Comic Book Resources

Alan & Molly Scott over Jay & Joan Garrick?!

Molly Scott appears almost never, while Joan has appeared semi-regularly in Flash, JSA, and Impulse for years.

Agreed about Jay and Joan. Also, why do you call Flash and his wife just "background characters?" I don't get it. And why would that apply to him, but not to Alan Scott and his wife or Elongated Man and his wife?

Peter B Parker and Mary-Jane Watson Parker.

Don't even think about it, Quesada.

What about Donna Troy and Terry Long in the New Teen Titans # 50 (1st series by Wolfman and Perez)?

That one was pretty good.

I agree with Anthony and T. In recent years, we've seen a fair amount of Joan in Flash, Impulse and JSA comics, but Molly never appears in Green Lantern or JSA — to the point that, when you listed her and Alan, I wondered, "Wow, she's still alive?" Meanwhile, the Garricks are like Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward of the superhero set: Still together, going strong, and prominent for their age. I suppose Molly's got a more interesting back story (as Harlequin) than Joan does, but still ...

^I'm with Matthew on this one.

To the Parker couple, I'd also add Wally and Linda West, and (so surprised it wasn't mentioned) Clark Kent and his lovely wife Lois Lane, who kept her own name. These were all well-developed, naturalistic, good couples who've continued to be written well after their marriage, both as couples and as individuals in their own right.

Is it really a good marriage if Sue finds out she's been "married" to a Skrull imposter since the Kree-Skrull War?

Just sayin'.

~P~
P-TOR

I'd put Vision and Wanda on the list somewhere.

Iron Man is married to the Law.

And the bottle....

but mostly the Law.

It's not as old as any of the top five, but Lois and Clark have been married for 10+ years now and they're going very strong.

No love for Storm and Black Panther, huh?

Anyone?

Anyone...?

What about Donna Troy and Terry Long in the New Teen Titans # 50 (1st series by Wolfman and Perez)?

That was put on the "worst" marriages list. Brian is apparently a prude. He objected to the age difference between the characters.

C'mon, how could you NOT put Wally & Linda West on there? Besides being the most prominent interracial marriage I can think of in superhero comics, she's proven to be every bit as capable a partner as he has. Heck, when it looked like he might disappear forever, she grabbed hold of the twins and went along for the ride without even hesitating.

Now that I think about it, I don't even know what Alan Scott's wife looks like...

And the Reed/Sue marriage I've seen questioned plenty of times. They've never seemed like a natural pair to me, something enforced by Sue's constant dablings with Namor and the couple's occasional seperations, like during the recent Civil War. Heck, the Venture Brothers cartoon did a great job of showing why the two would NEVER work...

Terry Long is just creepy.

Donna Troy and Terry Long had one of the top super-hero weddings, but not one of the best marriages.

I don't know, there's alot of May-December romances/marriages out there.

Look at Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.

The late Anna Nicole-Smith and her late husband.

The actress Mena Suarvi and her 40-something director hubby.

All bad examples, of course, but really, who cares as long as they're happy. Hmmm?

If I remember correctly, Brian's beef with the Troy/Long marriage was not so much the age thing, but the fact that he was her teacher.

Sorry, Terry Long is creepy, flirts with Starfire and his students, looks like a granola eating wimp and is an all-around douche. My theory is that Terry Long is the element that first slowed down the New Teen Titans sales juggernaut and allowed X-Men to take the lead once and for all.

True story, as a kid I kept hearing how great New Teen Titans was. First issue I tried unfortunately had Terry Long in it. As a young child, I actually said "Wait, she's married to HIM?! What kind of book is THIS!?" I was sincerely disturbed and never tried it again. People just weren't allowed to look so overtly douchish in Marvel books, and I was Marvel exclusive from that point on until DKR came out. I suspect I wasn't alone.

I love you, Croninbert.

But I'm a sucker for Dibny appreciation.

No Peter and MJ makes me sad. Especially when they got shafted for boring JSA marriages.

Perhaps good marraiges need more than a top 5. Linda and Wally, Clark and Lois, Peter and MJ are all good marriages and rank right up there. Also what about earth 2 Batman and Catwoman?

And surely there must be a few more good marraiges outside of DC?

I'm with Matthew on this one, too.

Vision and Wanda is one of the STUPIDEST superhero marriages ever!

I mean, come on people, he's a freakin' ROBOT! Does he even HAVE man bits? It's just creepy.

And there's no WAY they could ever have had kids. NO WAY!!

Terry and Donna's wedding was really creepy. And they never seemed to really get along with each other. Not that they fought, but they were always emotionally distant one from the other.

where are the props for aquaman and mera?

that was the first time a headlining hero got married on-panel, never mind the reed-and-sue-come-latelies.

Just wanted to point out, I don't think the age difference alone is the reason why Brian feels that Terry Long makes for a sucky comic book husband. After all, the age difference is even more dramatic between Reed Richards and Sue Storm if you reread the Lee/Kirby tales, yet Brian ranked them among the best marriages! It's just that Reed doesn't have a creepy porn star beard combined with a douchetastic disco whiteguy fro. Reed Richards is the antithesis to all things dorky. (Lee/Kirby Reed of course, not Mark Millar Reed)

Reed Richards is the antithesis to all things dorky. (Lee/Kirby Reed of course, not Mark Millar Reed)

That's still not right. Reed was always shown to be square.

How about Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad? Or Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel? Or Colossal Boy and Yera... actually, never mind that one.

What about Nexus and Sundra?

Wait, did they actually get married, or did they just have a kid together?

Joan Garrick has not only been around since the 1940s, she's been around since the very first Flash story ever published!

She appears in almost every Flash story during the 1940s, and while she and Jay have a somewhat ambiguous relationship on-panel -- it's never really made clear whether they're dating or just very good friends -- Joan has one advantage over nearly every super-hero love interest of the era: unlike Lois Lane or Steve Trevor (or Iris West, for that matter), she knew from the beginning that Jay was the Flash. That made Joan something more than Jay's co-star: she was at the very least a sidekick, and at best a partner.

I'd second Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. They are the only Legion couple so strong that they've been a twosome in every single Legion incarnation, even during that odd period during the pre-reboot Legionnaires when they tried to depict LL as a near-psychopath. They have a great dynamic with LL as the hotheaded and emotional guy paired with SG as smart and somewhat cold.

Next week: Top Five Good Things About Terry Long

Come on, you like a challenge, don't you? Since you can't use his appearance, his personality, his background or any of the stories he was in, force yourself to find five good things about the man...

oh, and PS: isn't Molly technically Alan's second supervillain wife? He was also with the Golden Age (Rose and) Thorn, right?

I can't believe that no one has mentioned one of my favorites:

Swamp Thing and Abby!
(at least back when Moore was writing them)

And I have to agree that the Vision and Scarlet Witch were always a lousey couple. But I'm also probably the only one who liked Wanda being with SImon Williams

Buddy and Ellen Baker from Animal Man!

That’s still not right. Reed was always shown to be square.

I disagree. He was more of a Doc Savage type, a combo of man of action/man of genius. He was never actually nerdy or square. If anything, he was annoyingly perfect: handsome, rugged. war hero, fought alongside Nick Fury, smoked a pipe, treated the other three like petulant children that he just humored...it was awesome.

Swamp Thing would definitely be on the list if I thought of him as a superhero.

Buddy and Ellen, though, that was just dumb on my part. They should be Top Five EASILY.

As for Wally and Linda - best MARRIAGE? No way. They were AWESOME under Waid and Loebs, but that was BEFORE they were married. They were fairly lame under Johns.

I'm in the Wanda and Vision camp. Their early relationship, in the first Avengers series starting at around 100, was well-done and led naturally to their marriage a few years later. They worked because they were both outsiders, both judged by on how others thought they were, rather than how they actually were. I don't care if the Vision was a synthezoid - you either accept him as a real character, or write him off entirely. Their marriage was fine, and it only started to become problematic when Byrne felt like he had to meddle with the status quo the only way he seems to know how to do, by breaking things. In this case, he broke the Vision, and then couldn't figure out how to put him back together again.

I mean, come on people, he’s a freakin’ ROBOT! Does he even HAVE man bits? It’s just creepy.

He either fathered children or made everyone think he did. I'd assume that means that he was, well, fully functional.

I liked the Vision/Scarlet Witch courtship a LOT, but the marriage, to me, was dullsville, USA.

Same with Clark and Lois (heck, they got dull as soon as they were engaged).

I mean, come on people, he’s a freakin’ ROBOT! Does he even HAVE man bits? It’s just creepy.

You can get USB everythings these days.

Maybe you should do a Top-Five Non-Superhero Marriages. Here, allow me.

5) Swamp Thing and Abby. Loses points for post-Moore retcons.

4) Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade(Star Wars: Union). And why not?

3) Katchoo and Francine(Strangers in Paradise). Okay, they're not really married(and legally can't be), but they may as well be.

2) Jesse and Tulip(Preacher). Again, if they aren't married, it's only a matter of time.

1) Bigby Wolf and Snow White(Fables). Finally, someone gets Happily-Ever-After right!

Ralph and Sue are only glancingly Nick and Nora. While they share the "brilliant, witty spouses who solve mysteries together, although ostensibly thanks to the husband's detective skill" thing, that misses a lot of what made Nick and Nora really spark. There's no constant, pointed barbs (lovingly!) flung at one another; no raging alcoholism; no utter bourgeousie shallowness (although I'll grant it for 1960s Sue). The Dibnys are only superficially similar to the Charles', I feel.

Both are fantastically fun couples, though!

I disagree. He was more of a Doc Savage type, a combo of man of action/man of genius. He was never actually nerdy or square. If anything, he was annoyingly perfect: handsome, rugged. war hero, fought alongside Nick Fury, smoked a pipe, treated the other three like petulant children that he just humored…it was awesome.

You're leaving out the parts where he babbles on about scientific jargon while the others fall asleep, the times that Sue wants to go out and he doesn't because he's got laboratory work to do, and all the shots of Reed staring into a microscope.

Y'all forgotten Bruce Banner and Betty Ross Banner. They're a good superhero married couple,too. I would put them in the level of Clark and Lois,Peter and Mary Jane, and Reed and Sue.

Anyone out there for Vindicator and Guardian?

[quote]Sorry, Terry Long is creepy, flirts with Starfire and his students, looks like a granola eating wimp and is an all-around douche.[/quote]
Which proves that you haven't read Teen Titans Spotlight 12 or Wonder Woman V2 47, 48 yet?

Wonder Woman on the Justice League is about to
become heterosexualized into the "little woman" by having her act like a starlet putting up with the brush off with Batman first Steve Trevor and now THIS?

Denial isn't always pretty in the comic book world.

Has anyone mentioned Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne? Really?

Has anyone mentioned Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne? Really?

Nope, thank goodness!

Oh, geez. Barda and Scott!

I'd call them number two, right behind Ralph and Sue.