What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

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Bamax
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What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Bamax »

Mine is Supergirl, specifically the 2006 onward character but not the New 52 reboot which I hated.

Supergirl may be a pretty blond teen, but she is more than that.

She is a character that I can empathize with because:

1. She is an outsider. And literally lost her entire world. In a way I can relate because I departed a high control group with family still active members.... which naturally means limited or zero contact as the leaders instruct them to do toward former members.

2. She is kind of reckless and overconfident.... because she's one of the most powerful people on the planet and virtually unstoppable. I was that way more in my youth but older-me realizes risks are indeed risks and not excuses for ego-tripping.

3. She is naive and inexperienced and has a tendency to make mistakes. Again that was me in my youth, but I still recognize the need for experience to grow nowadays.

Beyond all that, the comic has several heartwarming slice of life moments and even humor.

Examples of this are below:



This one follows Supergirl seeking to make amends for past mistakes by visiting several friends and aquaintences she felt she messed up in some way.


Image

main-qimg-c04101adb8c21b0aba1fd953d8d214



This one is hilarious but she means well... and yeah... Supergirl is willing to consider doing stuff her cousin never would.

Image

supergirlcancer10.jpg



So what is your favorite comicbook character and why?

G. Janssen
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by G. Janssen »

Bamax wrote:
Sun Nov 13, 2022 10:15 am
So what is your favorite comicbook character and why?
I grew up with the characters in the Pep and Tintin magazines. Favorite characters from those days: Tintin, Valerian, Barbarella, Gaston Lagaffe, Buck Danny & Rick Ringers. Among others.

Mort & Phil from Fransisco Ibáñez sent my sides into orbit when I first read them. Neil Gaiman's characters are interesting.

The character that I liked a lot before I stopped reading paper comics was Donna Mia from Trevlin Utz. That was 25 years ago. And she's sort off the opposite of Supergirl or any other super hero.
http://www.inkstuds.org/trevlin-utz/
Last edited by G. Janssen on Mon Nov 14, 2022 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Arioch
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Arioch »

Skywise from Elfquest.

Skywise-Talks-to-Shuna-800x464 copy.jpg
Skywise-Talks-to-Shuna-800x464 copy.jpg (161.67 KiB) Viewed 12010 times

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Snoofman
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Snoofman »

While it's technically a graphic novel, it's still a comic book to me:

Maika Halfwolf from Monstress by Marjorie Liu. She is kickass, fearless and, despite the fact she is suffering from a terrible curse that threatens to devour her loved ones, presses on.

Sadly I'm having trouble getting an image of her, but just hold your breath.

G. Janssen
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by G. Janssen »

Snoofman wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:17 am
While it's technically a graphic novel, it's still a comic book to me:

Maika Halfwolf from Monstress by Marjorie Liu. She is kickass, fearless and, despite the fact she is suffering from a terrible curse that threatens to devour her loved ones, presses on.

Sadly I'm having trouble getting an image of her, but just hold your breath.
Image

Image

If that level of detail is not just reserved for the covers, then I wonder how long it takes the author to draw a page.
You weren't kidding about finding a good portrait image of her.

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Arioch
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Arioch »

G. Janssen wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 10:39 am
If that level of detail is not just reserved for the covers, then I wonder how long it takes the author to draw a page.
You weren't kidding about finding a good portrait image of her.
Yeah.
Monstress1_PreviewPage2 (1).jpg
Monstress1_PreviewPage2 (1).jpg (258.21 KiB) Viewed 11935 times
Normally, the artist (Sana Takeda) on a mainstream comic like would have at least one assistant. Most commonly there are separate people doing pencils, ink, coloring, and lettering.

Bamax
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Bamax »

Arioch wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 10:48 pm
G. Janssen wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 10:39 am
If that level of detail is not just reserved for the covers, then I wonder how long it takes the author to draw a page.
You weren't kidding about finding a good portrait image of her.
Yeah.

Monstress1_PreviewPage2 (1).jpg

Normally, the artist (Sana Takeda) on a mainstream comic like would have at least one assistant. Most commonly there are separate people doing pencils, ink, coloring, and lettering.

You are a one-man show right?

No one helps you write or draw?

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Werra
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Werra »

Dr Sivana (40s version). Despite being one of thoser super scientists, Sivana is very straight forward. One time he hears that Captain Marvel is out of town, so Sivana grabs a gun and goes out to just fucking shoot cops. Another time he realises that Captain Marvel always manages to overcome his inventions. So he decides to break into the house of Billy Batson the kid that turns into Captain Marvel while Billy is asleep. The goal is to just fucking slit the throat of the kid.

Also Mort & Phil, the Spanish secret agents. Ibanez was a genius. I'd love to see the mayhem the two would cause if they were the ones picked up by Tempest.
Last edited by Werra on Tue Nov 15, 2022 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Keklas Rekobah
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Keklas Rekobah »

 
Image

Alfred E. Neumann
He has never hurt anyone.
“Qua is the sine qua non of sine qua non qua sine qua non.” -- Attributed to many

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Arioch
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Arioch »

Bamax wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 11:54 pm
You are a one-man show right?

No one helps you write or draw?
I don't have any regular assistants, no.

I have, on occasion, received some help visual design elements or 3D assets or web infrastructure. For the most part those are mentioned in the About page.

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DevilDalek
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by DevilDalek »

Deathshead, from the English Marvel line in the 90s!

G. Janssen
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by G. Janssen »

Arioch wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 10:48 pm
Normally, the artist (Sana Takeda) on a mainstream comic like would have at least one assistant. Most commonly there are separate people doing pencils, ink, coloring, and lettering.
Your reply prompted me to do a search.
Authors: Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda, Yukari Shiina
Editor: Jennifer M. Smith
Letterer: Rus Wooton

raistlin34
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by raistlin34 »

Snoofman wrote:
Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:17 am
While it's technically a graphic novel, it's still a comic book to me:

Maika Halfwolf from Monstress by Marjorie Liu. She is kickass, fearless and, despite the fact she is suffering from a terrible curse that threatens to devour her loved ones, presses on.

Sadly I'm having trouble getting an image of her, but just hold your breath.
I tried to read Monstess but it was too depressing to enjoy it. A crapsack world where both major factions are disgusting and every character a major douche... or worse.

For those who haven't read it, after the audition Maika is sent to a mansion/lab where arcanists like her are cut to pieces to use them as magical reagents. And that's just the first arc.

Image

It goes downhill from here.

G. Janssen
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by G. Janssen »

raistlin34 wrote:
Fri Nov 18, 2022 6:03 pm
I tried to read Monstess but it was too depressing to enjoy it. A crapsack world where both major factions are disgusting and every character a major douche... or worse.
IMHO Asian artists tend to be less black & white than Western ones. Disney, StarWars, Marvel, Harry Potter, even Tolkien. They all reduce the good versus evil dichotomy to a level of infantility that would embarrass a five year old. At least Tolkien had a valid reason to do so.
Even worse are the oneliner Baby Yoda level morality and philosophy lessons these stories contain. "Fear is the path to the dark side." Schopenhauer would've squashed that fooking frog between two of his books.
In reality, that dichotomy is either much more vague and very fluid, or does not exist at all. It's one reason why I think I would like Monstress.
For those who haven't read it, after the audition Maika is sent to a mansion/lab where arcanists like her are cut to pieces to use them as magical reagents. And that's just the first arc.
Just like the real world.
https://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la ... story.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandso ... mozambique
It goes downhill from here.
De gustibus non disputandum est. Which is a good thing. I mean: just imagine if everybody would like the same things.

Demarquis
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Demarquis »

Death of the Endless. 'Nough said.

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/images/1300-602976

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Moon Moth
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Moon Moth »

I'll go with Infidel, a one-shot villain from Astro City. He's a medieval-era alchemist who was smart enough to make it work, and then made himself immortal, turned lead into gold, figured out time travel, and went on from there. Currently residing in a pocket dimension he created himself, in an uneasy truce with the Superman analogue after they both realized that it was easier to destroy the entire universe than for one of them to destroy the other. There's something I love about his combination of a scientist with an unreconstructed medieval attitude.
In time, transmuting base metals to gold was but one of my achievements. And I used wealth, and the power it brings, to buy or seize the labor and materials I required.
I built a great tower far from the mundane scuttlings of men lost in their blindness and ignorance.
Here, I thought, I would spend my centuries teasing free the knots that kept the secrets of all the universe safe.
But it was not to be.
Again they came with their "heretic!", their "infidel!", their "trafficker with demons!"
And again and again, I was distracted by the need to cast them from me.
I moved my citadel many times, but still they came.
As if the few of their number I took when I needed subjects for my experiments were worth more than the knowledge that resulted.
Again and again, they interfered with my work. "Blasphemer, they said. Sorcerer, they said.
"Infidel."
Oh, they call me this and they think I will take it as a mark of shame?
Infidel. Unbeliever. I embrace their ignorant insult, and wear it as a badge of honor.
I believe in nothing but what I can see. I trust in nothing but what I can discover, what I can prove.
Infidel? Aye, call me infidel, for you may fear it but I do not!
But for continuing characters, yeah, Skywise. :-)

gaerzi
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by gaerzi »

G. Janssen wrote:
Fri Nov 18, 2022 9:52 pm
IMHO Asian artists tend to be less black & white than Western ones. Disney, StarWars, Marvel, Harry Potter, even Tolkien. They all reduce the good versus evil dichotomy to a level of infantility that would embarrass a five year old. At least Tolkien had a valid reason to do so.
You shouldn't restrict Western stuff to just Disney, Star Wars (which is Disney too, Marvel (which is Disney too), Harry Potter (which is not Disney yet I guess) and Tolkien (also not Tolkien for now). If you want crapsack worlds or shade of gray but mostly dark morality, there are tons of Euro comics I could try to identify. I don't mean the famous series for children like Tintin or Asterix; but the more adult stuff you could find in Métal Hurlant for example. But not limited to that either.

Bamax
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by Bamax »

gaerzi wrote:
Tue Nov 22, 2022 4:47 pm
G. Janssen wrote:
Fri Nov 18, 2022 9:52 pm
IMHO Asian artists tend to be less black & white than Western ones. Disney, StarWars, Marvel, Harry Potter, even Tolkien. They all reduce the good versus evil dichotomy to a level of infantility that would embarrass a five year old. At least Tolkien had a valid reason to do so.
You shouldn't restrict Western stuff to just Disney, Star Wars (which is Disney too, Marvel (which is Disney too), Harry Potter (which is not Disney yet I guess) and Tolkien (also not Tolkien for now). If you want crapsack worlds or shade of gray but mostly dark morality, there are tons of Euro comics I could try to identify. I don't mean the famous series for children like Tintin or Asterix; but the more adult stuff you could find in Métal Hurlant for example. But not limited to that either.

What are morals anyway?

It is good to strip matters bare as it were to see what it is we are truly describing.

Humans are by nature moral creatures regardless of how screwed up they may become in life.

I think what one man said is very true for most humans:

He chooses not to do stupid or bad things out of love for himself and others, not because he fears some sky father (not his exact words but you get the gist).


I can honestly tell you the reason I did not eliminate my abusive father while I was growing up was mostly out of love for myself and any future I could have later, despite being raised in a strict religous household.

Those that do stupid and bad things that make them or others suffer do it because they do not love either of them enough not to.

Or because they love what is bad or stupid more than they love themselves or others (addicts of any kind really until they break free).

Love is and will always be stronger than fear... which is why it should be utilized wisely.

G. Janssen
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by G. Janssen »

gaerzi wrote:
Tue Nov 22, 2022 4:47 pm
You shouldn't restrict Western stuff to just Disney, Star Wars (which is Disney too, Marvel (which is Disney too), Harry Potter (which is not Disney yet I guess) and Tolkien (also not Tolkien for now). If you want crapsack worlds or shade of gray but mostly dark morality, there are tons of Euro comics I could try to identify. I don't mean the famous series for children like Tintin or Asterix; but the more adult stuff you could find in Métal Hurlant for example. But not limited to that either.
It's the stereotypes that I have a problem with. Stereotypes are boring and have the depth of the saucer under a coffee cup. And it doesn't need to be dark morality. I think that Myazaki Hayao's works, for instance, where many protagonists are flawed and the antagonists have their good sides or very valid reasons for doing what they do, are fine. And his works certainly aren't dark.

G. Janssen
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Re: What Is Your Favorite Comicbook Character and Why?

Post by G. Janssen »

Bamax wrote:
Tue Nov 22, 2022 5:05 pm
What are morals anyway?
Ideally, morals are the prevailing standards of behavior that enable people to live cooperatively in groups. But quite often they are a means of control.
Humans are by nature moral creatures regardless of how screwed up they may become in life.
True. Monsters are made. Not born.
I think what one man said is very true for most humans:
He chooses not to do stupid or bad things out of love for himself and others, not because he fears some sky father (not his exact words but you get the gist).
Blaise Pascal and Marcus Aurelius agree with that man. Or maybe one of them was that man.
Image
I can honestly tell you the reason I did not eliminate my abusive father while I was growing up was mostly out of love for myself and any future I could have later, despite being raised in a strict religous household.
Good choice. There's nothing wrong with loving yourself. I think there's also nothing wrong with placing yourself first in many situations. You can probably guess that I was on the Nietzschean side in the sci fi series Andromeda. Another unpopular opinion that I have is that any person should at least have one enemy or obstacle in his/her life, because it helps to become a complete, well rounded person. Within limits of course. Child abuse is unacceptable. My halfsister, who I didn't know I had until 3 years ago, was mentally abused by her mother. She still turned out okay. Although there are scars. Her mother was mentally ill, so I can't blame her. But my father abandoned her while he knew what was happening. I never met him, because my mother abandoned him. Irony's a bitch.

On the other side of the spectrum we find the College Millennials. Everything that's "bad", "scary" or "unsafe" has been removed from their lives. The result? When they discover that their name has been misspelled on their Starbucks cup, they start crying, post the "grave injustice" on TikTok and tweet that they now have PTST due to "nameism". Maybe Western countries should bring back military draft and clone a legion of Gunnery Sergeant Hartmans.
Those that do stupid and bad things that make them or others suffer do it because they do not love either of them enough not to.
Or because they love what is bad or stupid more than they love themselves or others (addicts of any kind really until they break free).
About a third of the people who were abused as kids, abuse theirs. And many of them don't want to. The human mind is a complex thing. I believe it is possible for someone to truly love someone and still, at times, hurt them due to trauma.

Look at what I did. All this serious talk made Beryl sad. Came across it on Bing. Bing says it's on Deviantart, but when I search for it on Deviantart there's no trace of it. Author is Koori101.
Image

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