Is there a fictional character more popular than Sherlock Holmes?

[Dewey_Finn]

I’ve no idea what you’re thinking of, but Tintin has been in print since 1929.

[pulykamell]

If you asked me to name fictional characters off the top of my head, I’m not even sure I would remember to mention Holmes. I’m very surprised he rates as highly as he does on the lists linked.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@Dewey_Finn

I’ve no idea what you’re thinking of,

Dick Tracy.

[Miller]

@Dewey_Finn

I’ve no idea what you’re thinking of, but Tintin has been in print since 1929.

But not continuously - you can still buy reprints, of course, but no new Tintin stories have been published since Herge died more than twenty years ago.

[CalMeacham]

@Miller

But not continuously - you can still buy reprints, of course, but no new Tintin stories have been published since Herge died more than twenty years ago.

I think Tintin HAS been in print, somewhere in the world, continuously since he first appeared. Whether they’re doing new ones is a separate question.

[Miller]

@CalMeacham

I think Tintin HAS been in print, somewhere in the world, continuously since he first appeared. Whether they’re doing new ones is a separate question.

Didn’t i just say that?

[marshmallow]

@Zeldar

Counting the numbers of different media where the character may have appeared, and the number of individual actors that may have portrayed him/her, and the span of time where the same character has been in popular culture, is there anybody even close to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation?

Who are at least some candidates to consider?

Those are interesting objective measurements, though they don’t sound like popularity to me. Maybe I’m just outside the demographic, or I’m ignorant somehow, but I bet most Americans wouldn’t list him in their top 20 popular characters, if he even came to mind. You’d get mostly characters from highly rated American shows from the past 10-20 years, comic book/sci-fi/fantasy characters, sitcom chars, and so on. I’d think the main things people might know about Sherlock is his stories are like a hundred years old, “Elementary, my dear Watson!”, and maybe they’d know Dr. Moriarty.

Now I’m curious if more Americans would know Sherlock or Dr. Who.

[terentii]

This strip I think is the great-granddaddy of them all; yes, it apparently is still being published with new material:

The Katzenjammer Kids

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@marshmallow

Those are interesting objective measurements, though they don’t sound like popularity to me. Maybe I’m just outside the demographic, or I’m ignorant somehow, but I bet most Americans wouldn’t list him in their top 20 popular characters, if he even came to mind. You’d get mostly characters from highly rated American shows from the past 10-20 years, comic book/sci-fi/fantasy characters, sitcom chars, and so on. I’d think the main things people might know about Sherlock is his stories are like a hundred years old, “Elementary, my dear Watson!”, and maybe they’d know Dr. Moriarty.

In fairness, he currently has his own primetime television series here in the US, not to be confused with the British one that was the biggest winner at the latest Emmys, not to be confused with the big-screen franchise being helmed by Robert Downey Jr.

[Miller]

@marshmallow

Those are interesting objective measurements, though they don’t sound like popularity to me. Maybe I’m just outside the demographic, or I’m ignorant somehow, but I bet most Americans wouldn’t list him in their top 20 popular characters, if he even came to mind. You’d get mostly characters from highly rated American shows from the past 10-20 years, comic book/sci-fi/fantasy characters, sitcom chars, and so on. I’d think the main things people might know about Sherlock is his stories are like a hundred years old, “Elementary, my dear Watson!”, and maybe they’d know Dr. Moriarty.

“Professor” Moriarty, and I think you’re wildly underestimating the popularity of the character.

[Boyo_Jim]

Bugs Bunny!

[RivkahChaya]

Snoopy.

[kk_fusion]

Super Mario.

[Zyanthia]

Pikachu

[Thudlow_Boink]

@terentii

Who put this list together?!? Not only are there a number of names I don’t even recognize, there are some I do know whose presence baffles me! :dubious:

The list is enormously skewed toward scifi/fantasy characters. (No Dickens??)

[Infovore]

@Thudlow_Boink

The list is enormously skewed toward scifi/fantasy characters. (No Dickens??)

Yeah, seriously. C’mon–Buffy Summers ahead of Sherlock Holmes and The Doctor? (I know The Doctor is fantasy, but the point still stands.)

[terentii]

Gilligan

The Skipper

Thurston Howell III

Eunice “Lovey” Howell

Ginger Grant

The Professor and Mary Ann