MONDOmagazine

by Miles “I sleep with a plush Daredevil toy every night” Baker

10. Beast (Hank McCoy)
Is there anything Beast doesn’t do? He’s a scientist, astronomer, medical doctor, philosopher, Avenger, banterer, and an X-man. I like that he’s become more and more monstrous over the course of his 40-year publishing history and more and more torn up about it. His recent turn into a big cat has been particularly heart breaking. I mean, he’s the world’s smartest cat: that’s gotta fuck you up.

9. She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters)
I talked about my love of the She-Hulk series in my 2008 round up, so I’ll just elaborate one of the main reasons it’s so good: Jennifer. Even though she’s giant, green, and a bit of a self-deceiver, she’s very down to earth and accessible. Her sense of humour about herself and her wacky adventures, coupled with her insecurity in her secret life, make this character incredibly unique.

8. Chase Stein
Victor: What’s… what’s your super power?
Chase: (flicks switch blade) A poor upbringing.

Runaways is one of my favourite comics of all time, so it was hard to pick one character from this series (for political reasons I felt I should only pick one). Overall, I think Chase has had the most interesting journey of all the Runaways and it’s been the subtlest too. He’s quietly moved from a dumb jock that just wants to sleep with his friends to a smart young man who genuinely respects his female peers. All the while he remains hilarious. And I respect that.

7. Winter Soldier/Captain America (Bucky Barnes)
I debated whether or not he was too new to include on this list. I mean, three years of publishing isn’t that long when you consider that half of the characters on this list have been published for 40 years. But Bucky has gone through quite a lot in that time. He made an interesting villain as Winter Soldier, if only because he was rarely seen, but his transition to filling in as Captain America has been very complex and badass. My favourite moment of his occurred in his one-shot, Winter Soldier: Winter Kills, when he throws one of female Hawkeye’s arrows into the face of a Hydra Agent.
Hawkeye: Oh my god… you… you…
Bucky: Killed a terrorist? Yeah.

Gotta love that clarity of thinking and honesty.

6. Ultimate Spider-man (teenage Peter Parker)
The “Ultimate” version of Peter Parker is the trophy wife version of Peter Parker variations (I give credit to Dan Slott for first calling the Ultimate universe a trophy wife). He’s unencumbered by ill-conceived clone stories, resurrecting Aunt Mays, or One More Days. He’s just Peter Parker. Granted, if this version of the character survives as long as the regular version has, he might become as complicated. But for now he’s a good kid with his heart in the right place. He’s funny inside and out of the costume and is prone to moments of being a bit of a dick — but he’s always justified. I care about this selfless, concerned for others, and healthy version of Peter. What’s so great about Peter Parker? Everything [ed. note: credit to Brian Michael Bendis for that line].

5. Emma Frost
When I was a kid I never would have thought that I’d see this walking Victoria’s Secret catalog anywhere near my top 10 list. Granted, I didn’t know a lot about her. Maybe I didn’t give her a fair shake, but now I don’t have to. She’s been fantastic ever since Grant Morrison took her from pseudo-villainy into full fledge hero-bitch status. She’s been a wonderfully realized character since then in New X-Men and Astonishing X-Men. The best part about Emma isn’t that she doesn’t care, it’s that she doesn’t know how to show that she cares. “I am a diamond, Miss Pryde. I am, by definition, my own best friend.”

4. The Multiple Man (Jaime Madrox)
This one is all Peter David’s fault. His work with this character has been simply fantastic. Since the Madrox mini-series, where Jaime’s dupes started to represent aspects of his personality, Jaime has become increasingly interesting. His constant questioning of every situation could become tedious, but luckily he never gets too stuck in his own head. Also, he has a great sense of humour, which lightens what could be a seriously dark book.

3. Jessica Jones
Alias is one of the best comics of all time. Period. That’s all there is to that. The art is fantastic and the writing is smart. So it should be no surprise that its lead character would be one of my favourite comic characters of all time. A lot of people make a big deal about how she’s great because she fucks up and swears all the time. Those things are great, but what I like more about her is that she’s softie when it comes down to it. Like, in the last issue of The Pulse where she gives up her secret identity so that two kids don’t have to spend the night in a police station. She’s just a good person.

2. Cyclops (Scott Summers)
Cyclops almost shouldn’t be on my list because he is so often miswritten. Too often he’s written like his impotent movie counterpart — a giant douchebag. But what many people overlook is his history of being totally badass. Did you read him in the The Dark Phoenix Saga? That guy was awesome. Thankfully, since he came back from the dead (don’t ask) he’s been very well written. Grant Morrison’s more insecure yet totally in charge take on him fed well into the original Stan Lee creation and has led to a renaissance for the character. Breaking up with Jean and running to (read “shagging”) Emma has been a fantastic move for the character. He’s never been more interesting and Joss Whedon is writing the hell out of him over in Astonishing X-Men. “I’m sorry. But it’s like you said, Emma, I don’t have any claws.”

1. Daredevil (Matt Murdock)
Where to start? DD has a history of having good writers doing amazing things with DD. It would be easy to say that it’s more that interesting thing happen to Daredevil, than Daredevil himself, but that would be just nutty. Matt is a complex and conflicted guy who is best when he’s teetering on the edge. What I like most about him is that everyone who shouldn’t know his secret identity does and that he constantly falls head over heels in love. He handles being a superhero about as well as I would (I mean the responsibility part, I’m in no way a ninja like he is).

Also, there was nothing more awesome than Matt Murdock in prison, kicking the shit out of everyone while pretending to be completely blind. God I love that man.