Researching for this edition of Top 5 I came across a Top 100 of comic book heroes, and immediately I wanted to find out where I could complain that the Phantom didn’t make the list but The Tick, whatever the hell that is, did. But then I calmed down and remembered that’s the problem with lists, not everyone will agree with them. But they are a lot of fun and I know many people enjoy them, so no top 100, just our Top 5 most interesting comic book super heroes, OK? I would be happy to publish your list, just email it with or without comment.
5. Batwoman: I am not sure why but I always liked this cheeky, playful woman. Maybe it was because she was an antidote to the Batman’s inclination to be such a goody two shoes some of the time. But just like Bruce Wayne, Batwoman’s moral ambivalence adds a dose of reality to her persona, and that can never be a bad thing.
4. Wonder Woman. I know, I know, two females in a list of five, but really if you’re fair dinkum you can’t go past Wonder Woman either. I just like her truth and justice beliefs, maybe she should have been a journalist super hero. Through the research for this Top 5, I learned for the first time that this iconic figure for female empowerment whose main weapon is the Lasso of Truth was created by William Moulton Marston – the inventor of the polygraph test – go figure.
3. Spider-man. He’s got the wow factor, for sure. I remember as a kid watching cartoon shows of this dude and was awed by how got around, from the ground to the top of a 50 storey building in a split second. It was only later I realised that Peter Parker is just an average fellow who happens to have pretty amazing powers. And when he’s not saving the world, he goes back to deal with the sort of run of the mill problems you and I always have to worry about.
2. Batman/Bruce Wayne. This dude, as well as having the world’s coolest wheels, is also deep, man. But he is also a reasonable detective, pretty good at the martial arts and has a few bob in the bank, too. And he likes the ladies. Don’t know about the bat costume though or his crazy sidekick Robin.
1. Superman. He was #1 in that Top 100 list I was telling you about, no surprise there of course. As kids we loved how no disaster was too great, no enemy too big for our boy. But there is kryptonite, and there is the key to his popularity: he’s incredibly strong but vulnerable, too. Just like the potential in all of us ostensibly ordinary human beings. That’s why we still love him even though we’re no longer 6 but 60 years of age.
