Top o’ the evenin’ to ye! Today, for those of you who missed the rivers of Jameson flowing like the mighty Mississip’ through the streets of the land, was St. Patrick’s Day, where we all pause to celebrate the time that Shamrock and the Guardians of the Galaxy drove the Serpent Society from the shores of the Emerald Isle!
Or at least, I’m pretty sure that’s how it went. But regardless, it’s also the one day of the year when we celebrate our Irish heritage, real or imagined. And since there’s nothing that we like better here on the ISB than a rousing holiday tradition, we set aside St. Pat’s to salute the great Irish comic book characters!
Characters like…
StormWatch’s Hellstrike!
Future lawman Judge Joyce!
Jesse Custer’s vampire pal Cassidy!
Gotham City’s greatest hitman, Tommy Monaghan!
And of course…
X-Factor’s own Siryn!
Great characters all! Now, I was gonna ask you to raise your glasses in toast, but uh… it looks like they’re already on top of that one.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everybody!
Special thanks to Kevin and Ken for helping out with this one.
“Irish” I was drinking.
Get it?!
Fargin basherd magin fun o my culnteral hermitage. Goda heel.
In the immortal words of Brendan Behan, “I have never seen a situation so dismal that it could not be made worse by an Irish superhero.” Or something like that.
Good night, and may your god go with you.
You forgot Banshee.
Dear lord, “Gaaurngle” is *Exactly* the sound I made friday night tossing back shots of Jame-o and pints of Sam.
anna Says:
“You forgot Banshee.”
I wish I could forget Banshee. What an awful character.
It’s Holy Week, man. St. Patrick’s Day is not observed this year as a result.
Really. Ask anyone – apart from that drunk guy in the giant green hat I saw staggering down the street yesterday.
“Here’s to the health of your enemies’ enemies.”
-Trad. Irish Toast
Good God, I love being Irish.
Man, Paul, when I was a kid Banshee was my favorite character. I loved his dopey costume and I loved trying to decipher Claremont’s phonetic dialogue. I’d be in my bedroom reading it aloud and trying to figure out what lines like “Sure ‘an, Moira, me love, ’tis tarrible what Magneto blah blah blah” meant.
I was, obviously, a lonely and stupid kid.
Screw Banshee – you forgot SHAMROCK!
I always liked Judge Joyce. While Dredd and the Mega-City Judges would shoot you for jaywalking (and charge the bullets to your next of kin) Joyce actually acted like a human being. I always wondered why the Irish judges bothered to wear the whole crypto-fascist getup.
Martin:
Depends on what diocese you’re in. Didn’t seem to stop anyone around here from celebrating.
Between Easter and the Obligatory Spring Bacchanal, I know which one gets my support.
It’s Holy Week, man. St. Patrick’s Day is not observed this year as a result.
I just thought the church moved it to March 15th this year — I didn’t know it went completely missing.
Looks like a job for… Catholic Batman!
PS:
I wish I could forget Banshee. What an awful character.
Well, good news: Ed Brubaker killed him off.
“Like that matters. X-Men come back more often than Jesus.” — Nextwave
You forgot Banshee.
No, I didn’t, but thank you for your time.
I read it as “Gotham City’s greatest human”.
And I don’t let Rome tell me when my Saint’s Day is.
I read it as “Gotham City’s greatest humanâ€.
Also accurate.
What, no scene from that one issue of Hitman where an Irish band plays to Tommy’s dismay, and we hear “I AM O’BAYTOR!!!!”?
The religious feast day of St Patrick’s was moved to the 14th in Scotland due to the clash with the Easter quarter finals. The alcohol appreciation ceremony of St Patrick’s went off as normal.
Most of my family that isn’t Scottish is Irish or half-Irish. There were a lot of sore heads this morning/afternoon.
Hey, Chores- the strongman friend of Orson randall, golden age Iron Fist- is Irish as well isn’t he? I mean he’s only been in two issues so far, but he seamed to be drunk in at least both of them.
Apparently Ireland actually has the highest % of teetotalers by population in Europe, and its for that reason alone that all their superheroes are drunk; their heroically trying to raise the national average.
I can remember my Irish grandmother giving me a nip of brady before sending me to bed- when I was about 8 or so, staying over at her place, which was just across the paddock from my place anyway- in a effort to conteract the bazillion cups of tea Id also had that day. Worked like a chalm tis true. She was a hard do alright. Taught me (how to cheat at) Eucher and took me to church far more often than could possibly be nesessary. Bless her.
John and Richard saw Mick sitting at the bar…
“Hey, he’s had a few already; lets rile him up” they said.
“Hey Mick, did you know St Patrick was a wanker?” Says John
“A wanker you say? Sure’n I not be knowing that.”
John and Richard were confused.
“But Mick,” Says John, “Did you know St Patrick was a bastard?”
“Really?” Says Mick, “No I hadn’t heard o’that either. Thank ye for letting me know.”
Now the two Englishmen were really puzzled. “I know what’ll get him”, says Richard.
“Hey Mick, did you know St Patrick was an Englishman?”
“True!” Says Mick “So you’re man here was just telling me.”
Ba’dum-chish.
Is Hitman human? I thought all those guys from that crossover with names like Clapgiver and Dr. Halfass were spliced with alien DNA or something? Maybe I’m thinking of another crossover.
The moving of St. Patrick’s Day to the 15th just meant that the liturgical celebration of the Feast of St. Patrick was moved, since the Church doesn’t celebrates masses for non-Holy Week festivals during Holy Week. For the US, it doesn’t matter much. The main importance is in Ireland, where the population celebrates the religious side of the holiday and attends church for it before getting own to the requisite drinking.
Once again, Mr. Sims, your awesomeness trumps my own. Touché, sir. Touché. And happy belated St. Patty’s!
They’re all drunks! I love it!
As a kid, I liked Banshee because the very first time I saw him (and the exact issue evades my memory at the moment) he was pumped up about scoring Merle Haggard tickets. Since this was before hipsters decided they all liked Johnny Cash and Gram Parsons, I was the only person I knew who thought that a country-music loving comic character was cool. Had the late Sean Cassidy also been an alien time traveler with a little metal dog, Young Matt T. would’ve been in hick nerd heaven.
Where’s Black Tom ‘The Pimp’ Cassidy? Ain’t he Irish?
I guess Cessily Kincaid’s too young to drink.
Is Tommy Monaghan actually Irish or he is Irish in the way that, say, John McClaine from Die Hard is Irish?
Tommy Monaghan’s mother and father were lived-in-Ireland Irish, but he was born and raised in Gotham City.
Of course, he was raised by nuns in Gotham City, so…