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Here are my votes, same criteria (character interest plus story engine). Again, as before, my evaluations are based on Silver Age continuity, not on post-SA developments.

1. Spider-Man: Tough call. Thor’s SA run was one of the high points of the era (Indeed, I would argue that Thor was Kirby’s finest SA hour), but Spider-Man simply outclasses everybody else in the SA in terms of character interest.

2. Daredevil: VEry, very tough call. Doom was the best villain, hands down, of the SA, while Daredevil was something of a second tier SA Marvel creation (with Spider-Man, Thor, FF, and Doctor Strange as the top tier). However, I am giving the nod to DD on the basis of DD’s inherent potential as a character.

3. Thing. No contest. The SA Green Lantern was pure DC SA cardboard, while the Thing was one of the most painfully realistic characters of the SA (The first page of FF #51 alone has more pathos than GL’s entire SA run).

4. Hulk: Again, no contest. The SA WAlly does not even reach the level of cardboard. In contrast, the Hulk/Banner plight is pregant with angst.

Vote Thor!!! Let’s see a real upset!!!

trajan, I’m not sure why you’d say WW has no story potential or is carboard. He developed from a 20-year-old bachelor who won the lottery and could only run 700 mph into a loyal, committed husband with twins who could run faster than the speed of light.

trajan, I’m not sure why you’d say WW has no story potential or is carboard. He developed from a 20-year-old bachelor who won the lottery and could only run 700 mph into a loyal, committed husband with twins who could run faster than the speed of light.

He is judging Wally only on his Silver Age stories. Not saying that that is the way that YOU should judge it, just putting his comments into the proper context.

Yes, I went back and re-read AFTER I commented. Of course, I should’ve done that BEFORE commenting.

I didn’t realize until after I voted how far Silver Age Marvel outstrips Silver Age DC in my mind. Make mine Marvel, I guess.

Well, I took the character’s careers as a whole into account.

1: While Spidey did have to suffer through some of the worst storylines imanginable, at least he was hardly ever boring. Which is a lot more than i can say for about 75% of the God of Thunder’s run. Sorry, Goldielocks, I gave it to Peter.

2: Doom. ‘Nuff said.

3: Tough call, but I went with the star of the first comic book I ever bought. Sorry, Benjy.

4: The Hulk is a tragic character, sure, but a lot of his stories just haven’t been very interesting. Wally, on the other hand, has been pure entertainment ever since he picked up the mantle of The Flash. (Yes, even Bill Loebs’ run, when he hung out with Fidel Castro and his middle-aged mother became an international spy.) In the end, I went with Wally.

1. Spider-Man. Because he is probably the best character to come out of the Silver Age.

2. Doom. Daredevil has a lot going for him (religious hero, lawyer, blind) but I think a lot of his great stories were because he had great creators, not because of him as a character. Doom is such a great villain, and I think it is harder for a villain to stand out.

3. The Thing. The Green Lantern Corps are interesting, but Hal does nothing for me as a character (except make me mad that he gets so much love from creators and fans) but Ben is the most human character to come from the era, possibly moreso than Spidey.

4. Hulk. Even though DC doesn’t realize it, Wally West is the perfect example of a hero replacing his mentor and the only major one that really stood the test of time. But the Hulk’s premise is so beautifully poetic and has been taken in so many directions, he gets my vote.

Spidey, Doom, Benjy and Wally…..I went just with the characters I identified with the most….

Spidey, DD, Thing (by default; I’ll never understand the love people have for Jordan, and I have a good deal of his stories), and Wally.

Mostly on general appeal; would like to say it was something else, but no…

Daredevil vs Doom– that is an incredible difficult choice.

Spidey, Daredevil, Thing, and Hulk.

The only though choice for me was Hulk x Wally.

I still believe bringing Barry Allen back was a much worse editorial decision than ending Spidey’s marriage. Wally’s evolution was unique among mainstream superheroes, and Barry got the kind of death that any superhero would pick (if they had to die, obviously).

Wally is awesome, but I still think the Hulk is bigger (and not just physically).

lets not spidey spidey spidey. and the winner horrible punctuation.
Spidey (due to sheer awesomeness) but really he is smarter than thor it would be a long long battle of spidey running around but remember spidey slowed down and stopped the jugguernaut. spidey wins always. even against the hulk.
2 doctor doom. of course
3. hal jordan vs thing ( hal goes up against big guys all of the time)
4 these battles were tough considering i was since 3 huge hulk and flash fans. but hulk i really dont see how flash has a chance. flash could run as fast as he can but it is still going to be into a brick wall. thats why if it is hulk vs jordan its by by jordan. thing is just strong guy hulk is a force of nature. hulk is his own red corps.

This was a hard one for me. As versatile and all around likeable as Spidey is, I had to go with Thor because his storytelling engine has always been so mind-blowing. I hate to vote against DD a second time, because I do think Matt’s a great character, but Doom is Doom. Ben Grimm is another guy it’s hard not to love, but Hal was far and away by favorite hero as a kid, so I’ve got to be true to that.

Hulk was the easiest call for me, because I’ve always really enjoyed his mismatched role as a monster-comic guy in a superhero world. There have been some good comics with Wally, but as a character he’s never done much for me (and in the New Teen Titans he was actively annoying).

it says “any criteria” and Im cool with that, BUT I assume we’re limited to the “era” indicated by the title. E.g.: I _really_ like Wally West as an overall character FAR more than Hulk based on his Flash run and character development and potential and costume and associated creators BUT none of those reasons hold for the Silver Age (when he was basically just a kid-kick in a goofy yellow costume and Hulk was a personification of cold-war / Atom-age zeitgeist running around in the desert and totally smashing the military that was hounding him. In short, I like flash better, but w/in that era I gotta go hulk. So words like “always,” “never” and any considerations outside the era don’t count (but that’s for me — you choose what you like).

BTW I thought this would be a dumb feature, but now I can’t wait to vote and see the outcomes.

I wouldn’t even a mind a straight up “who would win in a fight” tourney

BTW Brian you should totally get on Sportsnation at ESPN for stealing your idea….=p

What’s Sportsnation doing?

ESPN has a bracket at

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/story?id=5006405&match=87953#top

It’s absurdly bad. “Green Lantern” and “Flash.”

@Deco: As you say, you can use any criteria you like…but it seems clear to me that characters’ later careers are fair game to those who want to consider them. The initial post said the regions were based on first appearances, and just the fact that Wally West is identified as “Flash/Kid Flash” and not simply “Kid Flash” (and in the GA bracket, Dick Grayson is identified as “Robin/Nightwing/Batman” and not simply “Robin”) implies that we’re free to look outside the Silver Age if we want.