Hero, Superhero, Antihero, Villain: The Top 10 Most Interesting Comic Book Characters

Comic books are no longer just about men in tights defeating dastardly criminals. Admittedly, the men in tights still do defeat the dastardly criminals, but there's a lot more to comics than that. This list compiles ten of my personal favourite characters in Western (British and American) comics (Japanese manga is too big a field to be tackled in conjunction, and “funny papers” comics like the Beano and the Dandy have also been excluded from the list). I've tried to make this list cover a wide range of titles, universes and publishers, as well as explaining the “world” each character is a part of.

Johnny C a.k.a Nny

Character: Johnny C, known as Nny, is the eponymous star of the quirky alternative comic “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac” by goth supremo and creator of cartoon series “Invader Zim”, Jhonen Vasquez. Johnny is a young man who likes killing people in very nasty ways, particularly if they are rude to him. A lot. He is, quite simply, insane: delusional, paranoid, depressive, he talks to inanimate objects such as a rabbit nailed to the wall and two Styrofoam figures. Oh and he just has to go on killing people to keep his wall covered in blood to stop a monster from another dimension coming through it. Apparently. He deeply dislikes people, physical contact, bodily functions and, on occasion, himself. He also writes and draws a comic called “Happy Noodle Boy” (popular with the homeless insane) which features a stick figure that shouts non-sequiturs at people from a soapbox. “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac” is not, however, just a gory horror book. Aside from being strangely cathartic and extremely funny, the series acts as both a parody of nineties goth subculture and mainstream comics, as well as a curious study of insanity. Unlike the usual comic book killer, Nny has no given origin or background, though some fans have suggested that some form of creative breakdown, turning him from a brilliant artist to a drawer of stick-figures, could be responsible for his condition.

Alternate versions, mass media and pop culture: Aside from cameos in Vasquez's other comics, Johnny appears briefly in the Halloween Special of “Invader Zim”. There have been rumours of a film, but it's not likely. Johnny has become something of a phenomenon in indie comics, a fan favourite, particularly in the counter-culture

Why I like him: I suppose to some extent Nny is on this list as a representative of the comic as a whole, and for indie comics company Slave Labour Graphics, who published the series, which I love. Johnny is a great character in his own right, too, and as we see the world (and Heaven and Hell, but let's not get into that) through his eyes, thus making all his victims seem far worse individuals, it's fair enough to use him as such. Although he's insane he's oddly likeable, and certainly not evil (at one point he “saves” the kid next door from a paedophile), he's just very disturbed.

Jesse Custer

Character: Jesse is the hero of the “Preacher” series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (published by Vertigo, DC's mature reader's imprint), he's a small-town Texan reverend who is attacked by a supernatural force called Genesis, which attaches itself to him giving him the power of the “Word of God” which allows him to order someone to do something and they HAVE to obey (usually indicated by red text in the comics). Sounds ridiculous? That's what I thought before I read the series. “Preacher” is certainly a strange comic: laced with dark humour and strange characters, we follow Jesse, his gunslinging girlfriend Tulip O'Hare and the charismatic Irish vampire Cassidy as they confront Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, a sinister religious organisation called the Grail, the mysterious cowboy Saint of Killers, and even God himself. The “western” theme is partially due to Jesse's obsession with cowboys (his “guardian spirit” or “imaginary friend” is John Wayne), and the dusty deep south settings of many of the stories.

Alternate versions, mass media and pop culture: None as yet, though there are plans to make a tv show of the comics for American network HBO. A film version was in the works for some time, slated to star James Marsden as Jesse and Samuel L Jackson as the Saint of Killers, but the film was never made.

Why I like him: Since “Preacher” is one of those sneaky series that plays with your expectations, Jesse remains as the one figure who remains largely trustworthy throughout. He's neither a bad man nor a particularly good one, he's just an ordinary guy thrust into extraordinary circumstances, not only changing his life but also his views on the universe.