Rebirth of Character Love Meme

[caiusbackup]

Awhile back, cereta, I believe it was, started the character love meme. And it feels like my fandom could use some love currently, so I'm bringing it back.

Give me a character (hopefully a character you know I've at least heard of, and preferably like!). I will give you at least 100 words about why I love that character, and then give *you* a character, so you can tell me why you love *them*. (Unless I owe you from the previous iteration of the meme, in which case you get a freebie.)

Comments

[marag.livejournal.com]

Let's go for the obvious: Hal Jordan :D

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

I love Hal because he was created in the late fifties, and the (broadly speaking) Sputnik era still shows so much in his characterization; but that, at least prior to Geoff's intense outbreak of nostalgia, he's been *out of place* in the world since the 1970s. He tries to adapt, but he's still *old*, and at the same time, he's still the same cocky flyboy he was more than fifty years ago, real-time.

Also, he's great in a team-up. And has some of the worlds slashiest fight scenes. And loves powerful women (go Carol!) even though everyone he dates tends to go a bit nuts.

Now tell me why you love G'nort. *g*

[marag.livejournal.com]

How can you not love G'nort? The ma--er, boy--er, fuzzy thing means well. Always. No matter what. He doesn't have a mean bone in his dear fuzzy body. Plenty of rock bottom stupid ones, but none of them are mean. He really does want to help people and do the right thing and honestly, it's not his fault his entire species is dumber than a bag of hammers. It's not. He's a dear sweet thing, although if he showed up on my doorstep, I'd move to Timbuktu.

I have a couple of the old JL issues with him in them, and they're friggin' hilarious. I can't remember who created G'nort, but I salute them! (Was it Giffen, et al.? I think so, but I'm not sure.)

[poisonivory.livejournal.com]

Ollie!

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

I love Ollie because he's so *honest*, even when he's being inconsistant. Even when he's changed his mind/gone off and done something else within ten seconds. It's why he can't keep a secret identity without *heavy* retcanonical obliviousness; beyond the beard, he's just so very much OLLIE, whether he's Green Arrow or not. He loves his people and his causes with *all* of him, even while he's constantly restless, always going to find new people and places--but he'll always love the people he loves, even after ignoring them for years on end.

Like Hal, he also struggles with being anachronistic; his character, official timeline or not, clearly came of age *before* the social movements of the sixties/seventies, and as fervently as he throws himself into them, there are always parts of them that are *still* the playboy he used to be. This comes out especially in his relationship to women; occasionally he crosses the line from 'gentlemanly' into 'chauvinistic', but he's *trying*, and with Dinah especially, he protects because he loves, so it's usually a loveable flaw rather than a bad one.

I love Ollie because he carries all the hasty, agressive, not-fully realized, charm and bluster of the 1970s.

I think you're the one I owe, so you get your choice.

[poisonivory.livejournal.com]

*has warm fuzzies*

Oh gee. I'm no good at choosing; you pick.

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Snapper Carr?

[poisonivory.livejournal.com]

*fails at replying within a reasonable timeframe*

Snapper! He became a member of the Justice League based solely on his personality. And he didn't, in fact, constantly get himself kidnapped or zap the Leaguers to another dimension or what have you; he actually saved the day quite often. And he did it all while speaking whatever language it is that he speaks, which was really just marvelous.

And then he grew up and became the kind of man who would set up his best friend with his ex-wife because he didn't think he was good enough for either of them, and despite carrying the weight of feeling weighed in the balance and found wanting, he never succumbed to angst the way so many other DC characters do (well, except in that one issue, and that was after being tortured by a demon so he has an excuse). He stayed cheerful and goofy and wonderful throughout.

Also? He has the best t-shirt collection in the history of ever.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Dinah!

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

I love Dinah for the fishnets. Totally the fishnets!

In all seriousness, I have trouble with this one, because historically (as with a lot of female, and indeed male, characters) her characterization has been a bit...variable. However! She's a strong woman who can fight in high heels and fishnet stockings (and when Barry Allen commented, she *rotated his mask around his face*), who deals competantly *and* generally good-naturedly with the irresponsible men around her (and their offspring), and who has *never* become the extention of a male hero. (Even Ollie, as long as she appeared primarily in his book or feature.)

She's also the link between two generations (well, after a few retcons...); the favored child of the JSA become one of the founders of the JLA. She knows *everyone*, and they all know and generally like and respect her.

[odditycollector.livejournal.com]

Mogo!

(er, what. Who doesn't love Mogo?)

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

I love Mogo because he doesn't socialize much. I mean, GLs? Don't actually do all that well in groups, as entertaining as it is when they try. Honesty + fearlessness + strong will != good team player, folks. If all GLs (I'm looking at you, Hal) were as conscious of their gravitational fields as Mogo, the corps would be a lot more functional.

Hell, it probably wouldn't've been destroyed three or four times since the Crisis. Who kept their rings after the big battery blew? That's right, the folks *not* on OA at the time (well, and Hal, but he's Hal)! Including Mogo!

Also, he was invented by Alan Moore. And sent the most unrelenting bounty hunter in the DCU running!

Besides. A planet with a GL ring? JUST PLAIN COOL.

Now do Kara Zor-El.

[mizzmarvel.livejournal.com]

Cap!

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

Popular guy on this meme, apparently!

I love Cap because he is at the same time old enough to be my grandfather and also REALLY REALLY hot. It's a combination that's pretty potent for me; see Hal and Ollie above (althogh neither of them are *quite* that old!). And he, too, is very much an anachronism, and is always struggling with the world being the way it is now, rather than the way it was.

I also love him because, more than the super-soldier stuff, his superpower is to be a *really nice guy*. In a very adorable way, mostly, even (and perhaps especially) when he speechifies. TBC for bats_eye, who asked for Steve Rogers. XD

And hmm. Do Namor!

[mizzmarvel.livejournal.com]

I love Namor because he just does not get humans, doesn't really want to, and is totally unapologetic about it. He's like that fabled old grandfather who refuses to learn English even after leaving the old country decades ago. But at the same time, he has this humungous chip on his shoulder, like he's really got something to prove - that he's Atlantean. He might be half-human, but he's fully Atlantean, and that's where all of his loyalties lie.

Atlantean issues are basically his chief motivation for any action, and he's just a total prick about it, which suits me fine, because I tend to love the snarky bastards. I mean, he's going around, flooding New York, and he still thinks he's better than everyone. Just. What?

He's also one of the most blatently sexual characters around. He runs around in a little green speedo 99% of the time, and looks damn good doing it (if you can ignore his classic flat top and pencil thin eyebrows). I always wanted Sue to stick with Reed so Namor could stay single.

[bats_eye.livejournal.com]

Heh. I thought she meant Billy Batson.

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

Do you want me to do Billy Batson, then? Or should I proceed (belatedly) with Captain America, part two?

[bats_eye.livejournal.com]

Hey, either way. I'm easy.

[violin-road.livejournal.com]

G'NORT.

[marag.livejournal.com]

::eyeroll:: Duh. That's easy. I mean, who doesn't love G'nort?

Well, other than most of the old Justice League. And who can blame them...

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

...you folks never let me hear the end of it, do you?

Anyway. G'nort! He is a DOG with a GREEN LANTERN RING who has a CRUSH on GUY GARDNER. And, although he is congenitally stupid and really profoundly annoying, just occasionally? He gets something right and saves the world (for Guy's favor!). And he got a great line or two in the MR MIRACLE series--he's a DOG with a GREEN LANTERN RING who recognizes the fundamental absurity of Kirby character naming!

Also, as marag mentions, he really does mean well and can't help being stupid. And his tragic love for Guy Gardner is really sweet and heartbreaking, through the OMG EWWWW and the UTTER CRACK.

Also. His archnemesis (and the only criminal he ever caught) is the Scarlet Skier, herald of Mr. Nebula, he who Redecorates Planets. How can you beat THAT?!

[violin-road.livejournal.com]

That's true. Redecorating planets is pretty scary.

Also, that one is easy: I DON'T.

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

Also, woman. Tell me why you love Hawkman.

[calliopes_pen]

Batman

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

This is a hard one, because I don't for myself have a very coherent sense of the character; I've written him a time or two, but mostly I write the Batman that fits the fic, rather than the fic for the Batman.

However! I love Batman because he is so many things to so many people over the years; and because DC comics fandom would probably not exist except for Gotham. I love Batman for accumulating so many interesting personalities around him, for shaping a whole *city* with the force of his will.

But mostly, I love Batman because he makes such an *excellent* straight man (in the comedic sense only!) and because it is so awesome on the rare occasions he does demonstrate a sense of humor.

Now Bruce Wayne, I love because he's such a *wonderful* billionaire playboy, or facsimile of such. We don't see him as much later, but when he can play the role (or is allowed to *live* in the role), he's quite something.

Now do Wonder Woman!

[calliopes_pen]

You have no idea how hard this one is for me. Especially since I don't read her comics. The only real exposure to her that I've had is when she's guest-starred in one of Batman's comics, or appeared in the JLA, or during the Gods of Gotham storyline.

And most of what I know of her alone is from all the research I did for my Bruce/Diana ship_manifesto essay.

On that note, I love Diana because of how strong her character's personality is. That, and the fact that I love mythology makes her an interesting character in my eyes.

[http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/]

Um, Amanda Waller?

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

(A week late, man did I get sidetracked...)

Amanda is one of the few female characters I'm really FANNISHLY in love with. She's just so very very awesome. First of all, she's short and oldish and black and very very SOLID to look at--not at all like a typical comics heroine. And then there's the personality that goes with it--one of the strongest in the DCU, that raised her kids and brought her into power in the DCU government, and which controls uncontrollable supervillains and bureaucrats.

She's ruthless at times, but in the comic especially she's very much *not* evil; she's up front that what she runs is a SUICIDE Squad, and does, in fact, try not to have it live up to its name more than necessary.

I don't think I did her justice, she's *hard*. But wonderful.

Hmm. Brainiac 5?

[http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/]

Oh, how I share your love for Amanda. She's the DCU's most skillful gov type, and that's a "superpower" on itself. Not to mention doing that *besides* having to break pretty much every glass ceiling there can be (she's also quite awesome in the JLU toons minus the idiotic Epilogue; her interaction with Batman, her sheer *guts* and ruthlessness and good intentions, are downright inspiring, even if she does all kinds of nasty things to get it done... I think, in the end, I might work for her with not many more reservations than I'd have working for the JL).


Now, Brainiac 5. The smartest person outside Colu, the "slow kid" of his family. How can he not feel doubly affronted by the idiocy around him? The entire universe must seem like a mockery with the goal of hurt him. Nobody trusts him, nobody does the work right, they keep throwing at him crazy things like sexy precogs, unsolvable misteries and dead crazy precogs, and yet...

He keeps trying. Frustrated, in pain -he's not anemotional, if anything, he's hyperemotional- he tries to do the right thing, where the right thing means "whatever will save us all". Or at least the ones he loves (at least a bit).

For that, he will cheerfully kill, maim, cheat, commit treason, give away his dignity, trust Cos, *whatever*. He loves and cares too much, and even as everything frustrates him, he still goes at it.

He's kind of like House, trying to get people to think, hitting everybody with his cane, saving the day, lying, loving despite himself, hurting at every step. Knowing exactly how much he can do, and how much it's not enough.

He's tragic, heroic, in pain, extraordinary, a crowded loner, a betrayed conspirator, a lover who didn't knew he loved until he lost.

He scares the heck out of me, and I'd want to give him the happy ending he deserves.

This being comics, it's not bloody likely. But I derive a bit of grim satisfaction from the fact that the universe can't keep hurting him forever before he'll lash back, and Brainiac 5 vs the Universe? It's going to be even odds.

[rayshell22.livejournal.com]

Barry Allen

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

I love Barry because he is so *Silver Age*.

He's smart and geeky and fanboyish and innocent. He's very afraid he's too *dull* for the world, which is part of his charm; Iris appreciated him! He loves Iris very very much, and (until Eobard killed her, of course) had one of the best of superhero marriages. Mostly, he was very very straight--except when Hal was in the room, but then, Hal has that effect on everyone. He became the Flash because he admired Jay (well, and because of a freak chemical accident, but he *could* have come up with a different name) and continued to have an extensive comic book collection through adulthood--making him a hero who's one of *us*. He had all *sorts* of weird things happen to him throughout his career, and stayed Barry throughout; until the end, when the Trial of the Flash broke him before he was allowed to go the future with his wife (briefly).

Hmm. Do Jim Corrigan?

[rayshell22.livejournal.com]

The version of Jim Corrigan that I liked the most was the Pre-Crisis one. The guy who went through the same horrific tragedy that the Ostrander version but still came to terms with it and solidered on. I like his close relationship with the JSA and the fact that they helped him to keep his emotion core relatively intact. I liked it that his relationship with Clarice improved in later stories. I also like it that Corrigan was a very sexy Irish Redhead, I'm Irish myself ;).

[bats_eye.livejournal.com]

Steve Rogers

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

Vril Dox

[caiusmajor.livejournal.com]

Oh, Vril. He's a genius! And also, a lot younger than he looks--and horribly, horribly uncivilized. It's a wonder he came out with any empathy for other sentients at all, considering his upringing first in a tube and then as his father's lab assistant. And all the humane teaching he *got* was from a Durlan he kept as a pet--no wonder he tends to regard the world as inferiors.

For all that, though, he's better than both his (evil) father, and his son, who actually is/WAS a hyperintelligent, undercultured baby. He uses his powers for good, so we can, generally, root for him, even as everyone *around* him is driven to dispair--though also, of course, to doing his will.

He also has screwed up sexual tension with all SORTS of exciting people, including Lobo. And how can you not love the character arc of a guy who can say, in a domestic scene, "You should have considered whether you wanted kids before you raped and murdered me"?!