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.
***THIS POST WAS SPONSORED BY THE SHORT-AND-QUIRKY POSTERS FAN CLUB***
Replies
"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?
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next