Favourite Characters- A Stream of Consciousness (A Sequel)

(a.k.a. If you thought my last one was chaotic in structure, then you’re in for a shock. A.k.a an exercise in how not to write a blog)

Well, here we are again. Yes, I still have assignments due. And yes, I still haven’t finished them. But I’m getting there, slowly, painfully slowly. I would also like to add that the reason I’m having difficulty writing the media and social psychology one is entirely due to the fact that it has a 1000 word limit. Which is awful, especially due to the fact that I really want to write a spiel…and I can’t. In fact, I could write one of my behemothal (that’s a new word I just made up) blogs on the topic of mutants and prejudice, but I’m being restrained to 1000 words. Which is awful.

Also, Lent is going well. If not torturous. As I glance at the destruction on my desk I can see Saga staring at me, as well as Marvels, Kingdom Come, Wonder Woman: Odyssey, All Star Superman, Justice League vol 1, Superman: Godfall (another impulse buy) as well as the first two volumes of Runaways. And my housemates expect me to last another 2 weeks of this? Madness.

Ah, Update! I’ve bought Flashpoint #5 as well, because it was available for me to buy and Batman and Robin #18, because I’ve heard excellent things about it. I really need to stop reading reviews….

I’ve just glanced back up at my title and realised that I was going to write about my favourite characters, so I guess I’ll have to get on to that in a minute.

So, I’m trying to reign myself in and actually have a focus to this blog. For some reason when it’s assignment time I really struggle writing a cohesive piece, which is the reason these are just manic in terms of structure.

Right, favourite characters.

But first an anecdote;

I actually succeeding in turning my sister to the dark side about a year and a half ago. The means? Batman Arkham Asylum. I told her she would love it, and I was right! *evil smile* To clarify, she loved Harley Quinn. Still does. I then, carefully, exposed her to my comic books. Like releasing a baby lion into the wild, it was gentle, and incredibly slow. It also involved some of my skills as a trainee psychologist. (On a completely unrelated note: How many psychologist/psychiatrists go bad in comics? Answer: A lot).

I would like to give some credit to subliminal messaging, but to be honest it wasn’t all that subtle. (And subliminal messages are pseudo-science…). Examples: sitting reading comics in the living room. Talking about comic book characters loudly and often. Wearing superhero themed t-shirts. Showing her trailers to the latest comic book movies. Slipping the odd trade into her bedroom….

It wasn’t at all obvious in any way.

(There is a point to this digression, though it doesn’t really warrant the whole “how to train your sister” story). So, to put my line of thought back on track, my sister’s favourite characters are, in no order; Harley Quinn, Emma Frost, Wonder Woman, Batman and Joker. The last two are why she watches The Dark Knight religiously. I would say that this is very interesting for a number of deep meaningful reasons, but I actually cannot think of any. What makes a character a favourite character? What qualities do they have to possess to make them stand out? Harley and Joker are unpowered supervillains, Emma Frost a reformed villain…..

I’m probably thinking about this too linearly, and there may not be a reason why my sister likes these characters other than they are cool. So, as a side question to this blog; Who are your favourite characters, and why are they your favourites?

So, favourite characters…I actually have quite a large list on the subject (96 people in fact, or 98 if you count the Stepford Cuckoos as separate characters).

To explain why I like all 96/98 characters will take a long time, and that is why I've chosen a completely random selection (A grand total of 3 ladies and gentlemen!)

Uno: Stature

I know for a fact some people cannot stand her. Like they literally have a raging, burning hatred for Cassie Lang. I thought she was great, though I will utterly admit that she was…. irritating in Mighty Avengers. But that wasn’t her character at all, at least not how Heinberg originally wrote her. She was determined to be a hero, a hero worthy of carrying on her dad’s legacy. And *Spoiler* I was genuinely sad when she died. Very, very sad. And Jonas. Just one big pile of devastation in the space of three pages.

Note: I'm 99% sure the other members of the original roster of the YA are also on my favourites.

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Number 2: Zatanna

Who doesn't love a kick ass magic user? (Those who said 'me' don't count).

Loved her solo series, and JL Dark is also very, very good. Though I admit I prefer her old look to this one.

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And Number Three: Martian Manhunter

Because he is great. This is actually harder than it looks, thinking of actual tangible reasons other than- this guy is awesome.It's also the reason why I was going to do 10, but then decided to do 3 because I was saying the same things over and over.

Pre-52 he was like a watchful, gentle, kind-hearted.... you get the idea. He's great.

I swear I have reasons, but they are not present at the moment, all the good things have made a great escape out of my brain.

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Others on the list include: Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, Supergirl, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Sif, Thor, Black Bolt, Scott Lang, Ms Thing, Galacta, Beast, Nightcrawler, X-23, Selene, Molly Hayes, Mercury, Mystique, Lilandra, Scarlett Witch, Alura.... I'm going to stop there). But if you're interested/ have 3 minutes to spare and cannot think of anything else to spend your time on you can check out the full list here.

And that's it for now, show's over, you can go home now..nothing to see here.

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Side Note: I’m also listening to the Mass Effect 3 soundtrack as I am writing/wrote this, which makes me extremely sad, but I like it and so I listen to it.

The reason for the pictures: An Injustice themed blog will probably be published tomorrow, if not early next week. I got distracted and wrote this one instead. Which makes me wonder how the heck I can get distracted whilst getting distracted from doing work. Anyway, good bye and thank you for reading yet another one of my ‘blogs’.

You know what’s really awful about this blog, the fact that it’s longer than my assignment. Yeah.

I hope the pictures format correctly, I really do. (They didn't).

Hello, I am said sister and although I was obviously aware of the brainwashing (.....) and appreciated it, it has led to an annoying hobby. Spending money on the comics that rarely come out so I have to wait ages to see what's been happening and only have a short part of a story to revel in the amazingness (or not) of my favourite people and for it to be left as a cliffhanger. And also when they bring out annuals but randomly stop after the first one (thank you Harley Quinn comic book people, well now the next one after Preludes and Knock Knock Jokes is being released, finally). So thank you for that but yes, you have succeeded and now I'm hooked. I love Batman, Joker and Wonder Woman for their pure awesomeness and power, especially how they each earned their power (even Wonder Woman). And I do worship The Dark Knight, I will make a religion based around it soon. I love Emma Frost, well she has the same first name but also she too is awesome and hilarious with her witty, sarcastic comments. The Joker also shares humour, along with Harley Quinn. Harley I've really come to love because of her random, hilarious comments and her epicness (so epic to have invented a word). I probably have the most Harley Quinn comics overall because she might possibly be my favourite along with the Joker. Whether they are a villain or not I don't think has any affect on how much I like them though. So basically I have no idea why I love them but I do, thanks to you. Batman Arkham Asylum is also one of my favourite games ever, Harley is amazingly badass in that game, so thank you for introducing me to that as well.

@Swarley_Quinn said:

Hello, I am said sister and although I was obviously aware of the brainwashing (.....) and appreciated it, it has led to an annoying hobby. Spending money on the comics that rarely come out so I have to wait ages to see what's been happening and only have a short part of a story to revel in the amazingness (or not) of my favourite people and for it to be left as a cliffhanger. And also when they bring out annuals but randomly stop after the first one (thank you Harley Quinn comic book people, well now the next one after Preludes and Knock Knock Jokes is being released, finally). So thank you for that but yes, you have succeeded and now I'm hooked. I love Batman, Joker and Wonder Woman for their pure awesomeness and power, especially how they each earned their power (even Wonder Woman). And I do worship The Dark Knight, I will make a religion based around it soon. I love Emma Frost, well she has the same first name but also she too is awesome and hilarious with her witty, sarcastic comments. The Joker also shares humour, along with Harley Quinn. Harley I've really come to love because of her random, hilarious comments and her epicness (so epic to have invented a word). I probably have the most Harley Quinn comics overall because she might possibly be my favourite along with the Joker. Whether they are a villain or not I don't think has any affect on how much I like them though. So basically I have no idea why I love them but I do, thanks to you. Batman Arkham Asylum is also one of my favourite games ever, Harley is amazingly badass in that game, so thank you for introducing me to that as well.

*tips hat*

No problem, sis. :)

@Swarley_Quinn:

Yay! Welcome to the this-hobby-will-get-worse-and-worse-in-terms-of-cash-spent troupe! :)

Awesome you are here on ComicVine as well. :)

@RedQueen:

lol -- hey, writing blogs on here containing word counts higher than your assignments is a good thing -- kinda like practice..or flexing your literary prowess or some such --- oh forget it. it is what it is -- you are under the non-influence of comics woman! You are suffering enough as it is.

(Almost over....)

@RedQueen What would you recommend reading for Martian Manhunter stories? I didn't really enjoy his appearances in Stormwatch, but I thought he was great in his appearances in the Green Lantern books. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Justice League of America plays out, too. I've always thought he was an interesting character, but I've never read anything in which he was the central character.

@Saranth said:

@RedQueen What would you recommend reading for Martian Manhunter stories? I didn't really enjoy his appearances in Stormwatch, but I thought he was great in his appearances in the Green Lantern books. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Justice League of America plays out, too. I've always thought he was an interesting character, but I've never read anything in which he was the central character.

What's really strange is that there are not many titles in which he's been a central character. Though I would recommend Brightest Day, JLA (Morrison's run), the older Justice League International stuff and Martian Manhunter: Others among us (I think that was the title). Saying that, it's very rarely that he's been badly. Pretty much anything he appears in is good.

@lykopis:Thank you, I look forward to losing all my money and space in my room to be entertained for a few minutes every month or so. No seriously it's going to be great, happy to be here. And also I'm just getting used to Comicvine, so I don't really know what I'm doing, still.

@RedQueen said:

I hope the pictures format correctly, I really do. (They didn't).

HA.

Well, as the self-declared king of Writing Too Darn Much (and a member of the royal Has Trouble Sticking to the Topic At Hand family), I'd say you've nothing to be worried about in that regard. I am enjoying these little diversions (and still waiting on that more focused material :P).

I must note with some amusement that based on your "pull list" (that is, the pile on your desk), we read almost nothing in common (is reading in common a thing? is now). Though I have all the Runaways volumes and am slowly working through them, so there's some overlap, haha.

My favorite characters (and good grief, if I keep talking to Brits and Canucks, I am going to start putting u's in my words; I'm already reversing my r's and e's...) are a short but slowly growing list (just joined CV in January; just started really reading comics like two weeks prior to joining CV). Which can be found here...and a list of characters I've seen and expect could become favorite characters is here (it's a lot longer). I love scouring favorites lists for potential new prospects, but until I have more money I probably won't be venturing into back issues and actually discovering these characters (and whether they're my favorites or not) for quite some time.

I'll save gushing about X-23 (my favorite character) for the blog I've been putting off writing for some time. Cloak & Dagger I like because they have a really great dynamic, are outcasts from everyone but each other, tend to be pretty funny, and (honestly) I love monochrome art and they lend themselves to very cool depictions because of the dichotomy between their outfits. I find Deadpool's meta nature hilarious when well-done, and I have always loved Riddler's style (he's the sort of villain I'd hope to be, and probably would be, in terms of the arrogance/having to win factor).

@akbogert said:

@RedQueen said:

I hope the pictures format correctly, I really do. (They didn't).

HA.

Well, as the self-declared king of Writing Too Darn Much (and a member of the royal Has Trouble Sticking to the Topic At Hand family), I'd say you've nothing to be worried about in that regard. I am enjoying these little diversions (and still waiting on that more focused material :P).

I must note with some amusement that based on your "pull list" (that is, the pile on your desk), we read almost nothing in common (is reading in common a thing? is now). Though I have all the Runaways volumes and am slowly working through them, so there's some overlap, haha.

My favorite characters (and good grief, if I keep talking to Brits and Cannucks, I am going to start putting u's in my words; I'm already reversing my r's and e's...) are a short but slowly growing list (just joined CV in January; just started really reading comics like two weeks prior to joining CV). Which can be found here...and a list of characters I've seen and expect could become favorite characters is here (it's a lot longer). I love scouring favorites lists for potential new prospects, but until I have more money I probably won't be venturing into back issues and actually discovering these characters (and whether they're my favorites or not) for quite some time.

I'll save gushing about X-23 (my favorite character) for the blog I've been putting off writing for some time. Cloak & Dagger I like because they have a really great dynamic, are outcasts from everyone but each other, tend to be pretty funny, and (honestly) I love monochrome art and they lend themselves to very cool depictions because of the dichotomy between their outfits. I find Deadpool's meta nature hilarious when well-done, and I have always loved Riddler's style (he's the sort of villain I'd hope to be, and probably would be, in terms of the arrogance/having to win factor).

I prefer really long comments and blogs, as they normally give a greater opportunity for discussion. So, thank you for this one. :) The Runaways is an excellent series that I only started reading about mid-way through last year as a "oh what the heck I'll give it a read"/ "I really need some more reading material" moment. As for the pile on my desk it is huge, and extremely tempting. Though the Invincible trades are drawing my attention at the moment as well.

You know you missed a "u" in favourite right? :) You know you want to add a "u" in there. ( Like putting the "r" before the "e" in Centre, and a "u" in colour....and other words I can't think of right now.) <What's really annoying about Firefox is that it's underlining those words in red.> *shakes head*

I'll definitely check out those lists.

X-23 is one awesome character. I know and share your feelings for a certain ongoing series right now. And I can't wait to read that blog. (Need I recommend Target X and Innocence Lost? Probably not.) You know, I've never really read any Cloak and Dagger centric comic books, only what they've appeared in like Civil War and the aforementioned Runaways. Deadpool as well, though I have read the first couple of issues of his Marvel Now! series. I should probably trace the others at some point. And I have to agree with Riddler, though again, I've never read anything Riddler-centric.

@Swarley_Quinn: Gotta love sharing names with awesome characters ^_^ I think it's amazing that you went so long without posting, and chose this blog as your reason for breaking that trend. Welcome to the participatory side of CV...and beware the five-post-per-day newbie limit (which is the worst). I completely agree that the miniscule tidbits of story eked out from month to month are extremely aggravating. There are some books that I have decided I am just not willing to put up with that with; I shall read in trade, or I shan't read at all.

@RedQueen: Indeed, you need not tell me about Innocence Lost and Target X. If it weren't for them, and particularly the former, I quite possibly wouldn't have ever learned to care about Laura. But good grief do those books pack a punch. I dare anyone to read IL and not love her. I also dare those people to never talk to me, haha. A fun, if stupid, story with Cloak & Dagger is their three-issue arc in Spider Island. It gives a lot of decent moments, though it has some weirdness in it which a longer-standing fan might take issue with. There was also a C&D one-shot which is worth reading; it was part of Marvel's free 700 issues thing, so I'm fairly certain you could get it on Comixology. They're pretty tragic characters in a lot of ways. Deadpool my biggest exposure was actually his solo from a couple years ago (I had a brief couple-month stint in 2008ish in which I got a lot of Civil War trades for super cheap, and ended up picking up some DP comics around the Skrull invasion period as well as the X-Force comics that were the beginning of my re-introduction this Christmas). If you want a crazy amount of insight into who I am as a reader, check out this list, which covers quite literally every single comic I have read in the last decade (which is almost every single comic I've ever read). It's chronological, latest at the top.

Arkham Asylum was one of the best video games I've ever played. Arkham City was a better game that I enjoyed less...probably because I like the gothic, more enclosed feel of the first game. The majority of DC characters, those games were my introduction. They're the reason I tried a few DC comics around the New 52 reboot, and a big reason I've come to like DC more than Marvel (despite Marvel claiming my favorite characters...they tend to abuse or not know what to do with them, sadly).

@Swarley_Quinn said:

@lykopis:Thank you, I look forward to losing all my money and space in my room to be entertained for a few minutes every month or so. No seriously it's going to be great, happy to be here. And also I'm just getting used to Comicvine, so I don't really know what I'm doing, still.

Most of us don't know what we're doing either, lol -- so you are good.

@akbogert:

k -- now you know you want to write the Queen's English, sir. Something inside you -- a true yearning for the proper spelling of this language twists and pulls you....it takes just a tiny step. A tiny, tiny step ...

@lykopis: Honestly, if I weren't going into American academia -- where I would constantly be forced to revise it -- I'd happily adapt. But now seems a particularly poor time to try getting into that mindset; it'd be like memorizing all of one style book right before joining a publication that required a different one: useless and detrimental. Should I become an expat at any point, I will happily begin speaking, er, "real" English.

But I will always pronounce "sorry" as sah-ry, never saw-ree :P

@akbogert:

That is so funny --- Michael J Fox said that the weirdest thing he had to get used to when in the States was how they (you) pronounce "sorry". He used the example of "sari" (the Indian dress) to show how he heard it down south, lol.

@lykopis: Yeah, there are a couple words, that being the most common, which just jump out (the words out ("oot") and about ("aboot") being also noticeable). It's always amusing to me to watch a Canadian show (my sister watched a lot of Degrassi, for example) and only be able to tell it's Canadian rather than American because of the occasional difference like that. It's so weird to me that there are so few words that stick out, but when they're different, boy are they different.

S'okay, though, because lots of things the southerners say sound funny. I'm metropolitan New Yorker -- you won't really detect any accent, certainly not the typical Bronx one people associate with "New Yawk" or "Joisey." People know where I'm not from, but no one would ever guess where I'm actually from by my voice.

@akbogert:I honestly have trouble telling the difference between Canadian and American accents. Most of my lecturers for this year are either American or Canadian, and the only reason I know that is because they normally introduce themselves as "I'm *name*, and if you can't tell, I'm American/Canadian."

@RedQueen: It truly is a matter of only a few words. And to some extent, the part of either country you live in. I don't think a Texan will ever be recognized as anything but a Texan, for example. And the more rural Canadian accents are likely similar to some of the Dakotan/more backwoodsy American accents -- kind of how Sarah Palin sounded like she belonged in the movie Fargo, even though she's from Alaska. I suppose it's not really any different from the difficulty I have in placing various UK accents. I've gotten better at telling between Irish and Scottish (some people really can't, and that blows a lot of Irish and Scottish minds), but you want me to place an accent anywhere beyond "somewhere in Britain" and, well... let's just say I'm no Professor Higgins.

I find it tends a lot more to do with the written word and a couple turns of phrase. We use "z" where you may be horrified to see something other than an "s," and I believe that goes for some Canadians as well?

@akbogert: @RedQueen:

There is some differences with accents with Canadians, you can tell who is from the East Coast as there seems to be a bit of a lilt in their voice and as for the West Coast (where I am from) I would say we speak more slowly are compared to say Toronto which in just off of central. One thing I did notice was that Toronto's ethnic communities themselves seem to have accents -- Italians, Greeks, Jamaicans and I am talking about third to fourth generation people. Jersey Shore isn't too far off in being similar to what I have been exposed to.

When I visited the Mediterranean, most people didn't know the difference between Canadians or the Americans -- at least in terms of speech patterns unless it was a heavy, southern twang/drawl. ;P

@lykopis said:

at least in terms of speech patterns unless it was a heavy, southern twang/drawl. ;P

^ Precisely.

Actually, I've often thought depending on how hostile foreigners are towards America, I could probably pass pretending to be Canadian. Well, not often. But it has crossed my mind. There are some stereotypes that I'd prefer not to be associated with and if not wearing stars and stripes helps me with that, so be it :)

@akbogert:

omigod -- poor RedQueen -- we completely derailed her thread! lol --- you are are so right about foreigners' perspectives of Americans. Quite a few of my fellow travelers were more than willing to be thought of as Canadian (the younger ones, not so much the older) and there were a few backpackers I ran into during my tour (yuck --- never again -- controlled itineraries are not the way to go) who had the Canadian flag prominently displayed on their possessions. Most said it was just to save time -- they kept having to defend themselves when they revealed they were American that just saying they were Canadian made people pretty much leave them alone. A bit sad, really.

@lykopis: Nonsense. We're just continuing the stream of thoughts! And besides, she only has a limited time to complain about it :P

Too harsh?

I kid, I kid. But yeah, that's quite sad. I'm actually a little surprised to find it's not just a hypothetical thing, that that actually might be a thing I find myself doing o_O.

@akbogert:

Hey -- considering we are working on our French -- maybe you can pretend you are Quebecois, specifically? They don't want to be Canadian and that lovely fleur de lis is in blue -- would fit more comfortably perhaps with your revolutionary tendencies?

@lykopis: Can you call it "working" when it's been neglected for so long? :P

But actually, yes, that could work. Except of course in Canada, where I get the sense that a ton of people are really sick of that whole secession-style talk. Though I'd point out that concerning revolution, it's red, the blood of angry men...

@akbogert:

Ugh -- we are so done with it. Annoying is annoying. If it wasn't for them insisting we pay for the whole setting up of their own country, I think the majority of Canadian would say good riddance. (Not me, but just to give you a sense of how it's perceived here of which you know.)

Such an American! Red for anger, tsk tsk! It should be BLUE, for the truth and valour and all that is right and just!

@lykopis: Hey, you can't blame me. That's from Les Misérables. Blame the French.

:P

Also, it's RedQueen's thread. So the red stands :P

@akbogert:

**stands down**

I concur.

@akbogert: @lykopis:

Hahaha, this 'derailment' was illuminating, please come back :D

Next discussion: the correct pronunciation of the word "Aluminium". :P It's the one word which can instantly tell whether you are American/Canadian or British.

Which again Firefox is telling me I'm spelling wrong. It's Aluminium not aluminum.

@RedQueen:

LOL --- I have to be honest, I purposely pronounce words as the English do, just to annoy my friends. They are like "what the f*ck did you just say?" and then we proceed to argue about the correct way of saying the word. Of course I get to be pompous and insist English is English, therefore the English are correct which for some reason just escalates things...

*heh heh --- stupid firefox...**

@RedQueen: Well that's not really fair. If it's spelled Aluminum, then it's pronounced that way. And if it's spelled Aluminium, then it's pronounced that way.

I tend to come across it as foil, and major companies (like Reynolds) call it Aluminum. So that's what I've grown up calling it. But the first periodic table I found when I just googled the periodic table...it said Aluminium. That's...that's just not fair.

@lykopis: I feel like playing Tomb Raider is going to be more interesting all of a sudden, if you're apt to be mispronouncing stuff left and right :P

(side note: I love how Firefox unites us)

@lykopis said:

@RedQueen:

LOL --- I have to be honest, I purposely pronounce words as the English do, just to annoy my friends. They are like "what the f*ck did you just say?" and then we proceed to argue about the correct way of saying the word. Of course I get to be pompous and insist English is English, therefore the English are correct which for some reason just escalates things...

*heh heh --- stupid firefox...**

I agree wholeheartedly. *Not biased in anyway*

Any points made about the origin of the English language- and how it's kind of a mixture of several other languages- are irrelevant.

@akbogert said:

@RedQueen: Well that's not really fair. If it's spelled Aluminum, then it's pronounced that way. And if it's spelled Aluminium, then it's pronounced that way.

I tend to come across it as foil, and major companies (like Reynolds) call it Aluminum. So that's what I've grown up calling it. But the first periodic table I found when I just googled the periodic table...it said Aluminium. That's...that's just not fair.

Well, if someone hadn't missed an "I" out then you wouldn't be saying it wrong :p This is when you tell me it was an American who discovered Aluminium and the British added the "I" in....which wouldn't change my argument at all.

@RedQueen:

Precisely right (through textbooks out window and ignores yelp from down below)...

@akbogert:

(practising her fake English accent in preparation)

(edit -- OMG --- I even spelled "throw" wrong (will leave as is as reminder I am somewhat insane...)

Luckily for me the guy who discovered Aluminium was Danish *wipes brow*

Dammit Firefox it's the right spelling!!

@lykopis: The cable should be here in a little over a week. Hopefully you'll have opened the shrink wrap by then :P

@RedQueen: Haha. This still doesn't explain why an entire nation's curriculum is at odds with its own scientific facts...