Friday, August 7, 2015

Top 5 Fridays: DC Comic Characters I HATE But People Love


Welcome to this week's Top 5 Friday!  This week, I thought I've been much too positive in the past few Top 5's.  I need to be a bit saltier, a bit grumpier..... just a bit meaner.  This week we'll be going over the Top 5 Characters I HATE But People Love.  As a constant reminder, this is my list and if you don't agree with it, you can make your own.  Also this list contains major spoilers on certain storylines, including the Superman Truth storyline. Enough talk, lets begin!

5: Lobo

Lobo is a fun character, but he has quickly overstayed his welcome. I can only handle his insane, brutal, stereotypical 90's tactics for I want to say once every few issues. Any more, such as an entire SERIES on the madness, I just can't handle him. Besides his ego and his patent for hyper violence just leaves so much to be desired. DC is known for some of their intriguing and fleshed out villains like Lex Luthor and Captain Cold...and then theres this guy. The New 52 version became interesting only because it meant that the violent sociopath was a fake...only to be replaced with just another uninteresting space bounty hunter. Rather than learn the Czarnian/Thanagarian conflict, we just see Lobo and Hawkman punch one another for 3 ISSUES OF JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED! Maybe I'm pretentious, but Lobo's lack of character just bothers me immensely.



4: Lois Lane 

What does Lois do?  Let us compare her to the other love interests of the Man of Steel.  Lana Lang is an engineer who is Superman's biggest supporter and now an actual hero of the Earth.  Wonder Woman is the frigging God of War, Justice League member and protector of all humanity.  Lois Lane...is a reporter.  A reporter whose only point of existing is to be caught and get in Superman's way.  She has been given this background of a military family, yet never actually is able to fight back unless given an alien power up.  All she does is lay back and allow herself to be captured for the big blue boy scout to save.
Truthfully this hatred spawned mostly at her parts of the New 52.  At every turn, she lost her humanity and became more and more like a press hungry reporter.  She has turned the world against Superman in the Doomed storyline and in the most recent storyline, revealed the truth of Superman's identity to the entire world.  Why did she do this? Because she's a reporter!  A reporter that wanted to get the biggest story of her career.  So what she put Clark's life in the crapper, causing everyone to go after him for one reason or another!



3: The Joker

Now before everyone tries to find me and kill me, give me a chance to explain.  It's not that I hate the Joker.  I hate what he has become; An all powerful, unbeatable, spotlight sucker.  Just like Batman, Joker can apparently commit any crime because he is the Joker.  He can steal nuclear subs and cause cities to explode, because he's Joker.  He can apparently survive getting his face cut off and come back stronger.  He is apparently an Immortal who has haunted Gotham since it's origin, but not really.  He can jokerize the entire Justice League and take down the entire Bat-Family and Rogues gallery without breaking a sweat.  See my point yet?  This isn't some god that can just smack the Justice League around, this is just a lunatic who is perfect for  JUST the vigilante heroes such as Batman or Green Arrow.  But of course when it comes to comics, popularity equals power and thanks to Heath Ledger's performance in the Dark Knight Returns, Mark Hamill's voice work in the Arkham games, the clown prince of crime has become the clown GOD of crime.



2: Jason Todd/Red Hood

I liked this character, or at least the concept of it, when I first saw him in the DC animated movie Under The Red Hood.  He was the Bat's biggest mistake. The  Robin who was killed by his greatest enemy. Beaten to death as he hoped his father would come and save him. We reach the climax of the movie, asking out why didn't Batman kill the Joker?!  This was great...for the first time. But every time, every part with him I've seen afterwards, he buts heads with his former father or his followers say, "You messed up," or "Why did you let me die!" It was even worse in Arkham Knight, when he then gets the whole, "I'm daddy's favorite! Not the new guy!" It has almost entirely pushed me off ever wanting seeing this guy in anything.  The only exception with me being okay with the anti-hero is when he teams up with the rest of the Bat-Family, but other than that, its just hate.



1: John Constantine

If you know me, you knew this guy was going to be number 1. This Brit has always been on my nerves ever since I first read Justice League Dark. Every time I see him show up in any of the comics I read, I legitimately want to toss the issue. He abuses drugs and alcohol, hits women, betrays ANYONE with a pulse, hell anyone period!
If anything he causes more pain than he does help people. He sent a small girl to hell, bound a woman to a witch, allows Eclipso to invade Gem World in the present and trapped Parademons in it in the future, stole Shazam's power for himself, tried to swindle the Trinity of Sin into working for him, played both sides in Injustice to get out of a deal with Trigon (which lead to the voiding of the demon, Mxyzptlk, and most importantly Doctor Fate), KILLED HIS HAPPY ALTERNATE EARTH SELF RATHER THAN KILL HIMSELF FOR THEIR SAFETY AND THAT IS JUST THE PARTS I READ!  There is so many worse things Constantine has done pre-new 52 it sickens me. This guy is not a hero, not even an anti-hero, he's a damn villain!
This makes me ask the question: WHY IS HE SO DAMN POPULAR?!  He has no redeeming factors and steps on everyone so he can get on top.  Yet he has had three series, lead a Justice League, and had his own TV show and movie!  This makes me question the minds of comic readers to this day.

That's it for this week's Top 5 Friday!  What did you think of the list?  Leave a comment and I'll see you next week!

20 comments:

  1. Just recently watch tim burton batman(1989) film....

    ...and watching that make me agree with you,i miss ye olde joker

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    1. It's more like joker has become over saturated. He needs a break from the action

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    2. I think we have Scott Snyder to thank for that. Between Death of the Family, the first part of Zero Year and Endgame, there wad WAY too much Joker.

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    3. I agree with all three of you and Tom, Snyder has used the Joker so much that Eric is convinced it's in his contract with DC that he is the only one who gets to use him and he can use him as much as he wants.

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  2. Let me hide behind a rock first.

    5. Batwoman: I see nothing remotely interesting about the character.
    4. John Stewart: being in th JL cartoon doesn't stop hom from being a mopey snorefest.
    3. Tim Drake: two words; undue credit.
    2. Guy Gardner: every time I read about this arrogant jerk I just want to punch him in the face.
    1. Wally West: Y'know what? I'm not going to bother justifying this one.

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    1. I agree 100% with you on Guy! Personally i do like Stewart, but he does get mopey a lot in comparison to Hal.

      the only one i disagree with you on is wally west. I like the character more pre new 52 over the new 52, but hey this is your list!

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    2. Stop the Guy bashing! He's my favorite Lantern because he's an arrogant jerk and I want to punch him in the face...it makes him so different from all the other heroes and he always cracks me up. I do agree with John Stewart and Tim Drake, though. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Cyborg.

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    3. I'll give John and Guy this much: when together, their personalities compliment each other. I actually liked their teamwork in Tomasi's GLCorps. It's when they're alone that they bother me.

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  3. Lois. I really don't get the big deal over her. Superman has other love interests who cares genuinely for him as the guy he is and she always seemed more into the cape than Clark. She's been this way since the Golden Age though. Not only the new 52. These are Lois's traits. Some claim she is this great icon. Truth is she is defined by being Superman's love interest and can't be anything else. I have read nothing to convince me this character can offer anything apart from being saved, getting into trouble, and dating SM. And most of the time Clark seems to take a dip in IQ around her as in the SM truth storyline and worse case scenario his morality goes out the window if she is not around because DC needs to make her relevant as in Injustice. No character should undermine another much less the hero. If she is made tolerable as Amy Adams Lois, she's more or less forced into the narrative to the point where I eye rolled in many scenes and she actually is doing nothing interesting for Superman than doting on him, so offering nothing much different to Martha Kent. A man does not need two mothers.

    Everyone loves Batman. I cannot stand this guy. He is pimped over everyone else at absurd levels. I loathe the Batgod phenomena. And he too undermines Superman so he could shine. With a best friend like him Supes needs no enemies. DC keep pushing him to the detriment of their other characters. It's why Marvel kills it at the BO...when DC can only rely on Batman.




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    1. She ought to show up in other characters' comics by herself quite often. It would promote her as a character more.

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  4. Here's my list
    Tim drake:mostly because until eternal, he was hardly considered a bat character unless teen titans was forced into a bat crossover. Then am still a bit pissed that he is batman beyond instead of terry .

    Joker: mostly what they did with him in new52 and a bit of the arkham games were he is this unstoppable God who can take down anyone he wants, no questions asked , because it's joker.

    Damian : his personality can get on my nerves at times

    Redhood: like jody said, the all why didn't you kill me thing is annoying especially why no one,including his fans , asks him why HE has just killed joker or any other rouges if he is apparently as skilled as the rest of the bats and he doesn't really care what anyone thinks, so would it be difficult for him to honestly difficult for him to break into arkham and just shoot them or just blow up the place and get out before anyone notices, that's why I feel that ultimatly he doesn't care that much about the joker and why his worse than batman, because he kills and still lets the arkham gang live.

    Jokers daughter:who was honestly asking for this character and why is she honestly a threat to anyone. She is honestly just a teenage girl who walks around with dead skin on her face that should really be decayed at this point,story over continuity be damned, has no skills and should honestly be killed off or be let him comic limbo for life.

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    1. I dont think anyone likes Jokers Daughter tbh XD

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  5. Eh.. I love Joker being a force of nature. You need to be a force of nature to take on the Batman. As for my own list it would probably go:
    5. Superboy
    4.Tim Drake
    3.The entire Legion of Super-heroes
    2.Two-Face
    1. Hal Jordan
    Then again I don't really hate any DC characters so in my case it's more of a mild dislike.

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  6. I've been thinking about this since you put this up and I really can't say that I hate any character. I may really dislike some of their re-imaginings and places the writers have taken certain characters, but I generally like most characters.

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    1. I can get that and most of these are light hates. Like they can get on my good side...only one I don't see getting there is number 1

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  7. Oh my god. Wow.
    Listen you are entitled to your opinion but are responsible for getting your information right.
    All those things you've listed Lois Lane to supposedly be, is completely incorrect... Minus that she is a the reporter.
    I don't want to start anything, but I think that you owe it to the creators of Superman to actually get it right.
    Lois has on countless occasions shown to not only physically defend herself, but to protect Superman too.
    Lois doesn't just sit around waiting to be saved, she's a go getter. She gets things done.
    And as a comic reviewing site, if you didn't get that LOIS LANE, not Lana Lang SAVED Superman in Doomed, and thus saved the Earth, then you need to re-read stuff.
    It is very irresponsible to claim that Lois did everything in the Truth saga to get ahead, when the Truth saga hasn't even concluded.
    You are entitled to hate Lois Lane, but don't defame a fantastic character that gives girls and women a terrific career and family woman role-model to look up to.
    Lois Lane is so much more, and all you're doing is showing a facet of Silver Age characterisation on this blog post.
    Lois has covered war torn areas. Lois has saved Superman (more than once). Lois has started a family, and kept her job. Lois is the every women, and by dissing her like this, you diss feminism and a lot of women around the world.
    An educated post, where you do your research would be better.
    I mean, was it not Lois who was so important to helping Superman to save the world in Man of Steel? Was it not Lois who discovered Superman and Clark are one in the same and kept his secret in Man of Steel?
    And if we're talking comics, Lois kept Clark's secret for 20+ years. She is seen as Superman's equal, by Superman. You owe her the respect to research what you are saying.

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    1. Just remember that the list was done by one of the writers on the site and is Jody's opinion...which he has every right to have. That being said, I am most familiar with the New 52 Lois Lane which to me, means I haven't seen her at her best...or much at all! I did like what I saw of her in Convergence and we'll be getting the continuation of that in a few months. Tejna, what Lois stories do you suggest reading. I may even do one for a Just for the Hell of It review.

      ...and Jody, I did kind of throw you under the bus!!!

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    2. Thanks Jim. Thanks a lot. XD
      and I respect what your saying Tejna...that being said my mind is still made up..also Lois admitted to telling the Truth in the superman sneak peek...Granted Lois feels bad for doing it, but the damage is done.

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    3. Also i will admit that lois was better in the convergence story, so knowing there is a better version of the character out there gives her a chance to shine for me...and again i said most of the hatred is from the new 52 stuff.

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  8. "Maybe I'm pretentious, but Lobo's lack of character just bothers me immensely."

    Personally, I'm more of a fan of late 80s Lobo, who actually had character. 90s Lobo was too much of a joke to even mention. New Lobo - kind of a hit and miss.

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