells Vlad!Danny to take the amulet back. He does as he leaps onto Danny!Vlad, connecting the Spirit Stealer at the same time. Gay.
With their bodies returned and night having fallen, Danny grows relieved while Vlad searches for the Spirit Stealer in vain. Tucker and Sam realize what the hell happened, but doesn't get to whack Vlad a second time; Fright Knight's returned, amulet in hand. He takes the now human Vlad--stripped of his powers by the Spirit Stealer. It's not just Vlad who gets a sour deal (he's stuck playing maid for FK--unfortunately he wears no sexy outfit), Lancer (complete with 70's ruffled suit) kicks Danny out for creating unwanted violence in Casper High. So no, he doesn't get to have glorious sex with Paulina. Oooh, so close.
REVIEW: Sib and Marty teaming up with some guy I don't know. Still, it's a dream team that hasn't happened in a while. Brings a tear to my eye. The longest DP comic yet with a whooping twelve pages, "Bring Back My Body to Me" ignores the core of Danny Phantom continuity. Danny behaves in Season Two format while Vlad aggressively juggles both a Season Three vibe (with his intentions of ruining Danny instead of cuddling him) and his earlier behavior. There's no hint of a partnership between him and Fright Knight that the series itself intended either and the narration is causal, but unneeded and annoying.
Tragically, we get essentially a 32-scripted comic widdled down to twelve. Danny's brief time in Vlad's body isn't milked and he's thrown straight into the plot and Fright Knight's hand; there is little time for him to mess around and see what life as Vlad Masters is like, nor do we see any hint on how far his character growth was at that point. Vlad himself suffers from hasty decisions; willing to ignore warnings and preferring to act before thinking, reducing him to a simpler format. Jarring, but not as terrible as I thought. The writers knew their stuff and kept Vlad as the egotistical (complaints of Danny's "infernal, bony body"), manipulative (quickly able to grasp Danny's body and trick his cohorts into believing he's the real deal) and clever (he actually kicked his own self when in Danny's body to hide their current predicament) antagonist that he is. Within 12 pages, his complex persona side had to be severed, but his level of menace ricochets all over the comic and his ending treatment retains far more dignity then what he got in the series finale.
So it's of pleasant consequences that he gets the best scenes in the comic; his time inside Danny is the center of characterization. His time with Dash and Paulina is appropriately affective, but his interactions with key buddies Tucker and Sam is minimal (unfortunate); a role they both play a part in, hopping in only when they're needed (fortunate). There's plenty of potentials here, but the plot pacing jumps from one angle to the next. Ignoring and seeing it for what it is though and you're rewarded with a fun plot and enticing character anecdotes.
The art is a love-it-or-hate-it affair. Aside from a so-so coloring job (only the sunset/night sky has a visual tone to gleam over), there's too many off-models to count: one panel demonstrated why Vlad shouldn't get a sex change, another has Danny huffing his chest like he's gonna blow some poor piglet's straw house, Fright Knight's sword design is completely inaccurate, Tucker occasionally seems like he stuffed a basketball inside his hat, and Vlad should never, ever, ever, ever, EVER have pupils in Plasmius form. When Ray really gives it his all, it shows. Some of the bigger panels are absolutely gorgeous. Fright Knight is the sole exception; every panel that he's in is amazing.
8/10
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Article Written revised/Updated in: Oct. 30, 2008
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