Comic Book Resources

Finally Two-Face shows up. And Kilowag.

Kilowog! Yeah!

I think right-thinking people from both sides of the aisle can agree that James Gordon has earned, and should rightfully be referred to, the title of Commissioner.

Two-Face is the best Bat-Villain ever.

I can certainly understand Two-Face and Gordon getting a #1 vote, but Red Tornado is a surprise. I guess it’s a matter of being 12 at just the right time.

James Gordon in the Batman Year One story was the best comic book cop ever.
To me at least.

Was the #1 vote for Red Tornado from Brad Meltzer?

Lucifer was my #2. I was shocked he didn’t place along with the other vertigo characters like Dream, Death, Spider Jerusalem and Preacher.

Shocked, I tells you.

I’m not. I know who the other characters are but I have no clue who the Vertigo Lucifer is.

Finally Gordon shows up. The world makes sense again.

I’d be keenly interested to know how many entries there are on each list. I imagine DC’s is longer, just because I get the impression that they have so many more characters in their history.

Wow, a couple leftfield surprises for me on there, as I didn’t expect to see Lucifer or Red Tornado show up that high. And cheers for the Kilowog love!

I’ll agree with fourhworlder and go him one better. Batman: Year One may have been a very good Batman story but it was an excellent Jim Gordon story. Gordon and Alred came sooo close to making my top ten. IMO they are easily the two most interesting supporting characters in comics.

Kilowog is perhaps my least favorite “artificial promotion / continuity implant” character of all time.

That’s “Alfred” not “Alred” - although I like him, too.

I need the anti-Kilowog view expanded upon. I’m not interesting in flamewars. It is a fictional character. But I can’t wrap my head around someone disliking him. It’s like disliking Ben Grimm. He’s there primarily to be a likeable guy.

Kristen, I’ll cop to the fact that my anti-Kilowog sentiment is about 75% my own contrary nature and 25% the actual character. I always react negatively when I am presented by a character I’m “supposed” to like (Kitty Pryde, anyone?) Kilowog also figured prominently in the Giffen / DeMatteis era Justice League which I did not care for … I know, I’m just making all sorts of friends, aren’t I? But, as I said, those “reasons” for disliking Kilowog are due more to my contrary nature than any deficit in the character and I simply can’t defend them except to say “different strokes.”

What I can defend is my “artificial promotion / continuity implant” comment. I mean, Kilowog was supposedly the primary trainer of new recruits to the Green Lantern Corps, including Hal Jordan, and he wasn’t even mentioned until 1986? He was stationed on Oa for years but we never caught a glimpse of him on any of Hal’s many trips to see his little blue bosses? We saw all sorts of GLs all the time but we never saw the incredibly important Kilowog? Now, if a writer wants to introduce an important “new” Green Lantern and tell us he’s always been just as important, fine. But don’t make him the trainer of Hal Jordan. We know Hal Jordan. He’s mentioned a lot of GLs. Kilowog’s name never came up. Do writers create these “incredibly important characters from the past that we’ve never heard of” all the time? Sure. And I almost always hate ‘em!

And, I must say, I don’t really see the Ben Grimm comparison. Ben has slowly evolved over time from an angry man consumed by bitterness over his “condition”, to a wonderfully noble character who is one of the few really good people populating the Marvel Universe. Not without backsliding, mind you, and a whole slew of heart-wrenching ‘almost cures’. In short, Ben Grimm has earned my devotion – well, as much as a fictional character can.

Kilowog was introduced and shoved down my throat. “Look, he’s a really big, pink guy who says “Poozer” all the time! Fun, right?!?!? But, despite his appearance and speech pattern, he’s really smart! Clever twist, huh?!?!? And he trained Hal Jordan! Come on, you like Hal! And Hal likes Kilowog! And every other GL who has never actually mentioned him before, holds Kilowog in the highest regard! So, love him!”

Uh … no ….

Vincent - Sure, but it’s been 21 years. I’m 22. I’ve read plenty of Golden and Silver Age comics, so it’s not like I’ve never read a pre-Kilowog GL story. But to me, at this point, he’s a character who has always been there.

Obviously you’re right, Anthony, for some people Kilowog has always been around. If there is one thing this list has shown it is that a person’s favorite character depends heavily on who they were exposed to at the right age. For example, I look over my list of favorite DC and Marvel characters and I realize that the newest character on each list was created in the 70’s. So, Kilowog draws my ire for no other reason than he wasn’t introduced when I was young enough to accept his, in my mind, unfounded importance.

In my defence, you must admit that Kilowog is sort of the guy who tries too hard to be liked. Every subsequent retcon of the character has been designed to make him just a little more like what the average fan would call “cool”. I mean, he started as this tragic figure who Hal, John, and the rest had never heard of before. Then, because Hal is the man when it comes to GLs, Kilowog was retconned to be Hal’s trainer. Then, when the JLI became popular, his personality was completely altered and he was made Guy’s best buddy - even though in the pages of GLC they pretty much hated each other. As I said, I always react negatively when think I’m being told who I should like rather than being shown who is likeable.

God, I’m a pain in the …