The From The Heart List.
By Alexander B. Huls
10. Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Batman is on this list partially by default, and partially motivated by sheer nostalgia. The problem is that Batman hasn’t been an interesting character in years. Cool? Sure. Badass? Oh yeah. Grumpy? Most definitely. But interesting? It’s been a while. Actually, the only reason Batman made this list is because of James Robinson’s “Face the Face” arc is still fresh in my mind, and Robinson succeeded in making Batman interesting and human, rather than a snarling beast of vengeance (which is cool too, but…)
9. Stargirl (Courtney Whitmore)
Sure, there are an insane amount of teenage superheroes running around the DCU, but what makes Stargirl so great is that she’s a real teenager and appropriately written that way. When the world is in peril she’s empowered, she’s all business and can hold her weight amongst the top DCU characters. However, when things settle down, she’s just your average teenage girl who likes clothes, having fun, friends, and boys. There’s a reason my heart broke when she burst into tears after her relationship with Captain Marvel (i.e. Billy) ended. It was a uniquely teenage moment: the aftermath of losing one’s first love.
8. Manhunter (Kate Spencer)
A relatively new character to the DCU, but she’s made her impression on me. Oddly enough, the thing I enjoy most about her is that she can be a totally careless and insensitive bitch at times. It’s hard to like her when she treats people around here haphazardly, or when her negligence endangers her own son. But like anyone, she is (mostly) aware of her flaws and tries very hard to correct them on a personal level in the same way she begins to improve herself as a vigilante. Somehow, her tough-as-nails approach is precisely what makes her such a effective and entertaining hero: she won’t take crap from anyone and she will do anything to get a job done (which is mostly kill bad guys). I mean, if you can still manage to like a character who acts as Dr. Psycho’s defense attorney, you’ve got a good character.
7. Black Canary (Dinah Lance)
Gail Simone has helped evolve Dinah from a hero with a somewhat lame power to a bad-ass martial artist who has become one of the foremost fighters in the DCU. With characters being re-booted constantly, Simone pulled off a re-boot of this character that is barely noticeable, which is why it works. Just go back and start Simone’s Birds of Prey arc from the beginning, and you’ll see how she cleverly and deftly made Dinah into the character she perhaps always should have been, but never was: one of the DCU’s foremost heroes.
6. Slam Bradley
As a noir fan, I can say that Slam is the best iteration of genre’s hardboiled gum-shoe detective in comics. In all honesty, he barely deviates from that mold. He has an unhealthy enjoyment of booze, fighting, and occasionally women. He’s always grumpy, but has a heart of gold tucked away deep inside, and is always there for his friends in a pinch. So, though he may not be an original take on the hard boiled hero, in this corner of the DCU universe he works perfectly well, helped of course by the fact that Ed Brubaker writes him perfectly (no surprise given his own apparent love of noir).
5. Catwoman (Selina Kyle)
Like several characters on this list, Catwoman has really earned her place because of how certain writers have handled her. In this case, I’m really talking about Ed Brubaker’s take on Selina (though Will Pfeifer has done a great job continuing the character). Writing women in comics can often be a tricky deal, largely because of the way they are constantly depicted as large breasted vixens. Lately however, many writers have succeed in conceding the expectation of comic book women to be over-sexed in their depiction, while simultaneously allowing them to be strong, empowered women.
4. Starman (Jack Knight)
Owen’s list essentially covered what makes Jack Knight such a great character, and he would know because he loves that guy. Seriously. He has a tattoo of Jack yelling “Serenity now!” covering his entire back. It’s weird. But anyway, like Kate Spencer, what I always enjoyed most with Jack Knight was his journey. With so many established heroes who know how to do their job and balance their lives, it’s always somewhat refreshing to come across a character who has to learn to be a hero and through that, also learn to be a better human being, no matter what missteps occur along the way. Also, he had sex with a tentacled circus performer. That’s pretty awesome.
3. Black Adam
While he has more or less always remained the conceited elitist he’s always been, Black Adam has had a hell of a ride in the last few years. He was a villain, then a JSA member, then a villain again, then a dictator of his home country (Kahndaq), then a member of the Secret Society, then a reformed man in love and with a family, then the catalyst for World War III, and now a mere, powerless mortal. Even without his tumultuous ride, what I always enjoyed about Black Adam that he was so conceited, so assured of his
superiority and ideologies that you can’t really hold it against him because he’s clearly not going to change. And isn’t there something to be said about someone who is so sure of his identity? Existential crisis? Black Adam doesn’t know what that is.
2. Nightwing (Dick Grayson)
With so many characters in the DC universe upgrading themselves from sidekick and adopting either the mantels of their mentors/heroes or entirely new ones, Dick Grayson’s move from Robin to Nightwing is the only one that is interesting and really matters. Being the first Robin with a now famous origin story certainly helps, but that wouldn’t have meant anything if Dick Grayson hadn’t grown into a hero and person worth caring about. Nightwing takes the most practical and best parts of Batman, but maintains a boyish charm and a leadership ability that is entirely his own. Sure, he sometimes lapses too far into the human side, and sometimes ends up being too much like Batman, but that’s what makes him so interesting, and ultimately one of the better leaders in the DCU.
1. The Flash (Wally West)
Ever since that cheesy TV show with the Dad from Dawson’s Creek, I’ve been suckered into loving The Flash. It wasn’t until I began reading Geoff Johns’ run on the title that I began to love a specific flash, however: Wally West. He is a hero through and through, willing to do anything for his friends or his city and, in Infinite Crisis, even the universe. But it’s the human side of Wally that I always enjoyed, the every-man vibe he has going for himself. Whether it’s being the light-hearted voice of reason in the JLA, being a typical oblivious husband (who fixes up a new apartment without the go ahead of Linda, or who drifts up when the in-laws visit), or just being a good, concerned, compassionate friend, city inhabitant, and human being, Wally West was never a hero with a human side to me. He was an everyday human being who just happened to be a hero.
