In "To Quote a Phrase," I spotlight memorable quotes from comic books.

I continue a month of "To Quote a Phrase" by spotlighting the time that Tommy "Hitman" Monaghan turned Superman around during a dark moment for the Man of Steel.

Garth Ennis is famous for his general distaste for superheroes, but that doesn't extend to Superman, as shown in the legendary Hitman #34, where Ennis and John McCrea explained why Superman is such an awesome character.

Superman lands on a rooftop in Gotham City to sulk a little bit before heading home. He is surprised to find Tommy Monaghan on the roof. The two men start to talk and Superman reveals that he was just on a mission in outer space to save a damaged space shuttle and he wasn't able to get to one of the astronauts in time and had to watch him die. It wasn't just watching a heroic astronaut die in front of him that gave Superman pause, but the idea that the astronaut died thinking, "Superman didn't save me."

Tommy explains why that's the wrong perspective and then gives his (and, of course, basically Ennis') explanation for why Superman is a symbol of everything that is great about the United States of America...

Wow, what an awesome speech.

It does Superman a world of good and he heads off pleased...

And Tommy then assassinates the guy he mentioned earlier, which is why he was on the rooftop to begin with.

That's such a great combination of heartfelt, well though out characterization and dark humor. That's Garth Ennis in a nutshell. It's why he's so brilliant.

Years later, Superman would pay hoamge to Tommy in a JLA/Hitman miniseries by Ennis and McCrea.

Okay, folks, if you care to suggest cool comic book quotes that you'd like to see spotlighted here, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com. There's a decent enough chance that if you think the quote in question is super cool than I, too, will find it super cool and feature it here. Not a 100% chance, though, of course. Let's say roughly a 60% chance. I do need a whole month's worth of these quotes, after all!