Monthly archives: January, 2007

Black Adam

“My favorite hero of the year was Black Adam. From poking out Psycho Pirate’s eyeballs through the back of his head to tearing Terra-Man in half, he’s kicked all sorts of ass this year. Without him, “52” wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable. There’s just something terribly fun about a hero who’s not afraid to murder people and be an all-around heavy-duty bad-ass.”
-Doom DeLuise

Nightwing (with a qualification)

“Nightwing (through Infinite Crisis).”
-Jim Doom

Jamie Madrox

“Jamie Madrox has been the most interesting character of the year. Or characters, I guess. He’s good, he’s evil, he’s an agent of SHIELD, and he’s schtumping Siryn and; what’s not to love?”
-Fin Fang Doom

“I call a tie between the hero of my favorite book, Madrox the Multiple Man, and the anti-hero of one of my favorites, Jonah Hex. These guys both went from mostly forgotten to returned to glory in 2006, and it didn’t take a mega-event to do it.”
-Jean-Claude Van Damme

Cyclops

“I’m the biggest supporter of Cyclops, perhaps more than I should be, but seeing the new direction Joss Whedon could take him in makes me giddy as a school girl.”
-Doominator

It’s rare that in a category so broad, even two of us will agree on a choice. But a lot of really good heroes had really bad years in 2006, so the five of us were able to pin it down to three. That means those three had to have a level of suck heretofore only associated with characters Reggie Hudlin had written.
Iron Man

“Ion is nice temptation, the hero who couldn’t shoot straight even with the whole of DC promoting him. But I have to go with Iron Man, who arguably could be picked for worst villain too. At this point, I’m actually hoping they kill off Tony Stark.”
-Jean-Claude Van Doom

“Y’know, as a villain, Iron Man might rank as one of the best of the year. But since Marvel keeps insisting he’s not a bad guy, that makes him the worst hero of the year. From corrupting Spider-Man to beating the crap out of long-time friend Captain America to creating a clone of a thunder god for killing fellow superheroes, Tony Stark has been responsible for some the worst acts of 2006. But he’s still a superhero, apparently.”
-Fin Fang Doom

WildC.A.T.s

“How many relaunches does it take to figure out that NO ONE CARES! I’m sorry, Grant Morrison, this was your nadir.”
-Doominator

Nightwing

“Worst hero, for me, was Nightwing, post-Crisis. I really, really hated that stuff. I’ve worn myself out over the past few months trying to explain to people how horribly they dropped the ball with him after the OYL jump, so I’ll just leave it at that.”
-Doom DeLuise

“Nightwing (after Infinite Crisis)”
-Jim Doom

The Joker

“The Joker is the Joker and will always be the Joker.”
— Doominator

“He didn’t really show up a lot in 2006, but when he did, The Joker made quite a splash. He blew up Batman, Jason Todd and himself (although none of them seemed any worse for wear). He killed Alexander Luthor. And he took center stage in the best issue so far of Paul Dini’s amazing Detective Comics run. You gotta love the Joker.”
— Fin Fang Doom

“The Joker stole the show in Infinite Crisis #7, so I have to give it up to him. He stole the thunder of the biggest crossover of the past few years, and, for that, my hat is off.”
— Doom DeLuise

Superboy Prime

“No heel turn caught me so off guard, or was so believable and terrifying, as Superboy Prime turning evil and running amok through the DCU. So often, there’s a villain with the brains in the shadows pulling all the strings who’s actually the frightening one. Alexander Luthor was a conniving, vicious SOB, for sure. But even though Superboy was little more than an attack dog, he packed one hell of a bite. What carried him over through 2006 for me was how Geoff Johns set him up in 52 and Green Lantern as a smoldering powerhouse of rage bottled up in some far corner of the universe, just waiting to exact his revenge.”
— Jean-Claude Van Doom

Those Civil War guys

“Tony Stark and Captain America. Gotta love when the villain really thinks he’s right and isn’t just evil.”
— Jim Doom

I’ve opined before about the lack of new blood among the legions of villains in comics. And maybe now we have our explanation for why so few new baddies join the ranks of the Joker, Dr. Doom, Synestro and Orca. In 2006, we had a few new villains appear (and an old one rehashed in a new universe). And they promptly sunk to the depths as the worst villains of the year.

Ultimate Galactus

“I was actually excited about Ultimate Galactus after the cool Ultimate Nightmare mini, which brought the Ultimates and X-Men together for a creepy if nonsensical adventure. Then things got boring. And delayed. And stupid. Credit Warren Ellis for taking a pulse-pounding “world is going to be devoured” tale and bogging it down with so much “science” that the whole thing collapsed on itself. I didn’t even stick around long enough for the big bad guy to show up. So, he may have been pretty sweet, but does it make a sound if a villain nearly devours the world and no one’s there to witness it?”
— Jean-Claude Van Doom

That poo guy from Nightwing

“I’d say that little midget guy who could turn into a big blob of goo, eat people, and poop them out in a hard shell before they also turn into a big blob of goo (from Bruce Jones’ run on Nightwing) may be the worst villain ever thought up. Actually, he may be tied with those two albino Matrix: Reloaded twins from the same run.”
— Doom DeLuise

The Children

“The new villians in “X-Men” come across to me as a joke … the highly evolved blah blah blah has failed to excite me.”
— Doominator

Grotesk

“If Robert DeNiro’s Frankenstein monster was a supervillain in the DC Universe, he would be called Grotesk. He would also be the villain in the worst Batman story I’ve ever read, and be the reason I dropped the book from my pull list.”
— Fin Fang Doom