Shankie's House of Guns & Spandex

Vertigo put out this baby, and I got it because it was what it was and I've some unhealthy obsession with the Stranger, but I got quite a bit more than I bargained for.

As far as Stranger stories go, it's pretty darn strange, and reads like a horror movie. My general response to most of it was "what the fuck?" And then there was how it ends.



And would you believe those two are in love?

( Thirty scans, with most of the really weird stuff cut out. )

The art may be a bit to get used to, but it certainly has its moments. And, for it's rarity, the Stranger showing overtly human traits are something I can never get enough of.

When I started reading comics, it was The Phantom Stranger and mid-to-late 80's Superman, and that was pretty much it for... oh jeeze. A long time. Years maybe. Then one day, I saw Action Comics #833 in a bookstore. It had a wicked awesome cover, which you can see the art for here, and Byrne was listed, so I bought it, and sat outside on a bench to read it.

Thus, I became a DC fangirl. But it all started with Byrne, even if his dialogue can be over the top, sometimes even silly, it's Superman to me.

This issue in my TPB is waterstained, creased hard down the spine right to it, and is the only comic I can actually quote from. I wanted to share it, but only after I could scan from my TPB, which is all re-inked and coloured and shiny. Then, today, when talking about this issue, I realized that I have a scanner now. ::facepalm:: It hates the colours orange and red, and I'm still learning how to use it to it's full potential, but I did my best.

( Starting off with the Stranger... )

I think if the Stranger appeared in my livingroom with some mysterious task, then transported me to said task... that the first thing I say isn't going to be "Oh for pete's sake!" But that's what Clark says.

Because he's the goddamn Superman, that's why! XD

Soonafter, my favourite Superman page ever. The Stranger's narration, along with how Clark's face and body language shifts into sheer determination just... never fail to get me. Every time, it makes me want to cheer; it just sums him up neatly, dramatically, in four panels.

( Can I get a Helllll Yee-ah? )

I'm grinning from ear to ear, because I can't help it. It's so cool, I love it.

( A few more panels of the Stranger... )

I still don't read much new Superman, relatively speaking. After I got into DC more, it was my first inclination... but there was just something missing I couldn't put my finger on, even when it was good. Birthright is the only Supes TPB I own other than my volumes of The Man of Steel and the first superhero story I ever read, The Death of Superman. When I first read that book, it was when it first was published in TPB format; someone had left it out on a table where I was sitting being in trouble for something (which I always was, all through elementary school and high school, haha) and I read the whole thing, even if I had no idea who any of the people in that incarnation of the Justice League were. XD

So that's me and Superman. Now I want to take pictures of Clark, aka, the fangirlmobile. ::laughs:: Maybe tomorrow.

I've posted this whole issue, sadly a less clear and pretty set of scans, over here, if you want to see the rest.