The ILC Favourite Characters Of All Time

All of the Peanuts characters could have swept this poll had we worked together as a team, I think.

she looked more horsey to me though.

(159 points)

http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/image/article/664/664094/doctor-doom-20051103034219446.jpg

A great villain for the Fantastic Four, a haughty European lord and master that everyone can enjoy foiling. But possibly not as foiled as often as he is cajoled - as Justyn says below, he's not that far from a hero, and his sense of honor is an easier way to get around him than brute force. See particularly his final (or is it?) exit in the Ultimate universe.

Best villain in the Marvel Universe. Because he might not be a villain. (okay, he is.) (Pete Baran)

One of the weird, recurring, barely-buried themes of
superhero comics is that supervillains are not so very
different from the "heroes" who fight them. And it's
not that hard to imagine a slightly humbled Dr Doom
working alongside the Fantastic Four, since most of
the Marvel characters, bad or good, tended to be
immature egomaniacs. There was something heroic and
tragic in Doom that made Batman's numerous foes seem
like a pack of bumbling eccentrics. (Justyn Dillingham)

greatest moment: Doom invades Stan and Jack's office and threatens
them with the sight of his naked face. (Vic Fluro)

One of my favourite Doom stories is Secret Wars, actually, where Doom is the clear standout character by virtue of his intelligence, willpower and determination: as soon as he encounters the Beyonder his every action is focused on trying to get some of his power.

1. acquire power
2. work out what to do with it. this will probably involve humiliating the accursed Richards.

(164 points)

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/7537/joker.jpg

By contrast, you don't know what you're getting with The Joker. Never generally diagnosed beyond 'crazy' (though thankfully no-one that I know of has given him MPD), he tends to range between his two loves - incredibly complicated traps, and just plain killing people. A great combination of the two was his appearance in Gotham Central.

Neither just a comedy crook nor just another psychopath with a fixation (like Clock King or Riddler or whatever), The Joker is best viewed as a sort of R-rated Gremlin. You're not really writing a good Joker story if it isn't made clear that the guy could at any time play hideous mind tricks on random innocent bystanders or kill off one of his own henchmen in some gory fashion for no reason whatsoever; but you're also not doing a good job if he doesn't seem like he could resort to harmless pie-in-the-face or water-squirting flower tricks at any time. It's a very difficult balance of fear and humor to sustain, but when done right it makes The Joker one of the greatest villains of all time. (Daniel Reifferscheid)

Best moment: From Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, when the Phantasm's got him beaten, the whole world (synecdochized as his hideout) burning to hell, the Phantasm's taking him away to who knows what end, and he cackles to his fate. (Leeee)

The Joker is a funny one. Okay, the point is the Joker isn't a funny one. There has never been a sympathetic Joker story I can think of which paints his usual abject lack of humour into a tough corner. More importantly the - ahem - Clown Prince Of Crime is supposedly the opposite of Batman, the light agin the dark, which never really works for me. Why would anyone, ever want to become a Joker Henchman.

(Oddly, this is where Harley Quinn works, she is much more sympathetic, and in the Animated series capriciously bad: of course playing off as just a mere prankster lacks the "horror" of the Joker. But who wants spine shattering horror.)

STOP BEING A SPOILER!

I imagine signing up for Joker henchery is what you do when you need money desperately and nobody else will let you hench for them.

Haha, no way.

He's an interesting duck, with the years' interpretations of murderous, humorous, psychotic, etc. My favorite of Batman's rogues, aside from Ra's Al Ghul & Talia.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Joker-1.jpg

Haha, no way.

Ghost World was number 10 in the greatest comics of all time poll, I'd be surprised if Enid wouldn't have made the top 10. I bet there are enough ILCors, myself included, who identify with her.

(except I wasn't lying about Maggot)

10) Lord Fanny
9) Wolverine
8) Enid
7) William Gull
6) Lucy
5) Galactus
4) Krazy Kat
3) Calvin
2) Captain Haddock
1) Batman

Given how much people love the Fantastic Four, I think Mr. Fantastic might be there instead of Lord Fanny or Wolverine, but on the other hand he's rather boring as a character, isn't the?

(181 points)

http://www.bdoubliees.com/charliemensuel/sfig1/krazykat/a1.jpg

No idea, to be honest.

What exactly IS Krazy Kat? Clearly he/she/it is even less of a cat than Ignatz is a mouse. Krazy's more like an ethereal spirit out of "The Tempest," not quite at home in the prosaic, mundane world of Officer Pupp and Ignatz, with its laws and jailhouses. He/she/it can't understand Ignatz's petty loathing or Officer Pupp's devotion; Krazy sees their deadly thirty-year war as a game between two friends. "The comic delusions of Don Quixote — the sheep and the
windmills — fall away as the narrative progresses, but they are far from mere foolishness," Kenneth Rexroth wrote. "They are misreadings of intent, misunderstandings of the powerful mana, the secret force, with which windmills and sheep and the commonplace life of the country inns and farmhouses of the Spanish highlands are surcharged." So it is with Krazy, who correctly reads Ignatz's demented obsession
with him/her/it as a sort of love. What would any of them do without each other? (Justyn Dillingham)

Best moment - Every single time Ignatz beaned him with a brick. (David Simpson)

five comic strips (Calvin, Charlie Brown, Krazy Kat, Pogo, Scrooge), five indies (Buddy, Cerebus, Enid, Hopey, Maggie), five 2000ADs (Crazy Jane, Johnny Alpha, Judge Dredd, Shade, Zenith), five Marvels (Black Panther, Dr Doom, Galactus, JJJ, Mr. Fantastic), and five DC (Batman, Bullseye, Rorschach/The Question, The Joker).

After this, you're on your own.

I don't think we *need* a sympathetic Joker story, tbh.