Who's The Best... Class of Powers?

Martinex1:   The heroes and villains from Marvel and DC can be classified fairly easily according to their primary power sets.   I am sure there are more categories than I have listed below, but I find that most characters can be catalogued in nine groups.  Even if a character has multiple powers they will continue to rely on their core capability.  So which group is the best?   Do you gravitate to a type of hero with certain abilities?  Does one set have better intrinsic value or interest? How about costumes and visual depiction - is one group generally better than others?   Or is there a classification that I have not mentioned that you consider superior?

Outlined below are my broad categories and some pictorial examples to get the conversation going:

• The Blasters:   These are characters who use energy as a weapon.  Whether utilizing fire, heat, ions, sonic waves, or light rays - they have some method of hurling or sending energy forces at their opponent. More often than not technology and science play a role in their powers.
• The Flyers:   These characters rely on their wings, whether feathery or mechanical, to take to the air.  Many characters can fly, but for these flight is their primary power
• The Runners:   This group relies on speed, speed, and more speed.    They can run, hit, and even vibrate faster than the human eye.  
• The Athletes: Not always super-powered, this group consists of the fighters, martial artists, acrobats, gymnasts, and sportsmen.   Typically they are honed to the peak of human perfection.  They work hard to stay in shape but often take a beating.  These are the gold medalists of the spandex set.
• The Brains: This set sometimes has supernatural abilities like telekinesis and telepathy.   They may be manipulators of the mind.   Or they may simply be extraordinarily smart - they are the genius class and the thinkers.   It is the grey matter that matters here.
• The Muscle:  The characters in this group are super-enhanced.   Their strength goes beyond the norm.   They can bench-press a mack-truck if needed.   Typically their brute strength is their primary attribute.
• The Magicians:  Here are the sorcerers, wizards, warlocks, and witches.   They have abilities that don't adhere to the laws of science and physics.   These are the other-worldly, pan-dimensional masters of the weird.
• The Robots: Call them androids, synthezoids, droids, or robots - these artificial creations with human emotions are a science fiction trope.
• The Size-Changers:   Whether enlarging to 30 feet or shrinking to the molecular level, this group of giants and insects have a "growing" population in our comic kingdoms.



The Energy Blasters!

The Brain-trust!

The Winged Warriors!

The Speedsters!

The Mighty and the Muscled!

The Magicians!

The Athletes and Acrobats!

The Size Shifters!

The Artificials!

So is it mind over matter?  Or brawn over brains?   Is it the fleet-footed or those that take flight?  Is it the energy fiends or those that need energy drinks?   Size over substance?  The witches or the whip smart?  From you comic book lovers out there - who's the best in this power struggle?  


Share your own classifications, considerations, examples, thoughts, and opinions,

Who's the Best... Justice Society of America Member?

Buried Treasures: Dynamite's "Super-Heroes Confidential"

Doug: Hey, friends -- I'm back with another peek at some wonderful memories from elementary school. Near the beginning of the month I gave you a look at the comic book features found in Smash magazine. Today we're looking at one of Smash's competitors, Dynamite. The latter may be more familiar to several of our readers. But in regard to the comics-related material, I always found myself a bit partial to the content and lay-out of the Smash articles. I particularly enjoyed the villain pages at the conclusion of each reprinted comic adventure. As you'll find below, Dynamite went with a sort of Q&A or FAQ format for their third page. It's OK, and for the novice was probably quite nice. But for the budding comics savant that I was at the ripe old age of 9, those pages were just a wasted opportunity to show some more art.

I'm thinking I may have seen the Captain America feature below before Jack Kirby had come back to the Cap monthly mag. As such, I am sure I thought the Tales of Suspense #63 reprint in this feature was awesome. Man, I did not care for Kirby's Marvel art in the high Bronze Age. I'm still not its biggest fan, although I have warmed to some of it. But this -- this is really exciting, and if memory serves was my introduction to Cap's origin (although I may have seen it on reruns of the Marvel Super-Heroes cartoon -- can't recall).

You can check out the third page for yourself; I'd love to hear some opinions as to its merits, especially as compared to the villains' bios we saw a few weeks ago.

Below is the first DC feature I've shown (so far -- more to come). I'm not sure I'd have identified Carmine Infantino as the artist here. Tough to say if he was at Marvel by this time, and my overall knowledge of DC's Silver Age was certainly lacking in the Bronze Age. As I said above in regard to Kirby's 70s Marvel art, I was also not a fan of Infantino's 70s Marvel work. And, also as I remarked, I have warmed to some of it since. But what really strikes me about the contents of the feature below is the costume on Elongated Man. At this point I'd owned a smattering of Dick Dillin-drawn Justice League of America issues, but had no idea that ol' Ralph Dibney had once worn gray. News to this 4th grader!

The content of the final page for this feature differs from the Cap material above. Opinions on this more focused approach? Is more (above) better?

This Cover Made Me Buy This Book

Doug: Well, actually I talked my mom into buying it. I saw it at the grocery store of all places. The cover date of the book as listed at the Comic Book Database was August 1976. That would have been on sale in June, so I am wondering if maybe this was a gift for my 10th birthday. If you were to take a college course on the foundations of DC super-heroes, this would be your textbook. Released at the same time Marvel Comics was making their Origins of Marvel Comics series available, this was my primer to the DCU. The ten heroes pictured on the cover are all featured in this book, making it a tour de force of DC's Golden and Silver Ages. In cases where there are two heroes with the same name (think Earth-1 and Earth-2), both heroes' origins are featured.

Here are the contents (all links in this post take you to the CBDB) (NOTE: This post was updated 4-20-20; the Comic Book Database no longer exists, so all hyperlinks in the post have been removed.)

Action Comics (1938) #1
Adventure Comics (1938) #256
All-American Comics (1939) #16
All-American Comics (1939) #19
The Amazing World of Superman, Metropolis Edition (1973) nn
Batman (1940) #47
The Brave and the Bold (1955) #34
Detective Comics (1937) #33
Flash Comics (1940) #1
More Fun Comics (1935) #89
Police Comics (1941) #1
Showcase (1956) #4
Showcase (1956) #22
Showcase (1956) #34
WHIZ Comics (1940) #2
Wonder Woman (1942) #1
Wonder Woman (1942) #206

Doug: And oh, yeah... this still sits on my bookshelf (far left).

Who's the Best... Superhero Costume?

Doug: Design, functionality, color scheme - your choice how you want to tackle this one.

Discuss: Fabulous or Fiasco? Flash Finale

Karen: Anybody want to chat about last night's season finale of The Flash? I thought that despite an uneven but mostly entertaining season, the finale really delivered. And what a cliffhanger! It looks like this will be feeding directly into the new CW series, Legends of Tomorrow. There was so much going on, it's hard to focus on any one thing. How about Barry's decision? And is his timeline a paradox? Start chatting kids.

Deviant Logos - a Comic Covers Challenge

Doug: Hey, back again today with another genre of comic book covers! Today we're interested in a little help in identifying comic book covers where the logo was not in its usual form. Instead, the editors and artists chose to a) let it become a part of the cover scene, b) just plain different, or c) destroyed altogether. Below are a few nominees -- and they are few. You won't find the usual dozen or so that we usually show -- nope, that's your job today!

Doug: By the way, if you've never see the X-Men cover above, that is an unused version crafted by Neal Adams. From what I know, Stan Lee rejected it because the bound figures obscured the magazine's logo. Pfah! I say -- it's way better than the published version!

Guest Post - A Flash in the Pan?

Doug: Loving all of these guest posts -- just loving them! Hey, today Mike S. (aka Martinex1) is back with another Open Forum on one of the all-time greats, the Flash! Although the Scarlet Speedster has made a few appearances on the BAB, he's certainly not received his due given the long history of the character. Today's a step in the right direction. And, as you read through this, note how ol' Mike/Martinex is playing the same riff our "Paint It Black" covers post of a few weeks ago was blasting!

Mike S.: I have been watching the new Flash television show and have been surprised by how much I enjoy it. It is definitely light fare, and in tone it probably leans more toward the action adventure shows of the late 70’s (threat of the week, cast of supporting characters, romantic undertones, episode bridging mystery, etc.) rather than the dark mood and cynicism of more recent primetime shows. One aspect I like is that the creators are not shying away from its comic book genesis and are embracing some of that genre’s inherent oddities and drama. The template for the show seems to be to throw in everything and the kitchen sink, keep it all generally good spirited, and keep it moving.

Introduce a new rogue nearly every week? No problem. Actually present Grodd, a telepathic genius gorilla? Sure why not. Name drop many of DC’s characters and hint at future subplots?  There are easter eggs galore. How about time travel? Throw it in; mix and stir.

 

I have always known Barry Allen’s Flash origin and cannot even tell you when I first heard about the crash of chemicals and lightning strike; that story must have somehow been ingrained in me by the time I could read. But I have never owned many Flash comics. If I said I have five Barry Allen issues that may be exaggerating. I did follow Wally West’s adventures a bit in both Teen Titans and his own series, but I cannot recall much detail.

With my newfound interest in the Flash because of the series, I decided to look at some old Silver and Bronze Age covers to see what I may be interested in reading. I was surprised by a style and motif in the cover art that is the polar opposite of what I envisioned. Interspersed throughout the years, particularly in comics dated 1966 through 1974, there are some interesting concepts that I don’t think I have seen used much elsewhere. Although sometimes touched with Silver Age insanity (i.e. Barry’s head growing to the size of a watermelon in issue #177), there was a serious edge to the Flash. There was a type of grimness that I would have thought common in Batman, but in my limited exposure to the Flash would not have expected. And some of the design is better and more cutting edge than I realized. Certainly Marvel did not often employ this vibe in its superhero standards at the time. I am not a DC aficionado so I am not sure if this was the house style and would be interested in hearing others' thoughts on the topic.

Here are some of the details around that styling and some examples of issues I am referring to:

1) The covers broke the fourth wall. It seems fairly common for the character on the cover to address the reader. Whether featuring the Flash himself or the villain of the issue, the cover challenges the customer to purchase or even partake in the adventure. See issues #163, #172, #193, and #222 for examples. This of course was long before series like She-Hulk by John Byrne commonly employed this tactic of self-awareness. I think this was rare in the Bronze Age (it was a dated technique in some regards that lost its appeal, but seems somewhat novel in retrospect).

 

2) The text itself was part of the cover’s appeal. See Issues #174 and #184. The logo in #174 is so eye catching and seems like a technique that Steranko or Eisner would use.

3) There was an element of fear or tonal darkness to the covers, often including the Flash’s death and stark black backgrounds. Some covers would almost seem appropriate in a horror anthology like “Unexpected”; the only differentiation is the brightness of the Flash’s costume. Check out Issues #186, #190, #191, #194 and #227.

 

Each of the above covers intrigue me. I have no idea if the stories inside are any good at all, or if the atmosphere changes at all. But I like these covers and I have to say I want to read them. If I had been buying comics at the time of their release I would have purchased these comics. The artists for the instances shown include Ross Andru, Nick Cardy, Neal Adams, Carmine Infantino, and Joe Kubert.   No slackers there, and even the artists with mixed reviews show nicely. It seems to me that with such a varied group of contributors, much of the feel must have been editorial’s choice. It is hard to say for sure. The coloring of the books had a large impact. The Flash’s costume is a classic and hasn’t changed much in the fifty plus years of existence. The red and yellow are so striking particularly against dark backgrounds, so I am sure that contrast led to some of the decisions. But the stretching of the art form and the forbidding aura add a complexity that I was not expecting from that era’s scarlet speedster comic.

 

What do you think about the Flash? Do you like the new television show? And what is your opinion about the cover art I mentioned? Did the stories match their covers’ appeal? Was DC pushing any boundaries with this title or were they always chasing Marvel? Did other DC books share this approach or was it limited to the Flash?  Do you prefer Barry Allen or Wally West? What are some great Flash stories? What else did I miss that was just plain Flashtastic?

Who's the Best... Origin Story?