My Top 10 Marvel Characters (2013)

Like most things in life, a person's favourite things are constantly evolving, and comic characters are no different. Unlike my previous list, I'm going back to doing a separate Marvel list, simply because I love so damn many of their characters. Also unlike the previous lists, I'm not sorting this one, and just leaving it alphabetic. It's just too hard to say who's better than who... although Moon Knight will always be on top ;)

Beast

Beast has been a favourite since the 90's when I was watching the animated series.

Daredevil

Daredevil is a fairly recent addition. Despite hating the Ben Affleck movie, it made me like the character.

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange is an anomaly on this list as I generally hate magicians. I think the reason Strange is different it that beneath it all, he is quite a flawed character.

Hellcat

Hellcat is another fairly new discovery for me. I discovered her while researching Hulk and Doctor Strange, and hence, finding The Defenders.

Hulk

Do I really need to say anything about Hulk at this point? :)

Man-Thing

I'm still not entirely sure of Man-Thing's standing in the Marvel Universe, but I've heard that he's returning soon in Savage Wolverine, which is pretty exciting.

Moon Knight

I'm pretty sure everyone is aware of my Moon Knight obsession by now :P

Ms. Marvel

I'm adding Ms. Marvel to this list and not her current moniker, Captain Marvel, as I think her new incarnation is just terrible. I tried reading her latest series, but it was just nowhere near as good as the old Ms. Marvel, I'm sorry to say.

Rachel Grey

Rachel's another new discovery. I first learned of her when reading Wolverine and The X-Men and she's been a favourite ever since.

Spider-Man

This one's pretty obvious, right? :)

My Top 10 Comic Characters (Updated)

Every comic reader has their favourite characters and I think you can tell a lot about a person from who they are. It wasn't long ago that I posted mine, but that was before I started reading DC (when the New 52 came along), so here is the new, updated list:

10. Bleez



I've really been digging the Red Lanterns series, as well as New Guardians, and Bleez stars in both, earning her this placement. If she had stayed one of Atrocitus' mindless thugs, he would be here in her place, but since regaining her mind, I think she has becoming a very cool and compelling character.

9. Man-Thing



Man-Thing was on my last list, but he's slipped a few places simply because he's currently in hibernation and I don't know what they have planned for him in the future. The way he was written in Thunderbolts was super cool, but depending on where they take him next could influence his future placement on the list.

8. Beast



Beast hasn't moved from his place at #8. He's still my favourite X-Man. I haven't particularly liked the way Jason Aaron has been writing him in Wolverine and the X-Men, but it has never been so bad that I lost interest in the character. In fact, I just watched X-Men: Last Stand the other night and thought, as always, that Beast was the best part of the film.

7. Daredevil



Mark Waid has been doing a really great job with Daredevil, cementing his place, once again, at #7 on my list. I really wish a game developer would jump on the license and bring us a video game already. I recently learned of a cancelled game intended for the PS2 that looks like it would have been cool:

6. Flash



Flash has always been one of my favourite characters. I can't believe I ever left him off the last list. I just think that super-speed would be an awesome power to have. From your perspective, you would essentially be slowing down time, and who doesn't need more time in their day-to-day life.

5. Aquaman



A very recent and very surprising addition to the list. Before the New 52, I was of the publicly-shared mindset that Aquaman was a joke--useless out of water, talks to fish, that sort of thing--but now, not only is he one of my favourite characters, his new series is one of my Top 10. I've since checked out some back-issues, but they've got nothing on Geoff Johns' run, so it makes for some hard reading. All I'll say is that I'm glad he doesn't have the water or hook hand any more.

4. Red Hood



Before September, I knew nothing of this character. I'd heard of Jason Todd, but only knew the name and that he was once a Robin. With the combination of his new series and the Under The Red Hood DVD that came with my Arkham City pre-order, he has earned the title of my #1 DC character. He's like a cool Batman (cue fanboy rage).

3. Spider-Man



The Top 3 characters are still the same as before. Spider-Man has always been on the list...

2. Hulk



... as has Hulk.

1. Moon Knight



But #1 still remains one of my most recent discoveries: Moon Knight. He's like a bad-ass Batman (cue even more fanboy rage :P ).

My Top 10 Comics of 2011

As someone who was basically just a Marvel-reader at the end of 2010, the year of 2011 has been a big turning point as Marvel now take up less than half of my pull list. So which Marvel titles remain? Which other titles made the cut? Let's see, shall we...

My Top 10 Comic Artists

Art can make or break a comic in my eyes. If the art is bad, then the most amazing story in the world isn't going to get me to read it. So in tribute to this great responsibility, I present to you, in alphabetical order, my current Top 10 Comic Artists...

J. Scott Campbell

It’s no revelation that comic characters are all about the cultural ideal. The men are either tall and muscular, as in Captain America, or slim and toned, as with Spider-Man. At the same time, the women are uniformly slim and buxom. This is where J. Scott Campbell comes in. Even though he has worked on titles such as Gen 13 and Danger Girl, it is fair to say that he is better known for his pinups. Those such as this:

Clayton Crain

Though not to everyone’s tastes, I found Crain’s work in X-Force to be amazing. I really like the dark, dirtiness that it has. Just now, in researching this article, I’ve seen that he has a Ghost Rider mini, so I may just have to check that out.

David Finch

Now sadly DC-exclusive, I originally fell in love with Finch’s art in New Avengers. Then when I started reading Moon Knight, I discovered that his style suited Moon Knight’s dark, gritty world even more. Once he (and Charlie Huston) had left the title, it was just never the same…

Alex Maleev

I’ve only recently discovered the marvel of Alex Maleev, once again, thanks to Moon Knight. I was very impressed with his work in the new Moon Knight #1. I had heard from some that his art is “too muddy”, and from what I’ve seen of his Scarlet and Spider-Woman work, I would probably agree. However, he only did the pencils and ink on Moon Knight, so this may be where the problem lies--perhaps it’s his colouring that is leading people astray.

Ed McGuinness

When I was starting to get back into comics, I downloaded the Marvel iApp, and Hulk #1 was on there for free. I read it, and loved it so much, primarily due to Ed’s art, that Hulk became my favourite character (though has now been taken over by Moon Knight). There was just something about the semi-cartoonish style that really appealed to me.

Steve McNiven

Steve McNiven is a new-comer to the list. Having just read Civil War, I found I not only loved the story, but the art as well.

Jefte Palo

Another Moon Knight discovery, Palo drew the arc “Down South”. Most Moon Knight fans consider this the worst arc of the series, but I really liked it, thanks in no small part, to Palo’s art. I’ve since learned that he also did the Taskmaster mini, which I’ve heard a lot of good things about, so that’s another one to add to the list.

Paul Pelletier

I was never a fan of the cosmic comics… until I read Guardians of the Galaxy! Man, that it one fun read, and the art lives up to the story. Anyone who can make a raccoon look badass must be a damn good artist ;)

Humberto Ramos
I first encountered Ramos’ work when reading any issues I could find in which a favourite of mine, Blindfold, made an appearance. This included the arc “Blinded By The Light” in X-Men, which Ramos drew. I loved the over-the-top cartoon style. It just felt so dynamic and fun.

Kevin Walker

Yet another newcomer to the list, Walker won me over with something simple: How he drew Man-Thing! Man-Thing is one of those crazy characters that can be drawn any way, and normally looks ridiculous, but Walker makes him look so so cool. His rendition of Ghost is also the best I have seen, and with the help of writer Jeff Parker, has not only made both of these characters favourites of mine, but also made Thunderbolts my favourite current title.

Thoughtballooning

Lately, I’ve been writing for a website called Thoughtballoons, where they pick a different comic book character every week, and anyone can write a single-page comic script for that character. I’ve been finding this very fun, and so thought I would just take a quick look back at my own pieces, to see what made them work… or not:

Spider-Man…

A favourite of mine, Spider-Man, was the first character off the blocks, which was a good place for me to start. It should be noted that the site had already featured Iron Man, Molecule Man, Mephisto, Doctor Doom, Superman, and Blonde Phantom by the time I started playing along.

Anyway, in thinking of an idea, the first thing that came to mind was his costume. Now Spider-Man’s not exactly the think-and-ponder type, so what I ended up with was a script called, “Idle Hands”, about Spidey pondering the idea of the super-hero costume… but overlaid upon a bit of trademark mischievousness.

Because I was new to the game, and thinking about it frequently, I also wrote a second script that was a cross-over with the Lovecraft Mythos, specifically, “A Shadow out of Time”. In reality, it was more the Lovecraft part I wanted to show, so the character could have been any super-hero. It just happened to be Spidey seeing as he was the star of the week.

Aquaman…

This was a hard one for me to have as only my second character because I’ve never really been much of a DC Comics fan, so I knew very little about the character. All I really knew was that he lived in the sea, so I started tossing up any ocean-related ideas I could think of.

My first instinct was to go with Lovecraft’s Deep Ones, but I didn’t want to go with just a straight-up cross-over seeing as I had already done so in my last script, so I thought I’d add in a little reality and include The Bloop… though still ended up with Cthulhu and the Deep Ones.

I wasn’t entirely happy with that effort, so I tried to come up with another idea as well. It occurred to me that Aquaman’s “jurisdiction” was actually quite big—70% of the planet in fact—so I decided to run with that. Another writer had written of in-fighting within the Justice League of America (JLA), so I also took that on board as well and wrote I piece where an angry Aquaman makes a deal with the devil so that his colleagues can “understand” his efforts. I liked it more than my first one, but only wished I knew more of the DC universe so that I could have picked a character other than Lucifer.

The Penguin…

Another DC character had me out of my element again, and I started tossing up any idea I could think of to do with penguins or umbrellas… and then my girlfriend jokingly suggested having him fight with Catwoman over a fish… so I did! I wrote a page where Catwoman brings a “fish” to the Penguin’s house and it is only revealed on the last panel that they’re referring to Aquaman. This may have been subconscious payback for being such a terrible character the week before, I’m not sure, but no matter, I was quite happy with this one.

Again, I wrote a second piece, and again it was more the gag I wanted to show than the character. It was called, “I Couldn’t Draw To Save My Life”, but as one commenter suggested, it would have suited The Joker better. I wonder if he’ll ever pop up as a character of the week?

The Punisher…

I know of the Punisher, and I do like him more than the last two characters, but I still don’t know that much about him. I know his family was killed and he’s taking it out on… well, everyone… and he has a thing for guns, but that’s about it. My first instinct when dealing with unfamiliar characters is to turn to humour—as the Penguin’s week shows—because people don’t expect continuity when they’re getting a laugh out of it.

My first idea tied with the character’s gun obsession, and I was going to write something about him having a Customer Loyalty Card at the local gun shop, but as I sat down to write it, another idea came to me which I believe was the funnier option. It was called, “Hunting Season”, and featured a scene that was clearly—subconsciously—inspired by the film, Predator.

I only wrote one script this week—probably to everyone’s relief—because I drew some art for the site.

Gamora…

Unlike the previous “unfamiliar” characters, this was one I’d straight-up never even heard of, which made things quite hard. I did a bit of research, and found out that she’s a green-skinned, barbarian-like, alien woman… and that was about it. No powers, no nothing—even harder!

Again, being well out of my comfort zone, I went for the comedy route, and wrote a piece about the only interesting feature of this character: her green skin.

Where Now?...

Hopefully we’ll get back to some characters I know of—or have at least heard of—so that I can break away from these comedy sketches I’ve been falling back on lately. Only time till tell. For now, it’s all in the hands of the Tenures…

Ideabubbles

DISCLAIMER: They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that is the case, then the team over at Thoughtballoons must be really chuffed right now because the whole idea behind this Blog entry is ripped directly from them! Thanks, guys :-D

So anyway, I wanted to write a piece about one of my favourite Marvel characters because I don't feel he gets the props he deserves. He goes by the name of Omega Red, but unfortunately, outside of Wolverine circles, he is pretty-much unknown, so here is my spotlight on him:

Omega Red's first-ever appearance.

Why Omega Red?

Omega Red (aka Arkady Gregorivich) has always held a place in my heart, in that he was my first-ever comic book villain. Back in the early ‘90s, my first (and possibly only) comic was X-Men #4, which featured Omega Red as the lead antagonist against the X-Men. I’ve since learned that this was in fact his first ever appearance, so if you think about it, Arkady and I came into the world of comics together.

And so it begins.

He was quite the villain too: He appears to have a “Healing Factor” on par with Wolverine’s, except that his needs to be recharged from time to time by draining the life-force from others, and is therefore referred to as his “Death Factor”. He is also able to secrete pheromones that are deadly to anyone in his immediate vicinity and has long Carbonadium tentacles that he can extend and retract through openings in the undersides of his wrists, which “serve as both conduit and stabilizing factor for his mutant pheromones.” So basically, he’s just a serious bad-ass!

A more recent incarnation.

Anyway, since his appearance in the story arc of X-Men #4-7, he had a steady stream of cameos for the next 2-3 years, but these soon dwindled to yearly appearances. From the start of 1999, there was a 3 year gap where ol' Red was laying low, until he popped up again in Wolverine #170 for a brief arc, and then returned to a 4-year-long hibernation.

Through this time he has not only fought Wolverine and the X-Men, but the likes of Iron Man, Chamber, Sabretooth, Daredevil & Black Widow!

Ultimately, however, it was his buddy Wolverine who plucked him from the archives to feature in a Wolverine: Origins arc lasting 5 issues. There was then another year’s break until finding a few more sporadic gigs, and even popped back up in Wolverine: Origins… only to be killed! Poor Arkady…

That's gotta hurt!

Will we ever see Omega Red again? Who knows? If the past has shown us anything, it is that if a comic book character dies… it doesn’t necessarily mean they are dead!

In keeping with Thoughtballoons' tradition, I've also prepared a comic script based on this character. I'm not sure where it would fit into his chronology, or even if it could, but I feel it sums the character up pretty well, so I hope you enjoy...

"JUMP START"

PANEL ONE, PAGE-WIDTH
We see a close-up of Omega Red looking straight at us with flaring red eyes. He has a slight grin on his face.

CAPTION: Most call me a murderer.
CAPTION: Which is an accurate-enough title, I suppose.
CAPTION: You must remember, however, that I never asked for this...

PANEL TWO, PAGE-WIDTH
We see that he is sitting on a self-made throne of sorts, his carbonadium tentacles hanging off the ends of the armrests. He is now smiling.

CAPTION: I admit, I do enjoy it.
CAPTION: But only so much as a smoker enjoys a cigarette--or an alcoholic, a bottle of whiskey.

PANEL THREE, PAGE-WIDTH
We can now see the whole scene with two energy-giving mutants on the floor before him (e.g. Gambit). He has a tentacle wrapped around each. They both look malnourished and barely conscious. Omega Red is now laughing.

CAPTION: The good news is--
CAPTION: --I've discovered a way that I no longer need to kill.
SFX: AHHHHAHAHAHA