Before I begin, I’d just like to take a moment to apologize for the lateness of this post; no matter how much I say things like, “Oh, I’ll take my laptop to (insert vacation destination here) so I can blog from wherever I am,” it just doesn’t happen. Vacations always seem to happen in a strange parallel dimension where the laws of time and space don’t apply normally. But now that I’m back, normal service has resumed!
And it resumes with me talking about obscure comics characters. Every comic-book universe seems to accumulate these after a while; maybe they’re attempts to create a new hit that never caught on, maybe they were deliberately comic or strange characters, or maybe they’re supporting characters that linger in the memory long after the book they were in got canceled. (Rick Jones, for all that he’s become the linchpin of the Marvel Universe, started out as the Hulk’s sidekick before his book got canned after only six issues.) But they pop up with an absurd irregularity as different creators revive them (usually out of nostalgia…) It’s almost as if they live their own strange, private lives that only occasionally intersect with the comics we get to read. (Which is, of course, the whole joke behind Squirrel Girl.)
So who are my favorites? I’ve always had a soft spot for the Constrictor. He’s developed a wonderfully fatalistic personality over the years; he’s a C-lister and he knows it, but he gamely soldiers on in his career as thug and assassin, hoping not to bump into a super-hero and taking his lumps when he does. The Taskmaster sometimes falls into the same class; you have to admire someone who cheerfully takes government money to train the new Captain America just as readily as he hires himself out to fight Captain America.
I like the obscure villains who shouldn’t be obscure. Flag-Smasher is a great character and should be an excellent foil for Cap, even though he’s rarely used well; he’s an anarchist who wants to tear down the entire concept of nationality, and he’s got a huge freaking mace. (And henchmen with a lovely chiaroscuro design scheme. And berets.) Ruby Thursday is genuinely fucking creepy in a way that Steve Gerber exploited to great effect and almost nobody has ever used since; she’s completely normal from the neck down, but her head is just a featureless red sphere. THAT CAN GROW TENTACLES THAT STRANGLE YOU. Oh, and she’s chillingly remorseless and casually murderous. And Doctor Demonicus is a wonderful seething cauldron of resentment and rage; he’s a scientist who exposed himself to radiation…and got skin cancer. And he’s still trying to conquer the world.
And I like the heroes who you don’t see very often. I’m always a sucker for Hawk and Dove (thank you, Gail Simone!) and I love Jolt. What’s not to like about a young, idealistic super-heroine who finds out that she’s become the new team mascot for the Masters of Evil? I adore the Guardians of the Galaxy–the originals, that is (nothing against the new team, but I miss the classic squad.) I’m even a fan of big, bland blond Wendell Vaughn, AKA the Quasar that keeps dying. He’s just so refreshingly normal.
Characters like Rocket Raccoon, Ego the Living Planet and Cloak and Dagger make the universe a more enjoyable place. They’re like the tiny brushstrokes in a landscape painting; barely noticeable individually, but adding up to a portrait of an entire world. I cherish every strange, silly, entertaining one of them.
Feel free, in the comments, to add a few of your own favorites!
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Squirrel Girl, of course. 😀
Hey! You can’t pick Rocket Raccoon! He’s one of mine!
For Marvel: Wood-God, Howard the Duck, the Wolf Pack and Rintrah. Bring back the green minotaur apprentice Quesada!
DC: I was a big Max Lord fan until they made him into a fucking sociopath. And Detective Chimp. Because he’s a detective and a chimp. All the talking gorillas. But especially Mallah. Because he’s not just a talking gorilla. And not just a French talking gorilla. But a GAY French talking gorilla. With a machine gun. Stupid fucking pointless “Salvation Run”…
I really don’t think that Cloak and Dagger are that obscure anymore, though. They’ve had their moments, and they played a decent part in the Civil War run. I feel like most people are familiar with them, anyway.
In terms of obscure characters I enjoyed almost all of the ones who died to the Punisher in Civil War. Radioactive Man I liked a lot, what with him being a Chinese national and all that.
Would like to see more Asians in comics, personally.
The think the Legion of Super-Heroes is the best book for them and the 1989 5 years later Legion made great use of the whole universe of them.
We had Legion rejectee Antena Lad as a news caster, Polar Boy as an imprisoned activist, Matter Eater Lad in some classic humor issues.
Y’know the Legion really doesn’t have a star, there’s no one, two, or three characters I’d consider essential to it and certainly no break out hits like Wolverine. The Legion really is the successful sum of all its obscure characters.
If you venture outside comics, Wedge Antilles seems like the platonic ideal.
I collected all of Rex’s appearances ever, nuff said.
I really liked Jesse Quick before she was turned into a Stepford Wife. She was a legacy hero of a B-list golden age character back before DC started giving every character that was older than 20 years a legacy.
I’ve always been a big fan of the Shocker, for basically the same reasons you list for the Constrictor. He knows he has pretty crappy powers, and he’s probably never going to beat Spider-Man (or anyone else), but dammit, this is basically his only job skill at this point.
Most of the comics I’m currently reading focus heavily on the B-, C-, and D-listers of the DC and Marvel universes. Agents of Atlas, Guardians of the Galaxy, Secret Six, S.H.I.E.L.D. I find myself drawn more to team books then solo series.
@LurkerWithout: Mallah and the Brain are my default requests when getting sketches (which has only happened once, but at least I know who to ask for in the future).
Captain Americat – he combines two of my favoritest things…superheroes and cats!
Hey, can we include characters from cartoons and/or fanboy-friendly TV shows?
If so, I’d like to nominate the Cabbage Merchant and Hysterical Foaming Guy from “AVATAR: The Last Airbender.”
Gadget Hackwrench from Chip’n’Dale Rescue Rangers. I’d like to write her own comic series, along with some other female Disney Afternoon characters.
Oh, I’ve got a ton, though I’m not sure how obscure they all are anymore as most of them have seen ink again recently but here we go:
Flamebird (Bette Kane)
Duela Dent
Lady Shiva
Cloak
Dagger
Silver Sable
Jesse Quick
Mogo, Arisia, Katma Tui, Leezle Pon, Stel, … Hell, pretty much ANY current Green Lantern who isn’t from Earth.
Before Blackest Night, I would have had Nekron on my list because no one else seemed to remember the guy…
Hector, Woodsworth and Mongo from Heathcliff!
It’s all about the minor leagues for me. You’ve already mentioned Taskmaster and Rocket Raccoon. Other winners that pop into mind are Moon Knight, Grace Choi, Shroud, and Kid Eternity.
I’d also pay top dollar for a Marauders graphic novel.
Does Hugo Strange still count as obscure? Because I love that gloriously crazy-pants professor for his appearances in Englehart/Rogers’ run, as well as Moench/Gulacy’s BATMAN: PREY, which is bizarrely still out of print.
I’m not sure you can call Gadget obscure – she was a lead on the TV show.
Also, it’s funny to have all these characters who feature in team books that currently (or at least through the beginning of the year) are being published)
For all of the mess that Cry For Justice/Rise of Arsenal/Fall of Green Arrow have caused, I like that it’s raised the profile of the Electrocutioner (and I’m hoping he doesn’t get killed off.)
Yes, I know I like him just because he’s named Electrocutioner. But it’s a good comic book name.
Also, the Spot. Great visual, and in terms of sheer power he’s probably one of the five most powerful Spiderman villains. But he also doesn’t have a lick of common sense to go with that power, which is part of why I like him.
I’ve noticed that writers today are a) less willing to create new villains and b) less willing to dig up old B-C-D-Listers just as a quick throwaway issue — the comic equivalent of a “wandering monster”. It’s too bad — the value of the “throwaway villain encounter” is one of many lessons that Batman: the Brave and the Bold has demonstrated so well.
Nowadays, if someone dredges up an obscure character, they’re going to Push Them Into the Limelight By Making Them A Key Player In an Epic Storyline.
Grant Morrison’s the Patron Saint of this, of course, and has been since he took one of the “Forgotten Heroes” and turned him into a lynchpin of the Vertigo line. Oddly, he’s also the only one who’s shown any willingness to come up with new Bat-Villains, rather than recycling the Usual Suspects over and over until Two-Face and the Riddler get more panels in any given Bat-Book than Commissioner Gordon.
I think most writers today are INTIMIDATED. They feel like EVERY new villain they create must IMMEDIATELY be able to stand next to the likes of The Joker or Kneel-Before-Zod, and try to push them into epic storylines right off the bat.
Nobody appreciates that those enduring, memorable characters emerged from a process that was, in its essence, “let’s throw this against the wall and see what sticks”.
Forgive me for going to the manga well, but: One Piece. That’s it, no need to name specific characters, just the whole thing.
Razorback, Razorback, does whatever a Razorback does.
He’s a 6’8 trucker with a bear gut and a gigantic pig’s head that shocks people! I keep waiting for the mutant trucker to show up in Fraction’s X-Men, but so far, no luck.
Also the Shocker. I liked his professional attitude.
I always think that Sasquatch should be given more play. I mean, he’s just intimidating. Like to everyone, except MAYBE Tony Stark. He’s a brilliant superhero genius, smart enough to keep up with Bruce Banner, but he also was a jock and a NFL linebacker.
There’s this one fairly C-List character I love so, so much. He’s a wisecracking mercenary with a healing factor and a whole ton of insanity. His name is Deadpool, and he might be the most refreshing character in the Marvel Universe right now.
Don’t you miss the days when you could say that?
In seriousness, I like X-Factor and especially Layla Miller. Also, for me, Ultimate Spider-Man needs Kong, who’s much more interesting and entertaining than any of his other (non-super-powered) supporting characters.
There are just so many great characters to choose from.
The second Spider-Woman
The Answer
The Foreigner (when done right)
Deb Whitman
I was absurdly fond of Rocket Red in the JLE book, I liked his accent and mannerisms and the fact he had a family. Animal Man did as well but he had his own series so..
Metamorpho I think should get a bigger share of the limelight too, really he’s awesome : unique look, cool and interesting powers and a crazy backstory. Did they ever resolve anything about his son and his powers ?
Silver Sorceress I liked as well, mainly as the costume was daft, but she showed how to be a proper hero in the end. *Sniffs*
Timber Wolf was my joint favourite of the LOS, I was one of the 7 people who bought his mini series back in the Giffen/Bierbaum run, when he wound up in the 20thC. AND I REGRET NOTHING !
The Enforcers- because every superhero needs some non-super villians to measure himself against.
Batroc the Leaper. Because he is “Ze Leeep-pier!”
My prayers were already answered when the dude in those Charles Atlas advertisements was turned into “FLEX MENTALLO: Man of Muscle Mystery!” by Grant Morrison.
DC: Definitely agree on Hawk (Hank Hall) & Dove (Dawn Granger), and I also must say that I really loved their foil Barter and Dawn’s boyfriend, detective Sal Arsala. He seemed to operate in ways that differed from those of more traditional villains (I also was intrigued by the ultimately unanswered question what his motivation was).
Is Arrowette obscure enough? I really liked how she stopped being a superhero for a very valid reason and stuck by that decision.
Marvel: Love for Squirrel Girl and Kong from me also. Is Val Cooper obscure enough? I found her quite fascinating in a number of stories, especially as she was not built up as a “magic” or “pivotal” character. Also some love interests that seem to have fallen by the wayside, such as Captain America’s fiancee Bernie Rosenthal, Trish Tilby, and Morgana Blessing. Not to mention the late Destiny (Mystique’s life-partner and one of Rogue’s two adoptive mommies). And whatever happened to Marlo Chandler? She’s led quite an eventful romantic life (she’s the Hulk’s and Moondragon’s ex-lover as well as Rick Jones’s wife), and yet she still exudes this air of innocence that you (and her various (ex-)lovers) can’t help to continue to find her lovable.
Other publishers: Casey from “Strangers in Paradise” – although towards the end of the series she became quite pivotal. There are quite a few characters from “Usagi Yojimbo” I really like to see again when they show up again, e.g. Zato-Ino, Tomoe Ame and Kenichi.
Quasar was like my favorite hero when I was a kid (though I’m still not entirely sure why.) Darkhawk’s another (sorta) obscure character I love.
And I have to agree about most of the non-earth GLC. Salaak and Tomar-Re probably top that list for me.
And yes, Taskmaster is totally awesome (as is Constrictor.)
Thundra and her Grapplers!
Letha, Poundcakes, Screaming Mimi, and Titania!
For me, it’d have to be Sapper, the alien cyborg who fought Ms. Marvel once in the 70’s, and then popped up in Iron Man 20 years later. Of course, that’s just because he’s named after me.
Acroyear from the Micronauts series Marvel published in the 80s. He was everything Worf from TNG wanted to be when he grew up.
Flapjacks
I forgot Mantis, because I forget she’s not a top-tier character for most people.
Well, my favorite comic book character is Elongated Man. I have a complete run of Sleepwalker, and I’m working on Thunderstrike and ROM Spaceknight.
I particularly like the idea of C-list villains as blue collar working stiffs hanging out in bars and bitching about the heros. It makes me inexplicably happy to think of a bunch of guys in costume nursing beers and betting on how long it’ll take Spider-man to nail the Shocker this time.
Lithera, thank you so much for mentioning my all-time favorite comic book character, Bette Kane, better known as the worthwhile Flamebird (suck on that, Jimmy Olsen).
Seriously, this is someone who got into superheroing because of a crush on Dick Grayson. She’s fun, ridiculous, witty, and charming. She’s got a great costume and cool gadgets, and her struggle for acknowledgment and respect is one of the most human, identifiable quests I’ve seen in superhero comics. Like, if comics were read mostly by normal human beings with standards and taste, she’d be a great idiosyncratic, tragicomic hero.
Bette Kane is the one character who Geoff Johns wrote as resistant to moping. That is how awesome Flamebird is.
@lance: Rex the Mother Fucking Wonder Dog’s a *C* lister?! LIES!
I third or fourth the Shocker. I didn’t count to carefully. I’ve always loved him. His appearances in Ultimate Spider-Man were always funny, and I love his normal continuity costume. The fact that it’s essentially a just a bunch of yellow quilt patches has always amused me. And who doesn’t love a guy who can punch you from across the street?!
I enjoy USAgent. People seem, though, to forget that he actually has super-strength and that he’s not just a normal guy; he tends to get his ass kicked more than I think he ought. It’s been neat seeing him in a bunch of the books lately.
I like Nuke. He was cool in Thunderbolts there.
My favorite characters in most comic universes tend to be the ones that are seen as “lame”. It’s true for heroes because the writers have more freedom to do things with them. It’s true for villains because I just find that I care a whole lot more about the Shocker than I do about Dr Doom.
I love the obscure, the weird, and the forgotten characters, the C- and D-Listers, the ones with the half-page entry in the Who’s Who or Official Handbooks. Gimme American Eagle, Defensor, Bliztkrieg, Talisman and Shamrock from the original Contest of Champions. Gimme Yellow Peri or Captain Strong from the pre-Crisis Superman days. Gimme those wacky Communist villains Hank Pym and Iron man fought.
I was morbidly pleased to see Lois London return from obscurity, and dismayed when Ariel of the Fallen Angels came back from limbo just to promptly die. And the high point of this week was seeing an entry in the Official Handbook update for the one-shot government X-Force from the Cloak and Dagger ongoing series.
I like these weirdo characters with a mere handful of appearances, because they have so much story to tell… and in the right hands, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Catman, Gravity, Razorback, the Spot, and so on can be AWESOME.
I’ve got a weird soft spot for Baron Von Blitzschlag–such a loveable Nazi!–and Judge Kray-Tor, simply because JESUS, WILL YOU LOOK AT HIM:
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/kraytr21.gif
The android Hourman, Resurrection Man, the Body Doubles, Zinda Blake, The Monolith (and Alice & Tilt, of course), Fadeaway Man, Zauriel…
I personally adore Tabitha Smith. Aka Boomer, Boom Boom, Meltdown etc.
Sure, Warren Ellis brought her back for a bit. But you don’t make it through X-Force and a series with talking Lobsters without being seriously D list material.
AND I love her even so.
I think everyone that reads comics for any length of time collects a bunch of lower tier characters that they love; especially when for the last three or four decades, the big two have kept making an incessant parade of team books that tend to not last all that long.
So, ones I like?
Quite a few of the Alpha Flight folks, like Sasquatch and Madison Jeffries (who may be back in regular appearances again now, but they keep fucking writing his damn power wrong! Why does he ever need to run from a damn robot, Fraction?!)
The Red Trinity/Kapitalist Kouriers.
Volstagg’s daughter Hildegarde/Hildy.
Jack Monroe/Nomad.
The Green Cigarette.
Radu.
I like Darkdevil, even though his origin is kind of stupid.
Bibbo, who outside of one lame cameo of leaking exposition to Atlas has not been seen in years.
“A space knight like Rom, consume planets like Unicron, Blasting photon bombs from the arm like Galvatron…”
Oh man, how could I forget Rom? Rom was the reason I got into comics! That and Shogun Warriors. Rom was also the reason I started reading X-Men, after their guest appearance. I was like “Oh, these guys are kind of cool. I like the guy with the claws.” 🙂
Rom and the U-Foes.
I love the Flash Rogues, and my particular favourites are some of the lesser-loved ones: the Top, Golden Glider, and Rainbow Raider.
True Lia, there are few Rogues loved less than ol’ Roy G. Bivalo. 😉
I love Fight Man
Extrano, dammit. Potential sorcerer supreme of the DCU, and flamingly gay. Tell me you can’t turn THAT concept into a great book.
Prez. ‘Cause the president of the USA in the DCU SHOULD have wacky adventures and a Chief of Staff who doesn’t wear a shirt.
Jamm. No, that’s not right. I hate Jamm.
@ Lithera
One of my favorite rarely-used but once Green Lanterns is Adam. http://greenlantern.wikia.com/wiki/Adam_%28Space_Sector_1055%29
I also love the Shocker and I’d recommend an excellent fanfic I found called “Legit” about him. It’s rated R, but it’s pretty good.
For DC gimme Ultra Boy. I think he’d work in modern times, maybe hook up with the new Terra or Power Girl.
I also like Gypsy.
But the bad guy I’d really love to see get revamped and made a serious threat is Typhoon. He designed submersible craft-he must be smart! And he’s damn powerful, enough to take on Firestorm. Make him a big-name threat, unimpressed by, say, the Joker or Luthor (what can they do to him?). Or give him a face turn in the JSA.
Might not be obscure enough, but…
Beta Ray Bill. He’s alien cyborg horseface Thor!
And he’s a good character aside from that. Noble as all get out without being a stuffed shirt, went through hell in more ways then one and doesn’t talk about it to avoid burdening others, and he has a cool talking spaceship.
On the opposite end of the moral spectrum, Death’s Head. If he hadn’t been 90s’d up (and cripes, why would you 90s up an amoral freaky looking robot “Freelance peacekeeping agent” who solves his problems with gigantic firearms? He’s 90s enough already!) I honestly think he coulda stolen some of the thunder that Deadpool got.
And John? What do you think of the stuff Dan Slott did with the Constrictor? Interesting little arc.
Joel – I love Bette. I love her so very much. I think she’s a lot of fun and was thrilled when Rucka had her in his Detective run with Kate.
@Sofa King – I like Adam! He was a very interesting idea. I also like Anya Savenlovich – http://greenlantern.wikia.com/wiki/Anya_Savenlovich
Batroc, always Batroc. You gotta love a guy whose power is ‘leaping’ tangling with super soldiers and physical gods. Pyro too, who I felt was underused and I’m hoping will make a come back after the Necrosha zombie ambiguity. On the hero side I’ve gotta say Everret K Ross from Black Panther, Gyrich’s good guy counter-part, really miss that guy.
Gnosis, you shall not slam Roy G(oddamn) Bivolo!!! He will once again terrorize the DCU!
On the Vertigo front Chas from Hellblazer, Hob Gadling from Sandman, and Mary from Transmetroolitan.
Hey, wait, with Lanterns-of-Various-Colors being so important, now, wouldn’t that make Roy G. Bivolo some kind of earthbound god?
You’d think so, Burke…but alas, he’s dead now 🙁
Mattie Franklin AKA Spider-Woman (RIP) 🙁
Dove
Cheshire
Argent
Secret 🙁
Agent Liberty
Detective Nate Patton
Josie McDonald
Looker
Tempo
Vertigo
…wait, wait, wait. There was a massive, whole-company crossover with the dead coming back to life, where color-based powers were the most important thing, and the dead guy who does color didn’t come back? What the hell, DC?
Mattie Franklin is dead? I thought she was just captured and tortured by the Kravenovs. I guess I need to look through those recent issues again.
Obscurity, thy name is Vext. That would be Keith Giffen’s titular hero of a six-issue mini from 1999 (DC).
From Wikipedia:
“Vext is a god from the Jejune Realm (also known as the Borough of Mawkish Indifference) in the Pan-Dimensional Pantheons. He is the “patron deity of mishap and misfortune,” and true to that appellation, his world was phased out of existence because he and the other deities there were no longer actively worshiped by mankind. From childhood, he has been beset by misfortune, and even visited the Garden of Eden and accidentally caused the Fall of Man and the sinking of the RMS Titanic.”
Funny stuff.
Burke: Oh, no. He came back. He just didn’t do anything. Well… anything but get his ass kicked by the Rogues.
How can no one have mentioned Marvel’s White Rabbit? (Well, the DeMatteis version, anyway.)
I’ve never read anything with him in it, but I’ve always been inexplicably fond of Speed Demon, the occasional Spider-Man foe. I think it’s entirely down to the name and snappy costume.
Burke: As SomeGuy says, he did come back, but wasn’t resurrected at the end of Blackest Night and is thus still dead.
Actually he didn’t do too badly for himself during BN…for what little we saw of him. He didn’t do much.
Raider did look pretty boss as a Black Lantern though. And while I’m not a fan of the character, I would ahve taken Roy coming back over Captain fricking Boomerang any day.
And Speed Demon is a great character. Nicezia did some fun stuff with him during the post-Disassembled T-Bolts run. I loved how he was doing heroic stuff as Speed Demon (well, kinda) but at the same time comitting robberies using his old Whizzer getup (and actually helping to fund the T-Bolts at the time.)
And speaking of T-Bolts from that brief era, the Blizzard (the second one) is another great hapless loser-type villain.
Oooh i forgot to add Armor from the X-men.
I think she’s awesome.
And Laira and Kreon, the Green Lanterns. Of course both dead now so that Johns can bring back his “Ossum DC universe from 30 years ago when i was 12 and it was ossum!”
Boo to you Johns. Boo to you.
Two of my favorite comics when I was younger were Avengers West Coast and Alpha Flight. This was partly due to the fact that I could find back-issues in quarter-bins very easily, but it was also because of the random and obscure characters that cropped up.
One of my all-time favorites? USAgent. Just a complete dick to anyone and everyone, but still so committed to being a big damn hero. I love it whenever he shows up.
All of my favorite C-list characters are dead. 🙁
That beind said, why the hell hasn’t anyone aged up the Power Pack already? And I’m not talking about the leotarded “I thought that it’s be funny to keep her in her original costume because I’d be able to see her belly button(*)”-rendition of Julie Power, I want the whole group!
(*)That’s not a joke. Thanks, Wizard, for saving me a lot of money on comic books! If I hadn’t read that interview, I might have bought the damned thing.
@Sofa King, I didn’t intend to sit here tonight reading a novel online. You said fanfic, I thought short story. Despite that, I want to thank you for bringing “The Shocker: Legit” to my attention. I found it to be a very satisfying read.
Chemical King from the Legion of Superheroes. He’s obscure to near non-existence, and in his few appearances, was acutely aware that he was a D-lister. You always felt bad for the guy.
I always like The Living Laser, since he’s just trying to figure out how his personality got stuck in a semi-cohere assemblege of photons. And, he get cast as a villian, but he’s really no more amoral than Tony Stark when you get down to it.
Also: Wild Thing, not the 5th generation Wolverine knock-off, the virtual reality character who part of the weird Marvel UK line that included Death’s Head.
I’m not sure who I’d include on the DC side. I like Harvey Bullock as a supporting character for Batman, but I don’t think that counts as obscure. The guys in the Posse seemed pretty interesting.