Five "characters" to evict from the comics storytelling pantheon

[thorionthei]

1) The Evil Conspiracy Guy
2) The Grizzled Old Cop
3) The Greedy Idiot Genius
4) The Ramrod
5) The Subjugated SuperAlien

You know the first thing I thought is what a kick ass story I can come up with with these 5 characters! ;)

[The Ray]

I love the Greedy Idiot Genius. It's such a stupid throw back to the "Mad Scientists" evil villain in Golden/Silver age superhero comics, which used their iffy story logic to explain why they're six ton death ray would be used to " get revenge on all those who had wronged me ", instead of selling it to the military and make bank.

[Paul McEnery]

Okay, it took me a while to think of this but:

6) The teen who is freaked out by his burgeoning sexual development, excuse me, superpowers, and hides in the basement terrified that everyone will find out.

[Michael P]

Can we get rid of them in other media, too?

[bartl]

1) The Evil Conspiracy Guy
2) The Grizzled Old Cop
3) The Greedy Idiot Genius
4) The Ramrod
5) The Subjugated SuperAlien

You know the first thing I thought is what a kick ass story I can come up with with these 5 characters! ;)
Grant's Law (at least I THINK I first heard it from Grant): Any decent writer can come up with a single good story about any given character.

[Steven Grant]

Grant's Law (at least I THINK I first heard it from Grant): Any decent writer can come up with a single good story about any given character.

But let's add the corollary: That doesn't mean there's more than one good story about that character, and no one should expect that.

It's more of a dictum than a law, by the way. The real Grant's Law is: the odds on something occurring are inversely proportionate to how much you talk about it.

- Grant

[Steven Grant]

Grant's Law (at least I THINK I first heard it from Grant): Any decent writer can come up with a single good story about any given character.

But let's add the corollary: That doesn't mean there's more than one good story about that character, and no one should expect that.

It's more of a dictum than a law, by the way. The real Grant's Law is: the odds on something occurring are inversely proportionate to how much you talk about it.

- Grant

[Brenz]

Drat, I already used half of those in INVISIBLE INC.

[bartl]

But let's add the corollary: That doesn't mean there's more than one good story about that character, and no one should expect that.

It's more of a dictum than a law, by the way. The real Grant's Law is: the odds on something occurring are inversely proportionate to how much you talk about it.
I was thinking about adding, "but that doesn't mean even the best author could write a series about the character." I thought I implied it when I said "a single good story". There should be a nice, concise way of phrasing it. But I DO like "Grant's Dictum."

I believe you can get a single good character by deconstructing the bad ones listed; there have been a number of cases of that (for example, The Punisher is a deconstruction of The Evil Conspiracy Guy).

[mattx110]

these aren't characters. they are arch/stereotypes that characters are built from. they're tools, and cliches are tools.

so i'm just gonna assume if i develop the character i can have a crazy conspiracy guy, or a grizzled old something, though i don't think it'd be a cop.
the greedy idiot genius needs a plan to own a country or make a billion dollars fast before any evil plot makes sense. the alien might be harder to fit in because it's been done well before and with moebius on art... the "ramrod" well, a lot of people in this world are control freaks who feel like their voice matters more, or they need a stamp on every action. caffiene addicts are really like that.

any undeveloped character affecting the plot feels un-natural and kinda like cheating. but when indiana jones is fighting nazi archaeologists while racing a conspiracy of religious fanatics, who cares how developed the fanatics are?

[zebop]

One I'd like to see gone for good is:

"Dr. Poitier/Mr. Murphy:"Black characters in comics come in one of two flavors: They're either super-sophisticated, well-dressed, well-spoken, impeccably fashionable and so darn polite ice cream wouldn't melt in their mouth. They're the personification of the successful and assimilated Black male. This is "Dr. (Sidney) Poitier."

On the other hand, you have the cool, jivey "brother" who isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but his combination of street smarts and ability to be hipper and cooler than any White person is an intimidating force of nature. He's always "on" and typically has either a braying laugh or a cute catchphrase. Maybe both. He may be angry at times, but he's always suave around the ladies and giving uptight White men fits. He's "Mr. (Eddie) Murphy."

And you can put The Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Black Lightning, Jim Rhodes, Cyborg and virtually any other Black super-hero somewhere in there.