InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I can haz snickerdoodle?"

leikomgwtfbbq (leikomgwtfbbq) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-08 20:57:00

Current mood:	geeky
Entry tags:	char: phantom stranger, publisher: dc comics

The Phantom Stranger, for as spooky and supernatural as he appears to be, is fond of good old-fashioned fisticuffs.

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It's a nice change from the usual Squishy Wizard type. If he can't fling a spell at you, he'll simply punch your teeth in and deliver an awesome Rod-Serling-on-acid-type speech about good and evil to you, MISCREANT!

Or maybe he'll just break your wrist and then swoop down onto some other unfortunate enemy.

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He also likes to fill his days with lion-wrestling...

And when he gets bored, he simply evaporates them away.

But he's pretty nice, too. He does favors for old friends, like babysitting for the Spectre.

And he even throws the odds so that little girls will win at Candyland.

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Aww~

And he's got some killer fashion sense. Hey, as much as I love John Constantine and his dirty old coat, I gotta say, there's something about P.S.'s big blue sometimes-coat/sometimes-opera-cape and the eternal eye-shading hat that's really just fetching.

So, really, is it any wonder that ladies throw themselves at the Phantom Stranger?

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I think just about anyone would.

(Post a new comment)

	sailorlibra 2009-03-08 09:19 pm UTC (link)
	throws self at PS I have to admit, you have me converted in a fan with just these few scans. (Reply to this)

volksjager
2009-03-08 09:22 pm UTC (link)

I always like the issue of Secret Origins about him. They did three different versions cause no one knew for sure which was true. PS has taken some hits over the last decade. If John Byrne did a book there were three characters he always used at guest stars,The Demon,The New Gods, and The Phantom Stranger. He's ok in Madame Xanadu...but someone please pull this character out of the ditch and do him some good :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	4 in fact philippos42 2009-03-09 01:06 am UTC (link)
	Four origins, even, & presumably none of them is really his, either (though Gaiman liked to imply that one of the ones with angels was close to the truth). And yeah, he needs some good stories, but he's really hard to do as a lead now. I like him in cameos, like in Stanley and his Monster when he shows up to help & Stanley won't talk to him because...he's a stranger. (Reply to this) (Parent)

leikomgwtfbbq
2009-03-09 03:22 am UTC (link)

Didn't they do four? I have three of them scanned in, and there's another one I didn't particularly care for (where his origin was all sci-fi).

My favorite was the one where he was a moral man living in Sodom/Gomorrah/Random Sinful Biblical Town, argued with an angel, got eternal life and superpowers, but then forgot why he wanted them (to protect the other people in town from the wrath of God).

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	foxhack 2009-03-08 09:44 pm UTC (link)
	If I ever dare to go to a comic convention, and decide to dress up as someone, I'd most likely go as this guy. He's badass in all the right ways. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	leikomgwtfbbq 2009-03-09 03:18 am UTC (link)
	Which is why this fellow has my respect: http://www.vitaminsteve.com/2004/11/phantom-stranger-goes-shopping.html I particularly love P.S. eating at Wendy's. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	seriousfic 2009-03-08 09:54 pm UTC (link)
	He'd make a pretty cool mystic in a New Gods book. Barda smashes stuff, Scott escapes stuff, and Phantom Stranger is left explaining all the intricacies of the Source and the Anti-Life Equation to people who'd rather be at home watching Lost. (Reply to this)

	mysteryfan 2009-03-08 11:10 pm UTC (link)
	I do like him, although his game of Candyland looks more like Snakes and Ladders. (Reply to this)

jesidres
2009-03-08 11:27 pm UTC (link)

I have trouble remembering, when Didio put up the Giant Wall of No Vertigo crossovers, did Phantom end up in DC or Vertigo? Because I love him in both- annoying the frick out of Constantine, or being enigmatic to Zatanna... yeah, he needs a new mini STAT.

If he did end up in Vertigo, I have to say it would be really weird to have Dr. Thirteen in a separate universe, since they originally shared a comic book together.

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	kenn_el 2009-03-09 12:03 am UTC (link)
	The Stranger was in a recent three-parter Brave & Bold with Green Lantern and Green Arrow (read like a recycled plot, but was just published), and is prominently featured in the Vertigo Madame Xanadu series, so I assume rules don't apply to him, nor should they. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jesidres 2009-03-09 01:01 am UTC (link)
	phew! Wait, I did not know about the B&B. May have to track that down. I knew about him in Xanadu, but wanted confirmation he was still around in the DC universe. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	leikomgwtfbbq 2009-03-09 03:19 am UTC (link)
	saddfsakdakdjakadssl I have to find those Brave and the Bold issues! P.S./Madame X is actually my Cracky Mystic Babble OTP. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	nymphgalatea 2009-03-09 05:48 pm UTC (link)
	I would recommend the Brave & Bold issues, Phantom Stranger is both scary badass and sympathetic in them. Plus, the art is really good! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	leikomgwtfbbq 2009-03-09 03:23 am UTC (link)
	P.S. The P.S. has only contempt for such miscreants as Didio and their so-called RULES! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	filbypott 2009-03-09 03:50 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, a few chars can cross over between DC and Vertigo with impunity - the Stranger, Madame Xanadu, Zatanna and her father. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	yaseen101 2009-03-09 03:01 am UTC (link)
	Ahh, Phantom Stranger, how I miss you thee. (Reply to this)

	randyripoff 2009-03-09 07:13 am UTC (link)
	Definitely a shame when PS turned from a man of action into Exposition Man. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	leikomgwtfbbq 2009-03-09 04:17 pm UTC (link)
	I know. :( I wish they'd make him run around being spooky/exposition-riffic, AND have him punch people in the face sometimes, too. It can be done, I swear! (Reply to this) (Parent)

noahbrand
2009-03-09 04:31 pm UTC (link)

My favorite bit regarding the Stranger's origin was in SWAMP THING, where Alan Moore implied that the origin he'd written was correct, in the following lovely dialogue with Etrigan, the Demon:

Stranger: Ah yes, Etrigan, the demon who fancies himself half a man.

Etrigan: "Oh kettle, thou art black!" the pot exclaims! I know one more ambivalent far than I... a lonely soul who, mentioning no names, will not choose 'twixt the sulfur and the sky. Who will not serve above, nor reign below, but walks a path 'twixt Moloch and the manger. Who do I speak of? Is it one we know? Or could I be referring to--

Stranger: Enough!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

leikomgwtfbbq
2009-03-09 09:34 pm UTC (link)

I must find this issue. XD I love Swamp Thing, but somehow, when I go digging for it at comic shops, I can never ever find it. :( Oh, I find plenty of Hellblazer, but as much as I love John Constantine, I'd like to read more of the original book he came out of!

I always liked it when people like Moore and Gaiman write about Etrigan. They take the time to write seriously awesome poetry for him.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	spoony_bard 2009-03-09 09:03 pm UTC (link)
	Didn't you parents ever warn you not to accept Candy Land from Phantom Strangers? (Reply to this)