AFTERTHOUGHTS (99)
EMPIRE’S! 50! GREATEST! COMIC! BOOK! CHARACTERS! [5 of 5]
THE SUPERMAN EDITION

With the Superman Returns sequel, The Man of Steel, still without a confirmed start date (or even a script, for that matter), being honoured with the top spot on Empire’s list will have to serve as Kal-El’s 70th birthday gift.


Though Lex also being on the list could put a damper on things…


32 Lex Luthor (aka: Alexander Joseph Luthor, Mockingbird)
When you’re as strong, fast, invulnerable and flat-out powerful as Superman, it’s hard to find a nemesis of sufficient menace to actually provide you with a workout.
Enter Lex Luthor, the bad guy’s bad guy.
He doesn’t (usually) have superpowers, but then he doesn’t need them, even against the Man of Steel.


No prison can hold him, it seems, no setback is too great to overcome, and there’s pretty much no scheme too outlandish for his considerable brain power to cook up.
Since Superman remains reluctant to just break Luthor’s neck, there’s always tomorrow for this perpetual rebounder. Talk about try, try and try again—Robert the Bruce’s Spider had nothing on Luthor.
FIRST APPEARED IN ACTION COMICS #23 (1940)
CREATED BY JERRY SIEGEL AND JOE SHUSTER


1 Superman (aka: Kal-El, Clark Kent)
Being first counts for a lot, but it’s going the distance that elevates Superman from the run of flying caped superguys who followed him.
How many other characters from disposable 1938 fictions have appeared consistently for eighty years and are still as famous as ever?
Superman’s peers aren’t really Spider-Man or Wolverine, but Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan and James Bond—pop culture mainstays who stay current through consistent reinvention but are classically themselves all the same.


Superman has taken a beating from time to time: his fight for ‘truth, justice and the American Way’ is nobler but less easy to relate to than Batman’s vengeance-driven war on crime (especially when we get antsy about what ‘the American Way’ actually means); his powers are so vast that it’s hard to come up with threats worth his time (so it’s incredible that for decades, his biggest problem was a pudgy bald guy with a laboratory); and his clean-cut, super-square looks and attitude are always being challenged by someone who momentarily seems more contemporary, edgy or pragmatic.
That's perhaps why the comics have often experimented with his essential ingredients, recasting him as a Commie (Red Son) or a Brit (True Brit) or creating twisted, dark reflections of the eternal do-gooder, like Bizarro, in endless permutations that attest to his popularity and instant recognisability.


If it weren’t for Superman, there wouldn’t be an entire genre of superhero stories—every single tights-and-powers character who has come along after him is defined by how similar or how different they are from Kal-El.
FIRST APPEARED IN ACTION COMICS #1 (1938)
CREATED BY JEROME SIEGEL AND JOE SHUSTER


Hear, hear.
Superman is the foundation stone upon which the entire superhero genre is built, and without him, today’s comics (and multiplexes, for that matter) would look entirely different.

The above write-ups are from Empire’s list.
For more on the above characters, just click on their names; the entire list will be accessible from there.

Parting shot: I believe Empire miscounted when they note Superman has been around for eighty years…

(Images courtesy of dccomics.com [Luthor, art by Ed McGuinness, Superman, art by Tony Harris, and Superman, art by Alex Ross]; britfilms.tv [Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor]; and kal-el.org [Brandon Routh as Superman].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (98)
EMPIRE’S! 50! GREATEST! COMIC! BOOK! CHARACTERS! [4 of 5]
THE BATMAN EDITION


With Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight just around the corner, we see the Bat take the #2 spot, and his archnemesis, the Clown Prince of Crime, take #8…


8 Joker (aka Jack Napier)
The greatest comic book villain ever, and as versatile a character as his nemesis, the Batman.
The Joker has been a merry prankster of crime (poisoning all the fish in Gotham Bay so they sport his literally trademarked grin, then suing fishmongers for copyright infringement) and a gleefully sadistic bastard (responsible for permanently crippling Batgirl and temporarily killing at least one Robin), and always done his best to get under the ultra-grim Batman’s skin by taunting him with sick jokes.


There’s a sense that Joker is the only one of the rogues’ gallery Bruce Wayne really hates—many comics (eg: Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean’s Arkham Asylum, Michael Green and Denys Cowan’s Lovers & Madmen) revolve around Batman and the Joker as opposites or mirror images.
The original look of the character was based on Conrad Veidt’s fixed grin in the silent picture The Man Who Laughs.
FIRST APPEARED IN BATMAN # 1 (1940)
CREATED BY BILL FINGER AND JERRY ROBINSON


2 Batman (aka: Bruce Wayne, The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader)
It’s a fair bet that when Bob Kane came up with the idea for a billionaire playboy who, by night, dressed up like a bat and fought crime, he had no idea where it would lead.
Almost seventy years later, and we’re jumping up and down—with good reason—about another Batman film, while The Caped Crusader (or Dark Knight, whichever you prefer) remains one of the most famous and iconic comic book characters of them all.
What is the appeal of the Batman? Well, he’s undeniably cool, for one thing. Visually striking, for another.
There’s a wish fulfillment thing going on there, too—unlike most heroes, Batman has no powers and relies only on his wits, cunning, and hard work to hone his body and fitness.
He’s got a great rogues’ gallery.

And he’s been exposed more on TV and in film than any other hero, which helps keep him in the public eye.
And, of course, the character has been through so many iterations over the years, from camp crusader to Frank Miller’s very, very dark knight, that there’s a Batman for everyone.
FIRST APPEARED IN DETECTIVE COMICS #27 (1939)
CREATED BY BOB KANE AND BILL FINGER

The above write-ups are from Empire’s list.
For more on the above characters, just click on their names; the entire list will be accessible from there.

Wrapping up in Part 5—Afterthoughts (99)—we note some characters from DC’s Superman franchise.

Parting shot: A review of Nolan’s Batman Begins (as well as a review of The Prestige) can be found in the Archive.

(Images courtesy of cinematical.com [Christian Bale and Heath Ledger as Batman and the Joker]; about.com [the Joker]; dccomics.com [Batman, art by Matt Wagner]; and impawards.com [The Dark Knight OS’s, designs by Intralink Film Graphic Design].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (97)
EMPIRE’S! 50! GREATEST! COMIC! BOOK! CHARACTERS! [3 of 5]
THE SANDMAN EDITION

Well, we’re still waiting on what will reportedly be Neil Gaiman’s directorial debut with the Death film adaptation, for which he prepared by visiting Guillermo del Toro on the Hellboy 2 location shoot, to experience first-hand, the rigours of film-making.
Till we find out who gets to play the ultimate Goth girl though, here’re the two Endless who made Empire’s cut.


15 Death (aka Teleute)
It’s a strange one, this; mystifying, on the face of it.
Death’s own comic is just good, not brilliant; she doesn’t appear much in Sandman, and she’s not nearly as nuanced a character as Sandman himself, or their younger sister Delirium (formerly Delight).
But from the moment she appeared, she’s been wildly popular with fans, won over by this bright, cheery figure in place of the traditional skeletal Reaper.


Perhaps it’s because Death’s duties make such cheerfulness double-edged, and because she has an air of mystery about her that gives her incalculable depth.
What’s more, she’s the wise elder sister that everyone wishes they had, far more pulled together and at peace than any of the other Endless (except, perhaps, Destiny), and she gets to tie the whole series together come its final act.
A perfect demonstration that the best characters needn’t be overworked, and that the grim reaper doesn’t have to be grim.
FIRST APPEARED IN THE SANDMAN #8 (1989)
CREATED BY NEIL GAIMAN


6 Dream (aka: Morpheus, The Sandman, Oneiros, The Dream King, The Lord Shaper, Kai’ckul, etc…)
Ironically, Dream is not the most popular character in his own series (Death, already mentioned, takes that honour), but he is the best.
Neil Gaiman’s creation bore little resemblance to previous iterations, being a tall, pasty-faced Goth-type with unruly dark hair (usually—his appearance is subject to change without notice) rather than the hitherto-traditional white bearded sage.


Despite his near omnipotence, he is continually embroiled in schemes by his family (Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Destruction and Delirium) and the subjects of his dream kingdom, as well as having duties to protect (or destroy) humans with whom he comes into contact.
Over the course of his series, which takes him from prison to the ends of the universe, Dream truly learns and grows—which is rare enough on its own among comics to entirely justify his book’s reputation—but also takes us through mythology, history and pure, barmy, Gaiman invention.
As tragic heroes go, he is, quite literally, godlike.
FIRST APPEARED IN THE SANDMAN #1 (1989)
CREATED BY NEIL GAIMAN

Among the other characters to appear on Empire’s list, are two others who have connections to the Dream King: Swamp Thing (29) and John Constantine (3).
An Americanized version of the latter was played by Keanu Reeves in Francis Lawrence’s Constantine—a review of which can be found in the Archive.
(I initially toyed with the idea of calling this part “The Vertigo Edition” and covering all four of the characters, but the truth is, all these characters were created before the Vertigo imprint served to collect them all under one umbrella. Ultimately, this seemed the better approach.)

The above write-ups are from Empire’s list.
For more on the above characters, just click on their names; the entire list will be accessible from there.

In Part 4—Afterthoughts (98)—we note some characters from DC’s Batman franchise.

(Images courtesy of dccomics.com [Death, art by Dave McKean; Dream, art by Michael Zulli; The Endless, art by Frank Quitely] and vamp.org [panel from The Sandman 8, “The Sound of Her Wings,” art by Mike Dringenberg].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (96)
EMPIRE’S! 50! GREATEST! COMIC! BOOK! CHARACTERS! [2 of 5]
THE X-MEN EDITION

Though I’m pretty much a DC fanboy (and always have been), the one Marvel title that I loved way back when was ­The Uncanny X-Men, back in the classic Chris Claremont era.
And naturally, I was rabid over Grant Morrison’s New X-Men.
Filmwise, I wasn’t bowled over by Bryan Singer’s first pass on the material, though I love X2. Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand was, like Spider-Man 3, a mess that had too much going on in it.
Hopefully, next year’s Wolverine spin-off will have learned from past X-film mistakes…
I also loved Sir Ian McKellen’s Magneto, more so than Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, who is already, let’s face it, a pretty good fit. (Though I do think Magneto’s helmet in the film looks terrible…)


30 Emma Frost (aka: The White Queen)
Bad girls in comics are always so useful that they tend to reform and become at least semi-goodies (cf: Catwoman, Elektra).
Emma Frost was introduced as an exceptionally nasty—and explicitly perverse—villainess, running a school for evil mutants in competition with Professor Xavier and high in the councils of the nefarious Hellfire Club (in homage to the famous ‘Touch of Brimstone’ episode of The Avengers).
Marvel made her a qualified goodie in the X-Men spin-off Generation X, and writer Grant Morrison reinvented the character when he took over New X-Men and wasn’t allowed to use his original choice, Storm.
Now an actual X-Man, Emma remained the manipulative slut fans loved to hate—and caused a minor kerfuffle when she began a ‘telepathic’ affair with Cyclops, long-term partner of Jean Grey.


Despite strong competition, Emma has consistently worn the most striking lingerie (and little else) in comics—the covers for her brief solo series Emma Frost are basically porn star poses.
FIRST APPEARED IN UNCANNY X-MEN #129 (1980)
CREATED BY CHRIS CLAREMONT AND JOHN BYRNE


9 Magneto (aka: Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, The Master of Magnetism)
Magneto is... complicated.
A Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who is determined to save his fellow homo superior from the fate of his fellow Jew, he sometimes seems fated to repeat some of the Nazis' mistakes, pursuing the subjugation of homo sapiens in favour of homo superior.
He is—as producer Tom DeSanto told Bryan Singer when he was trying to persuade him to make the first X-Men movie—Malcolm X to Professor X’s Martin Luther King.
His ‘by any means necessary’ approach has seen him commit hideous atrocities in the past, including the sinking of a submarine full of sailors, and yet he’s not evil—not in the traditional sense of the word, anyway.
Even though he’s traditionally their number one nemesis, he has been known to actively align with the X-Men, even taking over as the team’s leader/teacher in the absence of Charles Xavier, while he’s previously had a relationship with Rogue.


Currently in the films, he’s depowered, and living life as a human—which, for him, is purgatory. But we’re sure his powerless state won’t last for long.
FIRST APPEARED IN X-MEN #1 (1963)
CREATED BY STAN LEE AND JACK KIRBY


4 Wolverine (aka: Logan, James Howlett, Patch, Weapon X)
Originally conceived as a villainous means of giving Hulk a bit of a workout, but swiftly retooled as a conflicted hero, Wolverine’s always been a character comfortable with shades of grey, and it’s his contradictions and complications that enable him to be all things to all geeks.
So he has an unmatched capacity for violence (even berserkery) and finely honed animal instinct, but is capable of tempering his highly emotional reactions with cold-blooded calculation where required.


And he’s no mere thug: his studies in Japan and long history of travel, espionage and trouble-finding have given him a knowledge of differing cultures, he speaks a number of languages, and has a deep appreciation of ice-cold beer (see, for example, Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men, where beer brings Wolverine back from a hypnotised state).
Also, he has the sort of facial hair that generations of young men have grown up aspiring to.
FIRST APPEARED IN HULK #181 (1974)
CREATED BY LEN WEIN, JOHN ROMITA SR


The above write-ups are from Empire’s list.
For more on the above characters (including who Singer saw as his potential White Queen), just click on their names; the entire list will be accessible from there.

In Part 3—Afterthoughts (97)—we note some characters from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.

(Images courtesy of greghornjudge.com [Emma Frost and Wolverine, art by Greg Horn]; artofhagan.com [Magneto, art by Brian Hagan]; about.com [Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto; photo by Nels Israelson]; and marvel.com [Emma Frost, New X-Men cover art by Frank Quitely, Wolverine, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (95)
EMPIRE’S! 50! GREATEST! COMIC! BOOK! CHARACTERS! [1 of 5]
THE OVERVIEW EDITION


As you can probably surmise by the above image, the septuagenarian Man of Steel took the #1 spot on Empire’s list, and we take a closer look at him in the fifth part of this series—Afterthoughts (99), in the Archive.
For now, we look at the list in general, and a few of the notable names on it.

On the plus side, it’s a nicely inclusive list that features more than the average spandex-clad superhero.
On the minus side, no Grant Morrison characters. Not. A. One.
This kills and disappoints me, as I truly love Empire. The Morrison oversight—considering some other comic book names manage to get two or even three of their characters in there—is such a crime…
(If memory serves, Morrison is only mentioned twice in the entire list, in the Emma Frost entry [#30], making reference to his New X-Men reinvention of the character, and in the Joker entry [#8].)

To distract myself from the horrible slight, I’ll take a look at some welcome names on the list…



35 Hellboy (aka: Anung Un Rama)
There are few characters more original or striking (literally—Hellboy punches first, asks questions… well, almost never) than Hellboy, the genius creation of Mike Mignola, who uses the character as the outlet for his obsession with pulp comics, Lovecraftian horror and tales of ancient folklore and the supernatural.
Enhanced greatly by Mignola’s artwork—pitch-black shadows and popping reds—Hellboy is a lumbering but lovable giant of few words (although, “aw, crap” is usually high on the list) who interacts with talking corpses and giant tentacled horrors while trying to deny the destiny he was created for.
For the movies, Guillermo del Toro gave Hellboy more inner turmoil and emotions, but the comics version is a blast as he investigates the paranormal in much the same way Gene Hunt investigates crime—fists first!
FIRST APPEARED IN SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON COMICS #2 (1993)
CREATED BY MIKE MIGNOLA


22 Hunter Rose (aka: Grendel)
The original and best in Matt Wagner’s long-running series of masked anti-heroes, Hunter Rose was a young genius gifted with extraordinary physical and mental prowess and just a little too much time to spare.
Finding that excellence breeds boredom if not channelled correctly, Rose set about becoming a crime kingpin, hired killer and all-round roguish gadabout before dying at the age of 21 by the hands of his lycanthropic nemesis, Argent.
More Grendels have followed in Hunter Rose’s footsteps but few have done the job with such an innate sense of style.
FIRST APPEARED IN COMICO PRIMER COMIC-BOOK ANTHOLOGY (1982)
CREATED BY MATT WAGNER



16 Rorschach (aka: Walter Kovacs)
Choosing just one of the Minutemen—the stars of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic comic, Watchmen—was tough. But from a purely iconic point of view, it had to be Rorschach.
Who was in the first picture released from Zack Snyder’s upcoming Watchmen movie? Rorschach.
Who dominated online casting debates? Rorschach.
Like The Punisher, Rorscach can be easily dismissed as a fascist whose belief in moral absolutes—there are no shades of grey; only black, white, good and evil—drives him to take the law into his own hands.
But in the hands of Moore, the freckled, ginger Walter Kovacs is a taut, tortured, complex creation who, as well as being at the centre of some of Watchmen’s most memorable sequences (the prison riot, for one), ends up being perhaps the most pure out of the graphic novel’s characters, the only one who—SPOILER WARNING—isn’t interested in compromising himself for the greater good.
FIRST APPEARED IN WATCHMEN #1 (1986)
CREATED BY ALAN MOORE AND DAVE GIBBONS

The above write-ups are from Empire’s list.
For more on the above characters, just click on their names; the entire list will be accessible from there.

In Part 2—Afterthoughts (96)—we note some characters from Marvel’s X-Men franchise.

(Images courtesy of dccomics.com [Superman; art by Carlos Pacheco]; empireonline.com [Hellboy, art by Mike Mignola; Rorschach, art by Dave Gibbons]; impawards.com [Hellboy II: The Golden Army OS [design by Crew Creative Advertising]; darkhorse.com [Grendel limited edition print, art by Matt Wagner]; and watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com [Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach].)