If comics have some of the greatest characters in the world (and they do), it was only a matter of time before fans demanded to see how these characters felt about and acted around one another. Thus was born the team book.
From the Justice Society to Young Justice and every team in between, the keys are being able to find chemistry between characters, inner conflicts, and challenges big enough to require an assemblage of heroes. The old Silver Age style of writing Justice League of America, with every character having the same personality and just looking different, doesn’t cut it any more. The bar has been raised higher and higher for team books over the years; the most popular books on the market feature varied and dynamic groups of characters coming together for amazing adventures. Here’s who we at 411 thought were the best of the best in 2003.
As always, thanks to ComiX-Fan for use of the top ten format they originated.
#10: The Losers
The CIA tried to kill them. But they’re alive. And they’re pissed. These hardcore soldiers execute ultra-dangerous operations with force and flair. They bring out everything cool about the action genre, with their tough-as-nails attitudes and risk-taking adventures. The Losers bring the high-octane energy that superhero comics seem to have lost nowadays. And, since you know you want to see what they’re all about, you’ve got the chance this Wednesday: you can pick up a complete steal of a trade, collecting six issues for ten bucks. Comics shouldn’t be allowed to be this cool.
By Kevin Rapp,411 reviewer
#9: The Outsiders (Nightwing, Arsenal, Jade, “Metamorpho,†Grace, Thunder & Indigo)
2003 was a controversial year for DC, particularly with regards to its “next” generation(s) of super-heroes. The Titans and Young Justice teams ceased to be as a result of the unspectacular Graduation Day mini-series. Writer Judd Winick delivered a schizophrenic outing with flashes of strong characterization and moments of weak plot. However, from the ashes of this mini-series a new Outsiders team emerged with a sister title the Teen Titans in tow.
This new Outsiders team mixed old and new. Nightwing and Arsenal of Titans fame were core members as was 1980’s Outsiders stalwart Metamorpho (seemingly) and Black Lightning’s daughter Thunder. A double tough Grace and the android Indigo rounded out the crew. This team’s first misadventures were refreshingly different. These heroes weren’t necessarily happy go-lucky. Being an Outsider became a vocation, a serious job. Judd Winick overcame his schitzophrenic writing tendecies and settled into a groove that brought out the best in this eclectic band of misfits.
In comics’ a good team is measured its adversaries. With heavy-weights like Lex Luthor, the Joker, Grodd, and Brother Blood tangling with the Outsiders, this team has had instant “cred” with readers and others in DC’s super-hero community. Also, there choices have real consequences. Foiling Brother Blood and saving lives meant choosing that over stopping a jail break. Tough choices. No win-win scenario. How refreshingly different.
Also, the realism of the Outsiders, Arsenal living with the scars of battle and recuperating slowly, has made this book’s characters, this team, interesting. The Outsiders is a top industry “team” because its unique and refreshingly real, well as real as brightly garbed spandex clad misfits can be. You just never know what will happen next.
By John Babos, writer & editor of Near Mint Memories, 411 reviewer
#8: The Avengers (Captain America, The Wasp, Yellowjacket, Iron Man, Hawkeye, The Scarlet Witch, The Black Panther, The Vision, The Falcon, She-Hulk, Warbird, Jack of Hearts & Ant-Man II)
Geoff Johns’ year-plus run on Avengers received mixed reviews at best, but it was not without it’s high points, most of which came from the interactions between teammates and second tier characters being elevated through poignant focus-driven stories.
After over a year during the end of Kurt Busiek’s run of no set core team of Avengers during the Kang war, in which just about every former member was called in to help, Johns laid down a set roster mixing veterans, fan-favorites, under-utilized characters and newcomers. Guest Avengers like Thor, Namor and The Hulk were used sparingly, maximizing their dramatic impact but not detracting from the principle players.
Though the conflicts between Iron Man & Black Panther and Ant-Man & Jack of Hearts seemed at times overplayed, both arrived at satisfying conclusions and all four characters grew as a result. While some people may have been frustrated with the relationship between The Scarlet Witch and The Vision having what seems like it’s thousandth false start in the past fifteen years, more progress was made in the Hank Pym-Janet Van Dyne saga than has been since the 80s, with Johns daring to touch upon subjects writers have avoided for years and once playing Mr. Fix-It (as he has for much of DC’s continuity issues), making the renewed romance not seem quite so implausible.
Captain America was portrayed as the cornerstone of heroism that he’s meant to be even as his direction wavered in his own series. The Falcon, Ant-Man and Jack of Hearts became legitimate and interesting; though Jack ultimately met his demise, in doing so he went out a more respected character than he had been since his conception. Hawkeye came in late in the game as the final missing piece of the puzzle and the team felt like a family again.
Johns may be gone, but hopefully his lineup will stick around awhile longer.
By Ben Morse, writer of The Watchtower, co-Editor-In-Chief of 411Comics
#7: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Human Torch, The Invisible Woman & The Thing)
To discuss why Fantastic Four makes our top ten teams of the year, we need mention not just the events in the book, but those behind the scenes as well. The story is familiar to almost all fans by name, but a quick recap goes a little something like this: Waid and Wieringo were asked to leave the book even as fans were declaring them the best FF creators in quite sometime. In their place was to be playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Steve McNiven. The outrage was loud and instantaneous. Marvel realized their mistake, reinstated Waid and Wieringo without them missing a beat and gave Aguirre-Sacasa and McNiven their own Fantastic Four book under the Marvel Knights banner. Fandom rejoiced, mostly. There were a few that said things like, “Too little, too late,†but, well, there always will be those types, won’t there?
Thankfully, the drama in the book was more than equal to the drama outside it. The year began with the FF still in the midst of their struggle against living math equation Modulus whose love for Reed led it to attempt to remove the “extraneous numbers†from the equation. In other words, all the other people around Reed. Waid served up a climax that was unexpected and perfectly in line with Reed’s egghead leanings, almost always a better weapon than his ability to stretch.
The second plot brought what looked to be one of the weaker subplots to the forefront, with Johnny proving that his sister’s hope that placing him in charge of the family’s accounts would teach him to be responsible. This arc also included a hilarious recall of the Johnny/Ben prank wars of old.
Then Doom took the stage. Proving that he is not as warm and fuzzy and basically decent as he had been portrayed as of late, Doctor Vic begins his latest attempt to best the Four by sacrifices his childhood love to demons to gain mystical powers. For the next four issues he trounced and tortured Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben. Victory is all, but assured, but Doom’s characteristic arrogance gets the best of him once more. Hoping to cruelly crush Reed, he issues him a challenge: learn magic and defeat him. Reed, embracing humility and his own shortcomings does just that, saving his family and sending Doctor Doom to hell. However, in a fitting end, Doom scars Reed’s face, repaying the crime (as he sees it) that Reed committed against him in college which sent him down the path to super powered dictator.
The grieving Richardses, Reed and Franklin, are counseled by Johnny and Sue and Ben respectively. For Franklin this means coming to accept that his parents cannot protect him from everything and that the world is a scary place. For Reed, this means a time traveling chance to kill Doom. He decides against it, but takes the family to Latveria, an unexpected consequence of Johnny’s big plan.
In the last three months of the year, with Howard Porter handling art duties, a secretive Reed takes over Latveria and attempts to extinguish all traces of Doom from the country. The rest of the family is disconcerted by the “new†Reed, but only Ben speaks up and is summarily shut out. The last image of the year, perhaps one of the most powerful, is Reed, perhaps finally losing his genius to insanity, attacking Johnny and Ben with Doombots while terrified members of the Underground look on.
By returning the Fantastic Four to their roots as Marvel’s First Family and Premiere Adventurers, Waid recaptured the spirit that many fans of the book first fell in love with. However, the real success of it lay in not being afraid to push the spirit of the old in different directions and shaking the status quo.
The Fantastic Four should be Marvel’s “first family,†and over the last year, the showed exactly why they deserve that honor. Thanks to Waid and Ringo, the FF have managed to earn its position as “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.†‘Unthinkable’ was arguably Marvel’s best story arc of last year, and the follow-up stories have been equally terrific. Last year, we saw the Fantastic Four at their best and at their worst, and it’s made for some terrific comic stories.
By Tim Stevens, writer of DC Comics News & Views & Mike Maillaro,411 reviewer
#6: Negation (Obregon Kaine, Evinlea, Mercer Drake, Shassa, Westin, Lizard Lady, Corrin, Gammid, Matua, Calyx, Monchito, Iress, Zaida, Memi, Captain Fluxxor)
Ah, the Negation team. Truly a group thrown together by necessity. As the year went on, they seemed to be getting closer and closer to each other as they took on QZTR, Charon, and all of Charon’s lackeys. They even got a new team member in Gammid, who seemed to help hold them together. They lost a few along the way, such as Matua, who fell defeating a Lawbringer. Overall, though, things seemed to be going pretty well. They might not trust Kaine as much as they used to, but everybody seemed to like Gammid.
And that’s when things went wrong. Towards the end of the year, their former member Javi showed up with the Negation sigil bearers, and attacked. After an epic battle, two people didn’t make it out alive, and the team blamed Kaine for the death of their friend. As the year ended, the Negation team split into two, as most of them abandoned Kaine to go find a planet they could grow old and die on, leaving only Zaida and the Lizard Lady to help Kaine. Still, that’s not as bad as Evinlea’s abandoning them to join Charon. Will the two teams rejoin? Time will tell, but if they do, they’ll undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with in the battle against Charon.
By Kyle Litke, writer of CrossGen News & Views, 411 reviewer
#5: Superman/Batman
Some may question if two heroes can really be considered a proper team. But when the two heroes in question are The World’s Finest…well, can there really be any questioning? Batman and Superman are the perfect balance; two heroes with different abilities, different motives and different approaches but an understanding of their differences so deep that theirs is a near symbiotic relationship. This was no more clearly defined than in Superman/Batman #3 where, as they are surrounded by an army of super-villain mercenaries and mentally-controlled superheroes…
Batman: I think we can take them. Do you think we can take them?
Superman: You always think we can take them.
Batman: Yes I do.
Not since Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid has a “hopeless†last stand involving two friends been written so well nor shown how two people can be a perfect team.
By Matt Morrison, writer of Looking To The Stars, 411 reviewer
#4: The Superbuddies/Formerly Known As The Justice League (Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Elongated Man, Fire, Mary Marvel, Maxwell Lord, L-Ron & Sue Dibny)
SUPER BUDDIES ROLL CALL!! United by their common links of chronic lameness and struggling to recapture their past non-glory, Formerly Known As The Justice League, they are:
CAPTAIN ATOM! The fallout-not-so-free living nuclear reactor, spending his free hours leaking off radiation to friends and family. Favorite TV show: ‘Murder She Wrote’, on account of the foxy lead
MARY MARVEL! Honorary resident of Superhero Happy Happy Cheery Land, Mary Marvel has the cunning wit of the Easter Bunny and the foul-temperedness of Rudolph the reign deer. She is a girl scout after all. Favorite TV Show: ‘Little House on the Prairie’
BLUE BEETLE and BOOSTER GOLD: A recovering cardiopath superhero-with-a-beer-belly and a male gigolo sci-fi escapee from the future, they’re the 3-in-2 Stooges of the spandex set. Favorite TV Show: ‘I Dream Of Genie’
FIRE! Loudmouth spicy green-haired hussy with her own subscribers-only nudie pics dot-com. Favorite TV Show: ‘Sex & the City’
ELONGATED MAN with WIFE SUSAN: The latter only being a member through a clerical error, the former being a four. And even considering the flexible boy parts (wink wink, you know what I’m referring to, you sneaky bastards! You do, right?) Favorite TV Show: ‘Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries’
L-RON: The wet-dream of man a world conquerors, this sardonic shiny metal cyber-wonder only has eyes (has he? Eyes?) for Maxwell Lord. Favorite TV Show: ‘Knight Rider,’ L-Ron digs ladies with a big caboose
Together they are the ridicule of their neighborhood, the shame o the Justice League, and ultimately, the funniest read of any millennium.
By Manolis Vamvounis, writer of
#3: The Legion (Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Apparition, Triad, Chameleon, Invisible Kid, XS, Braniac 5, Leviathin II, Zoe, Gates, Star Boy, Superboy, Ultra Boy, M’Onel, Ferro, Sensor, Umbra, Kid Quantum, Karate Kid, Wildfire, Shikari, Gear, Timber Wolf & Dreamer)
The Legion has always been one of the most frustrating titles for new readers. The sheer size of the cast and the intense history of the book always feels like such a turn off. Under Abnett and Lanning (DnA), Legion has continued to grow and evolve. With stories like Foundations and Dream Crime, Legion is just about as good as it has ever been.
Never has the writing team of DnA seemed overwhelmed by the amount of characters charged to them, they simply expand the universe in which they are telling their stories (or heck, create a second one) and make the stories that much more epic so that a team of nearly thirty members doesn’t feel like overkill. If you’re looking for old school super hero adventure stories that hearken back to the Silver Age without being cheesy, tales with that hint of fun, humor and fantasy, The Legion is your book.
As always, the book’s greatest strength lies in the adolescent fantasy that these really are just a bunch of teenagers having the time of their lives doing the coolest job in the galaxy from their awesome clubhouse with no adult supervision (unless you count R.J. Brande, and, c’mon, he’s a kid at heart).
Just like if you stuck two dozen teenagers in a space station, gave them all super powers and costumes and waited to see what happens, not all the members of the Legion get along and some get along a bit too well. Though the Apparition-Ultra Boy-Timber Wolf-Saturn Girl “love†square seemed to alternate between getting too much page space or too little in the eyes of the readers, nobody can deny it was a fun little yarn that took a realistic look at some of the perils at marrying young when your hormones are still racing and also gave readers a chance to meet T-Wolf as a kick-ass new character. The unexpected Cosmic Boy-Kid Quantum relationship worked if only because the spontaneous nature made it feel more real; don’t you remember when you were 18 (if you have been yet) and fell in love with a girl you’ve known for years but suddenly started to se in a new light.
The solid friendships between Braniac 5 & Invisible Kid as well as Karate Kid & Ferro served as a nice reminder that it’s not all angst and drama aboard Legion World. Sensor’s harsh reaction to her physical transformation at the hands of Ra’s al Ghul and an unexpected semi-bond with Shikari of all people made the much-hated “Snake†a far more interesting character. And of course two curve balls by the names of Superboy and Live Wire served to shake things to their very ‘Foundations’ as the year drew to a close; maybe the book already had enough going on that it didn’t need these new additions, but that’s not the Legion way: there’s always room for more.
Oh, and we can’t forget about the ahem star-crossed lovers, Star Boy and Dreamer…
The Legion: It’s like watching ‘The Real World’…in the future…in space…with super powers.
By Mike Maillaro,411 reviewer & Ben Morse, writer of The Watchtower, co-Editor-In-Chief of 411Comics
#2: The Teen Titans (Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, Kid Flash, Robin, Superboy & Wonder Girl)
“Teen Titans? Man, that may have been huge back in the day, but it’s come and gone. Every try at bringing it back has failed. It will never work.â€
“Nobody wants to read about Cyborg and Starfire anymore, they’re so 80s.â€
“Superboy & Impulse? From Young Justice? Sure, they’re good for comic relief, but not much else.â€
Does anybody defy the odds quite like 411‘s Best Writer of 2003 Geoff Johns?
Along with artist Mike McKone, doing the most beautiful detailed work of his career, Johns brought the dormant Teen Titans franchise back to the fore of the comic book industry. Fans who grew up in the 80s reading Marv Wolfman & George Perez’s New Teen Titans, the series many (including this writer) have called the greatest of all time, were reintroduced to their old favorites Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy (the former Changeling) in a new role: as mentors to former Young Justice brats and new incarnations of some of their former teammates Robin, Wonder Girl, Superboy & Impulse.
The last few shots at reviving the magic of NTT have failed because the characters have grown up and grow apart; the old series was a success because the core six characters (Robin/Nightwing, Wonder Girl/Troia, Cyborg, Starfire, Changeling & Raven) felt like a true friends who held onto each other so tightly because they had no real family of their own. Characters who came and went like Kid Flash, Speedy, Terra, Kole and Jericho became part of that family as well and all became better characters for it. As the series waned, the core characters drifted apart and the concept became altered to everything from zany group of misfits with nowhere to turn to government strike force. The last revitalization attempt, Titans, flopped principally because it felt like what it was: a bunch of twenty-somethings trying to recapture their glory days and failing spectacularly.
By making the bold move of infusing the new blood of the Young Justice kids and finding a way to use the fact that Cyborg & co. have aged as an advantage rather than a hindrance, Johns saved a franchise and created a hit.
The unlikely but powerful friendship between Robin & Superboy, Impulse’s struggle with his own insecurity and his transformation into the new Kid Flash, Superboy & Wonder Girl’s awkward romance (that dangled for years as a joke in Young Justice but now feels as serious and compelling as any ‘will they or won’t they’ romantic subplot I’ve ever seen on any television show): these interactions between the four younger Titans is very real and something any teen reader can relate to, any older reader can remember, or any younger reader can look forward to (because let’s face it: Teen Titans makes being a teenager look pretty cool). Meanwhile, while the older three Titans have been somewhat underutilized as of so far, we’re beginning to see them settle into their new roles and in some cases find comfort in them (Beast Boy), in others find unfamiliarity (Starfire); regardless, these are more miracle Johns resurrections of characters considered “dead†by many.
With Raven set to join the mix, the continuing presence of Deathstroke in the cast as a wildcard (not to mention Jericho), plus a supporting cast of old favorites from past Titans series and YJ, this book only figures to get better.
And as one who still misses Young Justice very much, Teen Titans does a lot to ease the pain.
By Ben Morse, writer of The Watchtower, co-Editor-In-Chief of 411Comics
#1: The JSA (Hawkman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat, Power Girl, Atom Smasher, Dr. Fate, Hawkgirl, Sand, Stargirl, Dr. Mid-Nite, Mr. Terrific, Jakeem Thunder, Captain Marvel & Hourman)
If, as we have always been told, the JSA is DC’s multi-generational family, then they spent the past year proving that they are just like your family (yes, yours). Very, very dysfunctional.
Things got started a la time travel (once again, just like your family) in JSA #42 when the two Terrifics met and briefly spared on their way to saving the planet from Epoch. In issues 43 and 44, Hawkgirl, Mr. Terrific, and Captain Marvel meet the man who would be Black Adam in Ancient Egypt and find that he was once a great man and champion.
Things really started to resemble a family reunion gone awry when Doctor Fate’s obsessive desire to revitalize his face led to Mordru being freed from his mystical prison and the discovery that the woman Fate thought was his wife was in fact the second Dove. Mordru’s new found freedom directly led into the events of the Princes of Darkness arc.
Obsidian, Alan Scott’s son, completed his years long drift towards villainy by teaming up with two newly freed baddies, the aforementioned Mordru and Eclipso, to wreak havoc on the Earth and kill his father (see, not a healthy family environment at all). Mere moments before their appearance, Kobra had managed to manipulate his trial to his advantage and had escaped. This escape would lead into the second big family crack up for the JSA, to be discussed later. For the next several issues, the JSA and its reservists would lock horns with the trio, resulting in the (temporary) death of Alan, the Star Spangled Kid learning that underneath it all Captain Marvel is really her age and maybe just a little bit cute, and the first hints that Doctor Fate may not be as in control of himself as he thinks and Nabu may not be such a nice guy.
In the end, the JSA proves triumphant. Obsidian is stripped of his darkness powers and his sanity returns, Mordru is imprisoned in the Rock of Ages, and the JSA’s museum curator, Alexander Montez (who is also related to the slain Wildcat from Infinity Inc.) wrests the power of Eclipso for himself and plans to use it for good through the power of several tribal tatoos.
With hardly any time to breath, the descendant of superhero granddaddy the Crimson Avenger arrives and tries to off Wildcat and succeeds in knocking off a few more of his nine lives. Over the next few issues, Ma Hunkle, she of cooking pot helmet, was returned to the mix as the new curator and the JLA stopped by for a meal.
Meanwhile, in the shadows, that second big spurt of dysfunction begins to take shape. Black Adam is marshalling a brutal force, including former JSAer Atom Smasher, (who left the team in shame after retroactively forcing Extant to take Smasher’s mother’s place on the plane crash that took her life), former Infinity Inc. hero Brainwave, Nemesis, Hawkman look alike and friend Northwind, and the new Eclipso.
This was also a year that saw Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon entering the comic fray with a Mr. Terrific back up story for the JSA: All-Stars miniseries that found them facing off against the nearly forgotten Wizard and their own self-doubts.
The JSA were the first super team. They inspired the JLA, who in turn provided the template for the Avengers. The JSA had a challenging year, but they ended on a good note; spending time together. No other group is composed of the legends of the past, today’s brightest stars and those destined for greatness. Therefore no team will have the legacy of the JSA.
Families are great and all, but you need some good old fashioned domestic strife for real tasty drama. With all this in-fighting and family break-ups, JSA would have already commanded our attention. Throw in some work by a Pulitzer Prize winning author though, and no one is going to touch the JSA. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why they are #1 and Power Pack just doesn’t make the list.
By Tim Stevens, writer of DC Comics News & Views & Mathan Erhardt, writer of Who’s Who In The DCU
