My earliest favorites were the comic book versions of the Hanna-Barbera characters, especially Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw. They were supplanted in '64 by Spider-Man, thanks to his first annual. Spidey held the spot until the summer of '75 when I was first exposed to the Haney/Aparo Batman from Brave and Bold. The Caped Crusader has remained at the top of my list ever since (a good third of my collection features him or one of the teams he's been on), despite the fact I haven't cared for the post-Crisis Batman at all.

Cei-U!
I summon the boring truth!

Superman and Batman (DC Comics)
Spiderman, Iron Man, and Captain America (Marvel Comics)


Superman and Batman

Kirk Alyn to Henry Cavill - so many actors that portrayed the Man of Steel and my personal favorites are Christopher Reeve and George Reeves -- endured 80 years of great history and never, ever failed me. Batman -- Adam West defined him along with Michael Keaton and Christian Bale made it great and the colorful villains and sheer quantity of them never, ever failed to entertain me.
Both Characters are highly resourceful and made me deciding which one that I want to be. Both of them are colossal and iconic and that's why these two will endure forever. Superman will always be Number One in DC Comics.



1967 Cartoon Introduction of Superman -- My personal favorite.


Spiderman, Iron Man, and Captain America

I always been fascinated by Spiderman his enduring quality and understanding of his hardships working as freelance photographer alongside with Iron Man -- his costume attracted me in the first place and his technical know-how and his wizardry is a plus for the Avengers -- never failed to cease me and entertain me. Captain America -- his role in the Invaders and being the first member outside of Ant-Man, Wasp, The Hulk, and Iron Man into the ranks of the Avengers is legendary. His leadership is noteworthy and all that. Spider-Man will always be Number One in Marvel Comics.



Spider-Man Cartoon in the 60's -- My Personal Favorite.

Other then kids comics as child I never read anything like DC or Marvel growing up, so with my main reading in mid 2000s on as teenager I discovered Dredd and nobody been able to knock him off #1 spot yet.



As much as I liked Batman and Superman and watch tv shows and cartoons as a child I never saw with either character never imagined myself in the role. They were these amazing strong superpowered or super athletic and smart characters who can do anything and there was me, can't walk, can barely lift my arms off my lap and need help with everything from dressing to eating. 

But then as teen found Dredd who had flaws, he could be shot and hurt, he failed at things his clone brother Rico has been written to have out performed Dredd in most things at the Academy.

Also Dredd feels pain and not have always gadgets to get out of any situation. He doesn't miraculously recover in every issue either or have past actions conveniently forgotten to suit the story. In early 80s (I think will need to check to remind myself) the comics said he was blinded and he got bionic eyes and now he still has them. He getting old too and it reflected in the comic but even still, he a total badass in his own way. No matter what thrown to him he will get up and do what needs to be done, if a bit madder lol

Not saying I see myself as such like him either but in personality I do a lot I am very stubborn too XD and I like rules


I do also like Thrax who I have as my avatar. No so much to go on with him but character just makes me laugh He is an outcast like rest in Bad Company, also implied he might be gay. Seems trivial I guess but really it is small things to identify with that makes a character likeable to me and stand out from the other cookie cutter superhero types.

Hawkeye. Ever since I read the reprints of the early Avengers issues starting with #16, I loved the character. He's probably one of the first if not the first character to be a jerk but have an internal dialogue trying to fight his impulses. I found that to be so interesting. And also he was downright funny in his comebacks to Cap and the others. He stayed my favorite until he started to lead the WC Avengers and it felt forced and he lost his magic for me. Superman and Thor are my perennial favorites through the years, although I don't recognize the present Thor in the comics.

My original favourite was Batman. Was introduced to the character through B:TAS and was an instant fan. Over the years, though, my enthusiasm for the character has waned to a degree; rabid fanboys and a plethora of unappealing films have done much to douse it.

My second favourite was Spider-Man — specifically the Ben Reilly Spider-Man. Then he was killed off, then John Byrne happened, and I lost all desire to read the comics for many years.

My third and current #1 favourite is the post-Crisis, pre-Birthright Superman. I'm ambivalent towards the sterile Krypton, I dislike the "I was a teenage jock" backstory and the birthing matrix, and I would've preferred a more traditional Supergirl, but by-and-far, I find the post-Crisis Superman the most human version of the character, with the richest supporting cast and strongest continuity.

What I love about comics and what I continue to love about comics is not so much that writers and interests come and go, more so that characters evolve and adapt as they go along. That's part of the reason why comic book films and professional wrestling have always been constant in popular culture

It's something that I've wanted to explore as something of homage in my "Captain America and Howard The Duck See America" fan fic. Both speak to me on numerous levels, but also to the core of what I believe Denny O'Neil was trying to accomplish with Green Arrow/Green Lantern. "That there is always a very fine line between good and evil, fiction and reality. Perception is always eight-tenths of the law". That's what keeps people interested, the lived experience and the hero(s) who grow from that. It's Shakespeare...

Or, at least, that's what I've learned from Marvel during it's heyday and Jack Kirby

My favorite comic character has constantly changed and evolved as I have grown and experienced new things and my tastes have continued to evolve as a result. My first favorite, from the time I was about 3 until I was about 6 was Spider-Man, fueled by Electric Company, a handful of Spider-Man comics I had and my Spider-Man Mego. Then Avengers became my book around age 7-8 (1976-1977), and my favorite Avenger was the Vision. This lasted for a few years until my mom made me stop reading comics completely for a few years around 1980 or so. I had gotten the Star Wars bug in '77 too and was reading more sci-fi prose around then, and was seeking out more of that stuff than comics.

In 1981 I discovered Tolkien and D&D and outside of an occasional issue here and there I didn't read comics again until I was working and making my own money (first by doing odd jobs starting at 14 circa 1983). D&D took up more time and money than comics, but with comics, it was Avengers that drew me back in, along with some other Marvels and Conan (who I had been reading in one form or another since around '77 too, but read far more Conan in prose at that time than in comics). I hated what was happening with Vision in Avengers (in the 240s and 250s) and Thor by Simonson elevated Thor as my new favorite Avenger, but not my favorite character in comics. At that time, my favorite character in comics came from comic strips not, comic books, and it was Opus (though Bill the Cat was a very close second) from Bloom County, and new strips were cut out and hung in my locker at school on a regular basis. Opus remained a favorite until the strip ended in '89 (when I was at university) but I was experiencing lots of new stuff in the fields of comics and related genre material.

Towards the mid-80s and I had started picking up DC stuff after growing up mostly a Marvel kid (DC was on TV and I liked it, but most of my actual comics were Marvels). It was around the time of Crisis or just before that I started picking up different DC stuff (the trial of the Flash and the JL Detroit team was the first 2 I followed regularly on the newsstands), and discovered Shazam from the 40s to the 70s at my local library. This was also when I was first getting in to Doctor Who and seeking out Doctor Who comics and novels too (the search for the Marvel Doctor Who comics is what led me into my first comic shop ever circa 1984-1985). 1986 saw the DC Renaissance with things like Dark Knight and Watchmen, and I was becoming much more of a DC guy, and my favorite character to emerge from this period was the Phantom Stranger, whom I discovered in the Legends mini and the Secret Origins issue devoted to him, and he stayed a favorite through most of college. Doctor Fate and Spectre were also favorites emerging from this period, but just below Stranger.

I was really exploring DC and losing interest in a lot of Marvel stuff around this time, but that pendulum would swing back and forth a few times over the next several years, and I was also just starting to explore the world of comics beyond Marvel and DC through things like Dreadstar at First, but also several other books. While at college I discovered Sandman and Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and I started digging into Doctor Strange. After college, Vertigo was a big deal for me, and lots more indy books (just not Image or Valiant like everyone else was getting).

Doc Strange remains my favorite Marvel character to this day, but there are other non-Marvel characters I like just as much. Stranger, Spectre, and Fate are at that level. Conan and Flash Gordon, etc. Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Black Panther and Ghost Rider have emerged as favorites too. So there are many favorites now, and none reigns supreme, but my focus has shifted from characters to creators where comics are concerned, and what drives my purchases now is not following a character, but following the work of several creators. I wound up buying and reading too many bad comics following characters, and while favorite creators can still lay an egg from time to time, the chances of it happening are less so than playing creator roulette and buying comics based on character when you never know what (or who) you will get.

So what little completism that remains in my comic buying habits is focused on buying Frazetta comics, Eisner comics, Moebius comics, Druillet comics, Darwyn Cooke comics, Joe Kubert comics, Steranko comics, Kirby comics, etc. not Vision comics or Doctor Strange comics or Spectre comics, etc. There are some series featuring characters I still buy (both old and new) but those decisions are based just as much on who the creative team as it is on the character itself. I may be more inclined to give a book featuring a favorite character a chance if I don't know the creative team than another book with unfamiliar creators, but unless the creators' work impresses me I won't keep buying it no matter who the character involved is. And if I had to answer who my absolute current favorite comic character is right now, it would likely be something like Thorn from Bone that is part of a complete standalone story and not someone who is part of a neverending story thus subject to constant reinterpretation or being handed off to creators whose talent and vision may not fit or embrace the things about the character that drew me to them. There is a chance that it could transcend the version of the character that I am used to, and if so, great I will enjoy the ride, but oftentimes that's not the case because the characters are now like flies in amber stuck in a perpetual status quo to protect their value as IP to be exploited rather than fodder for great, innovative or even interesting storytelling.

-M