But as individual characters how would you rank those "Big Six"? Do you have a vested interest in these characters and their stories? Do you follow and have an appreciation for their solo adventures? Do they deserve to be in this special class? In terms of your collecting habits and general consideration of the characters, how would you rank them from one to six? Share your thoughts on the elite of the elite!
Here are my brief thoughts and ranks (and I will be back later to offer more comments):
1. Captain America - I enjoyed and followed many of his exploits whether solo or on the team. I feel that the team book actually added to his character by demonstrating his leadership characteristics amongst his peers.
2. Iron Man - I actually never liked Iron Man much when he was on the Avengers. I am influenced by the Jim Shooter era in which Tony Stark / Iron Man came across as self-serving, a bit arrogant, and not very committed to the team. Having said that it may seem odd that I rank him number two. Contrary to Captain America, I really prefer Iron Man as a solo character and I feel those adventures live large in my nostalgic memory so he is ranked much higher than expected. If you asked me about Iron Man in a couple of days, he may slip down this list.
3. Wonder Woman - Surprise! This may seem like a wild card. Back during my collecting heyday, I hardly ever picked up a Wonder Woman comic. But I now find myself more interested in those unexplored and interesting books. She really has an interesting history (both in her creation and in her stories). She is more mysterious than the other options here as I actually know very little about her despite her being the one of the most powerful woman in both comic companies' rosters.
4. Thor - I know Thor is part of the "Big Three," but I never felt he was really that significant in the team book. I never felt the Avengers added much to or were affected that greatly by his character. On the other hand, I like the Thor comic - especially the Lee-Kirby stuff . When he is part of cosmic storylines or interacting with the gods of Asgard, I find his characterization quite compelling. But I almost consider him a non-entity on the super-team. I could think of others that may deserve the title more. Was he too powerful to really play well on the team stage?
5. Batman - Thirty years ago, I think Batman would have been much higher on my scale. I have lost interest in the character. I truly do like his earlier exploits and the work of Neal Adams and Jim Aparo and Denny O'Neil and others. But I have soured on the Batman. He seems to be shrinking rather than growing under the weight of his seriousness and gravitas. Gotham, the Joker, the Dark Knight - all hold little interest for me right now.
6. Superman - I know he was the first big hero. And I know he is "great". But even in the best hands, he bores me and he really always has. There have been brief spurts where I collected Superman or Action Comics, and the character mustered up enough charisma to carry me through a couple of arcs, but looking back he just draws yawns from me.
What do you think? Debate with me. Disagree with me. Share your own thoughts and preferences. Where does your heart lie amongst these choices? What did your pocketbook say over the years in terms of the titles you purchased? Discuss the "Big Six" on BITBA today.
8 comments:
1. My top pick is definitely Batman, because well… he's BATMAN! The caped crusader ranks as one of my Top 5 greatest fictional adventure characters ever created (in any medium, not just comics). I was always a fan of Bats, but I became a super-fan when the Animated Series came out in the early 90's. BTAS, still ranks as my favorite TV show ever. Growing up I had 3 favorite superheroes, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Batman, and they would alternate in the top spot throughout the years. Daredevil was my favorite during the Frank Miller years, Spider-Man was top dog during the Stern and DeFalco eras, and Batman took over the #1 spot in the 90's, and pretty much remains there to this day.
2. Captain America is probably my 4th favorite superhero (swapping that spot with Wolverine from time to time). I love Cap as an Avenger and I loved most of his solo adventures in the Bronze Age as well. He's the quintessential square jawed good guy, and he has a cool shield. I especially loved the Byrne / Stern run, and of course the Sal Buscema years were also some of my favorite comics ever.
3. Gotta go with Superman here. While I appreciate the iconic status of the character, I was never a huge Supes fan. But that changed when John Byrne revamped him in the mid-80's. After that Superman became one of my "must read" titles (until Byrne left, then I pretty much quit the book as well). But it changed my opinion of the Man of Steel, and my interest in him was greatly renewed when he got his own Animated Series in the same style as Batman. (Love me some Bruce Timm). Also, the first couple of Superman movies are still the best live action superhero movies ever made.
4. Next up for me is Iron Man. I always loved him as an Avenger, but I never read his solo book for a very long continuous run. I used to pick up two or three issues at a time here and there. My favorite stuff came out in the late 70's early 80's when Bob Layton was doing the art. Shellhead also played a key role in some of my favorite Avengers stories throughout the years. But they wrote him as such a jerk in Civil War (both the comics and the movie) that it made my not like the character as much as I once did. Fun fact: Civil War was the series that got me to stop reading all non-Spider-Man Marvel Comics, and I've never gone back. (I even finally quit Spider-Man a couple of years after that).
5. I'll go with Thor here. I like him as an Avenger quite a lot, but I've never got into his solo book. I've probably read less than 20 issues of solo Thor stories my whole life. I tried to read his book during the Walt Simonson era, but I didn't even like that and gave it up after 6 issues or so. I just personally find all the Asgard stuff to be a bit dull and tiresome for me. I much prefer the more down to Earth, street level heroes. That said, I love it when Thor shows up to save the day in a good Avengers yarn.
6. Wonder Woman, never a big fan of WW, except when I was in the 6th grade and I had a huge crush on Lynda Carter. I even had a tee-shirt with her on it that I wore to school (and didn't even get beat up for it). Back then I read a couple of her comics, but never really stuck with it. I've just always found her a little boring for some reason. Like with Thor and Asgard, all the Amazon stuff just gets tired after a while.
Good morning,
Well at different times each of these characters was a favorite except for Thor and Wonder woman. I.e., here were times in my life when I definitely made a point to read CA, IM, BM, and SM. I would pickup the occasional Thors (but would get bogged down trying to process Norse mythology), and never a WW. For some reason, I recall always thinking WW had too much skin showing and would be cut to easily.
So there you go 1 -4 in no particular order, 5, and 6.
Fun topic. I often find that I am drawn to three characters when wanting to read solo adventures -- Batman, Captain America, and Spider-Man. So this ranking drill fits right in for me.
1. Captain America - love the character. He is what a hero should be. Infallible? No. But his moral compass is the benchmark by which all heroes should be measured. And for my money, the Avengers aren't the Avengers without him.
2. Batman - love this character as well. However, while his moral compass may be set facing the same direction as Cap's, his methods run about opposite. But the dark intrigue, the rogues gallery, etc. have made Batman DC's most interesting hero for the breadth of my comics-reading life.
3. Thor - Unlike William, I love Thor's solo adventures from the Silver Age through the Bronze Age. As stated earlier, he may be the least significant of the Big Three in terms of "have to have him in the Avengers". But his Asgardian and otherwise cosmic stories are favorites of mine. And I'll confess again to never having read the Simonson run.
4. Wonder Woman - loved the Perez years. Outside of that, meh...
5. Superman - as I've often said, give me Superboy any day. Superman... not so much. I've been a Supes reader here and there, but really have no devotion to the character.
6. Iron Man - I have virtually zero interest in the character outside of the Avengers, and even there I find that his presence is largely antagonistic to Cap and others. Maybe I'm jaded by current presentations of Tony Stark, but I find myself retreating from the character more than embracing him as time marches on.
And in the big picture - Avengers or JLA? Not even a question. Avengers!
Doug
So many ways to cut this question.
I'll go with status and contribution as team member. So...
1. Iron Man
Shellhead has an adaptable skill set,
fights at both close quarters and distance, brings the brains and tech wizardry of Tony Stark and finally, the bankrolling of the Stark Foundation. I've lost count of the times an Avengers fight destroys a building/car/precinct and Stark offers to write the cheque. Most importantly, I find Iron Man a really interesting team member. Let's skip Civil War shall we...
2. Captain America
Resurfaced as a SA character in The Avengers, led the Kooky Quartet, embodies both everyman and the American Ideal. The Avengers just doesn't feel like The Avengers without him.
3. Superman
The first superhero, conscience of the JLA, embodies a different kind of American Ideal. Hindered only by being disproportionately powerful, leading to convoluted plot devices. But I have a soft spot for the old boy and the JLA just isn't the same without him.
4. Batman
Conniving, cynical, outgunned. I'mean simultaneously intrigued and exasperated with how writers make him relevant in a team carrying cosmic-level characters.
5. Wonder Woman
I like her character more than her powers, and a team book highlights her character as an ensemble player more than her own book.
6. Thor
I like Thor and grew up with him as a core member of The Avengers. But over the years I've come to see him as an Asardian more than an earthly superhero. The Avengers can substitute for his muscle just fine, and freed from Avengers duty he can participate in more tales of Asgard.
Wow, today's question brought out my inner geek.
Hmmm, interesting question.
1) Gotta go with Batman here ... I mean, he's Batman, right? Even the post-Miller cynical, gritty character is pretty cool (and interesting).
2) Captain America: He's a bit too much of a goody-two-shoes sometimes, but depending on who's writing him, Cap's pretty cool. I really liked Englehart and DeMatteis's runs. Gruenwald's run was uneven ... sometimes brilliant, sometimes just tedious. Brubaker's run was solidly brilliant, of course.
3)Wonder Woman: This is a weird choice for 3rd place since, of these six characters, WW is the one I've read the least. But I've heard good things about some of the post-Crisis stuff, so I'll definitely be checking it out sometime. Again, I think it depends on the writer; Perez, Simone, and Azzarello all had great runs, or so I hear.
4) Thor: I'm kinda hot and cold on Thor; it depends if I'm in the mood for mythological/space stories or not. But I prefer Greek myth to Norse stuff anyway, so Thor's a bit farther down on my list. (Note: I haven't read Simonson's run, so maybe that would change my opinion.)
5) Iron Man: I just find Tony Stark annoying most of the time, the big exception being the Michelinie/Layton runs, especially the first. He actually made Tony likeable, and Rhodey more than an appendage. If we were going just on those runs, I'd probably put Iron Man at #3.
6) Superman: I read Superman stuff as a kid, but I just find it kinda boring now. He's so powerful, they have to use all kinds of weird plot tricks just to give him any challenge. I think Superman works great for kids because we don't question stuff when we're kids, but as soon as we're old enough to start thinking, the whole idea of Superman becomes untenable. (Again, I haven't read any post-Crisis Superman stuff, so maybe my opinion would be different if I had.)
Fascinating how different everyone's lists are, with the exception of the overall high positioning of Captain America...
As Colin said, there are so many ways to address this question. I will go with the personal approach:
1. Captain America- as an Avenger,he's the closest to indispensable. A leader almost by definition, most certainly an example to follow for all other heroes, powered of otherwise. I'm more familiar with him as an Avenger than a solo operator, but have always found his stories engaging. And it's interesting to compare his Silver/Bronze age depiction to the portrayals found in Golden age stories.
2. Batman- Possibly my second favorite character of all time, but still well behind Spidey. I am less thrilled with the current iteration of the character, the detective seems important than the dark knight. But he still holds up, on the strength of decades of great stories and films, and tv shows, and that phenomenal Animated Series.
3. Iron Man- Like with Cap, I'm most familiar with his Avenging exploits. In fact, I hardly read any of his stories prior to the Michelinie/Layton run (which sailed the character into my highest regards).
4. Superman- mainly fond of him as the first superhero I read about. I still treasure some of those old Weisinger era stories, just for the nostalgia of it all. But the character is too powerful to develop much dramatic interest for me now.
5. Wonder Woman- I can count the number of Wonder Woman solo stories I've read on the fingers of one hand. But I do wish to change that, much praise has been leveled at her book over the last couple decades. And she is a magnificent character, and was the most interesting female character around for a long time: much more so than the 'damsels in distress' found in so many Golden age (and even Silver Age) stories.
6. Thor- I like Thor, and loved the classic Simonson run. Yet even now there are many stories , even Lee/Kirby , that have escaped my attention. A fine Avenger, but less integral to the group than some of the less powerful members.
Good question!
Oh, careless editing. On Batman above, it should read "the detective seems LESS important..."
OK here's my ranking of the Big Six -
1. Captain America - let's face it folks, Earth's Mightiest Heroes aren't the same unless Cap is at the helm, period. His leadership qualities and his moral compass are what drives the Avengers.
2. Batman - I've always found it fascinating that DC's most popular hero literally has no superpowers; heck, even Cap at least has the Super Soldier Serum running through his veins. So why is he up so high? Well, I guess most readers root for a guy fighting against super-villains using his wits, a nifty Bat-costume and some fancy gadgets! Also, his persona instils fear - some people are afraid of bats and creatures of the night!
3. Wonder Woman - although her powers sometimes vary widely depending on the creative team, Diana Prince to me is one of the most underrated of the whole Big Six. Can't wait for the upcoming movie! Oh, William, I still have a crush on Lynda Carter!
4. Iron Man - Ol' shellhead has to be next after Cap when it comes to leading the Avengers. I enjoyed Bob Layton's version of Tony Stark, although I gotta say I'm with Cap in terms of the whole Civil War issue.
5. Thor - I too feel that the Thunder God is better off as a solo character, although I don't mind his occasional Avengers appearance. By Odin!
6. Superman- ah, the Man of Steel. While he's a favourite of many comics fans, I have to put him way down here because he never seemed to me to be a capable leader of the JLA, despite his Godlike powers. Sorry, Superman fans.
- Mike 'honourable mentions - Reed Richards, Cyclops, Earth-2 Batman, Black Widow' from Trinidad & Tobago.
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