When people name the great creations of Marvel and DC, I am certain that the stars will lead the lists. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and Iron Man are always near the top. But you will also get common top tier listings of Thor, Hulk, Flash, and Green Lantern.
Somewhere way down the runway are the heroes from books that never quite made it as big. Firestorm, Nova, Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Black Goliath, and Omega the Unknown just never had as big a following.
Surely some of us had these also-rans as favorites. Surely some of us picked up their books regularly and in our minds their adventures exceeded those of the superstars. So who were your secondary favorites and why?
I like Fury and Namor because they were tough, stubborn, and had a no-nonsense approach. Both were often unlikable and gruff but also tried to do what was right. Captain Marvel started out as a traitorous spy, but somehow overcame. I liked those nuances in their character.
How did these heroes and heroines fit into your collecting profile and what made them shine?
16 comments:
The original Luke Cage Hero for Hire!
Submariner!
And from the “other guys”
Static!
Kamandi!
$.50 100-pagers!
Oh, yes; back in my heavy buying days I bought many of these 'secondary' books. "Omega the Unknown" was a favorite; very odd but it really spoke to my teen self. I picked up "Skull the Slayer"; mainly due to the dinosaurs on the covers. Otherwise, it was pretty forgettable. Bought and loved Sub-Mariner, until his book was cancelled. By the time it returned in the late 80's I was out of comics. Never really cared for "Nova"; seemed too derivative.
On the DC side, I collected "Rima, the Jungle Girl"- mainly for the fine artwork and covers. Bought "Omac" for awhile, but dropped it. As mainly a Marvel guy, I didn't get too many DC's aside from Batman, Detective and the Legion. I did like Firestorm, though; and have recently acquired a taste for Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and Animal Man...
Well, I always liked Black Lightning (which is why I included his short-lived series in by blog reviews); he's one of the reasons I got into the Outsiders later on. I was never a big Firestorm fan, but I'm reviewing his stories too and he's not as obnoxious as I remember, especially in his solo stories. Gerry seemed to be channeling Peter Parker in his portrayal of Ronnie Raymond, which is fine with me.
As for other "second tier" heroes, I agree with Charlie on Luke Cage (and Iron Fist); I also liked Shang Chi and Moon Knight. I guess Moon Knight was kind of a Batman rip-off, but maybe that's why I liked him.
Yep, I loved a lot of the B-listers and, frankly, C-listers. On the Marvel side, I agree about Power Man, and later Iron Fist, Captain Marvel, Shang Chi and Black Goliath. Others I liked were Spiderwoman, Rom, the Cat/Tigra and - although he never headlined his own book (but did appear in back-up features and as a frequent guests star) - White Tiger.
At DC, likes others I was fond of Black Lightning, but I think my favorite of these types was Ragman. Another character I liked was Starfire - not the Teen Titaness, but rather the sword and planet heroine who had her own short-lived series in the late 1970s.
I've always liked Daimon Hellstrom: Son of Satan. At its best, the Hellstorm series in the '90s was like a Vertigo comic, missing only the swearing. Warren Ellis leaned heavily into the darkness without forgetting to add wit and character moments. Even after the series ended, I ended up reading comics in which Hellstrom guest starred (not that there were very many) because I wanted more of his story. I ended up getting Essential Marvel Horror v1 as an adult (weird that I've mentioned it twice this week) and enjoying how Steve Gerber portrayed his struggle with his dark heritage.
- Mike Loughlin
Mike L. mentioning the Essential Marvel Horror book (I have both volumes) reminded me of two other back-benchers I like: Brother Voodoo and the Living Mummy.
Nova was a favorite. I think because we were both in high school at the same time. I know, I know, a poor man's Spider-Man but it was a fun ride.
Technically not his own book but Killraven in Amazing Adventures was a monthly grab.
Also from Marvel, Rom, Machine Man and Iron Fist where I was first introduced to Byrne.
Moon Knight: Werewolf By Night 32 was definitely one of those "the cover made me buy the book" books. Moon Knight and the Werewolf, duking it out. Later, we would find out that the werewolf was literally fighting with one hand tied behind his back. He broke it earlier slamming his fist into a wall. That two-part introduction of Moon Knight got me hooked on the character. Later, we would find out none of that mattered, he was the Fist of Konshu and had never fought a werewolf. Sigh...
He did show up as a West Coast Avenger which brings me to my second "secondary character" The West Coast Avengers or Avengers West Coast, depending on when you read them. Turned into a pretty decent team and book. Byrne got rid of Moon Knight, which was "Boo", but we got to see Hawkeye as a leader, which was "Yay" but then there was some conflict between Clint an Jan as to who was the leader and then the Vision got disassembled and Byrne really messed with the Scarlet Witch and so on ans so forth... but it wasn't bad of a book.
Speaking of good reads: Claremont's run on Ms Marvel really developed that character. And if you're looking for pure nostalgia, I have the first 8 chapters of Marvel's Secret Wars posted. Just click on my name and you should find it...
(You can come as you are with just your heart
And I'll take you in though you're rejected and hurt,
To me you're worth, girl, what you have within.
Oh honey, boy, I don't need no superstar cause I'll accept you as you are.
You won't be denied cause I'm satisfied with the love that you can inspire.
You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show;
Oh, honey, you don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show.
Somebody nobody knows could steal the tune that you want to hear,
So stop your running around cause now you've found what was cloudy is clear.
Oh honey, there'll be no cheering from the clouds, just two hearts beating
Out loud.
There'll be no parade, no tv or stage, only me till your dying day.
You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show;
Oh, honey, you don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show.
Don't think your star has to shine for me to find out where you're coming
from;
Oh honey, girl, what is a beauty queen if it don't mean that I'm number one?
I don't need no superstar cause I'll accept you as you are.
You won't be denied cause I'm satisfied with the love that you can inspire.
You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show;
Oh, honey, you don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show).
This topic can stretch me clear back from the early Bronze Age (Werewolf by Night; Kamandi) to well into the "Modern" (Tinfoil? Aluminum?) Age (John Byrne's perfectly fine re-boot of The Doom Patrol).
QUASAR sits very near the top of my all-time list for this subject-- although it was hindered for SO MUCH of it's run by very sub-par art. I'm not sure if there was ever another Marvel title that staved off its pending cancellation (for a time) because the book's fans were so vehemently vocal in their support of it.
The brief WONDER-MAN series was rather fun as well, but kinda got sucked into the awful Timeslide/Force Works debacle, IIRC.
Jonah Hex also had a sometimes-okay science-fiction series (!!!) called HEX which I stuck with til it's end.
Man, Red-- I do have the whole, brief run of Skull the Slayer-- and "forgettable" might be an improvement over remembering what a doofy train-wreck it managed to be-- just this side of being a parody, in the wildly random directions it went in pursuit of "big" hot sci-fi concepts and current tropes. No through-line at all----!
THE INHUMANS had a pretty darned good 12 or 13 issue series, with George Perez doing a lot of the pencils.
Oh! The version of THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY that premiered in Marvel Presents was consistently a pretty fun read (although it got kinda deceptively adult at one point-- which is hard to picture w/ Al Milgrom's inks. . .but still--), and it's later re-boot with. . . Jim Valentino, I think?. . . was even better.
ALPHA FLIGHT
OMEGA MEN (though I really need to complete that run someday-)
DP7----!!! Those last, long-lingering refugees from the New Universe! Who couldn't love them?
And-- how does the poor, ill-fated M2 Universe fit into this conversation, hmm? Those were. . . well, they were honestly good, fun, old-style, well-written books-- that didn't have a whisper of a prayer in the exponentially darkening market that quickly drowned them. . . .*sigh*
HB
OK.. I'll also add Marvel's Invaders and DC's Shadow. Guess I just loved Frank Robbin's art beyond all compare, lol.
And, DC had a series of one-issue characters called "1st Issue Special" I rather liked with top-notch groups like "The Dingbats" by Kirby and other already-existing characters like The Creeper! I'd typically buy it to see what was coming out of Kirby's or whoever's head that month, LOL.
Yeah! First Issue Special had some neat offerings, CH47! Admittedly, there were some eyebrow-raising clunkers in there, too (THE GREEN TEAM: BOY MILLIONAIRES; and THE OUTSIDERS-- which had nothing to do with any super-hero team). But the WHOLE RUN was worth it, since it gave us the introduction of Grell's WARLORD. . . !
HB
I really loved Iron Fist which was my first intro to John Byrne and Chris Claremont. Led me to the X-Men just as they became big. Loved how the supporting cast (Misty and Colleen) showed up in X-Men, Iron Fist, and Marvel Team-Up. How did Byrne draw all three at what seemed to be simultaneously? Their Starlord was fantastic! High adventure Science Fiction.
Black Panther back in Jungle Action by McGregor, Buckler, Janson, and Graham. Introduced me to McGregor and later works like Sabre and Detectives Inc. Killraven was another McGregor book that was great and Mike Kaluta's art was mind blowing. Deathlok was another Buckler and Janson favorite of mine. Such a bizarre concept, but I really felt for Luther Manning. I followed Buckler to other lesser known books like The Secret Society of Super Villains and Star Hunters. Loved Captain Comet.
Do the Micronauts or the Warlord count as B or C List? Loved them, but they're not well know outside of the comics community. Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden took a toy line and made it an epic comic. Mike Grell is a favorite of mine to this day. His run on Green Arrow was also excellent. Green Arrow was a B Lister until Iron Mike's Long Bow Hunters and the ongoing series that followed. Warlord was cancelled until the sales numbers came in.
Travis Morgan
Agree with HB about the Inhumans. That was a really solid series - and yes, the art, not just by Perez, but also a young Keith Pollard and a few by Gil Kane, was pretty top-notch.
Travis, maybe the sales figures don't bear me out, but it never occurred to me to think of MacGregor's Black Panther, or even Killraven, Deathlok or Micronauts as B-list. That some of the best and/or most innovative stuff being published by Marvel at the time. I'd say the same about Grell's Warlord, unless we'd also consider Conan a B-lister. (By the way, the art in the Killraven stories was done by P. Craig Russell, not Kaluta.)
Hey Edo, I had a brain cramp on Kaluta vs. P. Craig Russell, thanks for giving him the credit. He is a great artist. I don't have my old The Comic Reader issues, but I seem to remember Warlord and Micronauts were both top sellers (top ten?) in their top sellers listings. Conan was one of Marvel's top sellers also.
I agree that Black Panther, Deathlok, Killraven, and Micronauts were all innovative and had great writers and artists producing them. But of the four, only Micronauts seemed to sell well. Also it was hard to get Deathlok and Killraven to guest star in the Marvel 616 universe. Deathlok did make into Two-in-One, Cap, and Team-up, but the dystopian future and time travel are tough to work in your "normal" plot line.
Black Panther, Deathlok, and Killraven all seem tied to there creative teams and were so much more mature and different from the rest of Marvel as they were dealing with bigger subjects than the average titles. They were great and ground breaking, just not super popular like Micronauts and Warlord. I wonder how their Marvel Masterworks sales stack up to some of the B Teams like Champions? And why hasn't DC released more of the Warlod in reprint? A B & W Showcase and one color trade. I'd love to see a hardcover omnibus or even a run of color trades like the Green Arrow run.
It seems the main commonality is they are mainly non-superheroes with Panther and Arrow both being "non-powered" and at the time not as popular as they are today. They're all A List in my heart and they all had strong creator voices behind them. Maybe because the were seen as B List the creators could push the boundaries and focus more on the art side of commercial art?
Travis Morgan
Good question about Warlord, Travis. I've often wondered about that as well - especially given the wealth of Conan reprints there is. Warlord was really popular back then, and Grell is still a well-loved and respected comic book artist to this day. To me, it seems that a series of color omnibuses or tpbs would be like printing money.
From Marvel, Iron Fist and Shang-Chi come to mind. I like martial arts movies and comics.
And from DC, I really really liked the Freedom Fighters back in the day, and my first favorite superhero was Aquaman.
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