Amph Favorite Comic Book Character

Who is your favorite comic book character? You can list more than one if you like.

My favorites are Johnny C., Squee, Spider-Man, Doc Ock, and Abe Sapien.

 

I may have to think about it.

 

Favorites: Iron Man, Namor, Thor, Dr. Doom, Ultron (especially after the Annihilation: Conquest mini).

Honorable mentions: Black Adam (the only DC character up here ), Taskmaster, Thanos, Gamora, Adam Warlock, Spawn, Phyla-Vell .

 

Favorites: Spawn, Iron Man, Batman, Venom(pre Topher)

I hate: SUPERMAN! ugh.

 

Top would have to be Batman, but I'd also include Superman, The Phantom, Judge Dredd, Spider-man, TinTin, Asterix, Darkseid, Ras Al Ghul just off the top of my head.

 

Please do more than post a laundry list.

 

I could probably safely say Iron Fist as I always come back to the character and I am enjoying the current restart for the Iron Fist comic. Otherwise my favorite changes depending on interest. One day I may say Wolverine and on another I may say Batman. Sometimes a simple thing like a great piece of artwork changes my mentality over a given character.

 

Your like me. Example: I watch a Spider man movie and I go nuts say he's my favorite, then I watch a Batman movie and say he's my favorite.

 

In terms of entertainment value, I can't decide between Deadpool and the Joker. Though based off of character depth and intrigue, I'd have to go with either Two-Face or Magneto.

 

Spider-Man was the first super-hero I was exposed to (through the original cartoon series) and I think he remains one of the best concepts of the genre. He is real enough that you care about his personal life, he is formidable without being infallible, he has just the right level of super-powers - strong enough to make a difference, but not god-like, and he is very entertaining while fighting crime - love that smart mouth.

Because the concept is so strong you don't need a really great writer to come up with a decent Spider-Man story, so I think that he remains one of the more consistently entertaing super-characters. Having said that, I don't think I've read a Spider-Man comic published after 1990, though I've heard some horror stories - Clone Saga, for one.

Captain Marvel (the Kree captain Mar-Vell) was my personal favourite hero as a child - I loved the costume, at least when it was drawn by a good artist, and Gil Kane made Mar-Vell very dynamic in action sequences, something which Jim Starlin continued. I think this visual aspect was very important for me, as I was "reading" Captain Marvel before I could actually read. Again, like Spider-Man, he has the right amount of power - super-strong, but not invincibly so, resistant to injury, but not invulnerable, he could fly, and he could shoot enerty blasts out of his hands, which I thought was very cool.

I'll never forget that summer my family were traveling through France and I picked up some French Marvel comics - there was a big advert for a new comic staring Captain Marvel. I was very excited, but I didn't understand the title: "Daddy, what does morte mean?".

Jim Starlin, you *******! Really, who else had their favourite super-hero die of cancer when they were ten? That was just mean.

Captain Britain in his More/Davis/Delano run. The strip was ahead of its time, and Davis always made Captain Britain a dynamic fighter, while Moore (and later Delano and Davis) made him very human. He didn't die of cancer, but he did get written (and I use the term loosely) by a burnt-out Chis Claremont in the 90's, which was far, far worse. At least Captain Marvel found dignity in death.

Wolverine was one of my favourites as a kid. Wolvie taking on Hellfire Club mercenaries in the original Dark Phoenix storyline was just great. The character was pretty good before the 90's.

Iron Fist. I don't know why, maybe it's just because he's a kung fu super-hero, but the character has always captured my imagination. Power-Man and Iron Fist was my favourite comic book in the early 80's, and Immortal Iron fist is the only comic-book title I have followed in maybe ten years, not counting Mignola's Hellboy. Batman and DareDevil know kung fu, Iron Fist is kung fu.

Rachel Summers, back in the 80's X-Men, before Claremont became the horrible writer he is today. I thought she was a really interesting character. Then Excalibur happened.

As for villains:

Loki, as written by Walt Simonson. Great character, great villain. I love his double-cross of Surtur, with him mocking the huge demon as he fights for his life. Simonson made Loki smart and witty, rather than just evil. And he turned Thor into a frog.

Thanos, as written by Jim Starlin. He was insane, but he had style, too.

Honourable mentions go to: Hellboy, Thor, Adam Warlock, Death's Head, the Joker, and Nightraven.

Edit: The original (Shazam!) Captain Marvel should get a mention, too.
Edit 2: I loved the original Green Goblin too.

 

Cade Skywalker. There's nothing like a hard living, brooding, drug abusing, pirate/bounty hunter/smuggler who is also a Jedi with some Sith training. He's done a lot and seen a lot in his life, and he's still fairly young. He reminds me more of Han than any of the Skywalkers, other than maybe Anakin.

I like other comic book characters, but cade's my current favorite

 

#3: Valerie Page
I shall die here. Every last inch of me shall perish. Except one. An inch. It's small and it's fragile and it's the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it, or sell it, or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.
Her story is a short one. Just a few pages long, really. But reading it affects me more deeply than any other story I've ever found in comics. Or, for that matter, any other form of fiction. Alan Moore is justifiably considered one of the greatest comics authors of our time, and for my money, his finest work occured in Valerie's story. Just reading her letter brings tears to my eyes. She had something beautiful in her life, it's all been burnt away, every last inch of everything she had and everything that she is has been taken from her - every inch but one. I just reread her letter now, and I'm tearing up. It's the only piece of fiction in the world that can do that to me.


#2: Frau Totenkinder
[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d9/Totenkinder.gif/200px-Totenkinder.gif]
I'd love to meet the characters who is #1 on my list and I would have liked to meet #3 as well to some extent. I'd run away from this one as fast as I safely could. Frau Totenkinder is without a doubt my favorite villain in comics. In every story about some old witch or sorceress, it's Frau Totenkinder that's the witch. She's beyond ancient, having been born in a time when man was a hunter gatherer, and she's sacrificed at least two children per year since then - one to increase her power, one to keep from growing older. Even now, although she appears to be an old woman, she could just as easily take the years off and be young again (she prefers being older, not having to deal with troublesome sexual urges). Her strength in magic of all types, particularly black magic, is titanic. Fortunately, she's on the good guys side. Hopefully.


#1: Death
[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/02/Death.jpg/190px-Death.jpg]
At the start of your life, she was there. At the end of your life, she'll be there. She is virtually omniscient. She has two goldfish, Slim and Wordsworth, and a floppy hat collection, and has been known to quote from Mary Poppins. None of the rules of the universe apply to her. She learns from her mistakes. Once a century, she lives and dies as a mortal. There's a famous quote out there by Voltaire, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." I think of that quote when I think of Death, and I hope that it wasn't necessary to invent her.



So, there are my favorites. And much to my surprise (I'd never really considered the question before) all my favorite characters in comics are women. One of whom isn't really seen "on screen", one of whom looks to be in her mid-80s, and one of whom is as wholesome as can be. Take that, exploitation of women in comics!

 

I've been thinking about this thread for a while, trying to find my absolute favorite character. I finally decided on:

Jaime Madrox: Multiple Man
[image=http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a105/darthcolin/81653-madrox_400.jpg]
Multiple Man, (or simply: Madrox, as he has come to be known) has always help a special place in my heart. For the uninitiated he's a mutant who has the power to create duplicates of himself. I first became aware of the character in the very first comic I ever owned: The Incredible Hulk #391, where the Hulk tangled with the newest mutant team, X-Factor. I mostly forgot about the character until his '05 mini-series: Madrox. It was then that my love of the character really took off. Since then I've familiarized myself a lot more with the character.

He doesn't have any combat related powers, like most superheroes. Instead he relies on his wits and several dozen lifetimes worth of life experience. Between him and his dupes he's been a superhero, a government agent, a terrorist, a magician, a preacher, a monk, and a detective. And that just scratches the surface. I think what really draws me to the character is his struggle to find himself within his own sea of selves. He's a man who can literally chose any option when faced with a decision and he has to search deep inside himself to find his own path. I especially love the film-noir aspect of the character that Peter David has been pushing in recent years. The detective story style comics are a very nice change of pace from the regular superhero books that dominate the medium. X-Factor is probably the most non-superhero book featuring superheros available right now.

 

[image=http://www.jetpackcomics.com/images/colbert/tek3var.jpg]

 

Thanos back in the time of the 'Thanos Quest' and 'Infinite Gauntlet' stories was awesome, definitely have to agree with you there.

 

1 - Batman
2 - Wolverine
3 - Colossus
4 - Deadpool

 

Superman

Quinlan Vos

Cade Skywalker

 

I don't suppose either of you posting lists would care to expand on why?

 

Favorites:

Iron Man: I have liked this guy since I was 12 or so. Sure he has armor and all that cool stuff, but he usually defeats his opponents with his mind.

I remember back when I started reading him, he was an alcoholic. I always liked that aspect of his character, knowing that he struggled with something like that seemed to make him more realistic or normal.

Namor: Love his badass attitude. He always fights for what he thinks is right, regardless of what his friends think. Sometimes this causes him to come in conflict with allies.

His latest mini was a great read btw. I also like that he is appearing in the Avengers: Invaders mini, both as a younger and older version of himself.

Thor: Who doesn't like Thor? Seriously. Love the style of speech, and all the mythology references. I have always been a mythology buff, so the characters of Thor and Hercules (which is also a comic I have been loving lately) have always been interesting to me.

Dr. Doom: Hands down my favorite villain. Any time he appears it is guaranteed that something will hit the fan. He is noble, and honorable in his own way. There isn't really anything I don't like about this guy, he has a style of his own and it cannot be duplicated.

Ultron: Total team breaker here. He is kind of like Brainiac, actually a lot like Brainiac....except for some reason I like him more. Probably because Superman isn't anywhere near the story arc.

Honorable mentions:

Black Adam (the only DC character up here ): I think I like him for many of the same reasons I like Namor. He isn't always acting bad just for the sake of being bad, he has his reasons....and will stick to his guns no matter what those around him think.

Taskmaster: Not sure what draws me to this character. Probably his attitude. He is a smart mouth, and has the skills to back it up.

Got more, but not enough time.

 

WWSMD? Superman because I spent more time looking to him than to my parents or religion for moral guidance. I probably had a bigger thing for Superman than any Jedi. I still do. I love how uncomplicated he is. I love how un-hip he is and always will be. I love that he's consistent and purely empathetic. The guy just makes me cry no matter what he does.

Quinlan Vos and Cade Skywalker because these were the first comic book characters I ever read about with duel natures where I cared about them and their journey. Also I hadn't picked up a comic since I was 10 until issue #12 of Legacy. John Ostrander's writing is so great that I'm not annoyed by complex comic anti-heros. At least not his.

 

The Rocketeer.

 

ZAGOR! The one and only.

[image=http://www.ayaaaak.net/public/zagor-colore.jpg]

Spiderman is my favourite Marvel hero, and I'm a great fan of Zayne from the new KOTOR comics.

 

I love Spider-man, I just don't really like what Marvel is doing with him lately. I've read a bunch of the new Amazing issues, and I admit there is some good stuff in it, but I just don't connect with it like I was before the whole One More Day story line.

 

Nifty Post!!!

Captain America... The shield alone is cooler than most other super heroes! I felt the civil war arc brought out alot of Caps cool recently...as well as other Marvel heroes =)

 

Well, Batman, because he's Batman

I'm sure to be a minority in this, but Bart Allen (aka Impulse, Kid Flash, The Flash) has always been one of my favourites. Just the way he has been portrayed and written and has evolved over the years has made him very likable and a character to root for. Soon to be resurrected too (although it could be argued he never really 'died' to begin with).