Growing up, I loved comic books.
Yeah, who am I kidding? I never grew up, and I still love comic books. Graphic novels. Writings with pictures. The works. It started with X-Men and Archie, became an obsession with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, and culminated into a fascination with how art evolved in comics throughout the years. I love learning about comic histories and back stories of superheroes. Really, I just love comic book heroes in general, so I thought I’d share with you a few of my favorites.
The Comic Book Heroes!
Storm (Marvel)
Best Known From: X-Men
Ororo Iqadi T’Challa, the daughter of a Kenyan Princess and an African photojournalist, was a promising thief in Cairo when she met Professor X of the X-Men. He saw within her great potential and took her under his wing. With the X-Men, she became one of its leaders and the beautifully dangerous Storm was born.
Beast Boy (DC Comics)
Best Known From: Teen Titans
Garfield Mark “Gar” Logan had the unfortunate mishap of being bitten by a green monkey when he was a boy, and due to the medicine given to him to save his life, his own skin turned green and his powers to shape-shift were established. Beast Boy (or Changeling as he was known as for awhile) was a part of the Doom Patrol and later the Teen Titans.
Batwoman (DC Comics)
Best Known From: Batman
Batwoman is the alter ego of Katherine “Kate” Kane and was originally the love interest of Batman in the 50s. The modern Batwoman, however, is a Jewish lesbian with several tattoos and a punk persona. Like Batman, her powers rely more on her feminine-disguised gadgets rather than any super human powers.
Abe Sapien (Dark Horse Comics)
Best Known From: Hellboy
Abraham “Abe” Sapien is an Icthyo sapien, which can best be described as a “merman.” Originally a man named Langdon Everett Caul who was turned into his current appearance by an underwater deity and a misplaced ritual, was saved by Hellboy a century later from curious scientists who named him Abraham after the date that was written on the side of the tube they found him in: April 14, 1865 (the day Lincoln was shot).
Death (Vertigo)
Best Known From: The Sandman
The second oldest of the family of Endless, Death is the only one not tied with limitations. She is portrayed as a young goth girl, perky, with an silver ankh around her neck. She comes to humans when they are born and when they die, and one day a century, she becomes a mortal doomed to die to better understand those she works with.
Who are your favorite comic book heroes?
But Nikki, why do I have to chose just *one*?
Anyway. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Beyond a doubt the world’s most excellent superhero is Kitty Pryde. Not because her superhero powers are necessarily amazingsauce (although you have to respect her saving-the-world stint at the end of Astonishing X-men), but because she’s the one character that we’ve seen grow up throughout the run of X-men, from a troubled young girl unsure of her place in the world to an incredible, amazing, confident young woman. Her struggles are the struggles of almost any girl growing up in the world; and even when she’s out fighting ninjas, it’s her commitment to her self, her friends, her family and her personal integrity that always ends up shining through.
Why Spider-Man of course (the comic book version not the movies) is my favorite because he is actually human to some degree. He has his own troubles; school, Mary Jane, Aunt May, just trying to live a normal life. He has taken down some of the most powerful villains ever, ie Juggernaut and Carnage. But he also isn’t the most powerful superhero and I acknowledge that and therefor he has to come up with ways to take down his villains if he knows he can’t take them on with agility or strength. In the end that is why I like him best.
I’d rather not have a copy of that crapfest as a prize, but I have to be the first to talk about Deadpool. (Marvel comics)
The “Merc with a mouth”. His powers include regeneration and possibly super-human skill with swords and automatic weapons. (He occasionally has teleportation, as well) I love this charachter because he adds a sense of humor and fun that isn’t seen frequently. Too many heroes are ‘gloom and doom’ all the time and it can get depressing. I’ve always seen Deadpool as “The Spider-man who never allowed his uncle to die”. All the comic relief, none of the angst.
I also enjoy his balance of powers. He’s clearly superhuman, but he’s not so overpowered as to be unbeatable and boring. (Superman, Hulk, etc.) I definately recommend a book called “Deadpool: Secret Invasion”. It’s my personal favorite, and really shows off his sense of humor.
In short, Deadpool is the greatest superhero ever made. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go bring a sword to my ex-girlfriend’s wedding.
You know, I grew up thinking that Superman was supposed to be the greatest superhero, and I guess he was at the time. But he doesn’t change with the times very well. Even though he’s become quite popular, Batman has to be my favorite. He’s been able to keep up with times as they change, becoming cooler with each iteration. And who couldn’t like a regular guy (OK, so he’s a millionaire) who, through self-discipline and training, becomes a caped crusader?
My favorite hero is Anita Blake, Vampire Executioner. She is being made into a graphic novel now! When I first heard she was going to kick preternatural butt in comic form I was pretty sure that the illustrated version would not match my mighty imagination – BUT – She freakin’ rocks! I am holding my breath to see if Marvel actually makes it through the entire series. In the meanwhile I am enjoying the ride! The small, stubborn, confused & awesomely powerful female heros are my fav!
Wolverine (is there any other superhero really?) I always felt bad for him because he has been dumped by roughly a couple hundred women and no one deserves to come in second to Cyclops. Gross. I also think he has some sweet super powers animal sense of smell, healing powers, and wicked sweet claws.
My favorite is Batgirl #3, Cassandra Cain. She’s just awesome. I mean, she can kill anyone on the planet. She’s pretty much the best there is. She’s a bit misunderstood, and I think I’m just drawn to characters like that (Raven from TT is another of my favorites).
By the way, BB is up there in my favorites list too.
Gambit is my favorite character. Being a longtime reader of X-men I gravitated toward Wolverine and Colossus but when Gambit was introduced in Uncanny 266 I really liked the fact that he is able to manipulate the kinetic energy of an object. Plus how cool is it to use playing cards as weapons.