The First Day of Classic Comics Christmas '06

[dan bailey]

Awesome choices, all!

Hear, hear! I have a feeling I'm going to get even more enjoyment out of this year's 12-days-of-Xmas thread than last year's, which I assure one & all is really saying something.

[SamuraiJack]

What an incredibly neat guy he must be! What's the age difference between you guys?

You wouldn't believe how great he is. He's almost 20 years older than me (missed by 10 days), and though I don't see him as much as I used to, we still chat frequently. I'm hoping to do for my kids what he's done for me. So far my 8-year old is mini-me, but the 5-year old could care less...

[Budman]

12. The Huntress of Earth - Two

How could I not like the daughter of Batman and Catwoman?!?! Particularly as crime had also touched her life, as it did the lives of her parents, with tragedy and led her to take up the cape. Particularly as she had a sibling-like relationship with a grown-up Dick Grayson. Particularly as she was a lawyer, which led to interesting moral conflicts for her as by day she practiced law and by night she was a masked vigilante. Particularly as her weapon of choice was a crossbow. Particularly as she was a gorgeous brunette who ran around in a revealing outfit.

I had always been fascinated with DC's parallel Earths concept and especially Earth - Two. On that Earth, as opposed to the "main" DC Earth, Earth - One, heroes aged, got married and had families, changed careers, retired, and even died. That fascination intensified when All-Star Comics was revived in the '70s and we got our first ongoing series about what the Justice Society Of America was doing today. It was in this series that Helena Wayne was introduced. Her adventures with the JSA continued when the strip moved to the appropriately titled Adventure and she eventually got a solo series as a back-up in Wonder Woman . She was last seen as a reserve member of Infinity, Inc, a superhero group formed by the children and protégés of the members of the JSA. Then Crisis On Infinite Earths came along and wiped out her world, her history, and her existence. Suddenly Helena was gone and the histories of the JSA, Lyta Trevor, and Power Girl were also changed. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle had never married and were now too young to have a lawyer daughter anyway. How I hated those changes!!! A new Huntress was introduced with no real personal connection to the Bat, but she never really did anything for me.

So, “Goodbye, Helena Wayne.” Unlike those who once fought by your side, I didn’t have my mind altered by the Crisis and I won’t forget you.

[MDG]

#12: Sue Dibny

Apparently there was some....unpleasantness.. with Sue a little while back, but I stopped reading new comics 10 years ago, so it doesn't matter.

I'm talking the original Sue, as drawn by Carmine Infantino. It's no secret that most comic book girlfriends in the silver age were pretty cookie-cutter, often watered-down versions of Lois Lane.

But as Infantino drew her, Sue was much more modern and stylish than the others. Coupled with Ralph's character, especially the lack of a secret identity, John Broome and Gardner Fox were able to create a couple dynamic relationship that didn't keep the two at arms length.

MDG

[Scott Shaw!]

#12: KONA, MONARCH OF MONSTER ISLE

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=17611&zoom=4

Kona is a white-haired Cro-magnon caveman who's survived to current times. He's also the ruler of a prehistoric lost-land located beneath the Pacific Ocean, hidden inside a sealed cavern buried under the ocean's floor. To be honest, Kona doesn't have much of a personality other than a brave loyalty to his friends, the modern Dodd family (who discovered him), and a penchant for fighting giant monsters, including hundreds of dinosaurs, insects, spiders, sharks, sea serpents, birds, mutants, carnivorous plants, radioactive Smilodons and even a giant kitten. His most interesting aspect is that when confronting a seemingly insurmountable problem, Kona thinks in jigsaw puzzle pieces! Oh, and this prehistoric protagonist usually carries two weapons: a knife and a submachine gun!

I first encountered Kona in the first issue of his Dell comic book series when I was about ten years old. I loooved all things prehistoric at the time and I loooved Kona's world-spanning adventures -- all drawn by the great Sam Glanzman (who freely dismisses this Oddball series), one of comics' finest animal-drawing artists -- and I still do!

After all, what could be better than a caveman with a submachine gun?

(Of course, Kona isn't the ONLY caveman on this list! Stay tuned...)

Aloha,

Scott!

[Lone Ranger]

Great choice with Triple J, Slam.

He came very, very close to making my list - and just might make a cameo appearance somewhere along the way.

[Lone Ranger]

(Of course, Kona isn't the ONLY caveman on this list! Stay tuned...)

That does not surprise me at all, and that is why we love you Mr. Shaw!

[Lone Ranger]

12. The Huntress of Earth - Two

Excellent choice, Bud.

I considered including her on my list, but could not find the room.

The Levitz/Staton back-ups in Wonder Woman were some of the best DC stories of the 80s and deserve to be reprinted.

btw - Kurt, do you care if we discuss the choices within the thread, so would you prefer a separate thread be created?

[Red Oak Kid]

12 CATWOMAN

Considering she was created in the 40s and she is still around as a strong, popular character, she must have SOMETHING going for her. Visually, I don't think she really broke out on her own until the TV show(I think) gave her the skin tight costume. Prior to that, her long skirt made it a bit difficult to take her entirely seriously.

But even in a skirt, her love/hate or whatever relation to/with Batman made her interesting and worth keeping an eye on. A comic book character with depth and complex emotions.

And I think it is this solid foundation that makes it almost impossible for creative teams to screw her up. All of her various incarnations have been good IMO.

Hey, at least I didn't pick She-Hulk.

[Slam_Bradley]

Interesting list, thus far. Certainly some surprises. Kemosabe came in from DEEP left field. One that might have made my list if we could have done duos/trios. I love The Warriors Three but none enough individually to make the list.

And there is one that may pop up on my list (which is in constant flux) because I simply hadn't thought about the character.

[Aaron King]

I'm pretty sure we discussed things within the thread last year and Kurt and Tim cleaned them up when they were stickied. Or something like that.

[MDG]

Does anyone else think this guy has more than a passing resemblace to Lloyd Llewellyn?

MDG

[dan bailey]

Hey, at least I didn't pick She-Hulk.

Just you wait, Mister ...

Just you wait.

[Slam_Bradley]

I just did a little walk down memory lane and re-read the threads from last year. Great stuff.

Random thoughts on the characters so far.

Helper: My Duck exposure is largely recent, but I do remember this little guy. Cool choice.

Zorro: I love Toth's Zorro. And I had a somewhat similar uncle (though he got me in to SF rather than comics).

Charlie Droople: Scott is a shill for E-Bay. He stocked up on Charlton back-issues and now he's trying to unload them on us.

Lothar: Interesting choice. I read some of the earlier Mandrake strips a couple years ago. It was interesting that Lothar wasn't nearly as stereotyped as most of the minority characters of the time. He had a very clear native intelligence.

Mole Man: Probably my favorite FF villain. Weird, huh?

Hawkman: I had a similar relationship with Hawkman. I hated him when I started buying comics. Liked him a bit better with Shadow War. LOVED Hawkworld (I'm a big fan of both Truman and Ostrander). Always preferred Carter Hall to Katar Hol.

Volstagg: Love the three together.

Huntress/Helena Wayne: Anyone who remembers last years threads knows how much I love Helena Wayne.

Sue Dibney: She'd be in my second or third dozen. Loved her in JLE.

Kona: How can you not love cavemen.

Catwoman: A great character. At times one of my absolute favorites. Didn't make my list, but up there.

[dan bailey]

LOVED Hawkworld (I'm a big fan of both Truman and Ostrander).

Hmmm ... Apparently, you've somehow obtained access to my notes for the upper echelon of my list.