{"id":1946,"date":"2008-08-16T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-16T13:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=1946"},"modified":"2021-03-14T21:45:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T01:45:11","slug":"greatest-comic-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=1946","title":{"rendered":"Greatest Comic Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>EmpireOnLine.com<\/span> posted their choices for The 50 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time. Using just their picks, here are my top ten<\/span>:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

I only really read Iron Man<\/span> way back when David Micheline<\/span> and Bob Layton<\/span> were charting his adventures. That coupled with the fact that I really liked the movie is enough to put Iron Man<\/span> in the number 10<\/span> spot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Superman<\/span> was Empire’s #1<\/span> character. I can see why: Superman<\/span> is one of the most popular characters ever created. He’s been the star of comics, radio, tv <\/span>and movies<\/span>. For my tastes though, he’s just too dang powerful. Superman<\/span> has super speed, super strength, super hearing, x-ray vision, he can fly, he’s impervious to pain and he’s really, really nice. Unless he’s up against a chunk of Kryptonite<\/span> [and isn’t THAT stuff easy to find], where’s the drama? Still, I did love me some Superman<\/span> when I was about 5<\/span> and that’s good enough to get him the number 9<\/span> slot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At number 8<\/span> we have Captain America<\/span>. I’ve enjoyed the good Captain<\/span> in bursts over the years. When I was a wee lad, I loved Jack Kirby’s Cap<\/span>. You’d open to the splash and there was Cap<\/span> having just been thrown out of a plane without a parachute or maybe he was already in battle against Batroc the Leaper<\/span>! Years later Steranko<\/span> did a couple of issues and they were beautiful. I still go back and read them from time to time. When I was in college, my buddies Mike Zeck<\/span> and John Beatty<\/span> had a nice run on Cap<\/span>. I went along for the ride and had a blast.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Up until high school my favorite comic character was Spider-Man<\/span>. It didn’t matter who was drawing him; although John Romita Jr., Gil Kane<\/span>, and John Byrne<\/span> were favorites. Spider-Man<\/span> aka Peter Parker<\/span> always seemed to be in just a bit over his head. Despite that, he always tried to do the right thing. And that’s why he comes in a number 7<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Punisher<\/span> never looked better than when he was being drawn by Zeck<\/span> and Beatty<\/span>. Throw Steven Grant<\/span> into the mix as the writer and you have a winning team. They did the first Punisher<\/span> mini-series and took him from a second rate villain to one of the most popular characters ever. And that’s where the troubles started. Suddenly the Punisher<\/span> had his own monthly comic. He was teamed with a partner [Microchip<\/span>?] and ended up doing things like being a substitute teacher. Ugh! Still there were more bright spots from time to time. Grant, Zeck<\/span> and Beatty<\/span> re-teamed for a couple more Punisher<\/span> graphic novels and John Romita Jr.<\/span> had a nice little run with the character. The high spots are enough to take the character to the sixth spot on our list.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Mignola’s Hellboy<\/span> is number 5<\/span>. I’ve been riding the Hellboy<\/span> express since his first appearance in Dark Horse Presents<\/span> scripted by John Byrne<\/span>. It’s been a fun trip, although I wish Mignola<\/span> did more of the driving. Guest artists are fun, but Mike’s writing<\/span> coupled with his art really makes <\/span>Hellboy<\/span><\/span> soar. And hey, the movies ain’t bad either!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Wolverine’s journey<\/span> is very similar to the Punisher’s<\/span>. Once he got his own series things went south. At first Wolverine<\/span> was the mysterious, violent character in the X-Men<\/span>. Then when he got his own series he was living on an island and wearing an eyepatch with the name Patch<\/span>. Huh? Give me the Wolverine<\/span> from the Claremont, Byrne<\/span> and Austin<\/span> run on the X-Men<\/span>. Give me the Miller<\/span> and Rubstein Wolverine<\/span> from their mini-series. Give me the Barry Windsor Smith Weapon X Wolverine<\/span>. Just keep the eyepatch for yourself. Wolverine<\/span> comes in fourth.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Third place<\/span> belongs to Frank Miller’s Marv<\/span> from Sin City<\/span>. How can you not dig the big lug? I wish Miller<\/span> would give us more.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The # 2 spot<\/span> goes to Daredevil<\/span> on the strength of Frank Miller<\/span> and Klaus Janson’s run<\/span> back in the early 80’s<\/span>. That was comics are their best.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Batman<\/span> gets my number one<\/span> slot. It doesn’t really matter who writes or draws the character. Think about it. Batman<\/span> has been done as comedy, as camp, with the focus on Bruce Wayne<\/span>, with the focus on Batman<\/span>, as a vigilante, as a confidant to the police, as a wanted criminal, with a kid partner, as an old man, as a young man finding his way. Batman<\/span> just works and that’s why he’s my number 1<\/span> choice.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EmpireOnLine.com posted their choices for The 50 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time. Using just their picks, here are my<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1946"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25861,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions\/25861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}