Our Favorite Comic Characters

Storm: Storm is staggeringly powerful, and she’s a character who commits to everything she feels. It’s why Ororo the Queen and Ororo the leader of the Morlocks both make sense to me.
Magik: Magik is basically a terrifying hell-witch, which is kind of my jam. She also has a lot of complex issues with self-worth and her ability to be a good person.
Jubilee: The only time I’m not on the verge of explaining why Jubilee is great is when I’m in the midst of explaining why Jubilee is great. The girl has been through some stuff, but she’s indomitable.
Skank Zero Hopeless-Savage: I first read Hopeless Savages in high school and I fell in LOVE with Zero. She’s weird, and different, and makes up words, and she’s not especially popular but she’s happy.

Eric Margolis
Hawkeye Clint Barton: Age of Ultron really nailed what it is that I love about Hawkeye. He’s just a normal guy who’s able to pull his weight amongst a group of extraordinary people. In the comics, he can be a little short tempered and sometimes a screw-up, but that’s part of what makes him so loveable. And come on, he’s got Pizza Dog!
Vision: I’ve been hooked on the android Avenger since the old Avengers arcade game. Always the heart and soul of every team he’s on, I can’t help but buy any book that he’s a part of.
Howard the Duck: Steve Gerber did some amazing work with Howard the Duck, the crankiest duck around. It functioned as a great social commentary and political parody mixed with straight-up ridiculousness.
Songbird: Thunderbolts is easily my favorite superhero comic of all time. Songbird is such a huge part of why I love it. While she’s had a few cringe-worthy moments in her early days, she developed into an amazing, intriguing character who proved to be a fantastic leader. I’m EXTREMELY excited that she’s coming out of limbo in the New Avengers book that’s launching in the fall.

Michael Chasin

Hellboy: A pure pulp hero for the ages. Elemental in his purity, hugely entertaining, and surprisingly emotional.
Death (Sandman): The best character from my all-time favorite series. Death knows you. Death loves you.
Hawkeye Kate Bishop: Funny, flawed, fearless, and cool as hell, Kate Bishop is everything I’d want a superhero to be if I ever met one.
Agent 355 (Y: The Last Man): Thinking about her at all pretty much breaks my heart.

Jess Pryde
Agatha Heterodyne: Girl Genius was the first long-format comic that I read in print, so Agatha has a special place in my heart. Also, she’s brilliant and eccentric and awesome. Agent 355: I consumed Y: The Last Man in an embarrassingly brief amount of time, and I hardly remember a lot of events, but 355 left a lasting impression.
Lieutenant Trouble Kit Renner: From the moment she showed up in Captain Marvel I was in love.
Clark Kent (Straczynski’s Superman: Earth One): The stupid adorable dork made me cry while wandering a Metropolis street trying to find a phone.

Dave Accampo

The Question, John Constantine, Green Arrow Oliver Queen, Starman Jack Knight: Yes, these are all DC characters, and they’re all male. And the specific time period from which I love these characters spans from the late 80s to the mid 90s. But that’s the reading period in which I truly fell in love with and found deeper personal connections and meaning in my comics. These are all deeply flawed heroes. The Question searches for truth and identity. Constantine defies authority and gets in over his head. Green Arrow makes many personal mistakes while driven by a deep sense of justice. And Jack Knight, in not wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps, learns to be a hero in his own way, while also learning to love his father as an adult. I latched onto bits of each of these characters.

Mart Gray
Wally West: As Kid Flash, he was the first sidekick to truly graduate to the big leagues – he stepped into the yellow boots of the Flash and ran with it.
Zatanna: DC’s first legacy hero, and a visual and verbal delight as she worked her magic, rewiring the brains of generations of readers to instantly be able to read backwards dialogue.
Projectra: As Princess Projectra, she was a competent Legionnaire, but after the death of husband Karate Kid, she became a force of nature, taking down his killer with her bare hands before finally emerging with a new heroic identity.
Vixen: Mari Jiwe McCabe channels the power of the animal kingdom, but it’s her human nature that makes her fiercely formidable.

Jess Plummer
Supergirl: I love all Supergirls but especially Kara Zor-El, who to me embodies all the hope and resilience and power of teenage girls in one iconic figure.
Blue Beetle Ted Kord: Ted’s one of the most human characters in the DCU; he feels like he’s simultaneously your funniest and your most annoying friend.
Booster Gold: Booster’s such a funny character that it’s easy to miss that his endless battle between his neurotic striving towards fame and fortune and his better angels makes him one of comics’ best commentaries on the American Dream.
Stephanie Brown: She gets knocked down! But she gets up again! You’re never gonna keep her down!

Kris Saldaña
Batman: Bats will always be one of my favorites. Just like everyone else’s…
America Chavez, Miss America: I love Miss America. She’s Latina and super badass, so it’s wonderful to see that Hispanic representation in mainstream Marvel books. She killed it with the Young Avengers and needs her own title, for sure.
Captain America: Only recently has Captain America become one of my favorite characters. I think a lot of that has to do with the films. but also Remender’s run with JRJR. I love what he stands for: morality, justice, integrity. He’s the coolest.
Shazam!: I’m more in love with the idea of Shazam than with the character himself only because I haven’t seen him written well in anything besides Kingdom Come. Which sucks. Shazam has the potential to be a monster complex character. Billy Batson can turn into a superhero with incredible power, has a superpowered family and a rich history. I want to see a lot more of that.

Brian McNamara
Green Lantern Hal Jordan: Hal’s the greatest Green Lantern to ever sling a ring, but he’s also the worst at life. It’s the balance of being great at something but screwing up everything else that’s drawn me to Hal over the years.
Havok: There’s something about being second fiddle and trying to avoid constantly proving yourself that really connects me to Alex, even if I don’t quite understand sibling rivalries as an only child.
Beast: One of my formative heroes, Beast taught me it was okay to read books, be awkward and standout from the crowd.
Batgirl Stephanie Brown: My comic book soulmate. Barely in control of her life, striving to live up to a legacy, surviving and quipping all the way. Basically, Steph’s the best.