Fifty-two heroes. One for each week of the year or one for each playing card in a standard deck, whichever way you want to look at it. The idea of this is if I had my own comic book company and could do 52 comics, these are the 52 characters I would use in the comics.
The legend of the Ghost Who Walks is a very compelling one.
The alpha and omega of superheroes.
Supes' opposite number. Where Superman is all-powerful, Bats is very human. Where Clark is the light and all that is right in the world, Bruce resides in the dark and struggles against the nasty under-belly of the world.
Though not really human, still the original Human Torch. One of the best concepts ever for a superhero.
The first great anti-hero of comics.
A true warrior spirit. Love the golden and silver aged versions.
The original Spectre. Toughest origin story ever.
The first sorcerer supreme.
A great golden ager that has never been fully fleshed out.
Greatest of the patriotic themed heroes, and so much more.
No, not the guy from Mary Tyler Moore. He is the original Starman, who may have been copied many times over, but never duplicated.
Love what Dynamic has done with this Golden Age great. See him as a combo of the 3 "great superheroes", Superman, Batman, & Captain America. (Not Punisher, only thing he has in common with him is that Punisher stole the skull emblem.)
Quality's greatest superhero, and a really excellent one at that.
Oliver Queen has been around a long time and been changed over and over again. Going from a cover star to a back-up character to being teamed with Green Lantern to becoming one of DC's A-listers.
What can be said? The greatest solo female super-hero of all-time bar none. No one even comes close. Most others can't hold their own series, let alone for the decades that Diana has. Those that do are usually female versions of more popular male heroes, while WW is all original.
No surprise that the only female hero that comes close to Wonder Woman(though not really that close) is also a DC hero. Dinah has gone through a lot of changes, even being ret-conned as her own daughter, getting founding status in the JLA(due to another ret-con). But thanks to Birds of Prey, she has come into her own.
Not the most popular hero ever, but definitely one of the most powerful, and IMO, one of the most fascinating.
Being a child of the silver age, this guy is, was, and always will be THE Flash. One of the greatest superheroes ever IMO. Oh, and he also single-handedly started the whole silver age of comics.
See above for why this guy is my pick to represent the many Green Lanterns. Nothing against the other ring bearers but Jordan is "It".
Anyone who doesn't think the Atom is one of the best ever needs to try to shrink their way through their cell phone. 'Nuff said.
When non-comics people think of superheroes they think Superman, Batman, and this guy, your friendly neighborhood, well you know the rest. Peter taught us all that, "with great power comes great responsibility", and never, and I mean never, try to catch your falling girlfriend by sending a web shot to suddenly stop her decent. Oh, and don't let anyone clone you. It can get really confusing. And, probably most importantly, when you are on a foreign planet and you find these really cool looking black duds...Dude! Leave them the @#%& alone, stick with the tried and true red and blue!
Stan Lee wanted something better than a "super-man", so he got himself a certified God of Thunder.
I'm so glad Hank is back to being Giant-Man(my favorite persona of his) and is actually a responsible super-hero. This guy was one of the first Marvel silver-age super-heroes and should be treated with some dignity.
Probably one of, if not the most powerful superheroes of all-time.
Since the movies, Tony's stock has gone up considerable, but he was always a classic character.
Marvel's answer to the little engine that could. Not a great start, basically being a stolen name(golden-age Daredevil), stolen blind gimmick(Dr. Mid-Nite anyone), and Marvel even tried to rip-off and constantly compare him to their very own Spider-Man, but DD persisted and came into his own. Talk about a Man without Fear!
One of DC's many attempts during the 60's to capture that Marvel magic of taking off-beat heroes and making them popular. They pretty much failed, but Metamorpho is still a fun character and unique.
Another DC 60's character that never took off, until the 80's. A strange and quirky character who I love.
I kinda like the new BB, but, like Barry & Hal, Ted will always be the Blue Beetle to me. Ted was always one of my favorites.
Like so many other silver age heroes, Mar-Vell has a special place in my heart. The first of the many Marvel "cosmic" heroes, and still the best.
Like DC's Animal Man, Black Knight was a 60's attempt to create a new super star, this time by Marvel, that never really went anywhere, again, until the 80's. I always loved the idea behind Black Knight, who, like Blue Beetle, was carrying on a legacy, but in Dane's case it was to try to amend for his uncle's wrong doings with the name.
When Jack Kirby went to DC, this was what he came up with, the whole New Gods saga, which included the Forever People, and this guy, Scott Free, the World's Greatest Escape Artist. Now some would say, due to the short life-span of all the titles, it really didn't amount to much, but remember a little guy by the name of Darkseid was created during this time and has become THE DC major baddie, not to mention that a little movie by the name of Star Wars seemed to draw a lot from the Fourth World. Darkseid = Darth Vader, the Source = The Force. Just saying is all.
I miss the 70's and this guy being called Power Man, and the whole yellow shirt and chain outfit. Power Man wasn't the first black super-hero, but he was the first with his own magazine. Add to that he kicks major butt and there ya go.
Here is the first black superhero and he got his own series in Jungle action shortly after the debut of Power Man. The guy is the ruler of his own country. He is one of the smartest people on the planet. He has the market cornered on a little something called Vibranium, and the dude looks damn fine in black.
Marvel had a penchant for grabbing whatever was happening in pop culture and turning it into a super-hero. Power Man was Marvel's answer to the black exploitation films of the time, and Danny Rand was the answer to the martial arts craze at the time. Oddly enough, they ended up teaming the 2 of them up and the rest is history.
Nova was a cross between Spider-Man and Green Lantern, but I loved it. Still one of my favorite Marvel heroes.
Isis was actually the biggest solo heroine to come along since Wonder Woman. A lot can be said for Isis, whether it's DC's version or the one from the independent company Blue Water, you have to love the Mighty Isis
Loved this guy from the start and still do. One of the best super-heroes IMO black or white.
Just have a fondness in my heart for all these wacky 70's super heroes. Like Black Lightning, I instantly fell in love with Machine Man.
Was not a big Wolvie fan at the start, but he grew on me, and even I cannot deny that he has become the 4th in the Top 4 super-heroes. He took anti-hero to new heights.
DC has had a hard time coming up with new super-hero concepts that are worth-while since the 40's, which might be why Marvel seems to overtake them so much, but Booster is one of the best super-heroes to come out of the 80's. Loved how they did him then, and I love the new take on him as well.
Speaking of those wacky 80's, Marvel had a hard time, too. They came up with some of the strangest hero concepts during this time. Speedball is no different, but there was something very refreshing about him, and I really liked him.
Shadowman was one of Valiant's best, along with Solar. Loved the whole voodoo meets sci-fi thing here.
Right on the heels of Shadowman was another African-American superhero who dealt with the supernatural, and he definitely dealt with it big time. Spawn is probably the most successful non-DC or Marvel super-hero ever since the Golden-Age. What a great concept, a little dark for me at times, but man what a concept. He was like Venom meets Ghost Rider meets a really bad acid trip.
One of the most overlooked of the Image heroes. I really thought he had a great look, great back story, and great powers and concept.
The only one of the Continuity Comics characters of the great Neil Adams to make my list. I really liked the idea behind Continuity and liked the ideas behind the characters. Of all of them, I think Valeria could have really been a cool character to see much more of.
Spawn may have been the most popular and successful of the independent companies' heroes to come out of the boom, but Prime was my personal favorite. Sorta the whole Captain Marvel/Shazam idea, but taken in a whole different direction. I loved the Ultraverse, and wish it could have sustained.
Another great Ultraverse character and concept. Makes me sad that these 2 great characters are not being used.
I know a lot of people probably think she is a Catwoman rip-off, but I really like the character and wish for a much bigger presence by Ms. Hardy.
I actually don't know a whole lot about this character, but from what I do know, he sounds like one of the most original characters to come along in awhile, too bad his series didn't last.
The last 2 characters rounding out my "52" are not originals, but are re-imaginings, or updates (whichever term you prefer)of 2 golden age super-heroes. First up is this wonderful updated version of Archie comics(formerly MLJ) the Web. I loved how they took him and connected him to the world-wide web of today. Such a simple idea, but it worked so well. Didn't really like the whole web-host concept, preferred him as a solo act, but I could understand where they were going with it.
The other updating of a golden age great was Mr. T (no not that Mr. T.) I love the whole 3rd smartest man thing, the T-Balls, the whole thing and I loved when he got his own place to shine. Of course it ended, but I believe Mr. Terrific is just that, Terrific.
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