#25- Incredible Hulk- Now we are getting into my top-tier favorites. Most of these characters are featured in a great number of comic books that I have or currently collect. Though not all are. In fact The Hulk is not a character I have a huge collection of. However, he has played important roles in some of my favorite story lines, and of the Hulk comics I have, some of them contain the best stories I've ever read. I actually enjoyed the Hulk best when he wasn't a lumbering brute. I love the issues where Banner's superb mind is in control of all that power and rage. Its like the power of a hydrogen bomb focused onto a single point. Bruce Banner's childhood was terrible, and that fact helped contribute to the Hulk's complicated existence. It is the psychological complexity of the entire situation in which the character finds himself (itself), that really makes the whole thing work. Anyone with anger issues can identify with Banner and his alter ego. I loved the television show, too, and that helped push the character high on the list, though the movies have not handled him as well (except the Avengers, which presented the character superbly). I have to mention one particular issue THE INCREDIBLE HULK Volume 1 #384. A Banner-controlled Hulk is shrunk down to only 6 inches. He tries to argue The Abomination out of a destructive course of action. That comic book is pure brilliance, and works in a number of levels, both dramatic and comedic. Comics like that have the power of literature, and it sticks with me to this day. If that was the only Hulk comic I had, he'd be on this list. That is how good a single issue or storyline can be.
#24- The Wolverine- There was a time when the Wolverine would've been at the top of this list. He is featured prominently in a huge number of my comic books. Wolverine's a ball of rage, but he knows right from wrong and desperately tries to be the man he wants to be. The fact that he fails from time to time just makes him that much more interesting. From a great aesthetic, malleable powers (his regeneration and claws make for interesting stories but don't overpower the stories themselves), a great cadre of colorful and frightening enemies... Wolverine is to the X-Men and mutant story lines what Spider-Man is to the rest of the Marvel universe. Issues 40-60 of the original Wolverine comic book are just fantastic. But when Wolverine temporarily lost his adamantium (unbreakable) skeletal lining, it turned me off. I just hated reading Wolverine as a de-powered character. And really it was just the beginning of the whole mutant storyline going off the rails. I lost interest in the X-Men towards the end of the 90s and I never regained that interest. What I know of the House of M storylines and even X-Men vs Avengers hasn't helped. Still, those glory years were glorious indeed, and enough to always keep this character towards the top of this list.
#23- Doctor Strange- Doctor Strange, like the Hulk, was a major player in almost every major storyline that I loved when I was primarily a Marvel Comics fan. He was a big part of the Infinity Trilogy, and the Midnight Sons, which centered round Ghost Rider and other supernatural characters. Strange's power is hard to explain to people who do not know the comics. He is the Sorcerer Supreme... literally the most powerful mage on this plane of existence. Strange, like so many of the truly great Marvel characters, is a complex person, filled with moral tension. He was plagued by the sin of pride until an accident caused him his hands and he failed at his first attempt at becoming a great sorcerer. Beaten down by life, Strange sought a new path. Yet his ego continues to return to plague, albeit in subtler ways. It is that subtlety of his weakness, which each writer must finesse in his own way, that really makes the story lines so consistently good.
#22- The Spectre- I only recently became a major fan of the Spectre. He is very much like a DC version of the Ghost Rider (or, more accurately, Ghost Rider is like a Marvel version of the Spectre, since the Spectre came first). He is literally the living embodiment of divine wrath, bound to a human host whose spirit must temper the Spectre's thirst for vengeance. Mysterious, often playing strange but important roles in some of DC's greatest story lines (like Alex Ross' "Kingdom Come"), the Spectre is one of those characters that always keeps you guessing. I recently picked up a SHOWCASE collection of a bunch of back issues reprinted in a trade paperback, and it is really incredible how well those old stories hold up. Yet it was his actions in some more recent books, like the VENGEANCE crossover series that really piqued my interest. If there is one bad thing to say about this character, it is that he is often too powerful, and tends to overpower any book he's in. I mean, this guy makes Superman look like a regular Joe. I hear that the New 52 has brought in a new Spectre which is not this titanic in scope, but I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'll check out the new book and get back to you. Until then, I'm basing this review on what I've read which is mostly back issues. I've thoroughly enjoyed that adventure so far.
#21- The Tick- Comic books are not only about depth or titanic action. Sometimes they are about plain old comedy. The Tick combines the best of mainstream comic tropes with a sense of humor that is absolutely dynamite. I cut my teeth on the cartoon version of The Tick, which is just hilarious. If you've never encountered that show, I highly recommend it, especially the first season, which may be one of the funniest things ever to grace the small screen. It is that good. But my interest expanded as I started to pick up the original comic book, which long predated the show, in trade paperback form. The writing was awesome...the best kind of satire, and the aesthetic was spot on. One of the high points of my life as a nerd was meeting and getting the autograph of the creator of the Tick, Ben Edlund.
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