Written by Juanita ‘Obi-Juan’ Bonner  Well kiddies, we finished our road trip through Christmasland and now we’re back to close out the backstory of the one and only Charles Talent Manx III. If you’re just joining us, don’t worry. You can catch up on all things Christmasland with our NOS4A2 Collections page right here!! But, before we DRIVE back into Charlie’s world, let me point out that I truly didn’t know I was a fan of comics until much later in life. I was the one who hung out and discussed fandom. Mostly from a film and television perspective. And though, I still don’t read as much as I should, with endless amounts of avenues to explore, I will likely go to my grave in the middle of SOME SORT of comic or graphic novel… LOL! But horror!! Now that was a genre I definitely wasn’t ready for. Further, I don’t typically read 7 comics in one sitting. But, the NOS4A2 world truly sparked my interest. Granted, I was two things at the time. Completely in love with the television series and beyond excited to find out there was a comic link. YAY!!! Finally, as a long-time vampire fan, I was – and still am – wildly intrigued with the unique world of Inscapes!! On that note… let’s discuss Volume 7 – Epilogue: Phantoms. Though illustrated, inked and edited by all the same wonderful folks as the previous six, save for one additional name, the final volume takes on a completely different look. Even from its counterpart, Volume 1 – Prologue: Fantoms. Because, rather than the traditional panel style format, this story lays out more like one of those 1920’s ads with artwork and descriptions across each page. And, it’s not just the look. The language also matches the days of old with terms like “dame” and “Huckleberry” and phrases like “cop a heel” and “the Steam is here.” I mean… WTF if happening… LOL!! The tale itself starts with characters just as foreign to our eyes as the layout. There’s no sign of Manx or his Wraith. It’s a bit disorienting considering where we came from and I find this hilarious since Christmasland somehow seems… um… normal (LOL!!), to what we see here. I remember that this is Joe Hill and conclude that the real evil will reveal itself soon enough and carry on basically not understanding anything I’m reading… LOL!! If you’ve already read it yourself, I bet you’re nodding in agreement and spouting “SAME,” am I right?? HAHAHA!! To begin, we see a young man named Tommy lose his little brother Flynn in a drowning accident after they flee from a con job gone wrong with a man referred to as Soapy Porter (AKA Ph.D.). And that’s just page one… LOL!! I actually had to read this page twice due to my discombobulation from the abrupt change in design AND language. I have no idea who these people are or how they tie in to Manx for several pages. Though, my suspicions are later confirmed that we’re actually following the life of one Mr. Nicholas LeMarc from Volume 1. YEP!! The jerk who sold the idea of Christmasland to Charlie in the first place. Only, his name obviously isn’t Nick. It’s Tommy. He and Flynn, up until his untimely death crossing the Fox River in McCarthy, Illinois, were raised by their uncle Soapy. The bastard beat them and made them work his schemes to get by which, for what it’s worth, makes Flynn’s demise actually more appealing. WOW!! As time and pages unfold, we see Ph.D., who’s definitely NOT a doctor of any kind, and Tommy get a taste of their own medicine when they hustle a young girl who hustles back. NICE!! Louisiana Archer is her name. Lew, for short. As one would expect, Ph.D. forces her to run scams by pretending to show interest in well to do men, enticing them to a hotel room where Ph.D. busts in claiming she’s his 14 year old niece and: “The Huckleberry gives everything he’s got in his wallet to keep Ph.D. from going to the cops and spreading his name all over the newspapers.” The con works for a while, but Tommy is falling for Lew and can no longer stand to see these men put their hands on her. It’s all somewhat predictable but fascinating none the less. I mean. I never expected to care about LeMarc. Let alone feel empathy or hope for the guy. It’s weird!! Then… one night, in the midst of a normal scam, Ph.D. hears a gunshot from the hotel room well before he’s supposed to bust in. The man is dead and Lew is hysterical. Ph.D. finds a Federal Marshal badge in his wallet and goes immediately into damage control mode. WHOA!! I definitely didn’t see this coming. Grabbing what money the dead guy had, Ph.D. tells Tommy and Lew to “scatter,” and meet up with him at some dollar store in Cleveland. He hands Tommy his share and disappears. Come to find out, he “skinned” Tommy for his take. YEP! Sounds about right!! No matter. Lew has been scheming all along. HAHAHA… YES!! She planted the badge when she realized her mark, a gambler on his way to a big poker game, had a money belt housing thirty grand! WHOA!! Not to mention she slipped the gambler’s wedding ring into Ph.D.’s coat pocket for the cops to find. OKAY, now we’re talking!! They make their escape together while ‘Ol uncle Soapy heads to prison. He beats the murder charge, but still gets “seven years for looting the corpse of a probable suicide.” And, though it isn’t said outright, it’s implied that Lew’s the one who squealed. From here on out, the tidbits of evil trickle ever so slowly off every page. Closing out the 1920s, Tommy runs a sham candy company which: “Collapses in the fall of 1929, along with everything else.” It’s here we see our first glimpse at Charlie as one of the candy company investors is shown to be his father-in-law. You know… the one who fell down a flight of stairs after losing his fortune in investments! That same scene from Volume 1 jogs our memory. YEP… it’s all coming together now, isn’t it?!? Needing to provide for Lew and their new son Flynn (AWWW!!), Tommy moves on to his next con by selling stakes in a fish canning company. He lures (HAHAHA, pun intended!!) in a Wraith owning family man who ends up killing himself and his family with Wraith fumes once the company goes belly up from a fake botulism scare. The very same Wraith Charlie gets for a steal due to its unsavory history. WOW!! Tommy is quite the depraved individual isn’t he? Plus, the intricacies are delightful!! Keep ‘em coming Mr. Hill!! Next, Tommy purchases 5 tons of spoiled fish for cheap, grinds them up with horse s*it and sells it as “miracle fertilizer” through a shell company. Here we see yet another scene from Volume 1 – Charlie and his kids working pumpkin fields covered in foul smelling dirt. GEEZ, this conman has played multiple roles in Charlie’s misery so far. It makes complete sense that later, in 1938, he’s the one to send Charlie over the edge with: “The fantasy of a Christmas that never ends.” YIKES!!  In the story at hand, Tommy surprises Lew with a mansion in Michigan after his big Christmasland score. UHOH!! Flynn is a young boy by then and they now have a new baby girl name Holly too. This is where things shift DRAMATICALLY all while still holding the same old timey look. In the fall, Flynn is sent to a private elementary school and one day mysteriously disappears when his private driver is late to pick him up after a slashed tire. Seems another car picked him up instead. The two scenes showing the Wraith are cartoonish yet chilling and Flynn is never seen again!! The Michigan PD place blame for the incident on a “mongoloid” from “Miss Madrigal’s Home for the Afflicted” who they then coerce into confessing. So many things are confusing by this point but I do know one thing for sure – Manx is in charge now!! Lew never recovers from the loss of Flynn and after she attempts suicide multiple times, Tommy has her committed only for her to check out and drown herself “in the same river” as Tommy’s little brother Flynn almost 40 years prior. WOW!! Unable to take care of little Holly, Tommy turns her over to an orphanage. He later learns that she was adopted by a man named Christmas. And the one shot of her carrying her suitcase toward Charlie holding open the Wraith door is eerily priceless!!
With nothing left but nightmares, Tommy finds himself standing at the riverside that took his brother and wife. He’s approached by a gray haired man. Why it’s none other than Ph.D.!! Another little twist I didn’t see coming!! The next few pages unfold with a final scheme from Ph.D. as he means to make old lady Madrigal pay for housing mongoloid child murderers. OOOOO!! Something big is coming, right?!? He lays out a pretty solid plan to pretend to be Tommy’s disgruntled long-time personal driver who’ll offer to sell damning information about Tommy’s past, up to and including the Christmasland con, to Madrigal as revenge for the mongoloid. However, considering we know the mongoloid never killed Tommy’s son, I deduce that Ph.D. must be scamming his own nephew for payback. And boy was I right!! He tells Tommy showing Madrigal real documents stored in a safety deposit box will undoubtedly seal the deal once she has time to research the connections. Then he’ll sell her the key to a supposedly empty box. Oh, and part of it all? They’ll need to rent a car to pull off the personal driver story. Betcha can’t guess which car we see?? The whole thing plays out beautifully!! Tommy falls for the same old tricks both he and Ph.D. have been using for years making him the Huckleberry!! HAHAHA!! After the con is complete, Tommy finds himself locked in the back seat of the Wraith. His uncle has slammed the door on him figuratively and literally. The man in the chauffeur suit that enters the front seat has switched hands and turns out to be Charlie instead of Ph.D. NICE!! To top it off, Tommy sees old lady Madrigal making off with the REAL documents that will seal his fate forever. Nevertheless, where he’s going, his mortal life won’t matter anyway. HAHAHA!! A lot happens in those final pages that isn’t fully discussed here. The details of the con are laid bare and even I could tell it was a fraud early on. But Tommy? By this point, he’s alone. Desperate. Not thinking clearly. It’s perfect!! There’s parallels to the other volumes with baseball and even a small balloon reference. NEAT!! There’s also a constant theme of drowning throughout. But overall, the gist remains. Tommy gets played. LOL!!! Not to mention, Charlie is all too happy to explain that not only does he have Tommy’s children – Flynn and Holly – but he was also able to snatch up Lew too. WAIT… WHAT?? He explains further by saying: ‘”I’ve never been able to turn an adult before! But she was a child inside and somehow that was enough.”’ Well holy s*it, this is new!! I mean. It’s clear that Charlie knows Tommy was the cause of ALL his family misery. Not just the Christmasland scam. But just how long has this plan been in motion? Did Charlie seek out Ph.D.? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. As they arrive in Christmasland, Tommy, amongst Charlie’s kin, is greeted by his own spiked teeth wife and children. “And there they are, just as he promised – your son and your daughter and Lew. Every good thing that has been taken from you has been returned.” The last scene is creepy AF showing everyone coming forward reaching for Tommy and the final words are: “You close your eyes and drown.” THE END!! WTF!! Wait just a damn minute here!! Who’s telling this story?? The entire tale, from beginning to end, is told from a third person narrative. I assumed it was Manx. Maybe reliving everything on the drive to Christmasland. I mean. That MOST CERTAINLY seems like something Manx would do!! And considering he has Tommy’s whole family, the history certainly tracks, right?? But the narration never changes. Placing peoples words in quotations when necessary. Even Charlie’s!! Of whom, we don’t actually hear speak until the final pages. And then it hits me like a ton of evil Joe Hill bricks. The Wraith is the narrator!! THE WRAITH!! He, she, IT… has been in charge the whole time. Has IT always known Charlie is a Strong Creative? Was IT drawn to him somehow? Setting the wheels (*WINK*) in motion to become his Knife? Does IT control Charlie, not the other way around? I know the Wraith is Charlie’s lifeblood, but I NEVER imagined IT was in charge! HOLY COW!!! My ENTIRE NOS4A2 way of thinking has been upended!! I just sit there stunned!! SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. I even flip back and forth to see if I missed something. NOPE! I picture a Manx in the Moon like voice, only smoldering and quieter. Maybe speaking to Tommy in the back seat through his dreams? WOW!! As prequels go, this s*it just blew my damn mind. The dynamics of the relationship between a sadistic psychopath and his soul sucking car are seen in a whole new, all be it snow filled, light. So yeah… just like I said at the end of Volume 6 – “The mind boggles with possibilities, right?” Tidbits of evil slowly trickling off every page indeed!! BRAVO, Mr. Hill!! Well there you have it kiddies!! Seven deliciously evil comics nestled squarely in the mind and world of Charlie Manx and his beloved Wraith. It’s been an absolute joy to retrace this journey with you. And if you’re anything like me and are still hungry for all this world has to offer, come back soon as I intend to explore a bit more. My angle is yet to be determined, but make no mistake, my expedition continues! Until then, remember what Charlie says to Tommy when discussing lies: “There really are no lies. There’s only the world of being and the world of ideas and neither has the greater claim to reality!” ‘The Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland’ – Volume 7 – Epilogue: Phantoms’ IDW Publishing; June 2014 – Author: Joe Hill; Illustrations: Charles Paul Wilson III; Colors: Jay Fotos; Letters: Shawn Lee and Robbie Robbins; Edits: Chris Ryall with thanks to Gabriel Rodriguez
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