You Know That's Your Favorite Character If...

I've been thinking about this for the past few days...what exactly qualifies as proof that any character is "your guy" or "your girl" or "your favorite"? Is it because you have the most issues/trade paperbacks of said character, and have read more of this character's stories than any else? Is it just the innate knowledge in your mind that identifies this one character as "your favorite"?

I'm starting to think it might be three things....

1. You - when it's called for - always root for this character in a battle
2. You always hope this character gets to shine in a team setting (like an Avengers book or the Avengers movies)
3. And you'll read even the crappy stories of this character's title, just because this character is the main star

Thoughts?

Mine is because I just love Wonder Woman. It's her actions that makes me love her; singing a lullaby (or whatever it's called) to a kid with cancer, trying to create peace and her attitude. She's nice to everyone, and even people in the DCU loves her.

I think your three are a good start. Personally my favorite character since his conception has been Agent Venom (Flash Thompson's Venom for those who don't know). I hoped he would shine among the GotG, since his now discontinued solo was amazing, and I continue to read the sub-par GotG Bendis title in hopes of seeing some good stories centered around Thompson (or Rocket, since he's one of my favorites as well).

But it all started because I liked the tale of a modern soldier, during a modern war, who was a hero before gaining super powers trying to live up to a role model's example. It's something I could relate to on several levels. Then Thompson's personality and character was explored, giving him depth, regret, guilt, and hope. Remender and Bunn really made him great.

Too bad he's been relegating to tertiary status and hasn't done much under Bendis, but then again the GotG as a whole aren't doing much under his pen.

@captain_batman_ftw:

Yes exactly, i love how she tries her best for peace and compassion, but knows when she needs to use force ,even then with restraint.

Hate seeing her messed up but its moments like these that make you love the character:

https://p.dreamwidth.org/e03e18b46036/i26.tinypic.com/20ppi8m.jpg

Yeah, I've been wondering this too. I think it's simply a character's personality that qualifies as proof that he/she is your favorite.

Captain America's powers and fighting ability are unimportant compared to why he fights. More important than his relationship with violence is what he represents to me (hope, courage, honor, duty, freedom, justice, fighting spirit, leadership, dignity, respect...), which is why I reject the type of fan behavior that values fighting prowess and clings to a hierarchy based on arbitrarily selected feats that are supposed to establish the superiority of their character over others. However, since I like Cap so much, I still root for him whenever he's put up against other characters here, and I don't do that with anyone else, so #1 applies to me.

#2 used to be true, until I became disillusioned with teams in general. The X-men and Avengers names are now just excuses to have multiple super-powered people fighting battles in one comic. They have no meaning. There's nothing of the message of the X-men or the esprit de corps of the Avengers of old.

Some might say #3 would apply to me catching up on Remender's Cap run, but I'm liking what I've read so far. It's not groundbreaking like Brubaker's, but it's hardly fair to judge only by comparing it to the most important, just because that's what preceded it. While I'm not a huge fan of the whole Dimension Z deal, I do appreciate Remender's treatment of military superheroes.

Although...I am following All-New Captain America. Steve Rogers doesn't star, but it is a Cap comic, and it is mediocre.

Like I've been saying, while I'll be away from comics for the next four months, I feel I have a strong enough connection to Captain America that I'm going to start collecting his stories in earnest soon, and things like your reading list have been a great help.

This post felt rushed. Hope all my thoughts made it out.

Nightwing. Always been my bro.

You're welcome :D

I've never had a character that hits all three for me.

Yes and no since those apply to any character you have more fondness for. That is a good way to tell though, or at least give yourself a good idea.

It definitely applies with me for the most part.

You can really tell when you get that feeling inside your gut, such as when your favorite character says or does something that makes you emotional (to whatever degree). Even more so when something happens to that character.

For example, Superman is becoming one of my favorite characters. One of the moments that has really hit home with me is during All Star Superman, when Clark saves that little girl from committing suicide. Those three lines, the "It's never as bad as it seems. You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me." always make me feel good.

When my favorite characters show the reasons they're heroes (or great villains), I can make that emotional connection to them. I of course also submit to reasons such as "So and so is a badass!" or "So and so does all this cool stuff!" But when it comes to the true blue heroes, the impossibly good ones (Captain America and Superman are the two most prominent examples), it ultimately comes down to what they represent.

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TL;DR My favorite characters hit me right in the feels

For me, there are three (questions) archetypes (very rarely do they match up all three, but if they meet one of these then they are a "favorite"):

1. Would I want to be in a foxhole with them during a war?

2. Would I want to hang out with them for good drinks and eats, chit chats and poker till four in the morning?

3. Would I want to sleep with them?

So using this criteria... some of my favorites are:

1. Thor, Hellboy, Carol Danvers, Phil Coulson, Rick Grimes, Dan Dare, Captain America

2. Ben Grimm, Jughead Jones, Wolverine, Spider Jerusalem, She-Hulk, Clint Barton, Tintin, Squirrel Girl

3. Mystique (duh), Misty Knight, Raven, Nico Minoru, Death of the Endless... (uh oh... see how that started to trend. Maybe I have a thing for goths. :-/ hrmm. I think I just learned something about myself.)

Maybe I have a thing for perky goths... ;)

Yay Comics!

Yep, that sounds about right...

@captain_batman_ftw @granitesoldier@lemurboy123@the_caped_crusader@leo-343@noone301994@darthmummy@stormshadow_x@xwraith@skit @stormdriven @infinityomelette @alak

Another thought that crossed my mind...I think a good sign of a character being your favorite is a self-aware acknowledgment that in all the decades that your character's been published, there have only been a small number of stories that can truly be considered "great", and yet you still stick by said character and his comics.

Like, I love Cap, but I have enough self-awareness to realize that his canon is paltry compared to the likes of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, or the X-Men. He's had great stories and defining moments, but we've yet to get anything from the character that's equivalent in influence to books like The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Phoenix Saga, The Night Gwen Stacy Died etc. It seems like Cap's best stories outside of Brubaker's run are honestly only known and enjoyed by fans of the character.

I guess this doesn't really apply for fans of any of the aforementioned characters though. I don't experience this as a fan of Superman or Bats, but I certainly do as an Iron Man, Black Panther, or Moon Knight one.

@veshark:

@noone301994 said:

Honestly I love aquaman but I love aquaman as my own version of him rather than how he actually is....i love him for what he could be

I've always imagined him as the king who will do anything to protect his people and those outside his kingdom mean nothing to him

....and somehow around probably eight years old that sounded great I dont even know where I got the idea....but its something that I've always wanted. Closest I've seen to it is probably flashpoint and I only saw that recently,

I've never even read a comic in which aquaman is a true main character, but somehow he's my favorite.

@veshark: Well Agent Venom has only been around since...2011, so he's got a very small canon and only really one or two 'great' arcs. But even that could be a by product of simply having so few books and stories.

You will probably be getting that in Batman vs Superman and The justice league movie. Since supposedly aqua man will be pissed at stuff thats happening on the surface is affecting Atlantis in the sea and he will go out and protect it.

Those are some great points. I'm usually fascinated most by character depth.

Seems about right. Always feel this way towards Dick Grayson.

@veshark: The closest thing Dick gray has is those few years he was a "Dick" to Barbra and Starfire :/ or I guess the time he became Batman and fully realized his destiny as the Best son of Bruce Wayne :D