8. Starman
Let's be honest;
nobody liked Starman before the 90s. Actually, Will Payton was criminally underrated but that's another article. The Golden Age Starman, Ted Knight, was a fairly cookie cutter science fiction superhero from the olden days that DC trotted out from time to time for the sole purpose of reminding everyone they'd been publishing comics for a long time. Then came the excellent and much-loved Jack Knight Starman. written by James Robinson (who will be mentioned again later). The son of Ted, young Jack initially looks up to his father but grows disillusioned with superheroics as an adult. His brother David follows in their father's footsteps and becomes Starman only to be killed in action four years later, forcing Jack to reluctantly become the new Starman and bring his brother's killer to justice. A brilliant metaphor for the modern comic fan, Jack starts off ashamed of the legacy left by the classic superheroes of the DCU. Only after much self-reflection does he start to remember what captured his imagination as a child, culminating in him finally understanding the truth about heroism. Robinson singlehandedly reinvents a neverwas character into an emotional powerhouse and a real gem of a legacy hero.