50 Best DC Characters (20-11)
Continuing with the top 50 DC characters list I submitted for The Great Curve.
#20. Bizarro
I've loved Bizarro for most of my life. And, thanks to Seinfeld, this is the one comic-related reference I can make in non-comic-reading company that everyone will appreciate. Such a reference usually turns into several minutes of Bizarro-speak, which always brightens up my day. So, as thanks for this wonderful addition to my life, I offer a heartfelt "Goodbye, Bizarro! Begone from my list!"
#19. Gorilla Grodd
Really, nothing says DC more than giant, super-intelligent gorillas, and, even with the large pool of giant, super-intelligent gorillas to choose from in the DC universe, Grodd reigns supreme. Part of this might be due to comparison with the other members of the Flash's Rogues Gallery, most of whom are driven more by greed than by desire for world domination. Grodd's inherent belief that he and his fellow gorillas should be running the world made him a bit more of a threat than, say, Heat Wave. He's also the Flash villain who has been most repurposeable as a general, world-class villain (perhaps best seen in the first JLA Classified arc).
#18. Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Yeah, I kind of thought he'd end up higher on this list as well. But then I started applying the "which character (barring writer/artist/premise) would I rather read about," and he just started slipping a little lower on the list. I'm not sure if it's just 40 years of dark, "gritty" Batman that's worn me down, but, no matter how much I like the initial concept - or even some particular presentation - it's so easy for writers to write Batman poorly. Even the recent Batman stories I've read and enjoyed didn't make me like the character any more. Honestly, I don't know how you save the character at this point - tightening relationships with friends and ratcheting down the angst level certainly seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure if that just makes him "less annoying" instead of "interesting."
#17. Atom-Smasher/Nuklon (Albert Rothstein)
I feel kind of dumb listing him above Batman, but there's something about the naked hero worship the character has always portrayed that makes him kind of interesting. He's my favorite embodiment of "batboy gets to play for the Yankees" that is always a useful sort of fan wish fulfillment entry into a story. He's a nice Jewish kid who tries to join the JSA, only to end up having to put up with the tedious melodrama of Infinity Inc. When the JSA finally admits him, that puppydog look of finally having his dreams realized makes it kind of hard to dislike him. All of which makes his attempt to do the right thing working with Teth-Adam (who probably should have made the list, dammit) and saving his mother all the more heartbreaking. I didn't remember much from my childhood reading of Inifinity Inc., but my recent attempt to re-read it really made me realize just how long he'd been waiting to join the JSA. Throwing it all away to do what he thought was right, only to realize it probably wasn't, makes for a pretty interesting character.
#16. Lex Luthor
Probably should be higher, but tends to suffer from bad writing. The Byrne reboot, in particular, really bothered me and killed a lot of what I liked about Luthor. President Luthor was good in concept, but never seemed believably executed. What does manage to get him into the top 20, though, is the recent decision that his motivation is more as a spokesman for the human race. I really like the idea of someone deciding that the mere presence of Superman makes all of humanity's strivings completely moot. That's a much more complex supervillain motivation than we usually see, and one that could have been used really nicely with his run for office (and was in the Red Son miniseries - by far the best thing Millar's ever written)
#15. Chemo
Man, I loved Chemo as a kid. My dad was really into the Metal Men for some reason (who would have been on this list, but I couldn't bring himself to either choose just one or to occupy 6 spots for all of them), so we read just about every Metal Men comic we could get our hands on. Anyway, Chemo featured in a disproportionately large number of the Metal Men stories, and I always liked the idea of a large chemical waste bin coming to life and rampaging through cities. Watching him get dropped onto Bludhaven was one of the highlights of Infinite Crisis.
#14. Human Target (Christopher Chance)
I just reread the first TPB of the Milligan/Pulido Human Target series and it blew me away all over again, even though I just read it a year or so ago. I love that he doesn't really change the character much at all, but really seems to appreciate how disturbing the entire concept is on a psychological level. The series plays out like Rockford Files as directed by mid-60's John Frankenheimer, which is right up my alley.
#13. Wildcat (Ted Grant)
Speaking of Rockford Files, Ted Grant, in my mind, is played by James Garner. Or maybe Robert Forster. Yeah, Robert Forster - in Out of Sight. A man's man - hard-drinking, skirt-chasing, cigar-smoking - but with a strong parental protectiveness towards his female protegees. I could certainly see him giving someone a Sig Sauer as a birthday present. And raising his daughters to drink bourbon. While I'm not crazy about the flimsy explanation for why he's still active (nine lives?), I'd be sad if he wasn't, so I'm not going to argue.
#12. Mr. Mind
The Fawcett characters are certainly representing well on this list. I think just seeing Sivana and Mr. Mind in 52 brought back all sorts of memories of how fond I was of these characters. And none moreso than Mr. Mind. I recently dug up some reprints of the first Monster Society stories in which the Marvel family keeps digging deeper and deeper into the acts behind this villainous organization, only to learn the real mastermind is a super intelligent worm. It's pure genius.
#11. The Flash (Wally West)
As mentioned, the last DC titles I read before giving up on comics as a kid were the Giffen-DeMatteis JLI titles, which (and this may be an understatement) were not terribly kind to Wally. He came off as a bit of a jerk - money-grubbing, hitting on Power Girl, chip on his shoulder about his legacy - so I was really pleased to go back and read the Mark Waid run on the series and realize I really liked Wally quite a lot. Certainly a lot of it has to do with the overall concept - Wally being the first sidekick to take over the identity of their mentor. There's a respect for the past that both Johns and Waid seem to really understand. In addition, I really like the provincialism of Wally. Sure, he may go off jetsetting with JLA, but he also seems to be on a first name basis with a fair bit of his kind of square, Midwestern hometown (in my mind, Central City seems to be less like a St. Louis or Detroit or Chicago and more like a Columbia or Jackson or Madison). Sure, Central City kicked him out for a bit, but he knows that's where he belongs - even if it's not terribly glamorous.
#20. Bizarro
I've loved Bizarro for most of my life. And, thanks to Seinfeld, this is the one comic-related reference I can make in non-comic-reading company that everyone will appreciate. Such a reference usually turns into several minutes of Bizarro-speak, which always brightens up my day. So, as thanks for this wonderful addition to my life, I offer a heartfelt "Goodbye, Bizarro! Begone from my list!"#19. Gorilla Grodd
Really, nothing says DC more than giant, super-intelligent gorillas, and, even with the large pool of giant, super-intelligent gorillas to choose from in the DC universe, Grodd reigns supreme. Part of this might be due to comparison with the other members of the Flash's Rogues Gallery, most of whom are driven more by greed than by desire for world domination. Grodd's inherent belief that he and his fellow gorillas should be running the world made him a bit more of a threat than, say, Heat Wave. He's also the Flash villain who has been most repurposeable as a general, world-class villain (perhaps best seen in the first JLA Classified arc).#18. Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Yeah, I kind of thought he'd end up higher on this list as well. But then I started applying the "which character (barring writer/artist/premise) would I rather read about," and he just started slipping a little lower on the list. I'm not sure if it's just 40 years of dark, "gritty" Batman that's worn me down, but, no matter how much I like the initial concept - or even some particular presentation - it's so easy for writers to write Batman poorly. Even the recent Batman stories I've read and enjoyed didn't make me like the character any more. Honestly, I don't know how you save the character at this point - tightening relationships with friends and ratcheting down the angst level certainly seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure if that just makes him "less annoying" instead of "interesting."#17. Atom-Smasher/Nuklon (Albert Rothstein)
I feel kind of dumb listing him above Batman, but there's something about the naked hero worship the character has always portrayed that makes him kind of interesting. He's my favorite embodiment of "batboy gets to play for the Yankees" that is always a useful sort of fan wish fulfillment entry into a story. He's a nice Jewish kid who tries to join the JSA, only to end up having to put up with the tedious melodrama of Infinity Inc. When the JSA finally admits him, that puppydog look of finally having his dreams realized makes it kind of hard to dislike him. All of which makes his attempt to do the right thing working with Teth-Adam (who probably should have made the list, dammit) and saving his mother all the more heartbreaking. I didn't remember much from my childhood reading of Inifinity Inc., but my recent attempt to re-read it really made me realize just how long he'd been waiting to join the JSA. Throwing it all away to do what he thought was right, only to realize it probably wasn't, makes for a pretty interesting character.#16. Lex Luthor
Probably should be higher, but tends to suffer from bad writing. The Byrne reboot, in particular, really bothered me and killed a lot of what I liked about Luthor. President Luthor was good in concept, but never seemed believably executed. What does manage to get him into the top 20, though, is the recent decision that his motivation is more as a spokesman for the human race. I really like the idea of someone deciding that the mere presence of Superman makes all of humanity's strivings completely moot. That's a much more complex supervillain motivation than we usually see, and one that could have been used really nicely with his run for office (and was in the Red Son miniseries - by far the best thing Millar's ever written)#15. Chemo
Man, I loved Chemo as a kid. My dad was really into the Metal Men for some reason (who would have been on this list, but I couldn't bring himself to either choose just one or to occupy 6 spots for all of them), so we read just about every Metal Men comic we could get our hands on. Anyway, Chemo featured in a disproportionately large number of the Metal Men stories, and I always liked the idea of a large chemical waste bin coming to life and rampaging through cities. Watching him get dropped onto Bludhaven was one of the highlights of Infinite Crisis.#14. Human Target (Christopher Chance)
I just reread the first TPB of the Milligan/Pulido Human Target series and it blew me away all over again, even though I just read it a year or so ago. I love that he doesn't really change the character much at all, but really seems to appreciate how disturbing the entire concept is on a psychological level. The series plays out like Rockford Files as directed by mid-60's John Frankenheimer, which is right up my alley.#13. Wildcat (Ted Grant)
Speaking of Rockford Files, Ted Grant, in my mind, is played by James Garner. Or maybe Robert Forster. Yeah, Robert Forster - in Out of Sight. A man's man - hard-drinking, skirt-chasing, cigar-smoking - but with a strong parental protectiveness towards his female protegees. I could certainly see him giving someone a Sig Sauer as a birthday present. And raising his daughters to drink bourbon. While I'm not crazy about the flimsy explanation for why he's still active (nine lives?), I'd be sad if he wasn't, so I'm not going to argue.#12. Mr. Mind
The Fawcett characters are certainly representing well on this list. I think just seeing Sivana and Mr. Mind in 52 brought back all sorts of memories of how fond I was of these characters. And none moreso than Mr. Mind. I recently dug up some reprints of the first Monster Society stories in which the Marvel family keeps digging deeper and deeper into the acts behind this villainous organization, only to learn the real mastermind is a super intelligent worm. It's pure genius.#11. The Flash (Wally West)
As mentioned, the last DC titles I read before giving up on comics as a kid were the Giffen-DeMatteis JLI titles, which (and this may be an understatement) were not terribly kind to Wally. He came off as a bit of a jerk - money-grubbing, hitting on Power Girl, chip on his shoulder about his legacy - so I was really pleased to go back and read the Mark Waid run on the series and realize I really liked Wally quite a lot. Certainly a lot of it has to do with the overall concept - Wally being the first sidekick to take over the identity of their mentor. There's a respect for the past that both Johns and Waid seem to really understand. In addition, I really like the provincialism of Wally. Sure, he may go off jetsetting with JLA, but he also seems to be on a first name basis with a fair bit of his kind of square, Midwestern hometown (in my mind, Central City seems to be less like a St. Louis or Detroit or Chicago and more like a Columbia or Jackson or Madison). Sure, Central City kicked him out for a bit, but he knows that's where he belongs - even if it's not terribly glamorous.
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