Favorite Comic Character, Team, Book, or Universe

[Brian]

Although I haven't really gotten any new comics since the very early 90s, I have dug out my old ones every so often, and do sometimes have the urge to get into the comics again.  Some of them still have the nostalgia factor much the way Star Wars does with me.  I can still remember my first comic (Spiderman) that my dad bought for me to read during a long trip out to a vacation.  I guess I credit some of the recent comic movies, as well as action figures, with rekindling my comic interest as well.  There are so many more titles or variations on certain characters and teams now that weren't there when I was a kid and buying comics.  Anyways, I was curious what some of your favorites are, or were.  For me personally, I tend to still favor the same ones I did as a kid...which I suppose aren't the most original ones in the world .  For me it has been these (past and present):

X-Men: When I was a kid, had mainly the "Uncanny X-Men" comics.  Wolverine was one of my early favorites, but got away from him a little bit because everyone liked him it seemed.  My other favorites, then and now, are Beast, Iceman, and Colossus.  The movies and the Marvel Legends figures really got my interested in these characters again.  I have been tempted to pick up one of the comics, but know absolutely nothing about the current titles...what is good...or what characters are included in each.  Plus, I already collect toys...I doubt my wife would be crazy if I added comics in too .

Spiderman: Again, probably not real original, but this was another big favorite of mine as a kid.  I remember really liking the "Spiderman and his Amazing Friends" cartoon that was on back in the day (and ABC Family had it back on for awhile during the movie craze).  This is probably what I had the most comics of, ranging from just plain Spiderman to Amazing, Spectacular, and "Web of".  I also remember my Secret Wars Spidey figure getting a lot of play back then too.  I enjoyed the first movie as well, although I wasn't crazy about the Goblin's look...really looking forward to Doc Ock in Spidey 2.

Batman: Really the only DC character I got into much as a kid.  Bats has always been a favorite of mine, and I still enjoy catching the animated series, Justice League, etc. when it is on.  Had quite a few of the comics, and a couple of TPBs as well.  Also had his "Super Powers" figure, as well as others from that line.  I enjoyed the first couple of movies, but they went downhill from there.  Looking forward to the new one next year, hopefully they do it up right.

Those were basically the main three for me, but as I said I also had a number of the "Super Powers" and "Secret Wars" figures as a kid.  I really enjoyed the "Super Friends" show as well, and is probably why I enjoy Justice League today.  Basically, my comics back then consisted of X-Men, Spidey, and Bats....but I also had a fair amount of Iron Man comics, a couple Hulk ones, as well as some Wolverine ones.  I remember my mom letting me get a comic at the local drug store after I had been to the doctor or dentist as a kid.  Overall, I would say that the Marvel Universe is my favorite.  I do like some DC Characters (Bats, of course, as well as many who appeared on the Justice League team)...but overall I am more familiar with the Marvel Universe characters.  What are some of your faves?

[Mikey D]

Character:  Spiderman.  Spidey was what got me into comics and he's been my favorite ever since

Team:  Back in the day, it was X related, but now not so much.  In fact the only X book I currently get is New Mutants.  Right now, my favorite team is probably Teen Titans.

Book:  Right now, Ultimate Spiderman but Savage Dragon has been on my pull list since day one.  Larsen has put out a top notch book for 110+ issues.  The recent issues have been going back to what got me hooked:  Dragon beating the piss, snot and everything else out of crazy, funky ass villians.

Universe:  I've always been a Marvel fan and supporter, but have recently gotten into DC.  Right now and not counting Marvel's Ultimate titles, DC is probably it.  JSA, Hawkman, Teen Titans and the Outsiders are top quality books month after month and keep reeling me back in.  And notice how their not the big wigs like Superman or Batman.  The work done on DC's "second tier" heroes is amazing.

[Scott]

I think I've said how I got into comics back in the mid-80's before but here's a recap:  My good friend started reading Spider-Man comics and then the Secret Wars.  He gave me a few issues of the Secret Wars and I was hooked.  I got the whole run and fell in love with Captain America.  He was their leader, he didn't have a ton of special powers he was just cool.  So...

Character: Captain America I was way into his book after reading the Secret Wars.  Starting with around issue 300 through around the time he was forced to leave and had to give up being Captain America to the Patriot.  So a good 5-6 years.  His affiliation with his team got me into...

Team: The Avengers  I didn't start reading this book for a few years.  For some reason I never got into the whole X thing which was just starting to really bloom at that time (X-Factor, Excalibur, New Mutants etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc)  I had a pretty nice run of Avengers comics too, some great multi part stories...

I'm pretty rare methinks that I never really got into the Spider titles or the X titles at all.  Even though Spider-Man was everywhere (vitamins, cartoon, Electric Company etc) I just never was really interested in him.  The X thing is harder to explain...probably a lack of funds and only being able to buy 2-3 comics per month on my paltry allowance

I sold my whole box of them to buy baseball cards in the early 90's.  And so recently through the magic of eBay bought a bunch of these comics for really cheap ($0.10-$0.50 an issue) good stuff all around and has really been a trip down memory lane

Never was into DC, I sorta got into Batman when the movie came out (89) but I never read any of the books.  One of my other childhood friends was into it and we always got into long discussions as to who was better...Make Mine Marvel baby!

[Morgbug]

Marvel here too please.  

Character Spiderman hands down, no question.  I related well to Peter Parker and for some twisted reason always approved of his morality.  Doing what's right is very appealing to me, though the darkside has easily encroached with age and less youthful optimism.  The villains were cool, his powers were cool, the chicks were hot (black cat, MJ, Gwen Stacey) without being drawn to resemble that Anderson whore (well, when I was buying them anyway).  She-Hulk   would be a close second.  Bats would win in DC.  

Team  Tougher.  An incarnation of one of the X-teams.  I never really snagged onto the Avengers, East or West Coast.  Of the two I liked WCA better, probably due to being a big hawkeye fan.  Gotta love bow and arrow stuff.  The draw though for the X-teams was more Wolverine than the other characters.  Pretty isolated to have a Canadian superhero so that nationalistic appeal was there, particularly since he didn't suck as bad as Alpha Flight (pun can be intended if you want).  

[Famine]

Hero: Tie. Spider-Man and Superman. They are my all time favorites, and no one shall change that!

Kevin

[Brian]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I enjoy seeing your faves and opinions from the comic world too.  I remember really enjoying the comics as a kid, but like I said earlier, I think the last time I bought one was around 90-91ish.  I have gone back and forth and thought about subscribing to one or two, or just picking them up, but I'm not sure if I will do that or not.  I'm waaaay out of it as far as storylines, etc. go, and I'd have to start fresh I think.  I've heard basically nothing but good things about Ultimate Spider-man, so that was one I considered...as well as an X-Men comic (maybe Ultimate X-Men?, I don't know which is the best).  Then, of course, there's always the Star Wars comics too.  Thanks for posting everyone, its always fun to learn more about everyone's favorites....past or present.

[Mikey D]

Brian, if you're even remotely interested in USM, I suggest picking up the first TPB.  You won't be disappointed - the writing and art are top notch.  After that, take your time buying the next 6 TPBs, which should get you fairly close to the current issue (55 came out last week).

[Brian]

Thanks for the recommendation Mikey, I might have to see if I can pick that up.  I've always been a Spidey fan, and from what I hear, this is the best comic of the character.  I'm also an X-Fan, but I'm not sure which comic is the "best" out there right now.  When I was reading, I mainly read Uncanny (years ago...)...but I know there are several versions now (Uncanny, Ultimate, New).  It is hard to keep track of them all.  I don't even know if my favorite characters (Beast, Iceman...as well as Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, etc.) are in the same comics anymore.  I have also heard that Colossus is no longer around, except in alternate universes.  Anyways, thanks for the recommendations, I appreciate it because I really know little to nothing about comics anymore.  And, when I was younger, it was basically just the faves....X-Men, Spidey, Batman, and Justice League/Super Friends...although I do remember having some of those "Marvel Cards" that helped me learn a little more about other Marvel Characters.  I don't know how crazy my wife would be about my buying comics anyways...and I do already collect "toys" I guess ...but I did enjoy reading the comics that came with my Legends figures, so that's a start .

[Brian]

I guess I do now see that the site UncannyXmen.net has some summaries of some of the X-Comics out there right now, as well as team rosters.  It is hard to keep up anymore with all the different X-Men characters, teams, comics, etc.  Might be better off sticking to Spidey or Bats  

[Brian]

Maybe a little off topic...but I wasn't sure where else to post this.  Did any of you ever collect the old Marvel cards?  My wife and I were cleaning/organizing a back closet and I found a box of these.  I used to be big into both baseball/football/basketball card collecting, and comics around the same time, and I have a fair amount of these cards from 1990 and 1991.  I still kind of enjoy looking through them, helps me to learn more about several Marvel characters/teams that I don't know as well.  I must have bought quite a few, I have a lot of doubles and triples .  Anyways, just wondering if any of you had/have these?

[Mikey D]

Got them all. They're somewhere at my grandparents' house just waiting for me to grab them and go through them.

[Brian]

Thought maybe this thread could be used to discuss anything else comic-related as well....for those of you that read comics, the comic-related movies, figures and toys, etc.  Anything you want to discuss.

As far as comics, after the advice of Mikey here, I have started to read Ultimate Spider-Man.  This is the first time I've read comics since the very early 90s, and I have not been disappointed.  Spidey has always been my favorite (past and present), and I think this is an excellent take on him.  Plus, I missed out on so much of the other Spidey books, so I'd be so out of it story-wise, its kind of nice to start fresh.  For now its just Ultimate Spider-Man, but I've been thinking about picking up another Spidey title, or perhaps an X-Men one as well in the future (I think there is a re-launch coming up soon).  Anyone else want to chime in on what they read, or what they used to read, or anything else?

[Darby]

Fav. Character: Spider-Man (close second: Batman)

Fav. Team: X-Men (Claremont 80's X-Men)

[Brian]

Been revisiting my old Batman comics recently, and been getting a little more involved in the world of the Dark Knight.  I tend to stick to the characters I followed most as a kid, as far as comics go, and for me it has always been Spidey and Bats, 1 and 1a in my book.  Outside of Batman, I never really read too many DC Comics, although I don't have problems with their characters either (Superman, Green Lantern, any Justice League characters are cool with me too).  It does seem that DC has done a better job overall of bringing their characters to the small screen (shows like Smallville, Justice League (Unlimited), Batman: The Animated Series, etc.), but Marvel has all but dominated the big screen offerings.  That said however, outside of a certain Star Wars movie, Batman Begins is definitely my most anticipated movie coming up.  I'll definitely be checking out that Fantastic Four movie as well.

Anyways, if anyone else has additional comments as to their favorite characters/teams, etc., feel free to post them.  Its always fun to see who other people enjoy, and why.

1. Batman
1a. Spider-Man
2. X-Men (favorites past and present have been Beast, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Cyclops)
3. Justice League/Super Friends, etc. (outside of Bats, I like Superman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Hawk and Dove, Captain Atom, pretty much the whole team is pretty neat.)
4. Avengers (I was most into Iron Man as a kid, but always like Captain America too.  I don't know much about Hawkeye, but I think he seems/looks like a cool character....unfortunate what has recently happened, at least according to what I have read here)
5. Fantastic Four (I never really read their comic specifically, but they appeared in various other places.  Seems like a comic/team I could get into though, looking forward to the movie)

There are others that are neat as well, but these are the ones I can think of most prominently off hand.  I think if I had a little more disposable income, I could get into reading comics more now than I currently do.  I pick up a couple of Spidey comics (Amazing, Ultimate) now and then, and I'm looking into some Batman ones as well now (might start off with Superman/Batman actually).  The "Avengers Disassembled" storyline seems kind of neat too, and I was tempted to pick it up...but ended up passing.  I've also been looking at Star Wars: Empire, but unfortunately couldn't find it at the local comic shop when I stopped in.

[SPIDERLEGS]

1. Spider Jerusalem
2. John Constantine
3. Jesse Custer
4. The Midnighter
5. Death/Dream (tie)