I agree. (About the Stranger series part, not necessarily the whore part! )
This was probably the high point of scripter Len Wein's career: Stranger, JLA, Swamp Thing, and a couple of Batman stories (the werewolf Adams issue comes to mind). Wein's opening monologues were sometimes over the top, but in a cool Rod Sterling kind of way.
I never bothered to collect the series past #26, as the few I'd sampled were unreadable (and the Spawn of Frankenstein was even worse once Kaluta left). I do remember the letters to the editor really slamming the series post-26, and to DC's credit, they printed all the pans. It was you guys who made me appreciate the LD covers on the later part of the run, so now I do have a complete set. The last 3 or 4 issues are decent, early scripts by Paul Levitz and include the return of some of the supporting characters from Wein's run. Check 'em out!