The ILC Favourite Characters Of All Time

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.

Air Wave (Air Wave)
Angel and the Ape (Angel and the Ape)
Awesome Andy (She-Hulk)
Badger (Badger)
Batman (Batman etc.)
Bigby (Fables)
Black Canary (assorted DC comics)
Black Cat (?????)
Black Panther - Priest version (Black Panther)
Blue Devil (Blue Devil)
Buddy Bradley (Hate)
Bullseye - Frank Miller version (Daredevil)
Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)
Captain Haddock (Tintin)
Cerebus (Cerebus)
Chubby Da Choona (Seaguy)
Concrete (Concrete)
Destruction (Sandman)
Donna Troy (New Teen Titans)
Doop (X-Statix)
Dr Blasphemy (Brat Pack)
Dr John Warforce (W.A.R.Force)
Elektra (Elektra:Assassin)
Enid Coleslaw (Ghost World)
Enigma (Enigma)
Frank (Frank)
Fritz The Cat (Fritz The Cat)
Galactus (Fantastic Four etc.)
Genocide (Sleeper)
Horse Race Bet Guy (My Filing Technique Is Unstoppable)
Johnny Alpha - Wagner/Ezquerra version (Strontium Dog)
Johnny The Homicidal Maniac (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac)
Kano (Bad Company)
Kitty Pryde (X-Men etc.)
Lord Fanny (The Invisibles)
Lucy Van Pelt (Peanuts)
Mafalda (Mafalda)
Maggie Chascarillo (Love And Rockets)
Maggott (X-Men)
Marmaduke (Marmaduke)
Mary Simpson (The Four Marys)
Mastodon (DP7)
Mohammed Ali (Superman vs Mohammed Ali)
Mr Fantastic (Fantastic Four etc.)
Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind)
Nemo (Little Nemo In Slumberland)
Oor Wullie (Oor Wullie)
Pogo (Pogo)
Professor Calculus (Tintin)
Ragged Robin (The Invisibles)
Rat Creatures (Bone)
Rex Morgan, MD (Rex Morgan)
Rogue (X-Men)
Rogue Trooper (the first one) (2000AD)
Shade - Milligan Version (Shade The Changing Man)
Silk Spectre - Laurie (Watchmen)
Stanley and his Monster (Stanley and his Monster)
The Detective (Jason's Norwegian Murder Mystery)
the lizard that narrates Enigma (Enigma)
The Marsupilami (Spirou and Fantasia)
The Mighty Thor (Thor etc.)
The Question - O'Neill/Cowan version (The Question)
The Spider (The Spider)
The Whizzer (?????)
Ultimate Peter Parker (Ultimate Spider-Man)
Voyager (Psi-Force)
William Gull (From Hell)
Willoughby Kipling (Doom Patrol)
Wulf Sternhammer (2000AD)
Zenith (Zenith)

So...

9. Lucy van Pelt
8. Enid Coleslaw
7. Doop
6. Cerebus
5. Buddy Bradley
4. Calvin
3. Captain Haddock
2. Batman
1. Galactus

Really disappointed The Spider hasn't made it anywhere into the list. Unless you all shock me by voting him into the top ten.

Well, yeah, but I don't think that's necessairly a problem when we're talking about a comic book character. I mean, 80% of the Silver Age to thread, innit? And what about BIZARRO up there?? Or Krazy Kat, come to that?

Anyway, on second thought I *do* sort of sympathise with the Joker, as I did with the Gremlins - discarding all notions of human morality not in the name of revenge or power or wealth or even just pure EVIL but because, hey, it's a laugh, innit? I love loose cannons.

xpost alas, anglo-american axis will certainly insure that my beloved Marsupilami doesn't make the list :(

http://madsenblog.dk/billeder/marsupilami.jpg

60. Opus
59. Roy Race
58. Corto Maltese
57. Martian Manhunter
56. Guy Gardner (Giffen/DeM)
55. Spider-Man (Dan Slott)
54. Acid Archie
53. Manhog
52. Mo
51. Black Lois Lane
50. Spider Jerusalem
49. Optimus Prime
48. Flex Mentallo
47. Marv
46. Darkseid
45. Hellboy
44. Mek-Quake
43. Tharg The Mighty
42. Mona Lisa Ludacristits
41. A Homosexual
40. Cassidy
39. Tara Chace
38. Robotman (Grant M)
37. Wally West Flash
36. Astoria
35. Emma Frost
34. Robert Crumb
33. The Thing
32. Jessica Jones
31. Dr Manhattan
30. Beast
29. Daredevil
28. Silver Surfer
27. Blue Beetle
26. John Constantine
25. The Spirit
24. She-Hulk
23. Superman
22. Magneto
21. Popeye
20. Crazy Jane
19. Rorschach
18. Scrooge McDuck
17. Bizarro
15. Hopey
15. Judge Dredd
14. Linus Van Pelt
13. Charlie Brown
12. Doctor Doom
11. The Joker

Also the Joker character talk above is reminding me that I actually liked Sam Kieth's Batman/Joker mini from this year a lot.

Same trade that has RH/Jason Todd telling the Joker his madness is overstated to insulate himself from his crimes.

ihttp://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=48250&zoom=4

(184 points)

http://www.philosophiste.com/images/cerebus_gold.jpg

Cerebus seems to work as a short furry Alexander the Great in his book's plot, cutting Gordian Knots in any of the complicated and delicate situtation he barges into. Seeing how he resists all attempts to take the action to a higher metaphysical level, and how far he can avoid this, is one of the main motors of the book.

Cerebus is an anchor. The epic scope and cosmic inclinations of Sim's storytelling could have gotten tiresome much sooner than they did without the earth-pig born there to provide his own brand of unique rugged pragmatism. Cerebus can be awed, it's true, he can be phased and devastated: but before long, he'll have taken the new facts, no matter how mind boggling, into consideration and determined how and if they can be used for his own ends – which almost invariably consist of battle, wealth and ale (what happens when they cannot be used for such purposes, and as such are irrelevant and/or bothersome to Cerebus, accounts for a great deal of the comic's best humor.) There is a Cerebus quote to go with every state of drunkenness – "Cerebus would kill a yak for you!" has even served me well in times of heartbroken inebriation. (Daniel Reifferscheid)

Best Moment - Throwing the baby (which was stolen from a Giles cartoon in the Daily Express) (David Simpson)