Who is your favorite old school Marvel (or DC) super hero and why?

[Cubsfan]

I'm a massive Hulk fan and have been since I was a child. I absoutely LOVED the Hulk TV show and my mom still tells stories about me "hulking out" on people in the grocery store as a youth.

I've probably got 80% of the standard Incredible Hulk run of comics (Including Wolverine's REAL first appearance in 180). I was kind of an outcast as a kid because my parents bused me to the rich side of town for elementary school because they thought they were doing me a favor when in reality a kid that wears the same jeans to school everyday is going have a hell of a time when confronted by kids with 5-8 pair of clean jeans to wear :(.

Anyway, he was an outcast and would HULK OUT whenever people would piss him off and I always dreamed of being able to HULK OUT on the bullies. It was a fun fantasy and pulled me through tough times. Especially watching ole Lou hulk out and break shit.

I never liked Grey hulk or any of the long story arcs. I've always been old school and prefer stortlines that are resolved in 1-2 issues max with half of the issue consisting of Hulk breaking things and villians. Lol.

So, what old school hero holds a special place in your heart and why?

[Doctor Who]

Speedball. And if you don't know why Speedball is the most awesomest, then I'll never ever be able to explain it to you.

- Peter Wiggen

[Ephemera]

A standalone old school superhero? Spidey. I'm not quite yet 24 so my awkward years aren't that far behind me, meaning I can relate to him pretty well. Plus he has a nifty array of powers. If teams're included, though, it'd be the X-Men. I've always gravitated towards them for some reason.

[Menocchio]

As I grow older, the idea of a perfect man who comes from the stars and only wants to do good appeals more and more to me. I know people think he's overpowered and boring, but used in the right light (which, admittedly, isn't quite the traditional superhero beatemup), Superman's combination of power and essential goodness make him really compelling.

Also, the Flash, because he uses weird science tricks.

[SkipMagic]

Speedball. And if you don't know why Speedball is the most awesomest, then I'll never ever be able to explain it to you.

- Peter Wiggen
Well, if he's considered to be old school, than I get to choose Nightmask (http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/nightmaskremsen.htm). He appealed to me because he was a solitary character in a new universe; I didn't have to wade through years' worth of confusing and contradicting backstory; instead, I got to see him throughout his entire comic run.

12 issues.

But, still.

If not him, then the '60s Superman. 'Cause those were the first comics I ever read.

[Hey, It's That Guy!]

I don't even have to think about this question -- I have a web page. :)

http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/bluebeetle.html

[Kaspar Hauser]

Spider-Man. No question about it. Whiny, neurotic, smartass New Yorker who's his own worst enemy? What's not to love?

[Der Trihs]

Wolverine. I was the kid everybody picked on, and I would of loved to terrorize and/or shred them. That's the nice thing about fantasy; you can ignore little details like prison time...

[ddgryphon]

That's a difficult question. I was always a big Batman fan, but when Ollie lost all his money and took off with Hal to find America, well, Ollie became the man for me. In a lot of ways, Green Arrow is a truly everyman super hero. Just a guy with trick arrows, doing what he can. He hates aging and tries to fight what he perceives is wrong whenever he encounters it.

Yeah, give me some Green Arrow.

[Harborwolf]

Another vote for Spider Man. He struggles to do the right thing, doubts himself at every turn, gets the tar beaten out of himself on a daily basis, and still wisecracks. If that's not enough, he's the nerd that got the babe and he's a teacher.

[Mr. Goob]

I never read Spidy or Batman or any of the classic superheros.

I loved the obscure Dr. Strange.

I worked hard to find every issue with an apperance of Moon Knight.

I was in heaven when Constentine got his own title from Swamp Thing.

[middleman]

The Wally West Flash is my favorite DC character. No other comic book superhero has shown the growth that Wally has shown over the years. He went from fun loving kid, to angry teen, to cocky young man, to confident superhero.

I don't know what they are doing with him these days, but his development between the Crisis and the end of Mark Waid's run was the best characterization in the history of superhero comics (well....tied with Starman....)

My favorite Marvel character is Daredevil. The Frank Miller era was the best "non-creator" run in all of comicdom. The suffering of Matthew Murdock during Born Again? Wow.

[Scumpup]

I liked Batman from childhood. The old Adam West TV show in its original run was my first exposure to the character. I've always liked his motivation (revenge) and that he made himself into a "super" hero. I haven't read any newly published comics featuring Batman, or any character, in over a decade...but I still like old Batsy.

[D_Odds]

Well, I'm probably the second biggest Legion of Super Heroes fan on the board. Of all the Legionnaires who have come and gone (and come again and gone again), my favorites are Wildfire and Timber Wolf, both of whom I pay tribute to in the MMORPG City of Heroes.

Across the aisle to the Marvel section, I am a Jim Starlin fan. The original Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock were my favorites.

[CandidGamera]

I'd like clarification on "old school".

Nevertheless, I have a number of favorites for different reasons, but I suppose I'll narrow it down to two to champion here, since Batman and Spidey and Superman have their boosters already.

Firstly, the Phantom Stranger. I love how they've maintained his mystery over the years. I always enjoy his appearance because I know things are about to get strange, and serious.

Secondly, Ambush Bug. I have a great affection for silly characters like Slapstick, Madcap, Plastic Man - and Ambush Bug is the king of the hill when it comes to 'silly'. He's the perfect superheroic embodiment of the non-sequitur. In one tale, showing the heroes of an alternate DCU getting slaughtered in a big Crisis-style battle, they're all making their lamentations as they lay dying after a large blast, and Ambush Bug is there, with "Mmm, boy! Who wants pie?"

It's also hard not to like someone whose archenemy is a sentient sock. I really gotta get moving on those Ambush Bug fanfics I have outlined..

[Max Torque]

Daredevil. Kicked quite a lot of ass, and did it without eyesight. Beat that, pretenders!

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

The Golden Age Green Lantern

AS SEEN HERE (http://www.sequart.com/GL/posterGA.jpg)

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Daredevil. Kicked quite a lot of ass, and did it without eyesight. Beat that, pretenders!

Doc Mid-Nite did it in the 1940's. Sort of. Beat that!

[Boggette]

The Punisher.

There could not be a more polar opposite of me. I could really get my teeth around the idea of someone who could just kill off all the bad guys. And if/when you put him in prison, he would just kill them all off! Lovely. And when you add in some great one-liners, even better!

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

The Punisher.

There could not be a more polar opposite of me. I could really get my teeth around the idea of someone who could just kill off all the bad guys. And if/when you put him in prison, he would just kill them all off! Lovely. And when you add in some great one-liners, even better!

But he's too modern. And his conduct isn't Old School. He's more of an anti-hero.

[Gangster Octopus]

For some reason, when I was younger, Plasticman seemed to strike a chord with me and for the life of me I don't know why

[Stonebow]

Spider-man...I see too much of myself in him. He's every high-school nerd's fantasy alter ego! But I don't think there's any other hero that has his heart- he's constantly faced with choosing an easier path, but he always takes the harder, more responsible way. This usually leaves him out of money, out of a job, losing the girl, etc. So in a lot of ways, he's just like a normal antisocial genius- his own worst enemy. But I've read too many of his comics where he's totally outmatched and outclassed, but he stays and fights because there's no one else to stand up to the bad guy. He gets his ass kicked, but he does it cheerfully, and can usually pull out the win.

[middleman]

But he's too modern. And his conduct isn't Old School. He's more of an anti-hero.

The Punisher is over 30 years old. That's not too modern.

[Love Rhombus]

Of the old guard in DC...I've recently grown to like Hourman. Why? Because he's just fought through so much to be a hero, even his addiction to being a hero itself, to fight the bad guys. Angst is fine, but if you have to resist the urge to go out and fight crime because you know it's unhealthy, THAT'S interesting.

Also, James Robinson made Starman interesting to me.

Marvel: I'm really not a Marvel fan, but if I had to choose...Colossus? He's got a simple power and he's a complex guy.

[Bearflag70]

Vision - Coz he looked really cool and had an interesting power (manipulating his own density without altering his size).

However, unfortunately, I never saw him kick anyone's ass, so if anyone has a Vision kick-ass story, other than simply adding density while sticking his arm into someone, I'd love it.

[Push You Down]

Quicksilver.

I like that he is arrogant, a bit bigoted, not really a superhero because he wants to help people but simply because he has the power. I like that he is tied into every facet of the Marvel universe save for the street level heroes like Daredevil and Spiderman.
I like that he's been a hero and villain multiple times throughout his career.

I am curious about his new limited series. I didn't read any of House of M but stayed a bit up to date with what happened.

[rjung]

Spider-Man, just 'cause he's got an Achilles' Torso that prevents him from getting too uppity. :p

And yes, I liked him more before he married the babe and got on top of the world. Totally unrealistic, that.

[Odinoneeye]

The Flash.

Because he was a scientist, he was nervous around his girlfriend and had a PhD, but didn't make people call him Dr. Allen.

[Hey, It's That Guy!]

Quicksilver.

I like that he is arrogant, a bit bigoted, not really a superhero because he wants to help people but simply because he has the power. I like that he is tied into every facet of the Marvel universe save for the street level heroes like Daredevil and Spiderman.
I like that he's been a hero and villain multiple times throughout his career.

I am curious about his new limited series. I didn't read any of House of M but stayed a bit up to date with what happened.

I'm way out of the loop with current Marvel, but I assume you read X-Factor #87 from around 1993 or '94, by Peter David and Joe Quesada? One of the best Quicksilver stories ever, and I'm not even a big fan or a major expert.

[kelly5078]

Fantastic Four, no question. Spiderman was just too whiny, and soapy. The Hulk, well, he was kind of stupid, no? FF dealt with their problems without whining, mostly (hey, it's Marvel), and they had interesting powers. Mr. Fantastic was kind of a pain, being so mature and all, but I dealt with it.

I regret that I never read X-Men; they might have been cool

No DC heroes need apply, except for Batman. My only problem with Batman is Robin. I really didn't need Bruce's ward (whatever the hell that is) to relate to my kiddie brain.

[priapus]

DC's Ragman-The Tatterdemalion of Justice.It was so wtf.I loved it

[ddgryphon]

The Golden Age Green Lantern

AS SEEN HERE (http://www.sequart.com/GL/posterGA.jpg)

I have an artist friend who can't understand my devotion to the original Green Lantern -- hands down my favorite costume of all time.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

The Punisher is over 30 years old. That's not too modern.

Less than 1/2 of Superman's age. And he wasn't seen until the 70's. The late 70's, I believe. As a villain. A second string villain.

He only got popular in the late 80's.

[DrFidelius]

I have to join in with the Green Lantern suppport.

Alan Scott. Earth's First, Only and True Green Lantern. Not those xeno-technology sporting kids beholden to alien overlords...

(or The Spectre. God's Vengeance personified. But his tighty-greenies, hood and cape costume just doesn't work as well.)

[pravnik]

The Flash.

Because he was a scientist, he was nervous around his girlfriend and had a PhD, but didn't make people call him Dr. Allen."That's Professor Zoom! I didn't do eight years and a dissertation at zoom school to be called 'Mr. Zoom!' "

[bagkitty]

Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern... that grey at the temples, that incredibly defined musculature in the green body suit, those dark grey/black tights...

alright, I admit, it was (and is) lust, lust, lust

:D

[Hey, It's That Guy!]

Less than 1/2 of Superman's age. And he wasn't seen until the 70's. The late 70's, I believe. As a villain. A second string villain.

He only got popular in the late 80's.

I don't see why this should disqualify him. His lack of heroism, maybe, but certainly not the date of his creation as compared to Superman. And I'd say he was popular at least since the early-to-mid '80s.

Plus, people aren't naming other second-string characters here? A red and purple-clad Green Lantern, for example? I like him too, but come on, Alan Scott practically defines "second-string," and is a hell of a lot less recognizable than the Punisher.

[Kamino Neko]

Jay Garrick, the original Flash.

(Talk about a classic costume!)

[bagkitty]

And upon reflection.... Black Bolt from Marvel's The Inhumans was pretty hot to. Ah yes, the late 60's, when homosexuality was just recently decriminalized....

[lonesome loser]

Ghost Rider. In both incarnations.

Even though the first was not a super hero.

[Cat Whisperer]

My favourites were The New Teen Titans. I don't know if that's old school enough for ya, but the books my sister and I collected (from issue 2, I might add) were way back in the 80's, so they're 20ish years old now. I have also loved the Legion of Super Heroes since I started reading comics - I like the idea of a vast spectrum of super powers to draw from.

Is there no love here for Conan or Sgt. Rock? What about the Doom Patrol? The Metal Men? :D

[JimOfAllTrades]

My comic book reading years were the late 1960s. I was a Marvel guy. Generally I bought every issue of:

Dr.Strange
Fantastic Four
Silver Surfer
Spiderman

Many times I also bought:

Incredible Hulk
The Mighty Thor
X-Men

I guess Doc Strange, Silver Surfer and Spidey remain my sentimental favorites.

[The King of Soup]

I was never a comics fan. Not a snob, just never really exposed to them, except that I had a friend for a couple of years who would invite me to his house to play catch and then would open a trunk full of comics in his basement. There were hundreds of them, not carefully filed, indexed and sealed in plastic, but not crumpled or dirty, either.

I suppose the character I looked for, once I had read enough to want to look for anything, was Dr. Strange. I sort of liked him because the comic seemed to say that being good didn't really come naturally to him; it was a choice enforced by a costly and continuing act of will. I also sympathized with the fact that he started out as the closest thing to a superhero there is, a talented surgeon, lost everything, and had to start over with nothing but his brains and determination to sustain him. Also, a disproportionate percentage of his adventures seemed to happen in dreams, which made him the best-rested hero on paper, and I, for personal reasons, appreciated that. Also, he was about the only guy who didn't wear some kind of quasi-military uniform or really stupid-looking tights (though in some books, he did -- I don't know why). Finally, he screwed up a lot, but not for comedic effect: he made perfectly ordinary, understandable mistakes with which I could easily identify, and it made me feel better to think that goodness and venality and strength and weakness and wisdom and occasional incompetence could all coexist, and that imperfection wasn't a synonym for failure.

[Balduran]

Again, don't know if this is old skool enough for you purists (but they must have come out around the same time as Punisher?), I was a big Power Man/Iron Fist fan.

I remember it seemed totally "Street" to me at the time. I think PM lived above a movie theater, scarfing a handful of popcorn everytime he went in. They would go out for pizza all the time. And they charged for their services, calling it "heros for hire".Their personalities played off of each other well. Plus, at that time, I thought their outfits were pretty cool.

Wasn't a huge collector of Master of Kung-fu, but man, it had a great ending to it's original run.

[CandidGamera]

Plus, people aren't naming other second-string characters here? A red and purple-clad Green Lantern, for example? I like him too, but come on, Alan Scott practically defines "second-string," and is a hell of a lot less recognizable than the Punisher.

Less recognizable, maybe - but second string? He was in the top three most powerful members of the JLA, and when you have competition like Dr. Fate and the Spectre, #3 looks pretty good..

[CandidGamera]

Less recognizable, maybe - but second string? He was in the top three most powerful members of the JLA, and when you have competition like Dr. Fate and the Spectre, #3 looks pretty good..

Er, JSA. Think-o.

[Johnny Angel]

In my day, there was Superman, and everybody else was a supporting character. That's all you would know about if you didn't actually read the comics -- Superman had the first successful superhero movie, and there was little in The Superfriends that looked like it couldn't have been done by Superman alone. Everybody else just seemed like lesser versions of the Man of Steel. Because I had this impression, I also had the notion in my head that superheroes were generally all-powerful and bulletproof.

When I first actually read a Spider-Man comic, I was puzzled that he was dodging bullets. I had a sudden epiphany that Spider-Man wasn't bulletproof. He wasn't just running up to the bad guys and being invulnerable, he was taking a very grave risk. That was his ass on the line. After that moment, I could no longer take Superman seriously. And as I delved into it further, I discovered that Spider-Man was also not fighting for broad principles. He was fighting because he cared about people, because he was driven by guilt. He was emotionally vulnerable. Now, of course, as an adult his angst often comes across as sophomoric, but back then I'd never really seen such a thing before. To me, it made the heroism seem far more genuine.

The first issue I actually bought is still one of the best I've read, in my opinion -- Web of Spider-Man Annual #1 (http://www.spiderfan.org/cgi-bin/cover.pl?80123,spiderman_web_annual,001.jpg). It had everything that me fall in love with Spider-Man -- he fought for people, not for truth and justice, he was vulnerable. Furthermore, it featured Peter Parker as a man of science, an aspect of his character too often ignored.