Legenday Comic Book Heroes Top Ten Results – Fall ’07

#1. The Tick [64 votes]

SPOOOOOOON!

From the pages of The Tick comes, well, The Tick! The big blue defender
of "The City" started out simply as a spoof to the traditional
superhero persona, the high-spirited and metphore-flinging shows that
he can carry his own against the best as he takes the top spot in our
inaugural LCBH Top Ten.

With his "unique" powers of nigh-invulnerability, super-strength and
"Drama Power", the "other" superhero with the blue bug likeness could
open up a bevy of opportunities for other colorful characters from the
Tick-verse. After all, the Tick is rarely seen without his trust
sidekick Arthur…

From
the pages of Conan the Barbarian and Kull and the Barbarians, this
red-headed warrior vixen can stand toe to toe in battle with ANY
barbarian while matching their minimal fashion sense. With a violent
origin in Hyrkania worthy of making anyone a little upset (When she had
just turned 17 years old, a group of cruel mercenaries killed her
father Ivor, her mother and two younger brothers and burned their house
and all their possessions. She survived but at the cost of her own
virginity after she was brutally raped by the leader of the group,
leaving her in shame) she has donned the metal bikini for Dynamite
Comics since leaving the Marvel stable in 1995.

While she has had many variations on her costume over the years, the
same basic scheme remains constant to her wardrobe: metal, and not much
of it. The not-much-of-it costume sense seems to be a running theme
with the ladies of the Top Ten…

#3. Grendel [41 votes]

Coming
in at number three is the Matt Wagner creation: the assassin Grendel.
One of the most popular topics of wishlists for the LCBH line since its
inception, Grendel may have lost some votes due to being heavily
rumored for the series three line up.

The biggest question this choice of character begs is: what look and
costume? There is the classic appearance pictured here but there is
also Grendel Prime, the Christine Spar Grendel and a myriad of others.
Which ever the costume/charcter choice Grendel needs to be bad ass in
black with lots of articulation.

#4. Invincible [37 votes]

Another
topic of numerous fan requests, the Robert Kirkman-created Image Comics
super teen brings in 37 votes for a fourth place finish. Mark Grayson
was a normal high school senior with a normal part-time job and
otherwise normal life, except his father Nolan is the superhero
Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet. At the age of 17,
Mark begins to display superpowers, which come from his father being a
member of the Viltrumite race, who, according to Nolan, pioneer the
galaxy on a mission of benevolence and enlightenment. As Invincible,
Mark begins working as a superhero with his father acting as his
mentor, and meeting other heroes.

Creator Robert Kirkman has been known to be highly protective of his
fantastic intellectual property, but if any toy line can do Invincible
justice it’s Legendary Comic Book Heroes.

#5. Arthur [33 votes]

Didn’t
I just mention that the Tick needs his faithful sidekick? Well
apparently, so do you! The diminutive yin to the larger than life
Tick’s yang, Arthur charges into battle pleading "Not in the face! Not
in the face!"

The accountant by day, this Jewish superhero gains his powers of
flight, and night vision from his moth suit. Note: he is NOT a bunny.
Perhaps he would be prime for a new two-pack with his big blue boss,
that way he could have some back up when squaring off against his long
time rival, the Slot Jockey of Doom.

#6. Vampirella [31 votes]

The
second female to place in the Top Ten, Vampirella carries on the
tradition of scantily-clad ladies getting lots of fanboy votes. But
then again, she is a sexy heroine vampire, what’s not to love?

Techincally she is considered a vampire since she needs blood to
survive and has many of the typical vampiric powers, including
increased strength and reflexes, shapeshifting into a bat, and a
mesmeric stare. She is not prone to the group’s traditional weaknesses,
such as daylight, holy water, garlic, or crosses. She cannot, most
importantly, transform others into vampires. She does not attack people
to drink their blood, except occasionally when she herself is attacked.
She is almost always scantily clad in a red bikini with a white collar
and wearing shiny black knee-high boots.

As I said, what’s not to love? Jesse and Damon, get to work.

Well,
The Maxx holds a special place in the Top Ten taking not only the
seventh place, but also is the winner of the Build a Figure category.
Whoops! Did I gave that away? Sorry.

The Maxx, is a homeless man who believes he is a superhero. The Maxx
shifts between the real world and a dream world, which he refers to as
The Outback; this alternate universe, which resembles a fantastic
version of prehistoric Australia, is just as real to him as the real
world. His only friend is Julie Winters, a "freelance social worker".
Little does she know that she and The Maxx have a deeper connection,
and it involves the dream world into which The Maxx is constantly
drawn. One thing is for certain, he needs to be BIG so maybe your
impulse to have him as BAF would better represent him.

Tying at number seven with The Maxx is the brainchild of former Marvel head honcho Jim Shooter, X-O Manowar.

With a complicated origin, Aric the barbarian is essentially vaulted
far into the future with his living armor leaving everything he knew
behind in lieu of modern civilization. He becomes the most primitive
man on the the planet with the greatest and most advanced technological
weapon in existence.

Ah!
but in a crowd of primarily modern creations comes the classic pulp
hero The Phantom. This vote represents a potential for a completely
untapped genre of old-time pulp heroes like Tarzan, Zorro, The Lone
Ranger and Dick Tracey.

The 1936 creation of Lee Falk, The Phantom is the culmination of Falk’s
life-long fascination with legends and mythic characters like King
Arthur. Originally going to be called The Gray Ghost, rich playboy
Jimmy Wells shares several similar traits with another masked superhero
of the 1930s. However, the mantle has been passed down over time to
many, many different characters. The classic take on the character (as
pictured here) it by far the most popular though.

When
it rains, it pours and the pulp heros are no exception. Another hero
out of the past, The Shadow come in under the wire at number ten.

"The Shadow Knows…" is the mysterious catch phrase often associated
with this mysterious character. Sharing his history across various
mediums, he has been in comics, radio (voiced by Orson Welles) and has
been the subject of several feature films, most notably in 1994
starring Alec Baldwin.  

This noir-ish hero could add some serious variety to the Legendary Comic Book Heroes line.

Amy
Belcher, also known as Sensation and mostly as She-Dragon is a
fictional ‘superfreak’ and later police officer created by Erik Larsen
for his series Savage Dragon as a She-Hulk like female counterpart for
the series’ main character The Dragon.

Well, we already have the Savage Dragon, what could be better than a
female counter-part to go with him? Again, costume is the question
here, as well as style: half-naked with long locks or police clad with
a mohawk? Wait, what is the question here?

Think
you are getting a second write up here? Ha! We told you about him
already but perhaps if Marvel Toys were to ever tackle The Maxx, his
huge size would be better suited as a BAF. The Maxx versus Pitt versus
Monkey Man? Awesome.