My favorite superheroes (apart from Superman)? Gosh, what a question! Here's a few to start. I'm limiting myself to ten so as not to talk all day:
Captain Comet. It's like the Silver Age is encapsulated in a single man. Who can forget his rocketship, the Cometeer, operating on "Spectrum Drive?" Who could forget Professor Zackro? Who could forget the wonderful sloganeering: "Man of Destiny" and "Man of 100,000 AD!" His origin is top-notch. His powers are far from a boring suite endorsed by the Superman clones (*ahem* Captain Marvel), but included various other science fiction related abilities, like Telepathy and Telekinesis. A wonderful, imaginative synthesis of superheroism with a science fiction slant; he felt more like the LENSMAN and SLAN characters. He may not even be a superhero at all, arguably; he's...he's...well, I don't know what he is, but whatever it is, it's GREAT.
The Valkyrie. What a powerful, poignant story Steve Englehart wrote in his DEFENDERS run - the Valkyrie in love with a stone statue of a man she had never met. It really says something about the Valkyrie's vivaciousness and strong personality that on a team with Doctor Strange and Namor, the Valkyrie completely stole the show. And who can forget her winged horse, Aragorn? Not me - I'm a sucker for creatures.
Fing Fang Foom. Speaking of creatures, Fing Fang Foom was the one thing any comic book universe needs: a big monster. A superintelligent space dragon, Fing Fang Foom combines the best of science fiction and chinese myth. I especially enjoyed Fing Fang Foom when he was drawn by that one artist whose name escapes me at the moment but worked during Busiek's run.
Damien Hellstrom - "Son of Satan." The original SON OF SATAN was an underappreciated, wonderful gem of the silver age, and the most imaginative mystic comic of the 70s apart from the Englehart DR. STRANGE. Son of Satan wields a trident of "Netheranium." And I for one, don't get tired of demons. People rag on Son of Satan because of his costume, but if I was in that kind of shape, I wouldn't wear a shirt, either! I wonder how he got so fit - could it possibly be from doing a thousand SATANIC crunches in his SATANIC gym?
Hercules. I mean, specifically, the Hercules miniseries done by the wonderful Bob Layton in the early 1980s, which combined grandeur with a wonderful sense of swashbuckling humor. Many prefer Thor, but for me, Hercules's wit, humor and
joy de vivre place him over his brave but grim Asgardian counterpart.
Hawkeye. Now here's a guy that had personality! Hawkeye is your average inarticulate macho man who picks fights when he's anxious, a guy that means well, but who is sabotaged by his big mouth. He is also a character who has grown more mature and less hotheaded with time, a gradual change over DECADES that is wonderful to see but is usually impossible to do, as writing is like a game of telephone: speak into one end and over several people it comes out completely different. In real life, I hate guys like Hawkeye. But Hawkeye shows an interesting thing about fiction: characters you wouldn't like in real life are made absolutely loveable if a story makes them REAL.
Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) Many writers dismiss her as a writer-obsession of Roger Stern's, but I for one, think she had potential: she had an imaginative superpower, and the first black female leader of the Avengers is nothing to sneer at. Many people talk about various DC characters that were obviously inspired by or done in the Marvel style, but Monica Rambeau was the rare animal: a Marvel character done following the DC model, instead of vice-versa. DC heroes have a vaguely "serve and protect" mentality, and are confident authority figures. Monica Rambeau, was a harbor policewoman and hardly a misanthrope like the Marvel characters; and she possessed a truly cosmic level power on the level of Superman or Green Lantern. She was a person with a confident, strong, assertive personality that was family-centered.
I recently heard Warren Ellis discuss his plans for the character, and like everything else Warren Ellis has ever done, it makes me shudder.
Doctor Light. I once had a conversation with a friend that went like this:
ME: "
You know, I think Green Arrow would be a more interesting character if he was a woman. Because then his concern for society would spring from the urge to nurture, and his anti-authority would come from feminine crabbiness."GUY: "Oh...you mean sort of like Dr. Light?" ME: "Who?" [/list]
And that's how I was introduced to Doctor Light, a character that had wonderful potential but was never utilized. Her power alone suggests millions of permutations we the fans have thought of that no one has made use of.
Black Panther. There's something that's just plain cool about giant robot panthers and "energy daggers." But apart from his fascinating gadgetry, the thing that is most interesting about the Panther is that he was a character created by worldbuilding - the world was created first, and the Panther second to fit into it. Everything about Wakanda is fascinating, from the great Vibranium Mound, to the heart shaped herb that gives the Panther his power, to the Panther's teenage Karate chick sidekicks, the Dora Milaje, to the aforementioned giant panther robots - the Panther has by far the most fascinating and immersive corner of the entire Marvel Universe.
Vision/Red Tornado. Yeah, okay, they're not the same character, but the thing that works about one, works about the other: they are children in adult bodies, experiencing everything for the first time. The Vision, however, I would say is the character that lived up to his full potential, whereas the Red Tornado faded into the background. The Vision enjoyed possibly the saddest love of the entire Silver Age, starting as unrequited love because he felt he wasn't a real man, and ending with "Wanda...I can make you happy! Please...forget all the human rules and marry me." Sniff.
Red Tornado, though, had one problem that Vision did not: he was in the
Justice League. Kurt Busiek once said that in the Justice League, the ones that get the most attention in fight scenes are the heroes with the most interesting powers (Superman, Green Lantern) and the heroes with the personalities that get the most attention are the loud ones that call the most attention to themselves. Which makes it unsurprising that Red Tornado was never given anything interesting to do; there was no Wanda for him to have a poignant love with (all the women in the JLA were taken, thank you) and no "brother" or other characters to connect with. So he faded into the background, just like the Martian Manhunter, because those two loudmouths Green Arrow and Hawkman just never could shut up!