What an incredible decade filled with huge moments from our favorite characters in the world of comics. Whether it was the return of our favorites (Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, and more), the deaths of others (Captain America, Martian Manhunter), or the creation of brand new ones (Yorick Brown, Bigby Wolf, Rick Grimes), this was a decade filled with heroes that were fallible, vulnerable, and relatable. That is why we here at Multiversity think this really is the golden age of comic book heroes.
Of course, that’s our take. What do you think? Share in the comments below and make sure to vote in our poll.
9 (tie). Superman
9 (tie). Ultimate Spider-Man
8. Rick Grimes
7. Bigby Wolf
6 (tie). Captain America
6 (tie). Elijah Snow
5. Spider-Man
3 (tie). Cyclops
Matt: Off the top of my head, when I ask myself if there’s a character who has grown more in the past ten years, I can’t think of anyone more than Scott Summers. I watched a lot of X-Men cartoons and read a barrage of X-Men comic books when I was a young lad in the early 90’s, so I had my notions of who Scott was. Scott was the poster boy. He obeyed the rules. He didn’t overstep boundaries. He kept in line. He was Xavier’s favorite, the teacher’s pet. This is, of course, due to Claremont’s run, in which he developed Scott this way. However, certain writers knew that there was more to Scott. Scott was and is a natural born leader, and eventually he would need to overtake Xavier at the helm of the X-Men.
So what’s the best way to begin this process? Well, after being possessed by Apocalypse, Grant Morrison came along to completely redefine the character, to move him beyond the teacher’s pet persona. His relationship with Jean was officially ruined (as it had been teetering on the edge for quite some time now anyway), he truly stepped up to start kicking ass for the X-Men, and he finally told Xavier what’s what. Now? NOW HE HAS HIS OWN ISLAND. Yeah. While I am willing to admit that there is a possibility (probability, eventuality) that Utopia will fail, but even so. What did Xavier have? A school and a dream. Cyclops made it a reality, and he goes to bed every night with one of the most powerful and most attractive women in the entire Marvel U. What does Xavier have? A wheelchair in the corner of his room and a lot of disillusioned and upset students. Let’s chalk it up for Scott Summers, here.
Needless to say, in the terms of sheer growth and achievement, Cyclops deserves to be on any decade list. He is one of the oldest and most classic characters to go through a progression during the past decade that didn’t feel forced, and this is of course due to the bevy of great writers who got to tackle this evolution. Cyclops was once a character that many people disrespected and disliked due to the atypical nature of him and the lack of personal growth despite a ton of staggeringly life altering events. However, when it was realized it was time to make Cyclops grow, Cyclops was grown. Now he not only belongs at the top tier of the X-Men, but he has finally managed to surpass Wolverine and take down Xavier a peg or two from his righteous high horse. Booyah.
3 (tie). Scott Pilgrim
David: Bryan Lee O’Malley’s creation in Scott Pilgrim is one of the most astounding types of heroes ever created. He’s selfish. He’s clueless. He’s pretty much good for nothing. So basically, he’s like any hipster in their early 20’s living in Toronto (or anywhere for that matter). What’s different about him is when he finds something he wants, he’ll fight for it to his last breath. So far it hasn’t needed to go that far, but as he fights the League of Ramona Flowers’ Evil Ex-Boyfriends to win her heart, he does so with the greatest power in the world on his side: the power of love (thank you Huey Lewis…and the News).
He does so in hilarious fashion, looking at life as a gigantic comic book/kung fu oriented video game and being pretty much the best fighter on the planet. His ability to be perpetually aloof and so idiosyncratic in his charm is a huge part of his allure, and it is part of what made this title and this character one of the best in the business over the past ten years.
Now let’s get that last book O’Malley. I need it now!
Gil: Oh Scott Pilgrim. This man-child swooped into my heart almost two years ago at Wondercon. I had heard of him, but never actually read him. Well, I picked up his book on a lark at the Oni booth, and on the BART ride home (that’s Bay Area speak for Bay Area Rapid Transit, or simply “subway”) I dove into it and I instantly fell in love. He just has that quality where you instantly love him, despite him not bringing much to the table. I don’t think there’s been a character as charismatic and likable since Spider-Man. There, I said it.
David: I’m trying to think of a way to say this without gushing like a fanboy. To say that I’m a fan of Yorick and his journey in his devastated world with no more men is an understatement. The way Brian K. Vaughan wrote this character and Pia Guerra crafted him is so effortlessly charming, so uniquely charismatic, so oddly admirable, it redefines the term “everyman.” “Everyman” is a term used to describe a character that is really just an ordinary person.
Yorick, however, is in many ways the type of man that every man wants to be. Honorable, caring, aloof, great with women (especially after all the other men die), a pop culture aficionado, able to pull of a gas mask, has a pet capuchin monkey…I mean you name it, Yorick has the attributes that we look for. His quest is one of such romantic power (he’s basically crossing the Earth to find his love Beth) and the eventual realization on that journey is such a tragedy that his character arc is the most incredible type of devastating. It’s heart wrenching and completely organic, and one of the greatest triumphs in storytelling period over the past ten years.
Some say that Y the Last Man is a story of a group of people on a journey to figure out what happened to all of the other men of the world. I couldn’t disagree more. It’s about how Yorick Brown the boy, an unemployeed good for nothing illusionist (because tricks are something whores do for money), became Yorick Brown the last man on Earth. This coming of age tale is one of organic love, of fate, of true connections. For those reasons and many, many more, Yorick Brown was the greatest hero of the past decade in my mind.
Matt: Yorick Brown is very much the every day man’s “super hero.” Yorick Brown is you, and Yorick Brown is me. He is very much the man put into the extraordinary circumstances with need to overcome such adversity, and that’s putting it lightly considering he is the last man alive on the planet. Yorick is quite possibly the most charismatic character to have existed in the past ten years, being an encyclopedia of not only legitimate information but also pop culture (down to the T of carrying a lighter that says “F*** Communism”). Throw a little monkey on his shoulder and you’ve got a pretty memorable character right there.
Continued belowThe thing about Y: The Last Man is that there is no way it would have worked even remotely as well as it did if the last man wasn’t someone the reader could connect with, or at least find tolerable. Being the last man on Earth certainly comes with a weighty responsibility, and I am sure many men could come up with a few less noble endeavors than Yorick. However, Yorick is a romantic, and his entire plight as the last man is not to “repopulate the planet” (so to say) but rather to travel to the complete other side of the country in order to find his girlfriend. And while resisting temptation is an obvious factor in the plot of the story, Yorick does his best in a variety of different situations, which I still find fairly noble despite the results. Having a character that is noble despite not actually needing to be says something about the character, and since he is not a superhero and does not prescribe to any moral compass besides his own, it says even more.
Gil: If I were in Yorick’s position, I’m not sure what I could do. He’s the epitome of the everyman, put into a situation that some dream about, but now fills the nightmares of every red blooded male comic book fan. And not only did he survive, he found a way to save the world he lived in, but he did it under insurmountable odds. If that’s not deserving of a place on this list, then I don’t know what is.
Brandon: If Hal Jordan was the most prolific mainstream comics character of the last decade than Yorick Brown would be his counterpart in the creator owned side of comics. Yorick came out of nowhere and demanded that we laugh, cry, and love with him. His travels and adventures were must-reads for all including myself, who up until Y The Last Man hardly read a comic outside of the big two.
His journey to find Beth was one that I connected to as I was in a long distance relationship with my girlfriend, who later became my wife, who I would have traveled the world to find as well. Yorick’s heroes journey was one that started in an amazingly unique way and ended in an amazingly unique way. How many comic characters can you say finished their journey as well as they started it in the last decade or ever? A finite journey for a character that has an infinite place in comics’ history.
1. Hal Jordan
David: The first Green Lantern story I ever read was Emerald Twilight, in which Hal Jordan, driven to insanity by the knowledge of his hometown being destroyed, rampages across the galaxy and basically kills the entirety of the Green Lantern Corps. That he managed to come back from that point and become the single greatest hero in the DC universe proper is an astonishing act.
It could not have happened without Geoff Johns, who created a fully realized version of Hal that was cocky without being abrasive, repentant without perpetually mourning, and the great leader he always was meant to be finally. Hal Jordan helped the DCU become what it is today, and in the process became the best superhero out there and helped his titles become some of the best superhero work on the market.
While Blackest Night has still not wrapped up, knowing that our boy Hal is involved with the situation makes me not worry so much. Now if only they didn’t have to kill Kyle while they were at it (I’m a Kyle guy).
Matt: Duh. Hal Jordan came back from all the horror he did in the 90’s with a vengeance and became everyone’s favorite hero. You’re pretty hard pressed to find someone who reads a lot of comics on a regular basis who isn’t a Green Lantern fan, and that goes for people who “don’t even like DC.” In between his return in Green Lantern: Rebirth all the way through his current battles against the Black Lanterns, Hal Jordan has been the definitive hero for all of us. He represents the absolute best in heroes, showing that you can fall into the darkest depths of brutality and yet still find redemption. Jordan did try his best to be an honest man, despite his temporary insanity at the loss of his city, and while it was obviously evil, his actions as Parallax were him trying to help fix a terrible situation. However, I suppose this is ultimately the kind of thing you can dwell on when you’re the Spectre for a bit, and now that he’s back he’s better than ever. Plus, he’s the only hero to openly punch out Batman, which is something that I bet a lot of people want to do, even if they won’t admit it. I would if I could.
Continued belowSo what makes Hal Jordan such a great hero? Well, for starters he’s one to easily rally behind. Hal is smart, charismatic, and a great leader. He’s overcome great adversity, from a severe drinking problem that led to incarceration — oops, that was retconned. In it’s stead, we got an equally as powerful story as Hal overcame the loss of his father to become the greatest pilot in the sky, which then led to him becoming the greatest Green Lantern around. We’ve seen Hal save and bring back the Green Lanterns he had previously “killed” as Parallax, we’ve seen Hal atone for his sins, and we’ve seen Hal do what no one else could do — stand up against the ultimate nemesis of the Green Lantern Corps and the universe itself, and lead victorious. Hal Jordan is the hero that deserves his spot in the top tier of the DCU now, right next to Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. And considering Batman is dead and Superman is on another planet, I think Green Lantern becoming a member of DC’s new Holy Trinity only makes sense.
Now, what I truly think is the best thing about Hal Jordan is that he, without a doubt, introduced a whole new group of people into the DC universe, including yours truly. Sure, I knew “bits” and “pieces” of the big things, but I had been a die hard Marvel fan until the Sinestro Corps War. However, through intense word of mouth about the exploits of Hal Jordan since his return, I was brought into the book, as well as many other people were. Jordan’s intense heroics and fantastic adventures are what made him a sure fire hit and a character for many new DC fans to latch on to. Hal Jordan is very much my favorite DC character now, and we’re sure to see an even greater rise in the popularity of the character pending the release of the Ryan Reynolds superhero film in 2010.
Gil: I’m really not sure you realize how huge this is. Up until about 6 years ago, not only was Hal dead, he was one of the most irredeemable heroes in modern history. Driven mad by grief (or so we thought), the disgraced Green Lantern killed countless other members of his corps and tried to rewrite history! But now, in the extremely skilled hands of Geoff Johns, we not only got a redeemed hero in Jordan, but he rose to the level of *gasp* the DC Trinity in Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Just the idea that he has a whole blockbuster event dedicated to his story is testament to that. What a fantastic turnaround.
Brandon: Bar none no other mainstream character had a bigger revitalization occur in the last decade. While many characters like Spider-Man saw
shifts in their lives that resulted in changes to continuity, Green Lantern saw a total change in stature. Green Lantern was always considered part of the JLA elite but once Geoff Johns jumped aboard he quickly, in my opinion, knocked Wonder Woman out of the Trinity of the DCU.
Hal Jordan returned and quickly rose up the ranks of the superhero mainstream. He has returned with so much force that he has been the focus of two of DC’s largest events of the decade, Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night. His star is on the rise and seemingly will continue to do so in the next decade with a movie in the works.
Perhaps with the movie Hal Jordan’s star will rise not only among fandom but also amongst those who don’t follow comics.
Individual Lists
David
1. Yorick Brown
2. Scott Pilgrim
3. Bigby Wolf
4. Elijah Snow
5. Jaime Madrox
6. Mitchell Hundred
7. The Midnighter
8. Hal Jordan
9. Layla Miller
10. Rick Grimes
Matt
1. Cyclops
2. Hal Jordan
3. Spider-Man
4. Fantomex
5. Spider-Woman
6. Fantomex (Matt loves his Fantomex)
7. Moon Knight
8. The Flash
9. Thor
10. Hawkman
Gil
1. Scott Pilgrim
2. Hal Jordan
3. Superman
4. Spider-Man
5. Cyclops
6. Captain America
7. Elijah Snow
8. Yorick Brown
9. Bigby Wolf
10. Rick Grimes
Brandon
1. Hal Jordan
2. Yorick Brown
3. Ultimate Spoder-Man
4. Rick Grimes
5. Captain America
6. Agent 355
7. Invincible
8. Cyclops
9. Thor
10. Bucky Barnes
Who do you think is the best Hero of the Decade? Let us know in this poll! If you select other, leave a comment as to which hero it is!
