An promised: something on comics. Unless he’s a guy like Superman, Thor or Captain Marvel, your average superhero is often limited to just one or two specialised powers – the Flash, for example can run really fast, but that’s it. It makes sense, therefore, for superheroic types to team up and form groups in order to better combat crime. Submitted for your approval: the top ten superhero teams. Onward!

10. THE HOWLING COMMANDOS

Notable members: Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Izzy Cohen, Dino Maneli and Rebel Ralston.
Before Nick Fury was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and before he looked like Samuel L. Jackson, he was the leader of the Howling Commandos, a group of soldiers during WW2. Originally made up of human GIs, a later version of the group took a more supernatural bent with members including Nina Price, N’Kantu, Gorilla-Man and Frankenstein’s Monster.

9. THE DEFENDERS

Notable members: Doctor Strange, the Incredible Hulk, Namor and the Silver Surfer.
A group of heroes known more as individuals than team players, the Defenders were first brought together by Roy Thomas and Ross Andru in Marvel Feature #1. Other notable members have included Hawkeye, Hellcat, Beast and Luke Cage.

8. THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Notable members: The Flash, Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Mister America, Doctor Mid-Nite and Liberty Belle.
The original superhero team, making their first apperance in 1940 and featuring the classic Golden Age versions of the Flash and the Green Lantern, the Justice Society of America were the prototype for every team that followed. An updated version of the team appeared in 1999 with members such as Stargirl, Hourman, Judomaster and Power Girl.

7. THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS.

Notable members: Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Kilowog and Guy Gardner.
Less a team and more an orginisation, the Green Lantern Corps operate as a sort of intergalactic police squad, patrolling their assigned planets and keeping the peace. Members of the GLC have also been members of other groups, most famously Hal Jordan in the JLA and Alan Scott in the JSA.

6. THE MINUTEMEN/THE WATCHMEN

Notable members: Rorsach, Ozymandias, Nite Owl, the Comedian, Captain Manhattan and the Silk Spectre.
Known as the Minutemen in the comics and the Watchmen in the movie, the characters of Watchmen are among the most layered and interesting in comics. Inspired by various characters from classic comics, the characters from Watchmen are, thanks to the success of the movie adaptation, almost as well known to casual audiences as Superman and Batman.

5. THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

Notable members: Mina Harker, Doctor Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde, Alan Quatermain, Captain Nemo and Hawley Griffin.
A group of Victorian literary characters brought together by Alan Moore to protect the intrests of the British Empire. Employed by Mycroft (bother of Sherlock) Holmes, the League have encountered many famous characters, including Victorian characters John Carter of Mars, Fu Manchu and more recent characters such as James Bond, Emma Peel and Bulldog Drummond.

4. THE X-MEN

Notable members: Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Iceman, Shadowcat, Emma Frost, Beast and Jean Grey.
More famous now for Hugh Jackman than as a comic series, the X-Men are nonetheless a classic superhero team. Certainly the most diverse of all the groups of heroes, the X-Men were created by comics gods Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963 are have remained one of the House of Ideas’ most enduring creations with what seems like seventy four million spin off comic book series and four hit movies of varying quality.

3. THE FANTASTIC FOUR

Notable members: Mister Fantastic, the Human Torch, the Thing, the Invisible Girl.
The first hero group of the modern age of comics, the FF were revolutionary when they were introduced as the were the first heroes not to wear costumes (at first) and whose secret identities were known to everyone. Led by Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Ricards, the FF were granted their powers when their experimental spaceship was bombarded by “cosmic rays.”

2. THE AVENGERS

Notable members: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man and the Wasp.
I’ve written before on this very blog about the Avengers and they’re one on my favorite superhero teams. First appearing in 1963, the Avengers have undergone more roster changes than almost any other group of heroes, but the classic Cap/Thor/Iron Man trio at the heart of the team is one of the most enduring partnerships in comics.

1. THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA

Notable members: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, the Green Lantern, Hawk Man and Aquaman.
For sheer star power alone, the JLA make the top spot on our list. The list of past and present members reads like a who’s who of DC comics, with everyone from Supergirl to the Martian Manhunter joining the roster at one time or another. Formed in 1960 by the great Gardner Fox in The Brave and the Bold #28, the JLA have been protecting the world in one form or another ever since.

I guess the message here is even superheroes get lonley sometimes. Either that or might makes right, but that’s a tad too facistic for my taste, so we’ll stick to the first one. In any case, lemmie know your thoughts below and stay tuned for the next thrilling installment of the never ending top ten series. End transmission.

10. MICROCHIP, sidekick of THE PUNISHER

Considered by many to be one of the most pointless characters in comics (a position I tend to agree with) Micro nonetheless makes the list at number ten. Acting as a sort of Q (from the Bond movies) figure, Micro aids the Punisher by providing weaponry (where he gets it from is never explained) and by hacking inot somputer systems to obtain info on crimes. Micro was killed off in regular continuity a while back, but for some reason some genius at Marvel decided to bring him back from the dead for no real reason at all.

9. RICK JONES, sidekick of THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Rick Jones is a rarity in comics. A sidekick who doesn’t really get on with his partner and doesn’t have any sort of secret identity. Hell, I’m not even sure Hulk knew Rick Jones existed since their entire relationship seemed to be “holy shit, Hulk’s on the rampage, better call the Avengers.” Later on, through a series of events to complicated to recount here, Rick became the costumed hero Captain Mar-Vell, spelled in so ridiculous a manner so as not to cause confusion and possibly lawsuits with the Big Red Cheese.

8. HARLEY QUINN, sidekick of THE JOKER

Ok, so Harley’s not really a sidekick, but she’s included on Wikipedia’s “list of superhero sidekicks” page and that’s good enough reason for me to include her adorable self here. Created by that dirty old man of comics Bruce Timm, Harley was once the Joker’s doctor before he worked his magic on her and made her fall in love with him. She’s been loyally at the side of her “puddin’” ever since, despite Mr. J.’s frequent bouts of irritation with her.

7. KATO, sidekick of THE GREEN HORNET

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Kato probably shouldn’t be on the list since he wasn’t created for comics, but Harvey, Dell, Gold Key and NOW have all printed Green Hornet comics and, at the end of the day, it’s my fucking list so there. Most memorably played by Bruce Lee in the sixties Green Hornet TV show, Kato is not only a kung-fu kicking badass, but also a skilled mechanic and engineer, building GH’s awesome Black Beauty car and his gas gun gadget.

6. EBONY WHITE, sidekick of THE SPIRIT

From a sensitivley portrayed minority character (Kato) to an… erm, somewhat less sensitivley portrayed character, the sidekick of the legendary Spirit, Ebony White. To be fair, Will Eisner was praised by various organisations for including a black character in his strips, but today it all seems a bit off. Truth be told, all of the characters in Will Eisner’s Spirit strips looked wierd, but here’s a thing – what’s worse: the fact that the character exists (and has since been retconned into something more closely resembling a human being) or the fact that the character was completley left out of the recent (and shitty) movie The Spirit?

5. DEMOLITION MAN, sidekick of THE CAPTAIN

A character that very few people have heard of, Demolition Man featured heavily in the “Captain America No More” arc – for my money the best comic book storyline ever – and ultimately gave his life to help Cap’s cause. D-Man started life as Dennis Dunphy, pro-wrestler, before donning a strange Daredevil/Wolverine hybrid costume and joining “The Captain”‘s band of vigilantes. It was later revealed that D-Man had survived the plane crash that everyone thought had killed him, but fuck that. As far as I’m concerned, D-Man made the ultimate sacrifice for what he believed in, making him more of a hero than most.

4. BATGIRL, sidekick of BATMAN

If only for the sucession of hot costumes the character has worn, Batgirl swings onto the list at number four. Most famously Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commisioner Gordon, Batgirl made her first apperance in 1961 and has been pretty much a constant ally of Batman’s ever since. Wether it’s the classic Babs Gordon Batgirl of the comics, Yvonne Craig in skin tight purple spandex in the TV series, Alicia Silverstone in black rubber in the woeful Batman and Robin, the full face masked Cassandra Cain, or the current Stephanie Brown incarnation of the character, Batgirl is more than just a pretty face.

3. FALCON, sidekick of CAPTAIN AMERICA

The first black superhero not to have “black” as part of his name and the first Afrian-American superhero ever (Black Panther is African, not African-American), Falcon accompanied old Winghead through some of his greatest adventures, including the aforementioned “Cap No More” arc. Created by Stan the Man and Gene Colan in 1969, Falcon was groundbreaking in that his colour was never even mentioned, unlike say, the Black Panther for instance. As a sidenote, Falcon’s nephew is Jim Wilson, the Incredible Hulk character who was comics’ first openly HIV positive character. As well as all this historically important stuff, it’s also worth noting that Falcon can fucking fly, which is always cool.

2. BUCKY, sidekick of CAPTAIN AMERICA

Bucky Barnes has been one of the most important characters in the Captain America mythology since his first apperance in 1941′s Captain America Comics #1. Most famous for being Cap’s sidekick throughout World War 2 before his death at the hands of Baron Zemo, Bucky’s untimley demise is why there are so few teenage sidekicks in the Marvel universe (unlike DC’s Robin, Batgirl, Kid Flash, etc.) the reasoning being that no responsible hero can endanger a child. Cap has always been haunted by the death of Bucky, and for many years comics fans had a saying, “no one stays dead except Bucky” but in 2005 Bucky was brought back from beyond the grave as Winter Soldier. Since the death (and subsequent ressurrection) of Cap, Bucky has assumed the mantle of Captain America.

1. ROBIN, sidekick of BATMAN

The butt of many, many jokes and a thorn in the side of so-called “serious” comics fans since his incepton in 1940, the fact is the world of comics would be a far different place if not for Robin. Orphaned by criminals at a young age, Dick Grayson is taken in by Bruce Wayne and trained as his sidekick. Donning a costume as far removed from his partner’s as possible, he becomes the “Boy Wonder” Robin. After Dick Grayson left Gotham to become Nightwing, Jason Todd became the new Robin only to be brutally murdered by the Joker. His sucessor, Tim Drake has had more sucess and *his* sucessor Stephanie Brown became Batgirl. After the apparent death of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson took up the mantle of the Bat and Bruce’s son Damien Wayne became the new Robin. A splash of colour in the sometimes drab Batman universe, Robin gets the shit end of the stick far too much for my liking. Far as I’m concerned, if there’s a Batman, there should be a Robin and if morose Alan Moore fans don’t like it, they can jolly well fuck off.

Bloody Captain bloody America and his nine million bloody sidekicks. You think he’d learn his lesson. Anyway, I’m sure I’ve said at least one thing in there you disagree with, so get commenting! End transmission.

10. THE PENGUIN

Any love I have for the Penguin comes soley from Burgess Merideth’s brilliant comic performance as the big nosed, umberella carrying waugh waugh waugh-ing badguy. Nothing in comics makes me laugh more than when writers try to paint the Penguin as a geniune threat to Batman, retconning his origin story to make him a martial arts expert. A martial arts expert? You’ve gotta be shitting me. As a comedy bad guy I like the Penguin, but as a serious threat to Batman? Come on.

9. RA’S AL GHUL

Created by the great comics team of Denny O’Neal and Neil Adams, Ra’s al Ghul is an international terrorist who doesn’t mind too much who gets in the way of his mad plan for environmental perfection. One of the very few villains to have worked out that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same and founder of a vast criminal empire (not to mention discoverer of the Lazarus Pit), Ra’s al Ghul’s name when translated into Arabic means “The Demon’s Head.” That alone earns him a place on the list.

8. BANE

After DC had Doomsday kill the Man of Steel in the 90s, the next logical step was to have someone “kill” the Dark Knight – and who better than Bane? Introduced for the Knightfall arc, Bane – despite his misuse in Batman and Robin – is one of Batman’s most intelligent foes and is certainly his most physically powerful. Remembered forever as the man who broke Batman’s back and forced him to hang up the cape (at least for a while.)

7. THE SCARECROW

Created during the Golden Age by Kane and Finger, the Scarecrow is undoubtedly the most physcological of Batman’s rouge’s gallery, Dr. Jonathan Crane uses something he decribes as “fear gas” to cause his victims to hallucinate, seeing their worst nightmares standing before them. It’s awfully easy to rob a bank when the security guards are fighting off imagined snakes and the tellers are surrounded by imaginary spiders.

6. HARLEY QUINN

The first female to grace our list and the only character not to originate from a comic book, Harley Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for Batman: The Animated Series and proved so popular that she was introduced to the comic book continuity. The on again-off again squeeze of the Joker, Harley was Mr. J.’s psychiatrist in Arkham who fell for him and turned to a life of crime. As you do. Voiced by the inimitable Arlene Sorkin, Harley was just one of the many reasons B:TAS was fucking awesome.

5. MR. FREEZE

Sometimes the best villains are the tragic ones, and they don’t come much more tragic than Mr. Freeze. Ignoring the original conception of the charcter, his apperences on the sixties TV show and Arnold Schwarzanegger’s gurning performance in Batman and Robin, and instead concentrating on the mythology created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, Mr. Freeze is one of the more pitiable villains in comics. After his wife is killed in a cryogenic freezing experiment gone wrong, Victor Fries tries to kill the man who caused his wife’s death, but Batman intervines. Fries takes on the name Mr. Freeze and swears vengance on Batman and everything he loves.

4. CATWOMAN

First introduced in Batman #1, Catwoman is one of the best female supervillains in comics, thanks in no small part to her oh-so-awesome costume. Created by Kane and Finger but made iconic by Julie Newmar and Lee Meriweather in the sixties TV show and movie, Catwoman serves many different roles in Batman continuity. First and foremost, of course, she is a criminal, but in more recent years she has taken on a sort of Robin Hood role, as well as providing an on/off/on/off love interest for Batman and Bruce Wayne. Just pretend the Halle Berry movie never happened.

3. THE RIDDLER

Riddle me this, riddle me that… Obsessed with riddles and puzzles and compelled to warn Batman about the crimes he intends to commit by leaving complex clues, the Riddler is the most egomaniacal of the Batman rogue’s gallery and one of the few who isn’t a psycopathic killer. Frank Gorshin’s Emmy winning performance in the TV show is yet to be bettered, but Jim Carey did a decent job in Batman Forever. Word on the street is that Christopher Nolan is planning to include the Riddler in his next installment of his “let’s make Batman boring” film series, so let’s live in hope that he doesn’t fuck him up as badly as he’s fucked up almost every other character he’s included so far.

2. TWO FACE

Harvey Dent was once the handsome Gotham DA, friend of Bruce Wayne and ally of Batman but fate conspired against him and made him the conflicted and deformed Two Face. Letting fate make his descisions for him, Two Face flips a double-headed coin to decide his actions; one side of the coin is unblemished, the other is scarred. If the clean side comes up, it’s safe to walk the streets, but if the scarred side comes up, blot your fucking doors, lock your fucking windows and switch on the fucking Batsignal.

1. THE JOKER

Anyone who knows me knows my feelings towards the Heath Ledger interpritation of the Joker, but the character is so great and so iconic, that I can overlook his performance and appreciate that, despite his best attempts to fuck the character up, the Joker is the ultimate comic book bad guy. His origin story has been retconned more than almost anyone elses and he has more facets to his character than any other comics villain. Sometimes he’s little more than a shrill nuscance, sometimes he’s a brutal and vicious killer and sometimes he’s somewhere in between – and that’s what makes him great. His mental unstability makes him truly dangerous and the intriguing dichotomy of a clown who kills makes him truly iconic.

Honorable mentions to Man-Bat, Clayface, Poison Ivy, the Cavalier, Egghead and Film Freak. But anyway, leave a comment if you have anything to say. End transmission.