This past week, the Great Curve surveyed the blogosphere on the top-50 DC Comics characters. This is my list. The big three (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) are at the top of course, but there are a few surprises I think.
50. Rose and Thorn
49. Eclipso
48. Hourman: Drug addict as superhero.
47. Neptune Perkins
46. Phantom Stranger: About 20 years ago DC did a Secret Origins special on him, giving several different possibilities. It was brilliant then, and it still works.
45. Vandal Savage: He invented cannibalism? Is that even possible?
44. Gorilla Grodd: He’s a super-intelligent gorilla. What more is necessary?
43. Calculator: D-Grade villain turned into Oracle’s evil twin. Brilliant.
42. Changeling/Beast Boy:
41. Detective Chimp: How was he not picked for the Seven Soldiers project?
40. Alfred Pennyworth
39. Scarecrow: He always gave me the heebie-jeebies when I was a kid.
38. Sue Dibney: So wonderfully, refreshingly normal. And then…
37. Blue Beetle (Ted Kord): Yeah, him too.
36. Guy Gardner: Thank Heavens the “Warrior” stuff is gone. The One True Green Lantern.
35. Cosmic Boy: He’s basically DC’s version of Cyclops.
34. Johnny Quick: Ever tried saying it?
33. Commissioner Gordon
32. Catwoman
31. Darkseid: The only cosmic villain that matters.
30. J’onn J’Onzz
29. Two-Face
28. Deathstroke: Bonus points for the nuttiest family in the DC universe.
27. Booster Gold
26. Brainiac 5: The current version is perfect.
25. Firestorm: You have to give Gerry Conway credit for making this absurdly overpowered hero into a villain-of-the-month book. Not sold on the new version.
24. Blue Devil: A normal guy turned into giant, blue-skinned devil. And he loved it.
23. Maxwell Lord: Wasted in the OMAC storyline, Max Lord turning into a bad guy was way, way too easy.
22. Spectre: Just lose the goatee, okay?
21. Lady Shiva: She might be the most dangerous person in the DC universe.
20. Flash (Wally West): His maturation has been believable at every turn. Why on Earth did this book need a reboot?
19. Captain Atom: Lately he’s been pigeonholed in the government-approved superhero slot. Does anybody remember his origin? Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, he volunteered for a experiment and woke up 20 years later to find the guy who convicted him married his wife.
18. Black Canary
17. Lady Blackhawk: I have to go with the Natalie Reed version, and I don’t know if she ever “existed” at this point in continuity. Miles better than the Zinda Blake version.
16. The Question: His Denny O’Neil/Dennys Cowan series in the 80’s was the first book that really made me think.
15. Lois Lane: Superman’s girlfriend. Like Big Blue, a template for everything that followed.
14. The Elongated Man: Sigh…
13. Green Arrow: I don’t know if I’m buying the Mitchell Hundred rip-off.
12. The Ray: A modern-day Spider-Man. Bonus points for hooking up with Black Canary. I would have loved to see Priest take that farther.
11. Blackhawk: I don’t know how well Janos Prohaska fits in the DC universe anymore, but his early-90’s series is an unfortunately forgotten gem.
10. Oracle: One of the most shocking moments in the DC history (remember Killing Joke) turns into a marvelous character. Loads more interesting than Batgirl ever was.
9. Dr. Fate: How many different versions have their been of this character?
8. Green Lantern: A better concept than character. I lump Kyle, Hal and John all together here. None of them, quite frankly, have ever been that interesting.
7. Robin (Tim Drake): Comics are, at heart, all about wish fulfillment. What teenage boy didn’t want to be Robin?
6. Nightwing: The original -and still best- sidekick. Unfathomably bad solo series though.
5. The Joker: A bit overexposed, but the perfect vision of grinning, laughing evil.
4. Lex Luthor: The other great DC villain. A normal -if genius- man who matches up with Superman.
3. Wonder Woman: Last leg of the Big Three. Seemed to lose something following Crisis on Infinite Earths. It will be interesting to see this new version.
2. Batman
1. Superman: He gets bonus points for being the first, but he doesn’t need them.
Wow... that was a lot of geek in one setting.
Posted by Frinklin at May 23, 2006 11:12 PM | TrackBack