What's In a Name?

It occurred to me randomly the other day that most of the all-time greatest comic book people (U.S.-based, anyway) have first names that start with the same letter. I started jotting down some names, and the list kept getting longer and longer, to the point where it became obvious that there couldn't possibly be another letter of the alphabet that has more all-time greats whose name starts with that letter. Your mileage may vary, but I doubt that any of the other 25 letters would have as impressive a roster of Hall of Famers.

Okay, so take a shot at it, and I'll post my own list of the all-time-greats-whose-name-starts-with-the-letter [?] once the guessing slows down.

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  • "S" is a good one. These aren't all A-listers, but that's sometimes a debate. I hope I don't repeat any:

    Superman

    Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)

    Streaky the Super-Cat

    Superboy (Clark Kent)

    Superboy (Jonathan Kent II)

    Superwoman (Lana Lang)

    Super-Man (China)

    Super Chief

    Skrulls, the

    Supreme Intelligence

    Supreme (Image)

    Spartan (Wildstorm)

    Savage Dragon (Image)

    Swamp Thing

    Spider-Man (Peter Parker)

    Spider-Man 2099

    Spider-Man (Miles Morales)

    Spider-Ham

    Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon)

    Spider-Girl (May Parker)

    Spider-Woman I (Jessica Drew)

    Spider-Woman IV (Spider-Gwen)

    Space Ghost

    Sargon the Sorcerer

    She-Hulk

    Spy Smasher

    Spider, The (pulps)

    Solar, Man of the Atom

    Solomon Grundy

    Scorpion 

    Shadow, The

    Spirit, The

    She-Hulk

    Shang-Chi

    Sub-Mariner

    Spectre, The (Jim Corrigan)

    Shade the Changing Man

    S.H.I.E.L.D.

    Sinestro

    Star Sapphire

    Shaggy Man

    Saturn Girl

    Shadow Lass

    Sun Boy

    Star Boy

    Starman I

    Star-Spangled Kid

    Stripesy

    S.T.R.I.P.E.

    Steel (John Henry Irons)

    Steel (Hank Heywood)

    Steel Sterling

    Slam Bradley

    Shield, The

    Sarge Steel

    Sgt. Fury

    Sgt. Rock

    Stargirl

    Skyman

    Star Brand

    Star-Lord 

    Starbolt (Shi'Ar)

    Stardust (herald of Galactus)

    Starfox

    Starhawk 

    Starjammers

    Starro the Conqueror

    Starfire

    Starfinger

    Star Sapphire

    Starr, Karen (Power Girl)

    Son of Vulcan

    Squirrel Girl

    Sandman (Kirby, DC)

    Sandman (Gaiman, DC)

    Sandman (Marvel)

    Sun Girl ('50s Atlas)

    Sabra

    Spiral

    Shatterstar

    Stranger, The

    Storm

    Snowbird

    Selene

    Sabretooth

    Strong Guy

    Stryfe

    Sage 

    Sunfire

    Sunspot

    Sasquatch 

    Shaman

    Satana

    Sauron

    Shi'Ar

    Skeletor

    Shaw, Sebastian

    Shaw, Shinobi

    Scalphunter (DC)

    Scarecrow (DC)

    Scarecrow (Marvel)

    Scarlet Witch

    Swordsman

    Scarlet Centurion

    Sif

    Silk Spectre

    Silent Knight

    Scourge

    Secret Warriors

    Secret Six

    Suicide Squad

    Sentry, The 

    Serpent Society

    Sersi

    Shadow King

    Shadowcat

    Silver Surfer

    Shalla-bal

    Scarlet Spider 

    Silk

    Shanna the She-Devil

    Smasher (Izzy what's her name)

    Shiva

    Shocker 

    Silver Sable

    Silver Samurai

    Sinister Six

    Sister Grimm (Runaways)

    Skaar

    Skrulls

    Slapstick

    Sleepers (robots)

    Sleepwalker

    Siren

    Streak the Wonder Dog

    Solo 

    Songbird

    Sons of the Tiger

    Steel Serpent

    Speed Demon

    Speedball 

    Spencer Smythe

    Sphinx 

    Spitfire

    Squadron Sinister

    Squadron Supreme

    Super-Adaptoid

    Super-Skrull

    Sentinels (robots)

    Sentry #459 (Kree robot)

    Stature

    Stick

    Skurge the Executioner

    Stilt-Man 

    Sue Storm/Richards

    Savage, Vandal

    Stacy, Gwen

    Stone, Victor (Cyborg)

    Storm, Johnny (Human Torch)

    Strange, Stephen

    Strange, Adam

    Saunders, Speed

    Saunders, Kendra

    Stagg, Simon

    St. Coud, Silver

    Salem's Seven

    Stingray

  • That's an awesome list, Captain, but I guess I must have been too ambiguous. I meant real-life comic book creators -- the guys and gals who write, draw or otherwise are involved in the creation of comic books. For comic book *characters* I think I'd probably agree with you that "S" is a pretty clear winner, assuming we change the rules to just be the first letter of the character's name, not his/her actual first name (in other words, Spider-Man and Superman wouldn't really count as a character's first name).

    So I'll restate: There's a letter of the alphabet that, to me anyway, is the first letter in the first name of a lot more famous, Hall of Fame comic book creators than any other.

  • I guess "J."  Starting with Joe and Jerry. 

    Hoy

  • Of course, Jack.  And then Jim and John, of which there are many, maybe not all HoF but many well known creators nonetheless.

  • And the “J”s would of course include Julie.

  • Yep, it's J. Here's the list I came up with, in no particular order, of just the all-time greats:

    Joe Simon

    Jack Kirby

    Joe Shuster

    Jerry Siegel

    Jack Cole

    Jerry Robinson

    Julius Schwartz

    John Romita

    Jack Davis

    Jack Kamen

    Joe Kubert

    Johnny Craig

    John Buscema

    John Severin

    Jim Shooter

    Jim Mooney

    Joe Quesada

    Jenette Kahn

    Joe Orlando

    Jim Starlin

    Jim Steranko

    John Byrne

    Jim Aparo

    Joe Staton

    Jeff Smith

    Jay Lynch

    Jules Feiffer

    Jim Lee

    Other worthies but maybe not quite as luminary as those above include the likes of:

    Jerry Iger

    Jerry Ordway

    John Forte

    John Ostrander

    Jaime Hernandez

    Joe Maneely

    Jack Abel

    Jill Thompson

    Just ponder what EC alone would've been like without their J-Squad!

    I can't imagine there's any other letter of the alphabet with such representation on the list of comic book titans!

  • A couple of others just off the top of my head.  Joe Sinnott.  John Broome. 

    And he deserves some recognition for the sheer number of stories:  Joe Gill.

    Not a huge body of comic book work per se but Jeffrey Catherine Jones (Jeff Jones).  Certainly influential.

    There have to be others.

    Now what letter is second?  Oh, no, I went and asked it (I really don’t have a guess).

  • I had Joe Sinnott on my list, too, but forgot to type him in. But John Broome!!! Aaauuggghhhh! How could I have forgotten him? Oh man, for a Silver Ager like me to forget Broome! Thanks for the save, Dave!

    And yeah, like Jeff Jones, there were a bunch of other J's that I didn't include because they didn't really qualify as all-time-greats, as we loosely define the term. Joe Gill, though, just for his sheer productivity, needs to be on the list, too.

    As for what letter would be in second place? My first guess would be "B," but I haven't really researched it yet.

  • Other Js include Jack Oleck, Jay Gavin (Werner Roth), Jay Scott Pike, Jack Miller, Jim Lawrence, John Warner, Jose Delbo, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, John Wagner, John Ridgway, John Bolton, June Brigman, Jose Ortiz, José Muñoz, Jordi Bernet and Jeff Lemire.

    Newspaper strip Js include Jim Holdaway, John McLusky, Jim Edgar, John Dixon, John Prentice, Jim Raymond, Jimmy Hatlo and Jack Williamson (Beyond Mars).

  • Ok, so with the B's, you'd start off with the obvious biggies like Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Bill Everett, Bob Kanigher, Bernie Krigstein, Bernie Wrightson, Bob Fujitani, Bill Sienkiewicz, and then some not-quite-all-time-greats like Bob McLeod and Bob Layton and Bill Willingham and Bill Mantlo. Hmmmm, maybe B *isn't* the second-most popular initial for Hall of Fame creator first names. But I dunno what would be?

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