Top liked/disliked hero/villan

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 615

I kind of like Ultimate Cap's look.

lectatege · Forum Member Joined: Mar 14, 2006 Posts: 203

I think you'll find it was Jehovah.
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A broken stereotype is a beautiful thing

Hasdrubal

I know that guy! He hangs out in front of the bus station all day, wearing a tin foil hat. :silly:

It's a heck of a disguise for someone who's omniscient. :redhotevil:

lectatege · Forum Member Joined: Mar 14, 2006 Posts: 203

And another thing Hasdrubal...
If you think guilty and fantasy don't belong in the same sentence you're obviously a lot more wholesome than I
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A broken stereotype is a beautiful thing

Hasdrubal

The problem with my fantasy life is that I've already acted out all of them. They aren't fantasies anymore.

(.............except for the one involving Swedish twins in matching Ms. Marvel costumes.)

I can't feel as guilty for fantasy as I can reality. It's probably healthier to concentrate guilt on reality instead of fantasy before one becomes accustomed to outrageous personal behaviour.

lectatege · Forum Member Joined: Mar 14, 2006 Posts: 203

Cor! Lucky old you.

I've never acted out any of my fantasies - how could I possibly afford that quantity of Christmas tree decorations?
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A broken stereotype is a beautiful thing

Hasdrubal

I know what you mean! I can't afford a pair of Swedish twins. :bootyshake:

palmers · Forum Member Joined: Jun 07, 2002 Posts: 379

Going all the way back to Hasdrubal's Bicentennial Battles, I've got that, and yes, it's fun and very Kirby - but very bulked-up, too.

The original Cap was a surprise for me, the artwork lean and wiry and very unlike Kirby's later work, but my favourite version of Cap is John Buscema's - first time around, not in the 1980s with Tom Palmer's overwrought inks.

IMP.
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Hasdrubal

No question about it, Buscema had the smoothest style in the business back in the 70's. John's female characters were his greatest strength. No one had a more perfect sense of human anatomy. His only weakness as an illustrator was that he rarely drew the villain's guns realistically. By the 60's, Kirby had become the master of drawing weird machines, and both fantastic, and functional looking guns. The weird machines and glowing energy dot effects Buscema drew were largely copied from Kirby. Some people think Buscema's black and white Conan was his best work, but I never liked the over inked styles in "Savage Sword". I've also seen quite a few reprints of Buscema's work ruined by modern copying processes. The original printing quality on his 60's Silver Surfer was much cleaner than the rotton trade paper back copies they're selling now. They've made John's beautiful clean lines look flat and blotty.

I looked at a trade paper back of Kirby's "Bicentenial Battles" a couple months ago. The strength of Smith's inking style is lost in the smaller slick paper printing. The brighter slick paper color inks over power the dark lines, making Smith's style much less striking or effective. You're astute to have noticed Jack's anatomy was a little more exaggerated by 76' than it had been years before. I sometimes prefer Jack's anatomy proportions from the 60's which were somewhere inbetween his 40's and 70's proportions. None of Kirby's interpretations ever looked as bulked up as the artists drawing Cap in recent years.

Cap's "Tales of Suspense" series from the 60's is also great Kirby. Don Heck's inks were impecable. Number 80 might be the best of the entire series. It's the climax to the "Cosmic Cube Saga". (possibly the greatest Cap story ever)

I have another favorite artist who often drew Cap, Alex Schomburg. He did most the insanely busy cover art for all the different Cap series during the war years. He came back and did some vintage style work for Invaders Annual #1 1977. It's still one my all time favorite comics.

palmers · Forum Member Joined: Jun 07, 2002 Posts: 379

Thanks for alleging astuteness, but I was talking about the 1940s originals. I've got reprints of the first ten issues of Captain America Comics, and the drawing is radically different. There are interesting originals of stories revisited decades later, too, like Sando and Omar.

IMP.
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Christian22179 · Forum Member Joined: May 03, 2006 Posts: 44

Favorite Hero: Superman (followed closely by GL-Hal Jordan. The BEST GL ever). I've read him for years and contrary to popular belief, anybody can relate to him. Life comes with choices. We can either choose to do what is right or choose to do what is wrong. Superman chooses to do what is right. Not all the time as I have seen (killing the Phantom Zone Criminals for example when he COULD have found another way). Also contrary to popular belief, Superman has flaws. He fears failure, he fears letting loose with his full power for fear he might hurt innocent people, he "says" he never lies but that's a lie right there. He lies about his secret identity all the time (yes, I know it's for protection, but a lie is a lie, there is "no" black and for me when it comes to this). Need I mention the fact that Superman is more like you and me than you think? It's true! For example, when a cancer patient (a child) died, Superman got upset and took his anger out on some bad guys (Not Superman like, I know, but this proves a point, Superman has flaws).

Then when Superman got turned into a being of pure energy, he went through all kinds of trials. And need I mention his marriage troubles? How many of us have them? See, another thing to relate to.

Superman grew up on a farm, some of us have, right? When Clark learned of his alien background, he felt like he was alone, probably and outcast. I know I myself have felt very similar I KNOW a lot of other people have as well.

The list goes on if you really give it some thought.

The irony of it all is that when Superman shows no flaws, people say they don't like it and he's hard to relate to. But the very instant he actually "does" start showing flaws, people hate it and say things like, "That's not Superman, that's not what he would do, that's out of character."

So maybe if more fans would stop looking for a flawless Superman and actually "allow" him to be flawed like the writers want, we would start seeing an even more relatable Superman (and believe me, I know these things because I've read Superman for years, I've read what fans have said on forums and in the letter colemns for years).

My point is, from all my years of reading Superman, he is more human than we think, he has flaws, he makes mistakes and those mistakes haunt him even to this day. I'll be the first to admit, though, those flaws are hard to spot and you have to read a lot of stories about him to see those flaws, but in the end, it's worth it.

Last point, and please don't think this is bragging, I'm only going on what someone has said. I used to Role-Play Superman in a role playing chat room and I tried playing him with flaws if I remember correctly and guess what? I've been called, "He played the best Superman."

Least Favorite Hero: Kyle Rayner. Sorry, but I kinda like him, but I still consider him my least favorite hero. Easy to relate to, true, but to me, he always lacked that special "something" that most heroes have. It took FOREVER before he started getting used to being a hero and acting like it! (Sorry, but I just found it hard to swallow about some of the things Kyle did that should have been "obvious" to him) And even though Ron Marz created Kyle, I just HATED the way he was being written and quit reading the GL titals out of continued frustration. :roll:

I used to hate Kyle with a passion but when GL: Rebith came around, Kyle kinda grew on me (but still has a ways to go). Finally! He started acting like a real hero, a real warrior and comfortable in his role as a GL.

Kyle is followed by a close second by Guy Gardner. Liked him before the head injury, but since then, didn't like him.

Favorite Villian: Rogue. Yes, I know she's a hero now, but she was a villian first. She's my favorite because she was humble enough to ask for help and decide to use her powers for good instead of evil. How many villians can claim that?! Not many.

Least Favorite Villian: If I'm going to get comments on what I said about Kyle, I'll certainly get comments on this. I. Do. Not. Like. Doc Ock! No offense, but one of the lamest villians in Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Sorry, but a guy with 4 metal arms as his only weapon (aside from his genius) I just can't take very seriously and I almost didn't watch Spider-Man 2 because he was the villian being used. I'm surpised he's even popular.

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 548 Location: NYC

Favorite villians....

Magneto, Dr. Doom, and Lex Luthor.

Pretty much for all the same reason. They are all flawed super patriots of their respective ideologies.

At least that's what they evolved into. When you get past the maniacal laughing "funny book" creations, you get my favorite kind of character. Period.

The "Hero" gone too far. That's what a GOOD villian is to me. The guy who you look at and say... "I see you're point. Hell, I agree with you, but... but..."

Their flaw is that they have invested so much in their cause they can't ease off.

Lex can be especially interesting when you get past greed as his motive.

Lex was SUPPOSED to be Superman. He was smart, had all the opportunity. In world where an invincible flying Alien doesn't show him up, he would have been the worlds greatest hero. His flaw is his vanity. He wants the unconditional love that Superman gets, but can never get now because of this interstellar interloper. That's why he hates Superman.

Green Goblin, and Joker annoy me. The homicidal lunatic with no redeeming qualities just seems unrealistic to me. I mean, Charles Manson and Hitler both had a logic behind their atrocities. Very screwed up logic, but logic nonetheless.

I don't believe any villain considers THEM SELF to be the villains. This segues nicely to "heroes" like Batman and Punisher who dance ever closer to that fine line.

My favorite heroes... well, as kid I wanted to be Spider-Man. I would do insane flips around my local playground that got me banned from it on several occasions. :twisted:

As a "grown up" I have to lean toward Rorschach from Watchmen. Gotta love the crazy man who won't accept doing the wrong thing, even for the greater good.

Outside Comics... the Doctor from Dr. Who has got to be one of the best heroes of all Time.