1. Shazam, for three thousand years the protector of humankind from "the forces of evil which every day threaten to extinguish man from the face of the Earth
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| Probably my favourite panel from any comic-book in any genre; Bill Parker & C. C. Beck's Shazam introduces himself to Billy Batson, from "Introducing Captain Marvel", in Fenruary 1940's Whiz Comics #2 |
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| Panel by Otto Binder, C C Beck & Pete Constanza, from The Mighty Marvels Join Forces, Marvel Family #1, 1945, reprinted - in black and white - in "Shazam! From The 40's To The 70's. (It's a wonderful conceit that the ghostly form of Shazam has to chisel out his own records onto the Rock Of Eternity.) |
2. Loki, God of Mischief reborn as ... a youthful force for good, if not order?
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| from Kieron Gillen & Doug Braithewaite's Journey Into Mystery #622, 2011; If I'd been told just a few years ago that my two favourite Marvel characters in 2012 would be Daredevil and Loki, I'd have regarded the news with - to put it politely - considerable scepticism. Both appeared worn-through with repetition and dull-mindedness. |
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| As time passes, it becomes more and more obvious that Gillen's reinvention of Loki stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the very best examples of recasted comics characters, and yes, that goes for Moore's Swamp Thing too.(By Gillen, Fraction, Di Giandomenico et al, in Journey To Mystery #642, 2012) |
3. Delirium, youngest of the Endless
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| Greg Spalenka's "Delirium" trading card, 1994, as printed in Vertigo Visions |
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| Well, of course Matthew would be an incredibly nervous driver:- by Neil Gaiman, Jill Thompson, Vince Locke & Dick Giordano, from Brief Lives: Part 5, Sandman #45, 1993) |
4. The Simberleen, an intelligent strain Of Syphilis which survives the almost-end of the universe through a series of super-heroic intimacies
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| Frames by Alan Moore, Carlos D'Anda & Richard Friend, as seen in "Wildstorm Spotlight #1: Majestic - The Big Chill", in which the last 10 creatures in existence attempt to cope with the heat death of everything. |
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| Moore, of course, had previous when it came to pressing an unseen deadly disease into service as an intelligent player in the superbook, having already created Leezle Pon, the Green Lantern that's a smallpox virus in Green Lantern 2: 188 |
5. The Doctor, the last of the Time-Lords
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| from the Doctor Who strip in TV Action & Countdown #88, 21/10/72 |
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| Having given the previous Doctor Who graphic novel by Justin Richards & Mike Collins a proper thumbs down, I must say the follow-up - The Dalek Project - is a cracking good read and much more than a considerable improvement. A thumbs-up review will be appearing elsewhere in the coming month from the blogger, but just to say; it's well worth the price of entry. |
6. Queen "Polly" Hippolta, immortal Amazon & sometimes Wonder Woman (Pre New 52 version)
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| by William Moulton Marston & Harry G Peter's "Villainy Incorporated", from Wonder Woman #28, 1948 (Wasn't Wonder Woman just the most wonderful comic strip?) |
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| I was rather fond of the idea that the Queen had served with the JSA way back in the day, and enjoyed the way in which James Robinson & David Goyer showed the Atom referring - fondly - to Hippolyta as "Polly", showing how lacking in snobbery she could be when her colleagues had proven themselves worthy of respect. (With art by Rosado, Bell & Kryssing, from All-Star Comics #2, 1999) |
7. Galactus, world-devouring survivor of the previous universe
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| By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, from their graphic novel "The Silver Surfer", 1978, Fireside Books |
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| by Stan Lee & John Buscema, from "The Answer", in Epic Illustrated #1, 1980 |
8. Armstrong, immortal slob, beguiling lover, reluctant hero
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| From the first issue of Archer & Armstrong, by Barry Windsor-Smith, Jim Shooter & Bob Layton, a scene we've touched on before, but which is always worth the revisiting, while below, the black-and-white original cover for A&A#6 by Windsor-Smith and Layton, both 1992 |
;9. Kid Eternity, prematurely dead boy with access to the assistance of every human being who's ever lived (pre-1991 version)
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| The Kid learns how to summon the dead, by Otto Binder & Sheldon Moldoff, from Hit Comics #25, December 1942 |
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| Kid Eternity gets it in the ear from Rembrandt, a beautiful, beautiful panel by Mac Raboy, from Kid Eternity: The Count, from Kid Eternity #3, 1946 |
10. Himon, inspirational, if not messianic New God, working amongst the savagely alienated proletarians of Apokolips
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| By Jack Kirby & Mike Royer, from Mister Miracle #9. |
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| There is of course no such thing as the best comic book ever, or even the best superhero comic. It's a clearly ludicrous idea, and yet, "Himon" has a far better claim to preeminence than 99.999% of comics. |
11. Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker, immortal oft-leader of the League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
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| With apologies for the awkward cropping, but I always thought the image of Mina on the front of the second volume of the League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen captured how determined and formidable a woman she is. |
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| Miss Harker does for Moriarty's fiendish plans, in Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume one |
12. The Ancient One, 500 year old mystical defender of Earth & mentor to Doctor Strange (pre-2005 version)
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| By Steve Ditko & Stan Lee, from "Dr Strange Master Of Black Magic", in Strange Tales 110, 1962 |
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| From Ditko & Lee's "The Pincers Of Power" in Strange Tales #140, the penultimate tale in Strange's greatest ever story. There's so much to admire here, from the absolute respect which Strange expresses for his mentor to the way in which the "alien despots" appear out of folds in space in the fourth panel. |
13. The Shade. who's so old and so powerful and so willful that he gets to be pretty much whatever he wants to be
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| by James Robinson, Tony Harris & Wade von Grawbadger, from Starman #1, 1994, with the following scan coming from #10 of the same title |
Your suggestions about what long-lived, or productively dead, characters you might think of as you yourself pass a significant birthday may be securely logged in the comment box below, should such a stray fancy appeal ....
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From the LSH, Mon-El and Harmonia. Hob Gadling. Oh, Plastic Man, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteHello Matthew:- I've come across Harmonia before, but never knew of her background until you mentioned it. A quick Google and I'm interested in going back and re-reading those issues in the light of what seems like an interesting back-story.
DeleteAnd Mon-El, of course. Poor Mon-El. A thousand years in the Phantom Zone.
I'd never thought of Plastic Man as immortal. Plastic does decay, doesn't it? An interesting idea, given that Eel doesn't really seem well suited to endless life.
Which makes it all the more fascinating a prospect ...
The Forgotten One, as seen in Eternals#13 (he's been ill-served by subsequent appearances). He's the quintessential romantic figure, a man who fought monsters throughout the centuries and is remembered in dozens of cultures by different names, yet has no name of his own, nor is he honoured by his fellow Eternals. He's incapable of obtaining glory for himself, but doesn't seem to desire it either; when he hears the Deviants may accidentally destroy the Earth by assaulting the Celestials, he launches into action, with only Sprite (and the Celestials) to witness his heroism.
ReplyDeleteSasuke, another monster hunter of indeterminate age; wielding magical power, he battles the forces of darkness in feudal Japan as a frequent guest star in Usagi Yojimbo. Beyond admiring his Ditko-esque hand gestures, I love Sasuke's habit of identifying people by name before being introduced to them, then offering a limp "I must have overheard it" excuse.
In terms of "securely dead and prospering despite the inconvenience of it all," the only name which comes to mind is Percival Popp, the Super-Cop, as seen in Spectre#24. When he asks the Spectre if they can be partners again now that they're both ghosts... dang, that moment sneaks up on me.
Hello Michael:- I've been hoping that the Eternals Omnibus would be reissued, for I've still not read all the issues in the series. However, your description propelled me over to E-Bay, where by chance I've just found a very reasonably-priced copy from a trust-worthy dealer. As luck would have it, I've also found a copy of Spectre #24, because I can't recall it at all and your words do make it sound enticing. (It's all rather odd, being that I'm sure I was buying the Ostrander issues well past that number, but even if I did, I can't have read the book in so many years.)
DeleteI've read the Avengers issues with Gilgamesh in them; you're right, they weren't particularly distinguished. But that just makes me all the more interested in what went, if not wrong, then less right.
And now I guess I'd better go and check out Sasuke too ... :) Thanks!
Regarding Gilgamesh in the Avengers... Walter Simonson was a tremendous fan of the character and had earlier written him well in the Eternals limited series, but I think the bull-headed costume invited too much ridicule from fans who were meeting him for the first time. He was also saddled with some apparent production problems as one of his dialogue balloons was repeated twice in Avengers#300, giving the unfortunate impression he was a thick-headed dullard. Finally, he was placed on the team at the same time Thor was active... making him noticeably redundant (just as Thor & Hercules are seldom paired up in the Avengers). John Byrne (there's that name again!) gave him an undignified send-off, encouraging fans to think of him as an Avenger who just didn't work. Truly, he didn't belong with the team to begin with; Byrne hazarded Sersi was a better choice for the team and his instincts were correct.
DeleteHello Michael:- Thank you for the background. I feel like I've expertly prepped and now it's a matter of waiting for that issue of the Eternals to turn up.
DeleteTHAT man again? On the whole, he's not someone I ever felt comfortable with as a writer, though I know the consensus is that the likes of his Superman, FF and Next Men stuff - amongst other titles - are top notch. To me, he was a great penciller in his time on the X-Men, and I guess most other things just weren't to my taste.
Happy Birthday Colin!
ReplyDeleteAs a fan who's wondered into your site from a 2000AD source, I'd have to nominate Judge Death as a rather special character who has only improved by dying.
Hello alexf:- Thank you!
DeleteI did think of Judge Death too. As a role model for my declining years, he does have the virtues of boundless enthusiasm and a keen sense of purpose.
On the other hand, he does seem to end up getting beaten up and locked away an awful lot.... :)
Egad, Colin, but you have picked out some of my absolute favorite characters! I have been delighted with young Loki, I love Hipployta, and the Shade is my favorite character from Starman...although I also like Bobo.
ReplyDeleteI wish that the Guardians from Green Lantern would soon be among the dead characters...because they're just awful lately.
Hello Sally:- You have, as I've long suspected, excellent taste. (And of course, Bobo was a great character. It's hard not to warm to that rarest of things in the super-book, a person that's done their time and truly turned the corner.)
DeleteI was thinking of adding - as I said above - Ganthet from the O'Neil/Adams Green Lantern run from the late 60s. But as you say, it's hard to warm to the Guardians on any level these days. Similarly, I'd've chosen Mogo, but they blew the poor thing up ....
How about Will Eisner's Spirit? Wasn't he resurrected by some secret formula in a couple of his ( conflicting ) origin stories? And he certainly looks as young today as he did back in the '40s. If I had to pick a role model I don't think I could do better than Denny Colt. But I don't think I'd look quite so cool in that blue suit...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, many happy returns for your half-century! And, remember... you're not getting older, you're getting better :-)
Hello cerebus, and hats off to you. Yes, of course Denny Colt was a long-lived character, having been resurrected and no doubt preserved despite all his beatings by that potion. And of course, Alan Moore's future-Spirit tale showed Colt alive far into the future. So that would've - and should've - been one of the above, and I'd have probably bumped Galactus from the list, who for all that he's the longest-lived of them all, seems to have had a miserable, stomach-growling existence.
DeleteAnd thank you for your kind wishes and wise, wise sentiments :)
Hob Gadling is my favorite Sandman immortal. He just likes not dying.
ReplyDeleteHello there:- As I said above, I've just passed 50. Not dying while being to remain healthy strikes me as one of the coolest super-powers there could be. Hob-ness would be a quality I think I'd gladly embraced as long as there was an off-switch, should circumstances demand ...
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