The 100+ Club

[ducklord]

As of late I've started to think about a ridiculous idea for a DCU team: A team of characters who've proven they can hold a solo title for 100 or more consecutive issues. Sure, it'll be a logistical mess, but since it'll be a team chock full of proven winners, a team with these characters is sure to be a winner, right?

So here's who I've got so far:

Team Leaders
Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
& John Constantine

Each of these characters have held down solo titles for 300 or more issues without pause. Superman and Batman have multiple instances of this.

Golden Agers
Flash (Jay Garrick)
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel Jr.

Each of these characters had solo titles in the Golden Age that got over 100 issues before the original collapse of super-hero comics.

Silver Agers
Flash (Barry Allen)
Lois Lane
Jimmy Olsen

Putting two civilians on this team will make things weird, but not as weird as the next additions.

Bronze Agers
Sgt. Rock
Warlord
Firestorm
Swamp Thing

Man, the 70's were weird, amirite?

Although Rock debuted in the early silver age, his comic wasn't renamed until the 70's, and ran 100+ issues after that. I almost forgot about Warlord. Swamp Thing's long-running titles start in the late Bronze Age, and ran a loooong time. Firestorm, it seems, is the only Bronze Age super-hero to hold a solo title for 100 issues.

Post-Crisis
This is a long timespan, but let's go with it. Besides the aforementioned Jon Constantine, you have these guys:

Flash (Wally West)
Impulse
Robin (Tim Drake)
Superboy (Conner Kent)
Nightwing
Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)
Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)
Azrael

By the time the New 52 comes along, the Superman and Flash franchises have had four different characters added to the group. Batman has had five.

New 52 Onward
I am reasonably certain that no additional characters have been added to the 100+ club since the launch of the New 52. But I could be wrong.

So that's the team:
Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
Jay Garrick
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel Jr.
Lois Lane
Jimmy Olsen
Barry Allen
Sgt. Rock
Warlord
Firestorm
Swamp Thing
John Constantine
Kyle Rayner
Time Drake
Impulse
Conner Kent
Nightwing
Azrael
and Oliver Queen

That's a big team (21 characters), and I'm not sure what you do with 4 speedsters AND Sgt. Rock, but that group would sell like hotcakes, right?

Controversial Omissions
Catwoman - Her solo title only ran for 94 issues. But if you include the 0 issue, the 1000000 issue, and the various annuals, it squeaks over 100. Should she be on the team?

Hal Jordan - His Silver Age title only ran for 89 issues, and the last year of THAT was spent sharing the title with Green Arrow. Even after he got the title back to himself, he only held it for 60+ issues before being replaced by John Stewart. And even if you don't count that against him, the whole title switched over to a multi-GL focus in issue 201. So yeah, weird as it is to say, I don't think Hal's *ever* held a title buy himself for 100+ issues.

Plastic Man - In the Golden Age, Plastic Man was a feature in Police Comics, which was not a solo title. That said he was, after a few issues, the undeniable star of the book. That said, it didn't have his name on the cover, and I don't think he was the cover feature of 100+ issues. What say the masses?

Did I miss anyone else? Who should these guys fight? Is it weird that no new members have been added in a pretty long time now? Who do you think will be the *next* new member?

[ducklord]

(Realizes belatedly that the title of this thread probably looks too much like an ad )

[SuperX]

I'll go for a Conner kent, Tim drake, Bart Allen, Kyle Rayner, and firestorm comic any day.

[ducklord]

I'll go for a Conner kent, Tim drake, Bart Allen, Kyle Rayner, and firestorm comic any day.

Even granting how many of the characters were spin-offs, it's pretty impressive how many solid, long-running solo titles emerged during the post-crisis era. Azrael got over 100 issues. Freaking Azrael!

When you start looking at the list of solo titles that got to 50+ issues during that era, the list is even more impressive. Lobo. Starman. Lots of good characters in there.

[SuperX]

how would you split the teams up now?

[Brad]

With the "solo title" requirement, I guess Scooby-Doo doesn't count, haha. He's just part of a group. Same with Blackhawk. Jerry Lewis misses the cut because his title started out as The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and the later name of The Adventures of Jerry Lewis didn't last 100 issues.

Shouldn't Superboy (1949) qualify? Along with Tomahawk (1950)?

[Brad]

Then again, if Sgt. Rock (leader of Easy Company) is on the list, then logically Blackhawk should be on the list too (leader of the Blackhawks). But Scooby-Doo is just a member of his group and doesn't feel like a solo title.

[ducklord]

With the "solo title" requirement, I guess Scooby-Doo doesn't count, haha. He's just part of a group. Same with Blackhawk. Jerry Lewis misses the cut because his title started out as The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and the later name of The Adventures of Jerry Lewis didn't last 100 issues.

Shouldn't Superboy (1949) qualify? Along with Tomahawk (1950)?

I'm not so sure about counting out Scooby-Doo. He's clearly in *some* corner of the DCU now, the book is named after him, and the group wouldn't exist without him. It's kind of the same thinking that allows Sgt. Rock into the group, even though it's Sgt. Rock and Easy Co.'s book.

Blackhawk is an interesting case. Is the title the name of the group or the name of the guy? For my money, there's a fine line between, say, the Sea Devils, and Rip Hunter and the Time Masters.

Superboy I didn't add in, 'cause that's just another Superman book (albeit on featuring a pretty distinct version of the character). I totally forgot about Tomahawk. He's in.

[Restingvoice]

Thank you for this. Now I know which character I should prioritize in our next imaginary If You're In Charge of DC

Annual counts so Catwoman and similar series count.

New 52 only reached 52 issues

Technically I'm also counting titles that's not reaching 100 but continued in other series, but they will be lower priority compared to those who do reached 100, because there are other reasons for cancellation beside sales.

So Superman, Batman, WW, and Constantine are the main priority, followed by the others in your order based on how many consecutive issues they have, after that's all done, followed by others that don't have consecutive issues, in order of how many issues they actually got

Although 21 is already a good number for a line, and until the current sales number come in to determine which one can be replaced, the rest of the characters who don't get a series will be supporting cast on those who do.

Then if that initial 21 there's some that don't sell to the current audience, they can be replaced by the next one on the list

Sorry for carrying this for to a different topic, carry on :P

[Brad]

I'm not so sure about counting out Scooby-Doo. He's clearly in *some* corner of the DCU now, the book is named after him, and the group wouldn't exist without him. It's kind of the same thinking that allows Sgt. Rock into the group, even though it's Sgt. Rock and Easy Co.'s book.

Blackhawk is an interesting case. Is the title the name of the group or the name of the guy? For my money, there's a fine line between, say, the Sea Devils, and Rip Hunter and the Time Masters.

Superboy I didn't add in, 'cause that's just another Superman book (albeit on featuring a pretty distinct version of the character). I totally forgot about Tomahawk. He's in.

I guess Scooby-Doo is in. It's his name in the title. Better stock up on Scooby snacks in the headquarters.

Blackhawk is definitely the name of the character, while the group is referred to as the Blackhawks or the Blackhawk Squadron.

It was fun doing a little research into DC's history.

[Brad]

I didn't mention this before, but Scooby-Doo has had TWO solo series run 100+ issues! Funny.

[Digifiend]

Quite right, no New 52 series ran longer than 52 issues. Several Rebirth books have, but they star characters who are already on the list - Detective Comics (Batman), Action Comics (Superman), Wonder Woman, and Flash. All four of those books reverted to legacy numbering (Action and Tec at the start of Rebirth, Flash and WW later on) and haven't relaunched with a new #1 since, despite Flash changing protagonist from Barry to Wally when the current writer took over.