Top 5 Fridays: My Favorite Superheroes In The New 52

So I bet all of you out there are saying to yourself, "Who the fuck gives a shit about who your favorite superheroes are?  I've got favorite superheroes and you don't see me forcing them down people's throats".  Well while the lot of you are very vocal and vulgar with your opinion here, I guess you have a point, but the whole reason that I'm doing this besides for the chronic laziness that I suffer from, is because somebody out there actually did look up "your favorite DC heroes" and got to the site, so I'm figuring that somebody out there cares about what big pecs I look up to when I lean my head back and daydream about what heroes I could pal around with Jimmy Olsen style.  Now for this list I'm restricting myself a little because two of my all time favorite superheroes are Green Lantern and Batman, but who's isn't?  So for this list I'll be doing heroes that aren't Justice Leaguers and ones who live somewhere in the second tier of hero-dom or the B listers if you want to go with that.  Also for a larf and to include Jim in this week's Top 5, I'll be letting him list the order that these characters go in because if there's anyone who hears me talk about my favorite heroes and would know who I don't shut up about the most, it would be him.  So without further adieu I give to you my personal favorite heroes because the interwebs are clamoring to know.






#5.  Shazam

Now I don't want to hear any nonsense about shenanigans here because Shazam just happens to be a member of the Justice League right now.  He's only been in the group for like two seconds and he hasn't done shit yet, so I'm letting him in.  This being #5 is actually pretty funny to me because I would of thought that Jim would of placed him a lot higher for all the days of me bitching about not having a Shazam comic book yet.  But maybe he's wise in his old age because I have complained a lot about how Geoff Johns has turned the sweet innocent Billy Batson that I love, into a jerk off little snot in the New 52.  Even with my disdain for jerk off children, I do have to say that Shazam has never looked better than he does in the New 52.  No more is he sporting that sissy little half cape and I guess when the Wizard Shazam gives you powers, he really gives you powers because I have no idea what Shazam is capable of now.  Some magic words here and there and BAM!  He can have whatever he wants apparently.  I'm referring to that time in Justice League that he's not a part of for this list, where he created a ping pong table.  Shazam in my mind punches and lightnings stuff, what's all this genie stuff about?  Yeah I'm complaining again, but don't let it make you think I don't like the Marvel that used to be a Captain.  No, I love the character and would scream to the heavens in joy if DC announced a monthly book........... Then I could die happy.




#4.  Blue Beetle

What can I say about this little bad ass, except that he's gone from me bitching to whoever would listen about how they replaced Ted Kord with a teenage, alien suited Blue Beetle, to me then telling whoever would listen that Jaime Reyes is the most awesome Blue Beetle there ever was.  That's right, I say things like most awesome.  There is so much you could do with this character that it's ludicrous to me that his series was ever cancelled.  You've got the duality of Jaime wanting to be a hero and do the right thing and his source of power wanting to destroy anything around him.  That's drama people and it makes me want to see a Blue Beetle show on the CW next fall.  Get on that Geoff Johns.  It's too bad that Jaime's gotten the shaft since his book was cancelled because we haven't seen him since he was exiled to the very short lived Threshold comic, that was getting cancelled as well and simply teleported Jaime back to Earth so future writers wouldn't have to explain where he was.  But if he's back on Earth then why haven't I seen him and why the hell isn't he a part of Teen Titans yet?  Just talking about this gets my blood pumping and drives my need to know what happened to this character because my love for him won't tolerate a simple M.I.A. answer.  BRING BLUE BEETLE BACK!





#3.  Hawkman

I'm not too much of a fanboy to admit that the Hawkman series had a lot of problems, but it doesn't take away the love I have for the character.  If you happened to read the Hawkman comic you'll remember that at first it seemed the creators just wanted Carter Hall to be a normal archaeologist who was affected by a strange alien Nth metal, but as the series continued and I guess the sales dropped they all of a sudden decided that no, he was an alien the whole time and when he crash landed on Earth after escaping Thanagar, a ship found him and when he said his name of Katar Hall, they simply believed he said Carter Hall.  Now like a lot of things in comics this just doesn't jive with me.  How does a alien come to Earth and get an ID, social security # and a Ph.D in archaeology when I still can't buy cigarettes if I don't have my ID on me?  Sorry that's just me projecting again and I don't blame Carter's ease of assimilation on me not being able to buy what I want to buy, even though that girl has sold me cigarettes a million times, she decides that she's going to screw with the weirdo with the headband.  Shit I did it again.  All of the things that Carter was able to do in what seems like a brief period of time always bugged me, but I still love the character, even though I have no idea what his actual story might be since his series was cancelled, the JLA was disbanded and now that he's a part of the JLU.  I mean he had a human girlfriend and a job........... archaeology-ing.  Did he just give all of those things up and decide to be a full time bad ass?  These are things I'd like to know and even though he's being featured in a lot of stories now, he's still a pretty mysterious character in the New 52.





#2.  Firestorm

This is the story about how two boys meet and one of the boys accidentally enters the other boy.  After a bit of a struggle, they figure out they enjoy the one being inside the other.  That an accurate synopsis for Firestorm right?  Well you have your ideas and I have mine........ I wish I didn't have mine.  I have to tell you, even though I love Firestorm and the whole idea of him, man was the first half of his New 52 series rough.  Ronnie's Firestorm, Jason's Firestorm, there are a shit load of other Firestorms and when Jason and Ronnie would join together they'd make a Hulk Firestorm named Fury.  Bah to all that nonsense.  This series didn't really take off for me until it's #0, where we got out of all that new awful stuff and got back to the basics and the Firestorm we knew and loved was brought into the New 52.............. Then it was cancelled.  WTF!?  I'm a little pissed that we didn't start the site until after this series was cancelled because I would of loved reviewing it, you know after #0.  Even though we lost our Firestorm series it was nice to see him join the Justice League and it's awesome that he's featured so heavily in Futures End, even though Ronnie and Jason aren't having the best future at the moment.  Oh and like Shazam, I don't want to hear any shenanigans with this pick because like the World's Mightiest Mortal, The Nuclear Man was only a Leaguer for like two seconds and it seems he was only added so that DC could use him as a prison during Forever Evil.  So lay off Firestorm and how I skirt the rules of this list.





#1.  Robin

Even though Tim Drake never got the chance to grace the pages of the New 52 as The Boy Wonder, he's always been my favorite Robin and even though I'm talking about Tim Drake here, this #1 spot is dedicated to all Robins because they all bring something special to story telling in their own way.  What sidekick has managed to stay in our hearts as long as Robin has?  Whether you're a Dick Grayson fan with all the acrobatics and becoming Nightwing, a Jason Todd fan with all his problems and the tragedy of his death, a Tim Drake fan like me because of his empathy and sheer intellect...... or if you grew up in the 80's and 90s like me or if your a Damian Wayne fan with his twisted upbringing and road to redemption story....... or his death and what looks like now his resurrection, you can't deny that the Robin character has had an impact on all our lives.  I'm a firm believer that Batman needs a Robin and even though you'll get the occasional pedophile/gay joke when dealing with the subject, we know that Robin is one of the most influential characters in the DC Universe and who else would our child-selves imagine we were when we wanted to go on adventures with Batman?  Tim Drake is my personal favorite, but all the Robins are great in their own way.


That's it for this week's Top 5 Fridays and while you might not care who my favorite superheroes are, somebody seemed to care enough to look it up, so blame them for this list if you're not a fan........... hater.  Give us your picks for your favorite DC superheros, but remember if you do that the rules still apply to you, so no Justice Leaguers, only B listers or lower, you know the characters that "Norms" don't know about.  I hope you enjoyed this week's list and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  See you in seven.  Boosh!