The Great Comics Face-off game.

[John Moores]

Brainiac 5
Alfred E.
Ragman.

[Marv-El]

Vril Dox, one of the best re-imaginings of a character in a long time. The L.E.G.I.O.N. stories were great.

Archie. C'mon, even if Alfred is the Yellow Kid, Archie is the American teenager: drive-ins, surfing, malt shops, jalopies, friends and rivals, teachers, parents, two girlfriends, his own band, a superhero...has to be Chic Andrews.

Ragman. Kanigher and Kubert. No choice at all.

[Scot Eric]

BRAINIAC 5
(because all the other shit with the other Brainiacs is too fucking confusing)

ALFRED E. NEUMAN
(because I grew up loving Mad Magazine and hating Archie Comics)

RAGMAN
(Kanigher, Kubert -- and the whole Jewish thing...I've always adored Rags)

[darthfoley]

Brainiac 5
Alfred E.
Ragman.

This.  Although voting out Ghost Rider hurts a little.

[Doc]

Querl

Alfred

Ragman

Yup!!!

[Ballsac]

Turok
Black Widow
Impulse

Brainiac 5
Archie
Ghost Rider

[josey wales]

Arak
Huntress
Impulse
Brainiac 5
Alfred
Rory

[Doghouse Reilly]

Carl Kolchak over Cassie Hack because as much as I dig Tim Seeley, I love Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Kolchak is one of my favorite television characters ever.

Buck Rogers over Captain Power; Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future was actually a gem of an adventure show, especially since it was primarily intended to move some gimmicked up toys. It's just not in the league of a pulp classic like Buck, though.

Scully over Picard because she entertained me more. Ol' baldy never did much for me.

Zatanna over Klarion; I actually like Morrison's Klarion more than Morrison's Zatanna, and yeah, Witch-Boy's a Kirby creation... but Zatanna is one of those characters that a lot of writers find interesting things to do with. Klarion's just such a niche player while Zatanna tends to be enjoyable even in stories that are sub-par. Over all I'd say the greater exposure and overall body of work wins out (there's got to be a joke about those fishnets to made here).

Darkness over Shadowman; Shadowman was the runt of the original Valiant litter. Ennis did some nasty, creative stuff with the Darkness and his powers. Darkness kind of wins my vote by default.

Darkman over Simon Dark because Rami's movie was a better comic book movie (without having a comic to adapt) than most comic book movies. I read one issue of Simon Dark. I remember literally nothing about it other than wondering why DC published it.

Turok over Arak for having generally better comics.

Closer than I would have thought, but Black Widow over the Huntress. I think Helena's character has been diluted and inconsistent ever since Crisis (Morrison didn't really do her any favors in JLA and she was the third most interesting member of the three-girl core of Birds of Prey). Black Widow is comics' top femme fatale, and has (mostly) been portrayed that way from the start. I give it to Natasha for having a more solid track record.

Impulse over Scott Pilgrim because Bart is at least a part of a legacy I care about (even if the character himself doesn't do much for me). Most of the Scott Pilgrim stuff is well made, but it doesn't resonate with me.

Vril Dox over Brainiac 5 for sheer epic bastardity. B5's heart is always in the right place. Vril doesn't have one.

Alfred over Archie because while Archie represents the all-American boy, Alfred IS the all-American boy. At least he was a hell of a lot closer to all the ones I knew growing up.

Ghost Rider over Ragman based on look alone. Flaming skull and motorcycle? C'mon... how badass a visual is that?

[JSayonara]

Mockingbird (Barbara "Bobbi" Morse) is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe who first appears in the Ka-Zar story in Astonishing Tales #6 written by Gerry Conway and pencilled by Barry Smith.

Later the character appeared in Gruenwald’s 4-issue Hawkeye miniseries.
Fully recovered from injuries received previously, Mockingbird investigates corruption at Cross Technological Enterprises, where Clint Barton/Hawkeye works as security chief.
Though the two initially come into conflict with each other, they end up co-operating to fight the villain Crossfire and by the series end they are shown to be seriously romantically involved, having eloped together to the Pocono Mountains and apparently married.

The miniseries reveals how Morse originally became involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. recounting how she left her biology studies at Georgia Tech to follow her "favorite prof" Wilma Calvin on the government's Project: Gladiator.
The research project was partly sponsored by S.H.I.E.L.D. which led Morse to enroll in their spy school and graduate at the top of her class.
It is also revealed that she spent six months convalescing in a private hospital after the injuries she suffered in Marvel Team-Up #95.

In a short period Mockingbird moves back into Avengers Mansion with Barton as he returns to active duty, she is formally introduced to the team as his wife, the Vision then proposes that Hawkeye and Mockingbird establish a second Avengers team on the west coast, and the two move out to Los Angeles.

VS

In 1988, a new Hawk and Dove mini-series written by Karl and Barbara Kesel reintroduced the characters.
This series placed a woman named Dawn Granger, replacing Don, who had died in the original series.
The new Dove mysteriously received her powers while attempting to save her mother from terrorists.
At the end of the mini-series, it was revealed that Dawn received her powers the moment Don had been stripped of them.

This Dove, while considerably more aggressive and self-confident than Don, also has greater-than-average strength and dexterity, faster-than-human speed, and expanded mental capabilities.
Dove fights mostly defensively, preferring to out-think and remain in control of her opponent.
Like Hawk, she also heals quickly and cannot revert to Dawn if her wounds or some other condition would be fatal to Dawn.

[JSayonara]

The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI.
The show is based on the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin.
It aired on the ABC network as a regular series from 1974 to 1978, following three television movies aired in 1973.
The title role of Steve Austin was played by Lee Majors.

The background story of the original novel and the later series is the crash of former astronaut Steve Austin in a “lifting body” craft, shown in the opening credits of the show.
Austin is severely injured in the crash and is “rebuilt” in a title-giving operation that costs at least six million dollars.
His right arm, both legs and the left eye are replaced by "bionic" implants that enhance his strength, speed and vision far above human norms: he can run at speeds of 60 mph (97 km/h), and his eye has a 20:1 zoom lens and infrared capabilities while his limbs all have the equivalent power of a bulldozer.
He uses his enhanced abilities to work for the OSI (Office of Scientific Intelligence) as a secret agent (and as a guinea pig for bionics).

VS

Commander Steel is the name of three fictional characters, superheroes published by DC Comics, all members of the same family.

The first Steel appeared in Steel, The Indestructible Man #1 published by DC Comics, and was created by Gerry Conway and Don Heck.
His stories were set in World War II.
The two later characters called Steel are his grandsons.

The World War II version of the character, Henry Heywood, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps prior to the United States involvement in the war, but was injured when saboteurs, spearheaded by the man who would become Baron Blitzkrieg, attacked his base.
Heywood had been a biology student under the tutelage of Doctor Gilbert Giles, and his former professor performed extensive surgery on him, enhancing his damaged body with mechanized steel devices that gave him superhuman strength, speed, and durability.
At the request of Doctor Giles, Heywood kept his new-found gifts a secret, and was returned to service in a desk position.
Frustrated at his inability to help more directly, Heywood adopted the masked-hero persona "Steel", and was attempting to steal armaments from the military base where he worked—to send to those more directly in the war's fray—when some fifth columnist saboteurs broke into the base.
Heywood defeated the saboteurs, and embarked on a career fighting foreign threats and other criminals before America went to war.

Heywood entered more directly into World War II as a secret weapon before he allied himself with the All-Star Squadron.
In that time he was commissioned Commander Steel by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
His membership in the Squadron was only for a brief period as Crisis on Infinite Earths caused him to shift from his native Earth-Two to the Post-Crisis Earth, wherein he retired from his superhero career as there were no active costumed heroes at that time on his new home.

[JSayonara]

Raymond "Ray" Palmer aka The Atom, is a physicist and professor at Ivy University in Ivy Town, New England, specializing in matter compression as a means to fight overpopulation, famine and other world problems.

Using a mass of white dwarf star matter that he finds after it lands on Earth, Ray Palmer fashions a lens that enables him to shrink any object to any degree he wishes.
However, any object so treated soon explodes as a side effect, which precludes any practical use of the lens.

During a spelunking expedition, Palmer and his students, along with Jean Loring, find themselves trapped in a cave when the entrance collapses. In desperation, Palmer secretly uses the lens he has carried with him to shrink himself down in order to be able to climb to a small hole high in the wall that leads to the outside, knowing full well he will likely explode.

Using a diamond engagement ring, Palmer enlarges the hole sufficiently and descends to the floor to try to alert the others of the escape route before dying. However, upon entering the lens' beam, he finds himself returned to normal size. As the lens is covered with cave moisture, Palmer thinks this fact has altered the beam to allow this strange effect.

When subsequent experiments show no change with the explosions, Palmer concludes that there must be some mysterious force in his own body that allows him to be shrunk safely and later returned to normal.

VS

Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym aka Ant-Man is a fictional character that appears in publications by Marvel Comics.
Created by editor and plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber and penciler Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27.
Pym's character, a scientist that debuted in a standalone science-fiction anthology story, returned several issues later as the superhero Ant-Man, with the power to shrink to the size of an insect.

Biochemist Henry Pym, discovering an unusual set of subatomic particles he labels "Pym particles", creates a size-altering formula and tests it on himself.
Reduced to the size of an insect, Pym has a dangerous encounter with ants in a nearby anthill.
Shortly afterward, he constructs a cybernetic helmet that allows him to communicate with and control ants.
Pym designs a costume and reinvents himself as the superhero Ant-Man, and defeats several KGB agents attempting to steal the formula for an anti-radiation gas.

[Scot Eric]

DOVE

Even though it's not the dude -- I DID vote for Hawk...plus I have zero feelings about Mockingbird.

SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

I had originally typed Steel...but then I went back and changed it.  Why? 

Because I actually never liked the original comic all that much, and the current incarnation is just a reminder of how the JSA has turned to shit.  So this really came down to the All-Star Squadron version only...and stacking just THAT up against an iconic TV show from my youth, as well as one of the most memorable action figures any boy could ever dream of owning...fuck it. 

Plus, what male of a certain age and older hasn't done the Caddyshack-esque "na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na" sound when moving in slow-mo?

ATOM

Let me count off a few reasons why...

~because the individual Silver Age Atom stories are beautifully rendered and enormous fun, especially when featuring either time travel or Chronos, his arch-nemesis.
 
~because he was the second person to join the JLA, and iconic JLA trumps any incarnation of the Avengers, even the original lineup.

~because even with some wacky shifts here and there over the years, the Atom has always been the Atom, whereas Ant-Man became Giant-Man (over-compensation...sigh), not to mention Yellowjacket and who the fuck knows how many other inadequacies Pym decided to trot out costume & alias-wise.

~because Ray Palmer was an awesome and eventually tragic husband and Hank Pym turned out to be a total asshole, and supporting him would thus just feel wrong.

[Doc]

Dove

Steve Austin

Ant man

[Marv-El]

Dove, because of Karl Kesel. Bobbi is a latter-day example of Marvel's melodrama.

Steve Austin, for the reasons SE gave. And while I appreciate Don Heck's contributions and like Steel's uniform, I've never really cared for Heck's art.

Atom. Silver Age Gil Kane, Chronos, the time pool, Hawkman, the JLA beat Hank Pym like Hank beats his wife.

[Big Raj]

Arak
Black Widow
Impulse
Brainy
Neuman
Ghost Rider
Mockingbird
Steve Austin
The Atom

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