What if the Penguin were treated less campy, like a crime boss? In *The Batman Adventures[\I] he was a nightclub owner with underworld connections. Ditch the umbrella gimmicks and he could work.
Well, when they came out, I was just entering my teens, and it seemed a pretty silly idea to me even then. And the intended audience at the time seemed to be the same as any other DC comic.
The Earth 3 heros
Gucci Gorilla
Impregnable Girl
The Rash
Lungfish
Breatharian & Macrobot
Ubermom
Agreed. Neither of the Phil Foglio DC mini-series I have are going to be sold as I liquidate my comics.
And take that back about Tenzil! He’s GREAT! (Okay, his power is kinda lame… But he’s a great character!)
Tenz’s power is silly, not lame. Big difference. Same goes for Chuck. Both were exceptionally useful at points.
Tenz was, IMO, the best comic relief character in an otherwise serious book, ever, and Chuck was one of my favourite characters ever - he wasn’t a comic relief character, but he was a lot of fun, and he had a lot of fun.
I shan’t make any nominations for the thread, since I can guarantee I’d step on someone else’s favourite character (as sever of mine have been stepped on - I’d count fully a third of the characters mentioned in my top 20, several top 10.), and I’m always afraid to do that.
Vibe, the break-dancin’ chicano who was once a member of the Justice League.
Hell, if Neil Gaiman can redeem Prez, any character can be redeemed.
Other than the Gaiman/Sandman version, though, Prez was incredibly lame – a cheap pandering to the “groovy teen” audience.
The Hall of the Justly Forgotten
Lucy Lane – What does God need with a starship? What does Lois need with a sister, particularly one she didn’t see that often.
Pete Ross – You’d think “the only human who knows Superman’s secret identity” might at least be an interesting premise to explore. You’d be wrong
Proty – The Legion already had Chameleon Boy to handle its shape-shifting requirements. At least the blob of protoplasm got to have a heroic death and save Lightning Lass. Unfortunately, that led to the even more redundant Proty II.
Mon-El – He looks like Superboy. He acts like Superboy. He has the same powers as Superboy. But he’s vulnerable to lead!
:dubious: You realise he was a major character within the Legion continuity for 42 years, yes? THE major character in Legion continuity for 18 or so. And has currently gone unused for barely two. He’s far from forgotten, and if he were, it wouldn’t be justly, as a far more interesting character than Superboy ever was, even before he became Valor.
Chinese Kung Fu master take exception to being called Wonder Woman’s “sidekick.” Diana was the student, I-Ching was the master.
Since I actually like a lot of these characters, I guess I’ll blow off this thread.
Except to say, they use some characters way too much, & sometimes they write the good characters so badly they become stupid characters.
Worst characters in recent DC Comics? Um…
Batman
The Joker
Lex Luthor
Alex Luthor
Superboy (one of)
Superman (one of)
Hal Jordan
Maxwell Lord
Jean Loring
Deathstroke
etc…?
Some of whom have been written reasonably well at some point, by somebody else. Well, reasonably well for comics.
Don’t blame the characters, they’re just inanimate squiggles. Blame the writers, blame editorial.
Oh, there are some, though, who probably should be deleted from continuity:
Terry Long, aka Marv Wolfman
reality-warping villains invented for giant idiotic crossovers, in general
But that was cured, so he’s even more powerful than Superboy – no weakness.
Vartox was certainly the goofiest-looking (He was apparently based on Sean Connery’s character in Zardoz). Certainly had the ugliest costume–after Connery, anyway.
American readers are doubtless unfamiliar with him, but my vote goes to Marvelman , the insipid British publication, which ran in the 50s. It was the result of a legal sidestep, when Fawcett’s Captain Marvel , which had also run in the UK, folded under pressure from DC, who claimed it was a ripoff from Superman.
And is now fondly remembered for Alan Moore’s grounbreaking work on the character. Redeemed.
if we don’t hold the legal hell he’s been languishing in for the last couple of decades against him, that is.
Hippie-era hero (a dressmaker’s dummy dressed up then zapped by lightening) as if written by Art Linkletter (or, if you don’t remember him, try Bill O’Reilly). I had issue #1 (it only lasted 2 issues).
Funny thing, while finding a link to show y’all, I noticed this in the wikipedia entry:
:eek:
This is like Frances Ford Coppola remaking “Plan Nine From Outer Space.”
Gaiman’s Brother Power story was positively brilliant.
OK, I’ll bite. I can see everyone else (especially Batman, with the recent All-Star Batman and Robin), but how in the name of Bob Kane do you make the Joker into a lame character?! He’s the single most effective and interesting comic-book villain ever created (no, but you’re all wrong, see). He and Batman have a dihctomy that is unmatched by any other hero-villain pairing in the DC universe. He has a great gimmick and a massive archive of fascinating ideas just waiting to be mined. He’s creepy! How did they manage to screw up the Joker?
He’s just listing off all the characters involved in the recent Mega-Crossover in DC, Infinite Crisis. Joker’s role is small but very, very memorable:
[spoiler]"You’ve made a lot of mistakes. You underestimated Superman. Superboy. Me.
But your biggest mistake?
You didn’t let the Joker play." [/spoiler] Highlight of the series, if you ask me.
What was the context of this…thing said by the Joker (I can’t call it a line. That implies coherence and rationality)?
Actually, Luthor said the line, regarding the Joker.