Can you name the 50 greatest comic book characters (according to empireonline.com)?

Rank	Character	First Appearance
1		Action Comics #1
2		Detective Comics #27
3		Saga of the Swamp Thing #37
4		Hulk #181
5		Amazing Fantasy #15
6		The Sandman Vol. 1, #1
7		2000 AD Prog 2
8		Batman #1
9		X-Men #1
10		Fantastic Four #1
11		Preacher #1
12		Transmetropolitan #1
13		Maus #1
14		Incredible Hulk #1
15		The Sandman Vol 2, #8
16		Watchmen #1
17		Tales of Suspense #39
18		2000 Ad Prog 376
19		Amazing Spider-Man #129
20		All-Star Comics #8
21		Captain America Comics #1
22		Comico Primer Comic Book Anth.
23		Asterix The Gaul
24		Powers #1
25		Fantastic Four #5

Rank	Character	First Appearance
26		Sin City: The Hard Goodbye
27		Starlord #1
28		New England Comics Newsletter #14
29		House of Secrets #92
30		Uncanny X-Men #129
31		Albedo Anthropomorphics Vol 1, Iss. 2
32		Action Comics #23
33		Amazing Spider-Man #299
34		Strange Tales #110
35		San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2
36		Silencer Night - Vertigo Summer Special
37		Daredevil #1
38		Cerebus #1
39		The Dan Dare...
40		Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
41		Showcase #22
42		Preacher #1
43		Ambassador Atom
44		Stormwatch #37
45		The New Mutants #98
46		The Amazing Spider-Man #1
47		Stormwatch Vol 2, #4
48		American Splendor #1
49		The Crab with the Golden Claws
50		Spawn #1

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50 Greatest Comic Characters Quiz

by Ben

Created Sep 11, 2009 in Literature
Featured Sep 11, 2009
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	Onno:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:15 GMT		17 points
	Oh, who was I kidding. I read way too few comics when I was a kid.

	Lepio:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:17 GMT		1 point
	Does Fritz the Cat not qualify as comic book? Is that why he's not on here?

	godzilla:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:21 GMT		21 points
	SPOON!!!!!

	rockgolf:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:22 GMT		1 point
	The first appearance of #39 looks incomplete. Sources vary, but the best I can find lists the full title as "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, #30".

	stl100:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:22 GMT		15 points
	"Apollo and the Midnighter" is essentially impossible to get unless you know the list already - perhaps you could accept one or the other?

	twist:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:28 GMT		4 points
	I LOVE this quiz. I also LOVE that Sandman made it to the list! Underrated in my opinion.

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	Morbo:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:41 GMT		2 points
	I typed in the last name for No. 11 and didn't get it. Glitch? Or do you have to type the full name for everyone. That's one of several that should accept just a last name (No. 46, No. 32, No. 3 are the others).

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	GeordieGordie:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:48 GMT		2 points
	How did I miss Hellboy?

	JohnTheRev:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:53 GMT		1 point
	That pic of #30 on empireonline... nice

	dtownstomp:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:56 GMT		0 points
	This quiz is too nerd-centric

	twist:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:57 GMT		1 point
	I disagree that they are all superheros. Sandman etal are not superheros, and I'm pretty sure the punisher isn't a superhero, same with marv, constantine is not a superhero. There's only so much room on one list, why not start with the most popular, lets hope there is a second one and more variety of characters.

	Leeny:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 17:58 GMT		9 points
	Come on guys, it says some of these in the name of the comic! I'm disappointed in the number of people that have missed Cerebus and Scott Pilgrim. You gotta beef up your sporcle quiz taking skills!

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	bmo1616:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 18:00 GMT		2 points
	And to think all these superheroes are now controlled by a mouse haha.

	yes:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 18:09 GMT		2 points
	Someday you guys ought do the IGN top comics villains of all time list. DO IT FOR ME SPORCLE!

	kevino3670:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 18:17 GMT		-2 points
	The one for #36, Agent Graves, is wrong. It was Vertigo Winter Special, and his first appearance was not here, it was in 100 Bullets #1.

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	fm_:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 18:20 GMT		5 points
	Agree on Apollo and Midnighter being too strict. I don't know why I guessed "Apollo and Midnighter" after failing when trying each individually, but it should give you both when you enter one of them.

	cottb128:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 18:32 GMT		9 points
	If there was a Sporcle list of the Top 10 "You SERIOUSLY Didn't Get That?" Answers, the 2.7% of people not getting Superman would clearly be on there.

	micah:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 18:40 GMT		2 points
	This quiz really needs a better way of dealing with people whose name is in the title. Just replacing the name with [character name] is probably too confusing; maybe if you included the writer/artist as well?

	rockhopperlad:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 19:07 GMT		4 points
	I got 22, but I've read DC Comics almost exclusively from childhood. I know some of Marvel's more important characters (mainly through other media), but most of the indies were lost on me. How Wonder Woman is only #20 and how Flash (any version) and Captain Marvel (Shazam) are not on the list and J. Jonah Jameson is astounding.

	Tommy_C:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 19:10 GMT		4 points
	So Obelix made the list, but Asterix didn't? The smart short guy gets beaten by the big fat slob? Where is our culture going?

	jcg9779:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 19:15 GMT		1 point
	wow...i've only heard of 9 of these characters...i just never read comics as a kid! i had to go by movies from comic books!

	ChimpZealot:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 19:22 GMT		1 point
	I remember seeing this list before and thought it was really odd. But any "best whatever" list with Jenny Sparks and Apollo/Midnighter on it is awesomeness.

	grapefruitking:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 19:23 GMT		1 point
	13 ... yeah, I really don't know much about comics. I did get Haddock, though!

	pat19:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 19:51 GMT		-2 points
	...Mermaid Man? the Blue Rajah? what kind of list is this?

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	rockgolf:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 20:15 GMT		3 points
	The reason a lot of non-superheros mentioned above aren't on the list is two-fold. 1) Wizard magazine has to maintain credibility with its readers. 2) Objectively, a lot of them just don't have much (or in some cases any) personality. You could take a Little Lulu script, change a few pronouns and reuse it as an Archie script. Nothing one says would be out of character for the other to say. Similarly, you could recycle a Captain Marvel plot using The Flash. At least you could in the Golden Age. The character in this list, you can't do that. Superman, Wolverine, Spider-man and John Constantine would all treat the same crisis radically differently, and even a casual reader would be able to tell when any of them were acting "out of character" were somebody fool enough to try to crib from another hero's speeches.

	iceman1731:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 20:15 GMT		5 points
	Could have used more time...and a better list, no green goblin? Seriously?

	Ireland:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 20:18 GMT		3 points
	How many people tryed Radioactive Man?

	johnnyd:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 20:34 GMT		5 points
	great that obelix made the list,not all superheros have to be american,in this case the superhero should be asterix

	Deadpool:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 20:37 GMT		16 points
	Glad to see I made the list. ;)

	oohindu:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 20:51 GMT		7 points
	WTF? No Tintin?

	katesutton:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 20:53 GMT		1 point
	So sad. The one comic I actually own, and I tried everything I could think of except the little maus' first AND last name together.

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	Jono_:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 21:29 GMT		2 points
	cool quiz bro. Also, missed the obvious iron man and emma frost! Shame! :(

	bean:	Sep 11th, 2009 at 21:40 GMT		2 points
	heh, I was so concentrated on the heroes I almost forgot to guess the bad guys.