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,

Buried Treasures: Super Powers Mini-Comics, part two

Doug: As promised a couple of weeks ago, here is a look at two more of the mini-comics that were pack-ins with Kenner's Super Powers action figures beginning in 1984. We got some great suggestions for creative talent in that previous post, and would welcome the same detective work today.

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

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... Wings?

Doug: Almost four years ago we did one of our Dressed for Success posts featuring Hawkman and the Angel. But today we'll broaden it to any character sportin' a set o' wings. Whose wings are the best looking? Who has the best overall color scheme? Are there winged characters you really like, and others you loathe? Just a thought before I leave it to you -- give me the Beetle as pictured, sans all that armor junk he eventually sported. Love those wonky fingers!

Discuss: Hawkman (and Hawkgirl)

Doug: It's all things Thanagarian today, kids -- iterations, creators, and how about those medieval weapons?

True or False: Today's Retcons Are Done in the Same Spirit as Silver Age Revivals

Doug:  Sales, sales, sales.  I get that -- comic books are part of a publishing enterprise.  But, are today's retcons done in a spirit of revival and freshness?  Or, does change take place merely for the sake of change (oh, and the almighty dollar)?

Part Thirteen: Flyboys

Doug: Winged Wonder day, friends. Just how much sartorial splendor can you have when you're flying the friendly skies? We shall see...

Doug: First up is Hawkman. I've always been a little curious -- if Thanagar is some advanced scientific society, then why did ol' Katar (oops -- excuse me. We need to be old school: Carter) dress like a barbarian? Fully exposed man-breasts? C'mon... You don't think it would get a bit drafty every now and again? But seriously -- I've always liked the Hawkman costume. Impractical, yes, but cool looking. But then, I'm generally a sucker for winged characters and giants. Even though I've never been a big fan of red and green together (outside of Christmastime, of course) I do believe that this works. Maybe it's the presence of the yellow or the gray of the wings. I think it's generally a good superhero suit. And the "helmet" -- yep, they always call it a helmet instead of a mask. I like the over-the-eyes version, as opposed to the older on-the-forehead version.



Doug: As a variation, there's also the cowled version of basically the same suit. You might also note the yellow piping on the boots -- to me it's somewhat akin to the white piping on Wonder Woman's red boots. I guess I don't find it necessary -- in fact, looking at the image at right, I would say that it makes the costume a little too busy. If my memory serves, it's the masked version of Hawkman that I first encountered as a waif, in the pages of the All-Star Comics revival. I know I had an earlier JLA, but I just don't remember Hawkman being in it.

Doug: I know there are plenty of haters toward all of the DC reboots that came after Crisis on Infinite Earths. I for one felt that they ably carried the momentum of change forward. The 1989 Hawkworld mini-series was a solid re-imagining of the Hawks' mythos, as DC really sought to "Marvelize" their stable of characters. Hawkworld certainly made Katar and Shayera dysfuntional characters! Although the image at left shows the basic Hawkman costume, the series was "teched up" and featured less skin than previous versions of the character.









Doug: Shifting over to the Marvel Universe, let's check out Warren Worthington III, the Avenging Angel. This dude's had a few outfits over the years, with some hits and some definite misses! To begin, we see him at right in his Xavier school uniform, the same basic design as was worn by all of the young mutants. It's pretty basic, OK I guess -- and hey, what do you think about the color scheme -- black and yellow or navy blue and yellow? I prefer to think of it as having navy blue, but I've seen it colored as black, and some artist commentary that supports that notion. A comment on the first two panels -- did I ever for a second believe that those wings actually fit inside the coveralls and then were not noticeable? Uh uh, I did not.

Doug: The Jim Steranko-era of X-Men furthered the adventures of the team in their post-graduation outfits. What do you think of this one? The "suspenders" give the illusion that the wings are fake. I also think the mask resembles Marvel Girl's a bit too much. Overall I'll say that it's a colorful get-up, but I'm not too keen on it. I did, however, like that all of the teammates unified their look to a degree with those big honkin' belt buckles that said "X".








Doug: Uh, no. This monstrosity hails from the latter part of the Neal Adams run. The yellow trunks seem out of place, and the shades of red and blue don't seem to work very well together. Too dark for each, in my opinion. I do notice the trend that the mask from here on out is open on the top to feature Warren's wavy blond locks. That's OK -- doesn't bother me. I don't know the artist of this particular image, obviously drawn in today's animation style, but the boots sure seem clunky.







Doug: Blue version as pictured, or the red version as first seen in The Champions? I do believe it was the red version that I saw first, so I've always tended to think of that as "natural"; this blue suit seems instead "nostalgic" to me. But whether blue or red, this costume has a sort-of bird look to it, with the white "underbelly" against the darker back. The cowl (if that's what we should call it) is a bit odd, however -- what would be necessary to get the points on the cheekbones to stay in place? Wearing tape on one's face all day couldn't be comfortable... The large halo is a nice touch as well.






Doug: And speaking of the Champions, here's the suit in which Warren first appeared in that title. Hmmm... Seems to have been ripped right out of Olivia Newton-John's Physical video, which doesn't make sense as that was almost a decade later. But where to begin on this disaster? The headband? Not a fan. The big chest reveal? Uh uh. The yellow on the arms and legs? Nope. I don't know who designed this (or who would even want to take credit), but it wasn't a finer effort, that's for sure! But I still, like many of you, liked that book.










Doug: Lastly, we come to the Archangel get-up, and if you ask my opinion, that's what I think it is. Not a fan at all. I didn't like the storyline, and I thought it was overall a setback for the character rather than a moving forward. This was the end of the line for me with X-Factor, and my interest in all things "X" waned shortly thereafter. I don't like the color scheme here, and I especially didn't like the complexity of the wings. Now, in fairness, do I think it was an able representation of Warren Worthington as the Horseman known as Death? Yes -- the costume is well-imagined for the role he played. I just didn't care for the storyline and the fall-out for the character.