Thursday, December 15, 2005

Best List of Villainous Moments

Steady Mobbin' posts can be divided amongst the following categories: Photojournaling, Concert Reviews (or, as Andrew would say, "Pictures of Guitars"), Arrested Development Related Content, Movie Trailer Links, Thoughts That Cross My Mind, Celebrity Sightings, and Geek Stuff. File this one under: Geek Stuff.

IGN.com just published a list of the Top 10 Villainous Moments in Comic Book history. I liked this list, because as I read it I thought: "Oh yeah, I remember that . . . that was totally villainous!" The list contains some real "Holy crap!" moments that made comic readers like myself go "Holy crap" as we read our comics. While certain events (the breaking of Batman's back, the Death of Superman, Ozymandius' alien attack) are a little overrated in my book, some of these other moments are truly legendary (the loss of Angel's wings [a special moment in comics history for me as this occurred just a few months after I became an official comic book fan], the crippling of Barbara Gordon, the death of Elektra) and others were truly vicious innovations by writers looking to spice up comics that had fallen into a rut (Magneto tearing out Wolverine's Adamantium) any true comic enthusiast can see the top two Villainous Moments coming down the track from a mile away. (You'll have to click through to see what they are). Any good group of nerds could sit and argue about why one edged out the other for the top spot and if that was the right decision, the editors at IGN explain their reasoning well and make a good argument for their decision. The article is Here. (For Geeks).

8 comments:

Tannertrue said...

Being the biggest geek, I'll comment.

I think that number one and two should be swapped. cause one ushered in a new era of comic book storytelling. Showing that super heroes are not infallible. That sometimes they can't save everybody. It was the start of the silver age of comics. Many of the other villainous moments on that list wouldn't have been there were it not for number 2. Because, the heroes would always be winning without any negative repercussions.

But enough of my waving of the geek flag. As if anyone needed more fodder to prove that I am an unfathomable geek who is embarassing to his loved ones (it's true! Ask Broek.).The list is good. I remember many of those moments however a few of those don't carry much weight with me cause I wasn't into comics when they occured.

Brigham said...

I'm inclined to agree with you and share your reasoning. But here's the thing: Does Gwen Stacy's fate still affect Spider-Man? The fate of Tim Drake still comes up a lot (especially in these last few years, duh) in Batman . . . but, yeah, Gwen Stacy was a watershed moment for all comics, not just Spider Man.

It'd be a totally different story if Dick Grayson had been murdered.

Cindy Bean said...

This is one of those things that I wish I had gotten into. I don't care that it's geeky. I feel like it's too late for me. Is there a place I should start?

Tannertrue said...

I got my friend into comics just by introducing him to characters that are already established (the big names like Spiderman, Batman, Superman, X-Men.) but there is a particularly good storyline that is out in trade paperback form. He read it, enjoyed it and due to the serialized nature of comic books he wanted to see how a certain story thread turned out. So, it left him wanting more. Thus, he keeps buying comic books to follow the story. Because once storyline is resolved another story had been started underneath it.

Its a tangled web.

Anonymous said...

I grew up on Batman, but I learned about the Marvel universe by reading those collectible cards they put out. My friends gave them to me when I was a kid and I learned about all the history without having to buy tons of back issues or listen to endless lectures from the more comic-savvy.

I have to agree, Jason Todd's death just wasn't as momentous as Gwen Stacey's; people WANTED Jason Todd to die. They voted for it. Everyone hated him. Gwen Stacey's death was a real shock, as "tannerama" mentioned. Heck, it shocked me when I found out 20 years after the fact. Sure the second Robin's death impacted Batman, but all it did was compound his already existing grief.

The Ozymandias bit was a good choice, even if I felt "Watchmen" was a bit too pretentious; and the Magneto/Wolverine bit happened right before I stopped reading Marvel comics (shame they didn't mention the grief-stricken Colossus switching sides) so I remember it well. The Barbara Gordon storyline as well was traumatic.

Side of Jeffrey said...

Another amazing one that didn't make the list is when that blasted villain Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown when he is about to kick it. It blew my comic loving socks off!!! We're talking Sunday comics here, right?

Brigham said...

I'm going to put that comment in the "Best Comments Ever" box.

Side of Jeffrey said...

yessssssssssss.....