Episode 1775 Talkback - Top 5 Supporting Characters

Adam_Murdough

The time has come for some of the most salient second bananas in comics to reach the top--Top Five, that is! This episode is our strictly subjective salute to all the friends and relatives, lovers and colleagues, mentors and tormentors, and miscellaneous bit-players that make the stars of our favorite series shine their brightest. Join us in thanking them for their support! (1:56:22)

Listen here.

nweathington

I'm going to have to think about this one a bit longer. There are just too many characters to consider (sidekicks-only would certainly be an easier task), so for now I'll just comment on a few of the crew’s choices.

Love the Warriors Three. Volstagg is, of course, a total ripoff of Shakespeare’s Falstaff, my favorite of Shakespeare’s characters and one of the all-time great supporting characters, but that’s why I love him. The Charles Vess Three Warriors story that ran across three issues of Marvel Fanfare is one of my favorite stories produced by Marvel.

Re: Ben Urich, having worked at a newspaper for 11 years, I've found most reporters are more like Urich than not. It kind of saddens me when @i_am_scifi says he’s a rarity in comics, because he shouldn’t be. And the more I think about it, I'm not sure he is. I mean, there aren't a ton of really prominent reporter characters in comics these days, but throughout comic book history there have been quite a few (especially if you include radio and TV reporters), and I think the large majority of them have been depicted as being Urich-level honorable and trustworthy. They’re just not usually as integral to the hero’s story as Urich so often is.

Dian Belmont is one of my favorite characters in comics, period. But I'm struggling with calling her a supporting character (though I won't argue with anyone who puts her in that category). She definitely starts out as a supporting character, then quickly develops into something more like a sidekick. But by year two of the book I see her as a true co-star—a Nora Charles to Wes’ Thin Man, where you can’t think of one character without including the other. I’d love to put her as my #1 supporting character, but I think I’d rather classify her as a lead character.

A few others I'm considering I didn't hear being mentioned: Phoney Bone, John Constantine in Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Klarion the Witch Boy and Teekl in Kirby’s The Demon, Petey in DeMatteis and MacManus’ Dr. Fate, Cain and Abel in Sandman, Woozy Winks in Plastic Man, Molly O’Reilly in The Books of Magic, and probably a few more I'll come up with as soon as I post this.

ChrisMurrin

I agree it's a hard category. For my list, I'm trying to stick to characters that have never headlined a comic, even a one-shot, and no villains. Kills me that I won't be able to put Eddie March or Rhodey in because of that. Also, part of what makes this hard for me is that I could do five characters from Iron Man alone. Anyway, here are mine.

5. G'Nort - Great comic relief for the Green Lantern books, especially when paired with Guy Gardner

4. Zoe - the little brat from Rachel Rising, who is always good for a horrible comment or a horrific action

3. Jasper Sitwell - For his contributions to both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man. I was sad to see his fate in the MCU

2. Gen - A bounty hunter who crosses paths with Usagi Yojimbo often. Stan Sakai sometimes uses him for comic relief, but sometimes makes him the center of the drama

1. Foggy Nelson - For being so long-standing, and for all the other reasons stated on the show

Alternates
Microchip (Learned he had a 2-part origin miniseries after writing the list)
Captain Stacy
Gateway
Wesley
Deborah Grayson
Jocasta
Mrs. Arbogast
Bethany Cabe
John Garrett
Kitsune
Chizu
Inspector Ishida
Jet
Mike (from Motor Girl)
Dan Turpin
Perry White
Harold Allnut
Ebony (modern day version only)
Monster (from Stray Bullets)

And all the other great choices the hosts put forth.

aquatroy

Ira from Moonshadow.