Top 50 Summary

Writing out those paragraphs ended up being much more draining than I expected, as almost everyone fell into some pretty broad categories - characters I actually care about (Jack, Kay, Wes), characters I like for their glorious absurdity (Proty II, Mr. Mind), characters I can empathize with (Swamp Thing, J'onn, Karen) - so felt like I was getting a little repetitive.

Anyway, will get back to writing about individual comics shortly, but wanted to tally things up:

By Gender

Male 86%
Female 10%
Other 4%

Kind of shamefully lacking in females - part of the blame can fall on writers who write lousy female characters, but I shoulda given Dian Belmont and Sue Dibny entries. And, yes, I left Wonder Woman off. But I haven't really read a version of Wonder Woman I liked. Am certainly happy to take recommendations.

By Dimension of Origin

Earth-1 56%
Earth-2 18%
Earth-4 4%
Earth-S 6%
Post-Crisis 16%

Overlap with other blogs:

Pretty, Fizzy Paradise: 15
Written World: 15
Seven Hells!: 10
The Absorbascon: 9
The Comic Treadmill: 21

Anyway, enough listmaking/datamining for a while.

50 Best DC Characters (10-1)

All right. Onto the home stretch here. My picks for the 10 best DC characters as demanded by the Great Curve.

#10. Swamp Thing (Alec Holland. Sometimes.)

Swampy's had the advantage of having a pretty damn impressive group of writers tackling him. Aside from the most recent (now-cancelled) run, which was really a little dippy, he tends to attract some pretty impressive writing talents. Even Veitch, whose stuff I usually have a very hard time with, does a really nice job with Swamp Thing. Like his fellow swamp-mate Grundy, he's got enough of a blank canvas about him to allow for pretty easy reinvention as each writer takes over. In fact, the whole premise (particularly since, in my mind, Swamp Thing is occuring in the same sort of dream-logic world as Fulci's The Beyond) is incredibly flexible and just unreal enough (and disconnected from DC continuity) that retconning Swamp Thing doesn't really faze me at all. That flexibility, combined with the always dramatically fertile man-becomes-monster-but-still-in-love premise, makes him a character I'm always happy to read about.

#9. The Shade (Richard Swift)

I get the feeling that Robinson's rewrite of the Shade is the most popular retcon ever among comic writers. Since Starman ended, I feel like the Shade has been cropping up all over the place. He's a fun character - I can certainly see why other writers want to use him. The combination of extremely good manners and fluid morality is always fun to write.


#8. Ambush Bug (Irwin Schwab)

Ah, Ambush Bug. While not my first favorite character, he was the first character I liked enough to take note of who was writing. Granted the first series is filled with jokes I don't get to this day (maybe because I still haven't read Thriller or finished Ronin), but I still loved the absurdity of it. He led to me reading pretty much everything by Giffen I could find - at least until 90% of it involved Lobo, which prompted me to reevaluate things. Still, I think the DC universe could use a little more absurdity in it. Maybe they could have him come back from his post-Crisis exile and appoint himself Superman's sidekick again. Now that I think of it, "Rise of the Supermen" would have been so much better if Ambush Bug had decided to take up the mantle of self-appointed heir-apparent. A lost opportunity.

#7. Elongated Man (Ralph Dibny)

I still haven't seen enough of Ralph without Sue to see how he holds up on his own, but DC needs a top-shelf detective who isn't moody, grouchy, brooding, etc. Even though he was created as a Plastic Man analogue, the decision to make him a fun version of Batman always seemed like a very useful character to have around. Granted, it made him a little superfluous in the satellite-era JLA, but he still made a nice counterpoint. I read a lot of descriptions of him and Sue as the "Nick and Nora" of the DC universe, which sort of describes them - Sue seems more openly loving/less tolerating than Nora, and Ralph is certainly less of a drunkard/rake than Nick, but it still captures a lot of the appeal. Anyway, a fun-loving Batman around is certainly a good idea - though I'm not sure how he's going to turn out after the amount of misery they're heaping on him lately.

#6. Zatanna (Zatanna Zatara)

This list is showing that I seem to like mystically-themed characters more than I realized. Zatanna was my favorite JLA member as a kid, and, going back to read the Conway-era, she actually ends up getting more solid characterization than most of her teammates. As I mentioned a while back in a thread on comics' trend to punish women (particularly sexually active women), Zatanna seems to have escaped a lot of that. She manages to date her coworkers with no real ill-effects. Granted, Morrison gave her a bit of a daddy complex in her Seven Soldiers series, but she still seems refreshingly normal. Plus, she's got a fair helping of the legacy issues that I'm always a sucker for.

#5. The Spectre (Jim Corrigan)

Again with the mystical characters! Still, the Spectre gets points for the brutal origin story (pistol-whipped and drowned!) as well as his brutal responses to criminals. The short-lived 70's run, in particular, featured some completely insane stories. Part of this is probably the frustration of writers who are trying to write a story featuring, effectively, God, but it certainly allows for a quality writer to come up with some truly weird stories. Skeates, in particular, seemed to really understand the possibilities of the character.

#4. Superman (Clark Kent)

My feelings on Superman are probably too complex for a single paragraph. I mean, being effectively omnipotent makes him kind of hard to deal with from a story perspective (especially when he's not willing to eat criminals like Corrigan was), but his humanity - or more his desire for humanity - really makes him a much more interesting character than he has any right to be.



#3. Crazy Jane (Kay Challis)

Doom Patrol #63 makes me tear up a little bit every time I read it. I'm actually getting a bit misty-eyed just thinking about it.







#2. Sandman (Wesley Dodds)

Sandman's always been a pretty great character, but in the past 10 years or so, it seems like he's really taken off. He makes a great supporting character in Starman, and the retroactive story with Sandy as a monster adds a nice degree of simmering self-torture to the character. What really moved up into top 5 territory, though, was picking up the first few Sandman Mystery Theater trades the other day. I know I'm about 10 years behind the curve on these, but, man, are they good. And make me really like Wesley more than I thought I could.

#1. Starman (Jack Knight)

The single best character DC has published. No, he's not really reusable anywhere else, but, after spending a weekend reading every issue of Starman, I really feel like I know Jack as well as I do many of my friends. It's a rare accomplishment for any medium, but especially so in comics.

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.

50 Best DC Characters (30-21)

I'm now about 40% done with this writeup, and I'm already realizing what characters I inadvertantly left off the list. Highly disappointing. Anyway, plunging onward.

#30. Guy Gardner

Now, I'm not nearly the level of Guy Gardner fan that some people are, but I have always liked the character. Like most of the characters in the Giffen/DeMatteis JLI, he was basically a flat joke, with occasional moments of really effective characterization thrown in. It's a very odd writing style, but one that managed to both suck me in completely at age 12 and give me something to chew on now that I'm significantly older. I'm only just now starting to read Warrior, but I really like the new, non-brain-damaged Guy. He's still argumentative and confrontational, but it seems to be a much more self-aware attitude used more for reaction. As mentioned before, I have a bit of a soft spot for self-aware jerks (or so it would seem). Plus, he's always had a bit of a thin shell - there's pretty clearly a fairly emotional Guy just below the surface.

#29. Martian Manhunter

Another character I grew to love in JLI. He had the thankless role of straight man in a mostly comedic series, and, as has been mentioned elsewhere, is really ludicrously overpowered for much use. On the other hand, I kind of like that this guy who is (on paper, at least) on par with Superman prefers to spend his time sitting behind monitors, sneaking about invisibily, and generally playing a support role. His general inability/disinterest in establishing a long-running secret identity puts him into one of the categories of superhero archetype that seems to work for me (i.e., "Alien Whose Entire Purpose Is Superheroing") His motivation isn't particular well-defined, other than that it's something he can do that doesn't discriminate against him for his differences.

#28. Blue Devil (Danny Cassidy)

I'm not entirely clear on what happened to Blue Devil inbetween the end of his own series, his death at the hands of the Mist, and his current revival in Shadowpact. Still, his series was one of my favorites as a kid. It was playful and chock full of cameos from the other vaguely supernaturally-themed heroes that weren't getting much coverage in the DCU at the time (e.g., Zatanna, The Demon, The Creeper, Black Orchid, Cain and Abel). Plus, the intial origin concept is probably my favorite of the "Ordinary Guy Who Accidentally Becomes a Hero." Being mistaken for a demon isn't a plotline that's used often enough. The writers of Blue Devil also really realized the necessity of giving him a solid supporting cast. Within a couple years, he had a boss, a love interest, a kid sidekick, a magical house that allowed for teleporting between Malibu and the East Cost (North Carolina?), and a mystical advisor. Of course, it was then cancelled and Danny seems to have become fully demonic (as did Eddie - how did that happen?), but I'm hoping that Willingham will do a nice job with the mystic/humorous tone the character originally had.

#27. The Phantom Stranger

Speaking of mystical characters that are under-utilized by DC, I love the Phantom Stranger. I think what really gets me about the character is that he went from mysterious plot device to groovy supernatural entity who apparently has a girlfriend. And may be Jewish. Again, I look forward to him getting some nice treatment from Willingham (whom seems to have claimed a large number of my favorite characters - he at least has good taste)



#26. Matter-Eater Lad (Tenzil Kem)

I think he was the second character on this list when I started up. Like Proty II, he's one of the Legionaires who eventually realized that superheroing wasn't for him and decided to go into politics instead. And I'm a sucker for superheroes-turned-politicians. Maybe DC can steal Vaughan away to do Ex Machina in the 30th Century. Starring Tenzil and Proty II. It'll be fantastic.




#25. Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)

Still more JLI-influenced character love. But, even before that, I enjoyed his solo book and the one Charlton issue I got my hands on. I think a lot of what I liked about his original series was his closer ties to his corporation than most other billionaire businessman superheroes in the DC universe - he was much closer to Tony Stark than the Bruce Wayne. Sadly, Grant Morrison didn't think of this when he was casting about for an Iron Man analogue for his JLA run - I liked Steel well enough, but maybe a recent, high-quality use of Ted would have saved him from his grisly fate. Of course, I enjoyed his JLI incarnation as well - though I think I prefered the recent pair of Giffen/DeMatteis presentations of Ted better. He seems fairly happy to have returned to his coprorate lifestyle, gained a bit of a belly, and left superheroing behind - but can't really resist the opportunity to go hang out with his buddies some more. Certainly a motivation anyone can understand.

#24. Manhunter (Kate Spencer)

My grousings about the series' presentation of LA aside, I really enjoyed Manhunter quite a lot. I'm disappointed it's going away, but I'm hoping they do find something interesting to do with the character. She works pretty well with a large supporting cast, so I'm not sure she would suffer that much in a team book (as long as Andreyko keeps writing her). I still have some complaints about Kate's sort of shifting motivations in pursuing superheroing, but I still think she's a pretty solid creation.



#23. Darkseid

Some people seem to take issue with Darkseid's role as the walking embodiment of evil. And, yes, he's a little flat. But, for a universe that tends to deal in absolutes, DC was a little light in pure evil prior to Darkseid's introduction. Plus, if that introduction in Rock of Ages doesn't make you like appreciate Darkseid just a little bit, there's something wrong with you.




#22. Power Girl (Karen Starr)

I realized when I was writing about J'onn that a lot of what I was saying about him applied to Karen as well. She doesn't really fit it - even though she looks human, she doesn't really seem to have the subtleties of humanity quite down. Normal jobs don't seem to stick, even if she's good at them (as J'onn was as a police detective). Certainly, the endless rewrites don't help, but the recent integration of her continuous rewriting as part of her character has actually made her more relatable. Really, the only version of her I haven't liked was her presentation in JLI, which flattenned her down to touchy, man-hating "feminist" parody. Out of character and not funny.

#21. Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson)

As a kid, Dr. Fate combined three of my favorite elements of superhero stories - Golden Age WWII heroes, Egyptian-themes, and magic. I'm not convinced there's really been a Dr. Fate series that lives up the potential of those three elements to date, but I'm holding out hope.

50 Best DC Characters (40-31)

Continuing with my picks for top 50 DC characters.

#40. Mr. Miracle (Scott Free)

Starting off as one of the more relatable of the wonderfully insane 70's Kirby DC characters, Mr. Miracle ended up getting integrated into the mainstream DC universe much more smoothly than expected. He still gets some fun alien on Earth stories without all the angst of Aquaman or J'onn. The late 80's series of him and Barda settling into the suburbs was really very enjoyable and managed to endear him to me for the forseeable future.



#39. Trickster (James Jesse)

The Trickster was fine in Silver Age Flash - managed to stand out among a great Rogue's Gallery - but really took off once he sort of lost his life's focus with Barry's death. His gradual rehabilitation in Blue Devil was very nicely handled, and made him the only reformed supervillain whose reformation I really bought. Once I started reading the Mark Waid Flash run, I was really pleased to see that James was working the same sort of tech support role there. Plus, the openly damaged Mark Hamill version on JLU was very nice. And will be discussed more later.


#38. Solomon Grundy

Grundy's gotten a more impressive run out of being a mindless rampaging brute than I think anyone would really expect. I think a lot of it is the wide flexibility allowed with the character (initially through editorial neglect, later through Robinson's great explanation of Solomon Grundy in Starman). Much like the Hulk, writers have a full gamut of rampaging beast, gentle giant, erudite scholar in monsterous body, etc. There is a certain degree of blank slate-ness with the character, which, I suppose, kind of undercuts his argument for inclusion on the list. Still, the sadness Robinson conveys when the gentle Grundy dies and his friends realize that a monsterous version would be returning was really well done.

#37. Green Arrow (Ollie Queen)

I've touched on this before, but Ollie really has become such an interesting character since he left behind his Batman-wannabe days. And, like many characters I like, he's kind of a jerk. He's pompous, lecherous, condescending - but he's generally well-intentioned. Or at least aware of some of his faults (at least his lecherousness), but doesn't really dwell on his inability to change himself. It's a nice balance of flawed without being mopey which tends to work pretty well.



#36. Proty II

Shapeless blob. Member of the Legion of Super-Pets. Radical politican and protean rights activist. What's not to like?








#35. Shade (Rac Shade)

I had actually forgotten that Milligan's Shade was publishing under DC for quite a while, so counts under the guidelines provided here. You could probably make an argument for Kathy being the stronger character in the series, but Shade is pretty interesting himself. I don't really want to see him written in anything not-written by Milligan, so he may not be a useful addition to the DC Universe on the whole, but those first 50 issues (or, rather, the 40 issues after number 10 or so) are so good, he makes the list.


#34. Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter)

I think, in the hands of a more aggressive writer, the initial Booster Gold series could have really fascinating. He's essentially a cheat - his powers are stolen, he already knows what's going to happen - and his motives are pretty shameless. Still, he's really excited to be a hero, and the aspect of fanboy wish fulfillment that has resurfaced in 52 has really reminded me of what I liked about the original series.




#33. The Question (Vic Sage)

It's kind of hard putting the Question on here, since, aside from the handful of Ditko issues, I don't recall liking any Question comics. I suppose it says something about the strength of the character that he still makes the list.






#32. Mr. Tawky Tawny

Arguably the most absurd member of the Fawcett line (even more than Mr. Banjo!), Tawky Tawny represents everything I like about Fawcett characters. He's a talking tiger who wears a suit. If there's not room for him in DC, they're doing something very wrong.






#31. The Demon (Etrigan/Jason Blood)

There's a pretty wide range of characterizations of Etrigan, and not all writers can pull off the rhyming, but, done well, he's a pretty great addition to almost any story. I'm a little disappointed he's not being used in Shadowpact, but maybe he'll show up there periodically.

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.