Thursday, November 8, 2012

Top 10 Anthropomorphic Characters In Comics


1. Usagi Yojimbo


If you've ever read Usagi Yojimbo, you know he's the real deal. Modeled after the legendary Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, Usagi is perhaps best known for guest starrin in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He's also has his own on going series (second only to Dave Sims' Cerebus in most issues by a single creator, although Stan Sakai doesn't have  a Gerhard to help him) since 1988. His epic series has seen him face off against corrupt merchants, ghosts, ghouls, other ronin, warlords, demons, and many more. If you don't think  Usagi is the #1 Anthropomorphic character in comics, you need to commit harakiri.

2. Sonic The Hedgehog


To the best of my knowledge, Sonic has the longest running comic series of ANY video game character, which is quite a feat. Especially for an Archie comic. Sonic's staying power boils down to his way past cool demeanor, great supporting cast, and overall cool concepts that goes WAY beyond what you see in the games. There's a reason this is the most successful video game adaption, the creators, over the years, have fleshed out the Sonic mythology to great detail, and crafted some sophisticated and complex tales. ( no pun intended)  They've even had several spin offs, including Knuckles, that badass muthafuckin' Echidna. Sonic deserves his #2 spot.


3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Yeah, most of you are probably wondering, "why aren't they number 1?" Besides the fact that the Turtles conquered the world, when they were largely meant to just be a parody of Daredevil and X-Men, and ended up being the BIGGEST THING IN THE UNIVERSE until they were dethroned by Power Rangers and Pokemon. The Turtles were great. The original comics by Eastman and Laird were creative, funny, and unique. The Archie series was really fun. The subsequent reboots and rehashes were okay, but they couldn't recapture that original magic. The Turtles had some good movies, a great cartoon show, and a shit ton of toys to their credit. If you haven't heard of TMNT, you fucking suck.

4. Howard The Duck

Howard The Duck was a weird, mildly successful joke character that caught on with the public briefly, spawning a cringe worthy live action movie, and basically became a cult hero. Howard has had some decent runs, mostly his original run, and made some pretty cool appearances in "Secret Invasion":
(tucked under Stature's boob)
Hey, he did help quell the skrull invasion. That alone gives him a nice spot on this list.

5. Cerebus the Aardvark


Cerebus was originally a Conan The Barbarian parody that somehow turned into some crazy metaphysical commentary on religion, politics, women, and basically whatever Dave Sim was feeling strongly about at the time. There's some good stuff in his (long) run which currently holds the record for most issues done by a single guy (or something) at 300 issues. It is notable for sparking the "indie" spirit and some people claiming Dave Sim is a demigod of independent comics. IMHO, it's just O.K.

6. Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham

It's a fucking pig version of Spider-Man. Peter PORKER. COME ON!!!!! Just pure, unfiltered brilliance right here. Bacon x Webs= license to print money.

7. Darkwing Duck


LET'S GET DANGEROUS. Darkwing Duck is a badass in any form. Television, print, radio, whateves. His comic series from Boom! is no different. Besides being a really fun Batman parody, Darkwing Duck really has some decent stories behind it. Pretty cool villains and a really good parody of "traditional" superhero comics. Definitely one of the most badass motherduckers of all time.

8. Conservation Corps

The Conservation Corps were way ahead of their time. They were "green" before green was cool. Riding the wave of eco-conservatism popular in the late 80's/early 90's, The Conservation Corps were do gooders in the vein of Captain Planet. They guest starred in the Ninja Turtles Archie series before falling into obscurity. Someone please do a reboot.

9. Mighty Mutanimals


The Mighty Mutanimals was a TMNT spinoff done by Archie comics, starring some dudes that were originally villans. (Leatherhead and Ray Fillet) They largely toiled in obscurity after tangling/teamin up with the Turtles a couple times. Still, some cool characters there. #reboot.

10. Knuckles The Echidna

Knuckles is badass enough to get his own spot in the top 10. There are a lot of great characters stemming from Sonic The Hedgehog, but Knuckles is just such a stone cold badass that he gets the number 10 spot. He's that cool. He had the dopest kicks.That goes a long way on this list.

Honorable Mention

Bucky O'Hare


Biker Mice From Mars


Street Sharks






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