Wizard magazine, the foremost fan-boy comic publication, celebrated its 200th issue earlier this year with a big couple of issues that included their list of the 200 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time. They also had a list of the 200 Greatest Comics of Wizard's Time - that list was fairly spot on.
Thankfully, just after Wizard published their list, Razorfine took them to task because the list of characters stunk.
I once read a book in which a writer was ranking baseball players - probably Rob Neyer, the quote sounds like him - in which the writer said that any method that names Babe Ruth as the best baseball player of all time is boring, and any method that names anyone but Babe Ruth the best baseball player of all time is wrong. Admittedly, it's a strong paraphrase there, but I think it's important to consider here.
Yes, it would be a boring thing to say that Superman is the greatest comic character of all time. It would be boring to do the same with Batman. Heck even Spider-Man would be only the most minor of upsets.
But to choose anyone but those three is ludicrous and clearly designed to incite morons like me to rant and rave. Hence, it's been effective. But still...c'mon...
2 comments:
The only character I would put as #1 is Batman, and that's only because of the character he's grown into, not what he started out as.
Superman is boring. The only great Superman story I've ever read is Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman. I just don't have any interest in a near-indestructible and unwaveringly good superhero. There's no room for character growth. I can't imagine how hard it must be for the writers who have to keep coming up with new stories after 70 years.
I would probably put Spider-man high on the list. He was one of the first high-profile characters who really was a complex, flawed human being. Here was a superhero who had to worry about bullies in high school. It's probably Stan Lee's greatest idea.
No, most of the characters were pretty one-dimensional when they were first created. Batman, Superman, even Spider-Man to some extent.
Superman has had very few great stories...Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, All Star, and the single issue Action Comics #775.
Spider-man was initially written as having more depth than pretty much any of the DC heroes initially started, though the Fantastic Four were also a complex family dynamic, and I think they debuted before Spidey.
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