AdamLeisemann

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

I find it interesting the different criteria people are using to judge worst hero' date=' almost more interesting than the actual judgments themselves. Not that I think any particular set of criteria are more "right" or "wrong," I just find the differences fascinating. [/quote']

 

Well, that's one reason these threads exist, so people can see how others think.

 

For instance, a couple of people seem fixated on powers. A set of powers that are lame in some way appear, for them, to automatically disqualify a hero from being cool, which I might get behind, or even automatically make him crappy, which I don't think I can support.

 

Powers are one criteria. I know I would rather read about Spider-Man instead of some poor mutant whose only power is that he can make his farts smell like cinnamon toast. (comparison courtesy my brother, whom I beleive originated such a comparison, but I could be wrong.)

 

Some focus on how the character is written, which strikes me as a tricky thing to do except for characters who have only had one or a few authors, unless we can specify by writer (e.g.: McFarlane's Spider Man as opposed to, say, Lee's).

 

I suspect that for many of us, we get turned off of a superhero because of one particular writer: especially when we are just starting with the hero. If I started reading Marvel Comics with Civil War, I would be turned off of the Marvel Universe as a whole because of Millar's work.

 

Some seem to key in on the general character concept. I do this more often than not, and I'll readily cop to the fact that sometimes a concept that sounds goofy on paper winds up being good in the execution - Tom Strong (I title I love to an almost obscene degree) kinda falls into this category for me.

 

Yeah. Soimetimes a seemingly bad idea can be made into something great, like Tom Strong (I have not read it, but I figure that it's a fair assumption to make). It's all a matter of the writing and the execution. The Android Captain Marvel did have some potential according to some folks, despite being one of the silliest ideas to tarnish comic book pages. However, the imaginative concept was met by rather unimaginative writing, and that's why the comics ultimately shared a certain quality with road-killed skunks.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

It's not even a particularly good one. About 2 minutes with MS Paint.

I sometimes use MS Paint. Even if it isn't great, it is still fun.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Yes' date=' it's a photo-manipulation. I posted a link to the original cover on the first page of the thread.[/quote']

 

I found that out later. I have the joke cover printed out and taped to a wall in my home.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

That's what that smell is.

Oh it's quite al-wight. We'll get this all out of our systems someday. I wight not be someday soon, but it'll be someday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070424/ap_on_fe_st/kryptonite_discovery_1

TYhis is not actual Kryptonite, but apparently, this stuff has the same chemical composition.

What do you think of this?

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Ask, and you shall recieve.

Tell me, is that a photo-manipulation, or did the comic really advertise, "100% total stupidity in every panel"?

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

I still agree that Super Green Beret, despite his short run, is still the worst, with total stupidity in every panel.

Actually, that might be a fun advertising line. "100% total stupidity in every panel!"

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Goth of War

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

As much as I worry about what people associate with Superman, we all want the thrill of kicking some butt, and Superman does a good job of that in small doses. Superman can be found at his best in the Max Fleischer cartoons, which can be bought for a dollar (6-8 cartoons for a buck) at Wal-Mart.

As a regular series, well, that's where superman has problems. While a less powerful character has more milage, people only seem to see one thing in Supes: Power. He gets the occasional good writer who can see more than that, but that's not often.

If it seemed earlier that I was bashing Superman, that was not my intention. I'll admit that in one game I'm playing in, I'm rather enjoying fighting alongside a Superman clone.

Re: You against Them: Battle of the Superheroes!

Rep for presenting the first fight.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

I'm trying to imagine that kind of duet, and I can't help but laugh.

Re: You against Them: Battle of the Superheroes!

Well, for those who have a hard time thinking of pairing for battle, the matching power-sets are not mandatory, and Thematically Similar do not quite say "Identical powers." Wizard once did a Spiderman vs. Batman, and those two aren't really all that connect to one-another.

Of course, I'm still looking at what kinds of pairs to use.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

*also raises hand with great guilt*

Re: Rejected Superhero Names

I thought about naming my speedster character "The Human Speedo" and making him a fat' date=' hairy European guy that liked to wear thongs.[/quote']

 

I once statted out a guy named "Speedo" who was a speedster who only had enough money to afford enough super-costume material just to cover his bits.

Re: Rejected Superhero Names

Ninety Years Old and Trained In Martial Arts With a Mop, she was accidentally irradiated by her grandson's science project!

 

She is...

 

Aunt Mayhem!

That soun like a character worth writing up.

Re: Rejected Superhero Names

I had a campaign with some goof-ball heroes. Among them:

 

Piledriver -- a brick with incredible move-thru powers. No problems with the name until he missed one move-thru in the railyards and cracked open a tanker car full of liquified manure...

I imagine that must well and truly suck.

Phallon -- I don't think I need to go into details about the round of giggles that started when our resident "player who takes the game way too seriously" proudly stated his character's name for the group. I made some crack about him taking matters "in hand" and he stormed out of the room, our hysterical laughter nipping at his heels...

Were I 14, I'd feel sorry for the guy. But then, I didn't know back then what a name like that would connotate. Today, I would have tried to change the name if I could.

Rebound -- everyone's favorite shapechanger with the ability to bounce ran afoul of my sledgehammer wit after coming off second best to a fire-based villain. Quote -- "You should change his name to Vulcanized rubber now." From another player -- "Does that mean he can do it only every seven years?"

No, only that he gets horny every seven years.

I apologize if this thread has already been done, but it seemed like an interesting exercise.

I remember in magazines lik Wizard that they used to have mini-articles in which two superheroes from any comics universe would find themselves in combat with each other (ex: Spiderman vs. Batman (I think there was one match like that in Wizard)).

Well, as a possible character exercise, here's what to do:

Take one of your characters, and then select an established comics character from any era. This works best if they are thematically similar, but this is not a requirement. Give each character a profile detailing strengths and weaknesses relevant to the combat.

Give a synopsis of a comic book scenerio to bring these two characters into conflict.

Tell how your character would win against the opposing hero.

Then tell how the established hero would win against your character.

Good Luck!

Re: Disturbing Character premises...

If you go to user EWS on FA' date=' you can find a picture satirising the whole 'Kiss Transformers' whatever in his archive. He manages to make it comical (in a freaky way) rather than just plain creepy.[/quote']

 

That's how I first learned about Kissplayers.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Fudging a bit' date=' there's the Japanese manga character Rapeman, who, well, you know, for great justice. But he was popular enough back in the day to get a live-action movie.[/quote']

 

How coukld I forget a sick character as that?

 

Oh, yeah...

 

Traumatic Amnesia.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Most of the characters I design for my own use are Superman homages, with the occasional Captain Marvel homage thrown in. (They're basically the same, except the latter has OIHID...)

 

I personally don't see what people have against Superman. He has been in a lot of superb stories, as well as the usual clunkers. He has a wonderfully deep history and supporting cast - everyone from Lois Lane to the Legion of Superheroes to Comet the Super-Horse. Sure, some of it is silly - but the whole Iron Age debacle is a result of a backlash against silliness.

 

From a gaming point of view you can mine entire campaign worlds from his continuity. Furthermore, you can build quite reasonable facsimiles of the character on standard character points. You can pretty much play him.

 

And, essentially, I have.

 

A basic Superman does what he could do in Action Comics #1, or even what he could do in More Fun #101. Everything else is gravy.

 

One variation I have toyed with is the More Fun #101 version, with an LSH flight ring...

 

EDIT: Here is one of the good Superman stories. It actually dates from a period when Superman's suck factor was usually quite high.

The thing I personally worry about with my "supermen" is not playing a Superman Homage, but creating a character who is pretty much purely-munchkin, even if it did come from an otherwise cool idea.

I also tend to worry about how to flesh the character out and make them more "Human," even if the character is by species nothing like a human.

Though I will acknowledge, there used to be some fun with Superman. The trouble today is that DC won't let him change and become a person. With the possibility of Supes becoming Public Domain in a decade or so, that could very well change.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Dazzler - she's based off disco' date=' what could possibly be worse.[/quote']

 

I can say, without any real pride, that I have indeed come up with much worse than some person based off of disco, used as examples of disturbing characters. You'll find them on the first page of the "disturbing character premises" thread.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

I noticed that attempts to go ethnic are showing a tendancy towards suckitude.

Anyone remember Black Vulcan, Apache Cheif, and Samurai from Superfriends? Those had to be among the worst for not only were they defective, they were offensive to the people they were supposed to represent (or so I've heard).

Of course, Martin and Wendy, the Wonder Twins, and just about every other half-reared abortion of an original character on that show would qualify. Boy are we getting crowded here.

Re: Disturbing Character premises...

Isn't that the one where the evil giant robot fondles young girls with his phallic-shaped tongue before eating them whole?

From what I read about it, yes. Very disturbing.

Re: Worst. Hero. Ever.

Superman is one of those character I always worry about my characters becoming.

But then, I do tend towards powerful character concepts, so I have reasons to worry about that.

Re: best ever reason to be a Sidekick(hero support)

"Sidekick? Isn't that a kick from the side? Oh, you mean that kind of a sidekick. Oh silly me. I'll let you in on something here. He's not really the hero. That's me. I just let him think he's the hero."