50 Best DC Characters (50-41)

All right, The Great Curve has asked for us bloggers to suggest their picks for the 50 best DC characters, and I don't much feel like working today, so here's my list (in 10 character increments).

#50. Dr. Mid-Nite (Charles McNider)

I tend to be a sucker for the minimally powered, first generation DC heroes. I'm not sure if it's the closer connection to the pulp forbears or the fantastic costume design, but I've liked these characters for as long as I can remember. That said, McNider doesn't get much personality to distinguish him, so this vote is really more for concept that characterization.



#49. Krypto

Krypto is perhaps the character whose disappearance post-Crisis bothered me the most as a kid. I was a big reader of The New Adventures of Superboy as a kid, which featured Krypto fairly regularly, so I think it was being told that he never existed that kind of soured me on Superman comics for years to come. What with the death of thought balloons, he doesn't really get much in the way of personality these days, but back in the day, his inner monologues were a fantastic vehicle for whatever loyalty/betrayal issues the 60's Superman writers were working on. I recall a fair number of covers with Superman/boy (presumably under influence of Red-K) banishing Krypto, who flies off with the saddest expression a canine face can muster. Heartbreaking.



#48. The Creeper (Jack Ryder)

Ditko's first DC character (of four?) is the only one that really seemed to work. Really, I think what sells the character is that Jack Ryder is, at least in the first appearances, a complete jerk. He starts off on his TV show harassing a guest who he's been told is a friend of the sponsor. When fired, he doesn't particularly seem to care and promptly takes a gig as an investigator. I know it's more of a necessary plot compression device, but the speed with which Ryder changes professions indicates an impressive lack of interest in his own life. It makes it a little more believable that he's willing to put on a goofy costume and fight crime. Further writers made the Creeper more openly insane, which I also appreciate.



#47. Mr. Banjo (Dr. Filpots)

I'm not sure Mr. Banjo's in DC Continuity yet, but he is pretty fantastic. I haven't checked the dates, but I'm assuming he was Fawcett's answer to The Fiddler. Except he plays a banjo. Which he uses to send coded messages to the Nazis. Really, I am a big fan of almost all the old Fawcett stuff - it seems like it takes DC ideas and just makes them a little goofier. Which is never a bad thing.



#46. Jimmy Olsen

I went back and forth on Jimmy quite a bit. He's been kind of underused for quite a while, but, for a while, he was a pretty great sidekick. Since he was usually powerless (at least when he wasn't Turtle Boy/Elastic Lad), his stories usually ended up very distinct from Superman. It took years for Robin to really be able to stand on his own in a series, but Jimmy had been doing it for years. Plus, the Kirby written stretch with the Newsboy Legion, Dubbilex, and Don Rickles and his evil twin are so wonderfully absurd, it keeps Jimmy on the list.



#45. G'nort

All right, so I like broad, comic relief characters from time to time. Sue me. Plus, the assertion that the Green Lantern Corps had elements of nepotism amused me greatly.





#44. Amanda Waller

Arguably the most important post-Crisis creation. Any story that needed some human personification of governmental authoritarianism/bureaucracy absolutely had to feature Amanda Waller. But, more than just a much-needed plot device, she's been much more consistently written than almost any other character I can think of. True, much of the consistency involves her yelling at/staring down other characters, but there are enough snippets of humanity in her assorted JLI appearances to give me a genuine fondness for her.



#43. The Ultra-Humanite

I'm not entirely clear on what back-story they're going with on the Ultra-Humanite these days, but my greatest exposure to him was during the 1981(?) JLA/JSA summer event in which he led the Secret Society of Super Villains. I loved that run of JLA, and quite a lot of that love was due to the giant albino ape leading the show. Learning that he had previously been a movie starlet and a flying ant only helped. Yes, there is a certainly degree of writer futility visible when a criminal mastermind suddenly becomes an actress, flying ant, and/or giant albino gorilla, but it certainly keeps the character fresh.



#42. Danny the Street

It's been kind of a tough call as to what Doom Patrol characters to pick. Flex Mentallo is a great concept, but I'm not sure how much of that is influenced by the Vertigo series. Danny the Street is pretty solidly within the DC run of Doom Patrol and is such a fantastically weird, but familiar, idea that it deserves some credit.



#41. Killowog

I'm not sure there's anyone out there who doesn't like Killowog. He's been well-used for years as a sort of intergalactic drill sargeant, and I always found the relationship between him and Guy (especially during Guy's brain damaged years) to be very charming.