My Favorite Characters

My Favorite Characters (Force Ranked)

1. GI Joe – In middle school I was basically John Rambo.  My buddies and I would dress in full camo and watch Rambo, Commando, Red Dawn, Firefox…anything having to do with war.  My GI Joe collection of action figures and vehicles could have easily ended the Cold War if Reagan had just let me have a go at them darn Russians.  One day at the Kroger grocery store in Springfield TN I noticed a round rack of comic books.  “No Mom, go ahead I’ll be right here…” I spun the rack and all of the sudden issue #42 of the GI Joe comic book appeared.  Storm Shadow (a ninja who wore all white and was a general badass) was on the cover with his sword raised over his head about to rain down one heck of a headache on some poor chap.  My friends, in our desire to be super commandos, knew Storm Shadow well.  What on earth was I witnessing?!?!  I mean I knew there were comic books in the world but I thought they were just silly baby stuff like Walt Disney or Archie and Jughead stuff.  Comic books have freakin’ ninjas?!!?  Commando warrior ninjas?!?!  No way!  I purchased the issue and started researching this whole comic book thing further.  My life/world was changed on this day in mid-1985! 
2. Wolverine – I didn’t really discover my love (not that way) for Wolverine until I dusted off my collection and was in my mid-40s.  Somewhere along the way, I had picked up some Wolverine issues and they were now worth a decent sum of money.  I like money so I wondered who in the heck this guy was and why did people like him.  Well the more I learned about him the more I thought this has to be my favorite superhero of all time!  There is a whole lot going on with this one!  He is more of a badass than that Storm Shadow guy!
3. Spiderman – I watched the Spiderman cartoon (the 1981 version I think) as reruns on television as a kid after school.  I loved the Todd McFarlane Spiderman of the 1990s.  Then Spiderman launched the entire comic book movie genre in 2002.  I think Spiderman is the most personable of all the superheroes and always a fun story to digest.  The art and stories across the different Spiderman titles in my collection are diverse and some of my favorites from any title I collect.
4. X-Men – Another title I never collected at a young age was X-Men.  I knew of them but not really.  I knew they were popular—very popular!  By the time I discovered Wolverine I figured if he was a mutant.  I needed to research these other mutants and see what they were all about.  I had seen a few of the X-Men movies and I had been introduced to them when I read the Marvel Saga (and they seemed pretty interesting).  I decided there were so many of them and they had so many different powers and storylines that they were worth my time.  I cranked up my X-Men collecting.  There are about 59,000 X-Men/X-Men Teams/X-Men spin-offs.  Marvel really knows how to milk a success.  My collection’s largest issue count now belongs to mutants.
5. Deadpool – I don’t have a single Deadpool comic book in my collection.  I put him at number 5 on my character ranking based solely on his appearance in movies.  No not that one!  I don’t know what in the heck anyone was thinking in his first movie appearance.  I am glad they corrected the situation when they got to his very own feature films.  I like both those movies very much.  I know of the Deadpool comics and the concept (and writing style) and will add all the Deadpool series to my collection at some point.  I have pledged to read a large part of my existing collection before adding a new title/character/series. But I have a few watched items on eBay…just in case!
6. Hulk – I don’t collect any Hulk comics, but I can’t leave him off the list of favorite characters.  Why?  Because I spent many a night at home in my childhood watching the Incredible Hulk television show (up until I was 10 in 1982).  A top-ranked television show of all time for sure!  I recently watched some of the Incredible Hulk movies from the early 80’s (the ones with Thor and Daredevil in them).  Wow!  Let’s just say 10-year-old me would have been impressed (and leave it there)!  It was a nice trip down memory lane, however!
7. Spawn – Another character that I haven’t read.  How in the heck do I know I like him then?  Well, I don’t.  But I like the heck out of Todd McFarlane (my favorite comic artist) and Spawn is from his brain and pen.  So, my guess is I will like Spawn.  Plus, I needed a cool “indie” name for the list to show I have a sophisticated side and not just blind allegiance to Lord Marvel.  We’ll see, but I bet this pick stands!  I’ve started up a good-sized collection just to be sure.
8. Batman – I’m not a DC guy at all…at all.  Batman is the only DC character I even remotely follow (or care about).  Part of this is from all the movies over the years (especially the Christopher Nolan ones) but part of it is because there are a lot of Batman comics that really caught my eye over the years.  But to be honest, the movies are what have him on this list.  I also felt like I needed a DC character, so I didn’t seem like such a Marvel fanboy.
9. West Coast Avengers – Okay, these guys are not the greatest heroes in the world.  I get that.  They are on the list because I started collecting this title off of that round rack at the Springfield, TN Kroger store from issue #2.  It was my first (non-GI Joe) superhero collection.  They hold a special place in my heart.  I might be the only one!