…which is probably not the same question as "Who are your favorite superheroes. For instance, I’m a Marvel Zombie (Spidey Zombie, actually) but my list is headed by D.C. icons… 1. Batman A more complex character than Superman. Character works even in highly varied characterizations in campy TV series, stylized gothic movies and one-dimensional cartoons.
2. Superman Started the phenomenon. Still phenomelly popular. Almost constant appearance outside of comics in cartoons and movies.
3. Spider-ManMy bias slipping in? Hope not. Never before had the life of a hero been examined at so personal a level, mixing tragedy with humor in a way that allowed a reader to relate to him.
4. Wonder Woman Whether or not she’s a female answer to Superman, bridged the gender gap and countered the notion that women are confined to the role of love interests or victims.
5. the Hulk A hero that is not a hero. A tragic characterization where immeasurable power is it’s own curse, resulting in being hunted as a monster.
6. Wolverine Without a doubt the most potent hero of the modern era. The quintessential bad-boy with a heart of gold. Wolverine built on Batman’s foundation and further blurred the notion of a hero’s morality armed (literally) with weapons unmistakably meant for killing. The obscure background and lack of an origin added further intrigue to this character.
But that’s just me. I’m sure there’s plenty of you out there who could correct, add to or remove-from the list.
Superman. Defined the superhero. Everything else came from him. Further, the series has been consistently good for over 60 years – not often the best, but always in the top ten.
Batman. Non-super hero. Also defined the genre’s darker side.
Captain Marvel. Superhero as overgrown child. Never entirely serious, either.
The Spirit. The second best storytelling in comics. Eisner was years ahead of his time.
Spider-Man. The best of the Marvel heros; added angst and soap opera plotlines as an element.
Swamp Thing. Horror/superhero mix.
Sandman. The best storytelling in comics.
Justice Society of America. Invented the permanent team-up, later revived in Justice League, Fantastic Four, Avengers, etc.
That sounds more like Batman to me. Most of the public, police included, likes Spidey; it’s just a select few (Jameson et al) who want him behind bars. Batman, on the other hand, is feared somewhat by just about everyone.
I think alot of what people are arguing has more to do with what they’ve read 20 years ago, rather than what these heroes are now.
Superman is not one of the greatest Super-Heroes today. He’s antiquated and repetative. His daily life is chore after chore, with no end to the monotony.
Spider-man is not the angst-y teenager he was for 30 years. He’s got a job, friends, and his Aunt and he have cleared the air and gotten all the secrets out in the open. He’s happy, and he fights the bad guys more out of habit than sense of responsibility.
The feeling of drive has washed out of these characters, and without drive, they cannot hold on to their past greatness. The best heroes now are the new kids on the block, people like “the Beak” who have recently surfaced in “New X-Men”, and the re-created Captain America in “The Ultimates” have the desire to be heroes, and therefore are the only ones who can be.
I just can’t get over the idea that Superman is a terrible, terrible concept… when you create a hero with no weaknesses, where’s the story? Keeping him all good isn’t a fundamentally bad idea, but then again some grey wouldn’t hurt either.
Then again, I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. The only Spiderman stuff I’ve actually read is a few Superman trade paperbacks - Death of Clark Kent, some AU thing, and Death of Superman (which was about the worst death scene/series I’ve seen in any medium, which is probably why I haven’t read any more).
Um… hope that doesn’t cause any Superman fans any offence.
The story is in the puzzle and battle of wits. Weaknesses only matter with fight scenes (the least interesting part of any story); but in a good Superman story (or Batman story), the issue was finding out what the villain was doing, not beating the crap out of him.
Spider-Man is an obvious winner for me. Once upon a time, I thought of the entire comic book genre in terms of Superman, because he was the most visible hero. One day I was reading a Spider-Man comic, and I suddenly realized that Spider-Man was not bulletproof, and the thought struck like a bolt of lightning. He was really risking his ass out there. I never gave Superman another look.
Reality Chuck wrote:
I loved the Kitchen Sink reprints I read when I was a kid, but now everytime I think about it, I get a flashback of the little thick-lipped sambo character he had as his sidekick. It was a different world back then, of course, but everytime Eisner gets mentioned, even by people like Lileks, who make fun of a lot of such racist caricatures from the past, Eisner gets let completely off the hook, and I’m just not sure how I feel about that. I’m not condemning him for not having been prescient in his cultural sensitivities, I’m just saying that I don’t know how I feel about him.
The Doom Patrol, silver age and Morrison’s run. The X-Men were supposed to be “Saving the world for people who hate them”, but I’ve never been able to buy that in any incarnation of the X-Men; they are the beautiful people, 90% of their members could “pass” as non-mutants. The Doom Patrol, on the other hand, were real freaks. Negative Man/ Rebis, Beast Boy,Robot Man, Dorothy the ape girl, Crazy Jane, Danny the Street… These characters could never be accepted as “normal”.
Not really. The FF were a family, hell the original Fantastic Four stories remind me of Lost In Space. The FF, with the exception of the Thing, were the perfect example of the “normals” that the DP were definitely not. Even Ben wasn’t really ever treated as a freak.
The DP were outcasts, that is what made them so cool.
The greatest character in comics is Ben Grimm, the Thing! He makes perfect sense in any kind of story (Sci-fi, humor, tragedy, romance, wrestling, western, whatever!).
Thor has really evolved with the ages, and is now sitting as the King of Asgard, successor to Odin. Good stuff and a good choice.
I like Ben Grimm alot, but he hasn’t explored anything new in 20 years. His character is static, and that makes it bland. Blandness does not lend itself to being the greatest.
Ben’s static?? He lost a rock! What is underneath those??? That to me is something very new. I’m loving the Freak Show, nice to see Ben in the spotlight.
I also want to mention Hellboy, he’s soooo cool, he may not be a greatest, but he’s right up there.
I only read the very first DP issues, but it was clear that DC saw the success of the Fantastic Four and wanted to capture some of that. So instead of The Human Torch, flying around all blazing, you’ve got Negative Man flying around, all blazing. Instead of Ben Grimm, The Thing, feeling sorry for himself as the powerful monster, you’ve got the robot guy. Instead of The Invisible Girl (later the more PC Invisible Woman), the lady with the odd power, you’ve got the giant lady. Instead of the brainy Mr. Fantastic, you’ve got the brainy leader. They just stole Prof. X’s wheelchair.
I never read later issues. I understand it gor better. But at the beginning it was pretty lame.