I was supposed to have comics from October by yesterday, but UPS and the Post Office have combined to foul that up somehow or the other. So, let's ad-lib to a question.
When it comes to fiction, be it comics, prose, TV, movies, video games, anything with a story, how often is your favorite character the main character?
I was thinking about this because I noticed that with a lot of animes I watch, I like the supporting cast more. A lot of times, it's the best friend of the main character who ends up being my favorite.
That could be because I watched a lot of shonen animes, and it gets tedious seeing the main character be the only one who ever gets the big victory, frequently due to some ridiculous asspull of a sudden massive increase in their strength.
But the same thing happens for me with American shows, although it's more related to whether the main character acts horribly a lot and doesn't get called to account on it. House would be a prime example. A little bit of Hugh Laurie treating everyone around him like morons goes a long way. I probably shouldn't want everyone to punch your main character all the time. If they actually do get punched, that might be OK, but it never happens often enough to suit me.
One area I'd say where the main character typically is my favorite is superhero comics. Then I wondered how many of the characters I like best would really be considered main characters. Nightcrawler is my favorite X-Man, but is he the main character when he's only showing up in Uncanny X-Men, a team book? Is there even a main character in a ensemble book, or does everybody take turns getting the spotlight?
It's tricky, because given enough time, Marvel and DC will give almost any character their own book, where they can be the lead. That doesn't necessarily mean they reach that level in the larger fictional universe. Nightcrawler's had a couple of ongoing series, though neither lasted past 12 issues. The Ray had his own book for 28 issues at DC. But outside those settings they're much more likely to be part of the background than one of the heroes front and center. Taking that approach, I'm not sure how many of my favorites would really are leads.
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3 comments:
It is tough to be a Guy Gardner fan that's sure, because all you wver aee is Hal !@$#%Jordan! it is even harder to find Kilowog. Or Ralph and Sue Dibny. Or Fandral.
I just like B-level characters more I guess.
Yeah, and on the rare occasions you get to see them, you have to hope the writer doesn't do some horribly off-character approach to them. And if they do, then you REALLY have to hope that no other writers decide it was a good idea and use it as their blueprint going forward.
Oh God, you are so right.
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