The vast majority of us started reading comic books when we were children, or in our early teens. Some of us continued to read them into loyal adulthood; many more packed them up in the attic with our dinosaur toys when we went to college; and of course, theres more than a few of us whove kept them around under the bed like guilty little secrets, maybe dragged them out and curled up in bed with a little stack of four colour delights when weve been off work with the flu. Whichever one you are, at some point youll have attached yourself to a particular hero, heroine maybe even a villain and daydreamed about being them. What itd be like to have their power, their looks, and their easy charisma, to have the respect and adoration of our peers as they do. After all, a lot of comic books have been sold on the strength of wish-fulfillment fantasy over the years. But this article isnt about the rampaging Hulk inside every shy science nerd, or the teenage misfit in you that related to the X-Men and their lonely struggle for acceptance in a world that seemed to hate and fear them. No, this is about ten specific characters that made you twinge with a little envy when you experienced their adventures, the ones youd actually Freaky Friday with in a heartbeat if only you could be them, just for a day. And because thats the point of this article not the most popular, not the greatest of all time, not the biggest or baddest a fair few evergreen list-hoggers have failed to make the cut here. Superman, Captain America, the Silver Surfer and Optimus Prime are all too boy scout, too goodie-goodie. Gambit, Black Widow, Nightwing, Thor and the like are the smokin hot heroes people fantasise about being with, not about being. Similarly, Batman, John Constantine, Judge Dredd and Rorschach are all seriously cool anti-heroes, but no one in their right mind would want to be them (these arent happy men). Hellboys too ugly, but youd definitely buy him a beer. Emma Frost and Catwoman are great characters, but have been saddled with that awful soft porn faux-dominatrix image for far too long. You get the idea. This list also acknowledges the debt that 2014's perception of comic book characters owes to their depiction in movies and on television in the last fifteen or so years. Times have changed, boys and girls. Super heroes aren't just for comics geeks anymore. Finally, in keeping with market research that indicates that roughly 40% of US comic book readers are women, weve gone for a 60/40 split male to female. The countdown, however, is in roughly ascending order of life envy, regardless of gender
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
