The ILC Favourite Characters Of All Time

(83 points)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d5/DrManhattan.jpg

Alan Moore's take on a cosmically powered supercharacter is at heart a standard what-is-this-thing-called-emotion story arc (tho with a last issue twist of sorts) but Dr M is so well realised you hardly care. His mechanistic perspective on the universe maps nicely onto the hyperformalism of Watchmen, and what's more he was naked for pretty much the whole series.

Greatest Moment: "Watchmen #4 in its entirety" (Vic F)

Haha, yes.

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

"Stand by" for #30 on!

(88 points)

http://www.unificationfrance.com/IMG/jpg/xmen_beast.jpg

"One of the few marvel mutant characters to break out of the narrow field and into the larger fictional world, he's changed with the times, remaining on, or at least slightly behind, the forefront of cool. Early experiments with 'beat culture' changed to full-on hippiedom, drinking and 'alleged' smoking of dope. When the mutant comics became angst-filled, meandering plots-that-go-nowhere coolfests, he was there too, tragically losing his supermind by degrees before being replaced by his own evil twin from an alternate Earth! And for the new century, he reinvented himself again as a smooth-talking metrosexual." (Vic F)

"If the X-Men, more than about race or sexuality, are about plain old-fashioned teenage alienation, surely Hank McCoy is one of the best role models the series can muster. He’s been dealt one hell of a rough hand – unlike most of his fellow mutants, his powers are not hidden and he doesn’t look like an extra from “Melrose Place” – and yet he whines about it considerably less than most of his colleagues. Which pays off – first x-man to join the Avengers, respected member of the scientific community, Beast has adapted to real life as well as anyone in his crew. The Marvel universe’s proof that you can be both a giant nerd and the life of any party, and that smarts, wit and bonhomie make up for a hell of a lot." (Daniel_Rf)

Greatest Moment: "At the Coffee-A-Go-Go he is made king of the
Beat-niks. His road to ruin begins here." (Vic F)

(89 points)

http://www.grovel.org.uk/reviews/darede01/darede03.gif

The Stan Lee Daredevil is yr standard garish romp, twin brothers and fights with the likes of the Owl. But - maybe accidentally, maybe alchemically - Lee had hit on a character with massive symbolic freight: a lawyer, a vigilante, living the high life, from the mean streets, and get this he's blind! The result is the hero probably best able to sensibly carry the weight as comics got darker and grittier - DD's campy past never preys on him like it does on Batman, there's rarely the lurking shadow of the ludicrous. Which means that when Daredevil's comics get grim it doesn't feel so affected. Of course this might be hindsight because Miller and Bendis did what they did so well - but it seems to me that they found something that was already there.

Greatest Moment: Playing russian roulette with a comatose Bullseye (Daredevil #191) (I think this was Leee's pick)

(89 points)

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/news/silver-surfer/silver-surfer-movie.jpg

In Kirbyworld, the Surfer was a cold, alien figure incapable of understanding human emotion yet capable of sacrificing his freedom to save the human race – a postmodern take on the Christ story. In Stan Lee’s hands, he was a bit more mundane, and prone to sleep-inducing lectures – yet the fascination of the character remained. (JD)

Greatest Moment: Over to you!

I was probably a bit thick in the 80s.

http://www.hembeck.com/Images/FredSez/BlueBeetleJLA380.jpg

(91 points)

From Steve Ditko's faux-Spider-Man to Giffen & DeMatteis's most sympathetic character, Ted Kord spoke to the insecurities in all of us. And for that, we killed him like a Kennedy. (Huk-L)

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten as angry about the offing of a fictional character as I did when DC decided to do away with Blue Beetle. How to justify such emotional investment? The best that I can come up with is that, unlike Booster Gold say, Blue Beetle isn’t just a moderately pleasant clown: he’s the prankster that reads Chekov, the c-list character that, precisely because of his mediocre status, often ends up looking a lot more heroic than Superman, Batman or any of the other big guns. (Daniel_Rf)

Greatest Moment: Meeting Catherine Cobert for the "first" time in JLA #8, "Moving Day" (Iodine)

Does "zzzzzzzzork" mean "then they fucked like bunnies" or "and then the title started sucking bigtime" or something else?

(96 points)

http://www.dogmaticblog.com/images/blog_images/constantine.jpg

John Constantine is the ultimate "Mary Sue" character - pretty much everyone who writes him infects him with their own habits and concerns, and no surprise as he's the perfect vehicle to live out both yr coolness fantasies and yr bastard ones: unlike most Mary-Sues he allows writers to explore self-disgust as well as self-glorification. He's also - albeit intermittently - one of the only convincing British characters in US comics, which may explain a lot of his votes.

Greatest Moment: Despite a 200+ issue ongoing series (not bad for someone designed to look like Sting!) his biggest impact is still his first dozen or so appearances, as the plot device and Greek chorus behind "American Gothic". Alan Moore's concept of an outsider who sees how the bits fit together has been ripped off umpteen times since but these appearances are still the freshest. Swamp Thing #46, the CRISIS tie-in issue, might be the best crossover issue of all time and shows how well the guy works in a shared universe.

That's one of my favourite aspects of him, which is why my favourite moment is still the big scene in Books Of Magic.

(99 points)

http://www.austinbooks.com/images/DCArchiveWESpirit17.jpg

Leaving aside the visual mastery and narrative genius of Will Eisner, Denny Colt still stands as a classic character. The Spirit contained everything we would love about adventure heroes in the years to come. Like James Bond, he knew the importance of a well-tailored suit. Like Indiana Jones, he usually took more punches than he threw. He was occasionally cruel to those he cared about, but he always maintained a stoic sense of duty. In a lot of ways, he was camp before camp was cool. (Huk-L)

Greatest Moment: "The Post-War Strips" sez Huk.

As for the Spirit--it's one of my favorite comics, but does anyone actually like the Spirit? I've never wondered what would happen to him, what he was like, etc. He just seemed like an automated "Main Character" for Eisner to send out into gigantic diminishing points of perspective and multi-colored postmodern metafictions.

but this could be any noir hero no? philip marlowe, the continental op...

Also - this is true of the Surfer too - a "good character" isn't just down to the writer! How the character stands, poses, moves, looks, smiles are just as important and that's where the Spirit picks up points and votes, surely.