Favorite Hero by Year of Debut, Part 9 (1971-1981)

[Air Wave]

And further into the Bronze Age we go. Who are your favorites? Choose as many as you like.

[The Darknight Detective]

John Stewart, Etrigan, Richard Dragon, Power Girl, Black Lightning, Starfire, Firestorm, Commander Steel, and Omega Men.

[The Darknight Detective]

If we had the other '71 debuts from the other poll, John Stewart would still be tops, FWIW.

[Jim Kelly]

In terms of most favourite to least favourite, this is how I rated these selections:



1. Swamp Thing ("Alexander Olsen" 1971, "Alec Holland" 1972, created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson)

2. Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814, 2nd alternate (John Stewart 1971, created by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams)

3. Starfire (Koriand'r a.k.a. Kory Anders 1980, created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez)

4. Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce 1977, created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden)

5. Firestorm, the Nuclear Man (1978, Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein, created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom)



6. Power Girl (Kara Zor-L 1976, created by Gerry Conway, Ric Estrada, Wally Wood, Joe Orlando?, after Otto Binder and Al Plastino)

7. Etrigan the Demon (Jason Blood 1972, created by Jack Kirby)

8. Cyborg (Victor Stone 1980, created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez)

9. The Mighty Isis (Andrea Thomas 1975, on television portrayed by Joanna Cameron, developed by Marc Richards for Filmation, 1976 in comics)

10. The Omega Men (1981, created by Marv Wolfman and Joe Staton)



11. Raven (1980, created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez)

12. Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter (1975, created by Denny O'Neil and Leopoldo Duranona)

13. Bumblebee (as Karen Beecher 1976, created by Bob Rozakis and Irv Novick, as Bumblebee 1977, created by Bob Rozakis and José Delbo)

14. Steel, the Indestructible Man (Hank Heywood I 1978, created by Gerry Conway and Don Heck)

15. Patty Spivot (1977, created by Cary Bates and Irv Novick)



I took a hard line this time and only picked my top five. I had many issues with several characters, but maybe I shouldn't talk about that. I don't want to be a noodge.

[The Darknight Detective]

I took a hard line this time and only picked my top five. I had many issues with several characters, but maybe I shouldn't talk about that. I don't want to be a noodge.

Okay, now that you have piqued our interest...

[Jim Kelly]

Okay, now that you have piqued our interest...

I left clues to what some of my queries might be in the factoids I provided. Well strap in--this is going to be a long and bumpy ride.

While the HOUSE OF SECRETS Swamp Thing appeared in 1971, the actual SWAMP THING title with Alec Holland came out in 1972. I know that later Alan Moore established that Swamp Thing was part of the Green, an Earth elemental and therefore Swampy wasn't really Alec and that the HOUSE OF SECRETS story now applied to this same elemental. Given this was argued about with other characters--it makes me question when we should combine origins and when to factor in later character developments. Also if you had 1971 on your BINGO card for someone else, you could always use 1972 for Swamp Thing.

I would say that John Stewart is a 1971 character since it's the first month that's really the date of the bimonthly comic. December-January issues came out in the same month as December issues.

By picking Starfire, I feel like that vote counts for the New Teen Titans and Omega Men all together--freeing me from picking them.

Karen Starr a.k.a. Power Girl, when she first appears is presented as a counterpart to Supergirl and has a lot of the same origin, so Otto and Al deserve a bit of credit. I remember reading back in the '70s that Joe Orlando was partly responsible for the character design.

While I like Victor Stone as a character, the Cyborg bit always bugged me. There was a Cyborg on T.V. named Steve Austin--he was based on a 1972 book by Martin Caidin called CYBORG. And there were many other cyborg's in fiction. I felt that Marv and George were being unoriginal both in the name and the abilities of their new super-hero--they could have done better. But at least Vic's Robotman tech gave him a connection to Cliff Steele and that in turn promoted his friendship with Gar Logan.

THE MIGHTY ISIS didn't belong to the Designated Colophon. She belonged to Filmation who were only leasing her out. I guess that the super-hero publisher eventually obtained rights to her, but that had to be fairly recent. Two of my favourite titles in the 1970s were RIMA THE JUNGLE GIRL and THE SHADOW--but one can argue those were both not owned by National Periodicals. Yet Rima was later featured on SUPERFRIENDS--so maybe they did get those rights or she was just in the public domain. Also the fact that THE SECRETS OF ISIS appeared in 1975 would help anyone if they wanted to pick that year for their BINGO card.

Raven had a lot of potential but I don't think Marv and George served her very well. Also, she could easily have been a person of colour--that seems a missed opportunity for more inclusion. I just assume her white appearance is a colourist's error.

Karen Beecher gave no indication of becoming a Bumblebee when she first appeared in 1976.

There were many Steels, but the one that got his own comic in 1978 was the Hank Heywood from World War Two.

I have little memory of the story in which Patty Spivot appeared--it was DC SPECIAL SERIES 1, "5 Star Super-Hero Spectacular"--but I didn't want to search for it in my boxes. Did she become a speedster in that story? That's the only reason I can think why she would be on a super-hero list. Wasn't it supposed to be in an imaginary timeline or something like that? I really liked the later Patty Spivot on THE FLASH T.V. show but she never became a metahuman, as far as I recall.

[The Darknight Detective]

I left clues to what some of my queries might be in the factoids I provided. Well strap in--this is going to be a long and bumpy ride.

While the HOUSE OF SECRETS Swamp Thing appeared in 1971, the actual SWAMP THING title with Alec Holland came out in 1972. I know that later Alan Moore established that Swamp Thing was part of the Green, an Earth elemental and therefore Swampy wasn't really Alec and that the HOUSE OF SECRETS story now applied to this same elemental. Given this was argued about with other characters--it makes me question when we should combine origins and when to factor in later character developments. Also if you had 1971 on your BINGO card for someone else, you could always use 1972 for Swamp Thing.

Good points, Jim. Since I prefer Swamy over Etrigan a little bit more, I'm also going to edit the count to match that.

I would say that John Stewart is a 1971 character since it's the first month that's really the date of the bimonthly comic. December-January issues came out in the same month as December issues.

That was my thinking, too.

THE MIGHTY ISIS didn't belong to the Designated Colophon. She belonged to Filmation who were only leasing her out. I guess that the super-hero publisher eventually obtained rights to her, but that had to be fairly recent. Two of my favourite titles in the 1970s were RIMA THE JUNGLE GIRL and THE SHADOW--but one can argue those were both not owned by National Periodicals. Yet Rima was later featured on SUPERFRIENDS--so maybe they did get those rights or she was just in the public domain. Also the fact that THE SECRETS OF ISIS appeared in 1975 would help anyone if they wanted to pick that year for their BINGO card.

I loved Rima, the Shadow, and Isis myself. Think I'm going to add Isis based on your reminder of her TV debut date, too.

I have little memory of the story in which Patty Spivot appeared--it was DC SPECIAL SERIES 1, "5 Star Super-Hero Spectacular"--but I didn't want to search for it in my boxes. Did she become a speedster in that story? That's the only reason I can think why she would be on a super-hero list. Wasn't it supposed to be in an imaginary timeline or something like that? I really liked the later Patty Spivot on THE FLASH T.V. show but she never became a metahuman, as far as I recall.

Patty's super power on the show was her hotness.

[Jim Kelly]

Patty's super power on the show was her hotness.

Agree, a thousand percent.

[Air Wave]

Swamp Thing leading here. Followed by Black Lightning.

[CellarDweller]

Had to vote for the New Teen Titans characters.

Although, my faves weren't on the list. (see my avatar) LOL