Stories that made you like a character - DC version

[rwe1138]

As a companion piece to this thread (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?p=3143045&posted=1#post3143045) I started, I thought I should make a DC version.

Has there ever been a run or story that's gotten you interested in a character or team that you didn't care about previously? And possibly got you interested in other stories that featured him/her/them?

Personally, I never cared about Wonder Woman until Greg Rucka's run.

And I hadn't ever read Birds of Prey until Gail Simone took over writing duties.

[ednorris]

First things that comes to mind is Countdown to Infinite Crisis for Blue Beetle, and then Identity Crisis for Ralph Dibny. There seems to be more from Marvel because its a universe I don't know as much about compared to DC. But I love Dr. Strange: The Oath, Moon Knight and the Immortal Iron Fist. Bendis also made Daredevil my favorite Marvel character.

[cncoyle]

Roy Harper - Meltzer's Justice League of America

I don't "like" him yet, but I have shifted from "complete and utter disdain" to "mildly interested and possibly intrigued".

[Kingdom_Gone]

Guy Gardner under Beau Smith (and Chuck Dixon) specifically in Emerald Fallout.

[tof]

JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice: the JSA. It liked it so much that I started picking DC monthlies after that.

JSA Princes of Darkness: Freedom Fighters especially Phantom Lady.

Batman #330-335 (The Lazarus Affair): Batman. I managed to find a french translation of these issues in a dollar bin and this is my favorite Batman ever. Great work by Marv Wolfman on wrapping all plots started by Len Wein during his run.

DnA's Legion: LOSH

[BanMan]

The Batgirl/Robin crossover, when Penguin moved to Bludhaven - it's why I started being a fan of the character.

Batgirl also made me a fan of Onyx because it was great to see Cass with a mentor who had time for her. I'm still wondering when DC is gonna tell us what happened to Onyx.

War Games made me like Orpheus and curse DC when they gave him such a lame send off.

I loved seeing Steph as Robin and thought it was a great way of shaking things up. Too bad she lasted all of 4 issues.

I hopped onto Firestorm Post-IC and can't wait to see what happens in McDuffie's run.

Formerly Known As the Justice League made me really like all of those JLI/E characters. So I was happy to see Booster make a true turn of character in time for IC, but miffed when he turned back into a gloryhound Post-IC. FKATJL is also why I was a bit miffed with what was happening with Ralph at the beginning of 52. I hope the guy finds happiness somewhere.

Young Justice really got me interested into most if not all of the DC teen scene.

[Clem]

I never liked Dick Grayson much before. He was this know-it-all prick who ass-kissed Batman all day, wearing the gayest outfit in the history of man.

But then i read Chuck Dixon's 70 issue run on "NIGHTWING" and i was an insta-Wingnut.

Now it pains me that i've never read anything starring Nightwing thats matched it (except NW: THE TARGET and NW: YEAR ONE, which was Dixon again anyway)

Somebody needs to convince DC to call Dixon again cos he cant be matched.

[Tirpen]

I never really liked Superman until I read "It's a bird..." and "Superman: Secret Identity"

[Sasori]

Perez's Wonder Woman reboot and Giffin Etc.'s Justice League made me fall for Wonder Woman and Power Girl, my favorite DC characters next to the Batman. Englehart/ Roger's Batman (in reprints) made me love the Joker and Clayface. Robinson/ Goyer/ Johns's JSA (the whole run) made me hooked on my favorite team.

[RoiVampire]

Kevin Smiths Green Lantern, never cared much about ollie until that story

[Michael Hawk]

King Faraday: New Frontier and the story in Cooke's Solo issue.

Vandal Savage: Justice League Hereafter episode

Ralph and Sue Dibney taken seriously: Grand Guignol in Starman (also the story that made me like Ted Knight too)

Joker: Batman: Killing Joke

Black Canary: Simone's Birds of Prey

[GSHAG]

catman: villans united and secret six, i know its kinda a cop out cause he wasnt any good before those, but hey you gotta admit you love him now

jakeem thunder: JSA stealing thunder 32-38, went from a throwaway character to my favorite legacy character, favorite jsa character and one of my favorite dc characters

adam strange: 52, yeah i know people liked planet hiest, but its his eyeless adventures in fiddy deuce that i like about him

[GoatMaster]

Captain Marvel: Underworld Unleashed? The story that introduced Neron. He was never after Superman at all...

Tim Drake-Robin: Teen Titans [current], first arc. I can recount the exact line. "I lie to Batman".

Steel: 52. I was a fan of Eradicator and Superboy back during the Reign, but Cyborg and Steel didn't appeal to me.

Booster Gold: 52. I knew he was a douche, but it wasn't until I realized how much of a douche he could be and yet STILL be a hero that I truly came to appreciate him.

[Clown_Prince]

OK mine are kind of odd.

I hated superman UNTIL Red Son, then I just got the character and went back and read some older superman stories. Currently I love superman all thanks to Red Son.

Also when I was a kid I was all about spider man and no one else, that was until Batman the Animated Series! That cartoon made me fall in love with batman. Now he is my favourite character in comics.

[Zechs]

Cyborg Superman: (Hunter/Prey) seeing a dude who almost conquers Apolkips then almost kills Superman a second time was fun. Plus I loved the new design he got. Dan Jurgens always knew how to draw the perfect Cyborg Superman.

Batgirl (Cassandra Cain): Mark of Cain Pt 2. To avoid her father and Batman from fighting, Cassie pays a visit to Two-Face and grabs him by the throat. Later on when Poppa Cain and Batman are fighting she appears and stops Cain from fighting and he leaves. She then tosses Bats a certian silver dollar who then smirks and says, "Nice." To then we flash to Two-Face cuddled in a corner as Tally Man is screaming to the lackeys around him, "Will someone please find this man a silver dollar!"

Two-Face (Long Halloween): "Two shots to the head. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy." When Two-Face committs his first murder on Carmine Falcone.

Lady Shiva: Batgirl #25.

[Guy Dagui]

When Kevin Smith started his take with Green Arrow #1.
Never cared for him before,been a fan ever since.

[NatePetrelli]

Rebirth - Green Lantern

Quiver,Sounds of Violence,Archer's Quest - Ollie,Roy and Dinah

Red Son,For All Seasons,All Star Super - Superman

Justice - The JLA

[Uchiha_Prodigy]

Rebirth - Green Lantern

Quiver,Sounds of Violence,Archer's Quest - Ollie,Roy and Dinah


Seconded, also Flash - "The Secret of Barry Allen" for Wally.

Both Blue Beetle and Booster Gold - I Cant Believe its not the Justice League

[paulbakerone]

Infinite Crisis: Secret Six

Infinite Crisis: Blue Beetle (The new and old Blue Beetle)

[Moriarty]

We can thank the Timm-verse for my current love of many mainstream DCU characters, but I'll name two for now:

Dr. Fate: STAS' "The Hand of Fate" got me interested in the DCU's premiere sorceror and his membership with the JSA in turn got me hooked on both the previous volume and the current title.

Green Arrow: His prominence JLU sparked my interest and so I looked into the current series. I now currently have all the trades and the monthly title is on my top ten pull list.

[BillReed]

First things that comes to mind is Countdown to Infinite Crisis for Blue Beetle, and then Identity Crisis for Ralph Dibny.

That's a shame, as those stories were awful. The Giffen/DeMatteis JLA and E and I and sometimes Y were the comics that made Ralph Dibny my favorite character.

[Mr_Thorpe]

The Flash defeating a fused Brainiac/Lex Luthor in JLU's "Divided We Fall" episode. That's when I really started getting into DC and started following Geoff Johns' run, then I went back to Waid's run and now Flash is my fav. comic book character.

[Boston Brand]

Wally West- The Flash #1 vol 2
Deadshot and Captain Boomerang- Suicide Squad #2
Bought them both at a 7-11 when I was a very young kid on vacation in Florida.
Mister Miracle, Blue Beetle, Martian Manhunter, Dr. Fate- Justice League
Spider Jerusalem- Transmet
Captain Atom,Animal Man, Metamorpho- Justice League Europe #1
Kate Spencer- Manhunter #1
Cassandra Cain- Batgirl 1-10
Jason Rusch- Firestorm series (still like Ronnie too)

Edit: Forgot Travis Clevenger- from the entire Bloodhound series. This is what got me to read the new Firestorm series.

[darima80]

Countdown: Blue Beetle

Identity Crisis: Ralph and Sue Dibny

Crisis of Conscience (JLA) - Zatanna

GL: Rebirth - Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner

Adam Strange: Planet Heist - Adam Strange

52 - The Question, Animal Man, Starfire, Doc Magnus, Black Adam

JSA - The final arc (pre-OYL) made me finally like Hector Hall and then he was gone

[Mr_Thorpe]

Oh yeah, and Kingdom Come - The Spectre. Made me realize how powerful and badass he is.

[AdamYJ]

Let's see:

Robin: The stuff around the time of Knightfall made me like Robin. Previously, I only knew him as a kid named Dick who wore short pants and said "Holy" all the time. Thank goodness for Tim Drake.

Superboy: It was YJ that turned me around on Superboy. I had previously written him off because he seemed kind of like the "cool kids" who used to pick on me in elementary school and junior high. However, I realized what a good heart he had in YJ, which led me to digging up the Kesel series.

Flash: Geoff Johns' run. Previously, I just didn't "get" the Flash.

JSA: Actually, it was the first two issues of the current series (the only ones that are out so far). I had read some of the previous series and found myself losing interest pretty quick after the issues that I did read. But now they have my attention again.

Vigilante: JLU. I don't like westerns, yet Greg Saunders ended up being one of my favorite characters on that show. I liked his old-fashioned, polite, "spaghetti western" style personality and thought he was pretty gutsy riding into the situations he did with just a six-shooter.

[Mundungus]

For some reason, when I picked up the last arc of Firestorm (the In My Father's House), I immediately fell in love with Firehawk and her history and background and alter ego career. I just think it's a cool concept (kind of like Ex Machina, only she's still a superhero). If I ever become a comic writer, I'd like to tackle her further.

[Metall-x]

Adam Strange--Planet Heist
Hal Jordan-Can't recall..its been so long
Kyle Rayner- GL #53 death of Alex
Batman--can't recall
Hawkman-Hawkman #41--death of Hawkman
Aquaman- Current Busiek run
Robin- Batman #457
Ronnie Raymond and Red Tornado--some random JLA issue from the 80's I no longer remember.

[Clem]

When Kevin Smith started his take with Green Arrow #1. Never cared for him before,been a fan ever since.

Ditto.

I don't think i'd even heard of the guy before Big Kev took a crack. Now i love all things Ollie.

His JLU counterpart was awesome too. He was like their Batman when they were trying to lessen Batman appearences. A suspicious-minded, non-powered, billionaire to keep them all honest.

[herr_s]

pretty much all the main characters in 52, with black adam probably topping that list. i'd buy a black adam/black marvel family series.

the timm justice league cartoons piqued my interest in the question.

planet heist was a great intro to adam strange. didn't think i'd like him based on his costume alone. pleased to be wrong.

[Mundungus]

pretty much all the main characters in 52

Ditto. I love Ralph Dibny now. I've been reading Identity Crisis whenever I go into Barnes and Noble, and I'm almost done but the direction they've set him on is so compelling. I hope he makes it out of 52 alive.

Personally, I was hoping that Ralph became the new Doctor Fate. Only instead, he would have been Detective Fate.

[Starlord]

Identity Crisis and 52 have got me caring about Ralph when I never cared for him before.

Johns' JSA run had me loving Black Adam for the first time.

And Simone made me really appreciate Barbara Gordon and Huntress.

[The Spirit]

catman-villains united

[GCarbone]

Flasg (Wally West), in the Return of Barry Allen (originally published in the Flash)

Two-Face; the Batman annual in which his origin was re-told

Dr Midnite (Cross); when he and the Atom "lobotomise" a villian in Black Reign

Jim Gordon; Batman Year One, issue 1

Batgirl (Gordon); Batgirl Year One

Starman (Jack Knight); Starman #4 (the one where he sells the shirt that in legend can bring people to heaven)

[speedfreak]

Kyle Rayner in Morrison's JLA.

Brilliant characterization made this guy come alive for me and made me really identify with him.

This is what I find so laughable when people try and label Morrison as pretentious and artsy fartsy and overrated and up his own arse and all that junk. With one line of dialogue Morrison injected more realism and humanism into Kyle than other writers could manage in two year runs.

[KoozyK]

flash: geoff johns run
green lantern: geoff johns run
superman: geoff johns run
teen titans: geoff johns run
jsa: geoff johns run
dcu b-listers: dcau (i can't thank bruce timm enough for the best cartoons ever made)
wonder woman: greg rucka's run (hiketia/ww proper)
green arrow: archer's quest

[Dragavon]

Batgirl (Cassandra Cain): Mark of Cain Pt 2. To avoid her father and Batman from fighting, Cassie pays a visit to Two-Face and grabs him by the throat. Later on when Poppa Cain and Batman are fighting she appears and stops Cain from fighting and he leaves. She then tosses Bats a certian silver dollar who then smirks and says, "Nice." To then we flash to Two-Face cuddled in a corner as Tally Man is screaming to the lackeys around him, "Will someone please find this man a silver dollar!"

I never liked Dick Grayson much before. He was this know-it-all prick who ass-kissed Batman all day, wearing the gayest outfit in the history of man.

But then i read Chuck Dixon's 70 issue run on "NIGHTWING" and i was an insta-Wingnut.

Now it pains me that i've never read anything starring Nightwing thats matched it (except NW: THE TARGET and NW: YEAR ONE, which was Dixon again anyway)

Somebody needs to convince DC to call Dixon again cos he cant be matched.

The two above-mentioned situations plus

Flash - Mark Waid's run. Absolutely made me a Wally West fan.

Catman & Deadshot - Villain's United mini

Black Adam - When he joined the JSA. I thought he was so much cooler than Captain Marvel. Actually the JSA made me care about a lot characters: Hourman, Sand, Hawkgirl

[JamesJesse]

I've always liked Flash.

Here are other characters

The story that made me really like Bart Allen (I kinda liked him before but this was the one that made me a huge fan) was the first Teen Titans arc under Geoff Johns.

The story that made me like Black Adam was Geoff Johns' JSA run and 52

The story that made me like Blue Beetle and Booster Gold was JLI's first arc.

The story that made me like the JSA was Geoff Johns' run.

The story that made me like Captain Atom was JLE.

The book that made me like Deadshot and Captain Boomerang was Suicide Squad.

JLU made me a Question fan

[ednorris]

That's a shame, as those stories were awful. The Giffen/DeMatteis JLA and E and I and sometimes Y were the comics that made Ralph Dibny my favorite character.

You know, its not worth fighting about, but the original question was what books do "You" read that got you into a certain character. I started reading monthies and getting more interested in comics about the time Countdown came. I had never heard of Blue Beetle until opening that book, and for a character I had never heard about, it left a lasting impression on me. Same can be said about Ralph in Identity Crisis, bought the HC, didn't know him, but have ever since.

[Mundungus]

Kyle Rayner in Morrison's JLA.

Brilliant characterization made this guy come alive for me and made me really identify with him.

This is what I find so laughable when people try and label Morrison as pretentious and artsy fartsy and overrated and up his own arse and all that junk. With one line of dialogue Morrison injected more realism and humanism into Kyle than other writers could manage in two year runs.

What was the line?

[McPeePants]

Until I read New Frontier, I didn't really understand what made Hal Jordan great. For anybody who doesn't get what makes Hal Jordan heroic, read New Frontier.

Superman was always a character I couldn't get into until I read Secret Identity, Red Son, and Superman For All Seasons.

[Steve Christ]

JLI - Formerly Known as the Justice League
Guy Gardner - Green Lantern Corps
Batwoman - 52
Catman - Villains United
Adam Strange - Planet Heist
Tim Drake - Robin ongoing
Hal Jordan - Green Lantern: Rebirth
Kyle Raynor - The Power of Ion
Lex Lother - Lex Luthor: Man of Steel
Aquaman - Aquaman v4 #15
Dick Grayson as Robin - Robin: Year One

[chap22]

this is hard for me, b/c most DC heroes i really liked from the first time i saw them. and for all the main guys, that was from cartoons. most DC heroes created after i was born i generally liked from their first appearance. i'm pretty much a whore for DC's characters, even if their stories often aren't that great.

but here are some i can think of:

the Earth-2 heroes (JSA, All-Star Squadron): All-Star Squadron 20-26 and Annual 2 -- the Ultra-Humanite/Infinity, Inc. storyline

Martian Manhunter: Legends mini and the last 4 issues of JLA vol. 1 (end of the Detroit era) -- really showed me J'onn's heart, and made him seem a little less alien to me for the first time

Atom -- JLA 213-216 "Into the Microcosmos"

[Mundungus]

Guy Gardner - Green Lantern Corps


I second this.


Recharge made me love Gardner and Rayner. I hoped they could have kept the two together. Great chemistry.

[Floyd Lawton]

Deadshot from The Suicide Squad series
Guy Gardner from Giffens JLA
Two Face from a Matt Wagner arc
uhhhhhhhh....

[speedfreak]

What was the line?

Issue 1 - Trouble hits when Kyle goes to do some routine work with WW on the old satellite. WW says something about how she has full faith in him to do the job and Kyle says, and I'm paraphrasing - 'I can't handle this, man, it's like playing with the Beatles'.

Or later when he uses his ring to create some kind of transformer type robot as he tells the bad guy "I'm your worst nightmare, a manga nut with a power ring."

[LionBalance]

Superman - The Death of Superman, and the following Funeral For a Friend mini-series.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, had more of an effect on me in terms of appreciating a character...as finding out what his friends, family, enemies, and world at large would do without him. A few parts of the series were a little hit-and-miss, but the overall emotional impact of the story was pretty amazing.

It took a character I always viewed as being so over-the-top powerful and godlike that he was almost impossible to identify with, and turned him into someone you could really connect with, through his family and friends' grief and inspiration to live up to his legacy.

Really, really good stuff.

[Evil Twin]

Connor Hawke - Morrison's GA vs. The Key story

Mister Miracle - The Brave and the Bold #138 and an escape that Batman would never be capable of.

The Mad Hatter - His appearance in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

Supergirl: COIE #7

The Spectre: When Starlin had him PWN Superman in DCCP

The Demon: Alan Moore's Monkey King story in Swamp Thing

[BubbaKanoosh]

I was in grade 6, I was a huuuuuuuuuuge Xmen fan. I loved Colosus. So, that summer I went away to band camp (american pie jokes here) and my camp councellor, who just happened to be Ed from the Barenaked Ladies, gave me Dark Knight Returns to read. And I fell in love with Batman from that day forward.

[1603]

Before Identity Crisis I think I only read Teen Titans, and maybe Superman and Batman. The events of the last few years all over DC, like ID C, and Green Lantern Rebirth introduced me to the characters on a much deeper level than I had known them on. Plus, I was getting tired of Marvel and so opted to read more DCs.

[Spade]

Guy Gardner under Beau Smith (and Chuck Dixon) specifically in Emerald Fallout.
Agreed in JLI, the guy made no sense to me. He was a walking joke. In Smith and Dixon's run he really had depth and was heroic.

[merrick2006]

Booster Gold - The OMAC Project

Black Canary, Oracle - Simone's BOP

John Stewart, Hawkgirl, Flash, Green Arrow, Vixen, The Question, Huntress, Supergirl - JLU

Wonder Woman - under Rucka

The Joker - Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

Batman: BTAS

Kyle Rayner - JLA

Cassandra Cain - Batgirl

Ralph Dibney, Renee Montoya, Steel - 52

[HeyImLew]

I didn't take the time to see if anyone mentioned it, but I became a huge Green Arrow fan after reading the DC Universe Alan Moore collection. There was a two-part backup story where some normal guy shot an arrow in Canary, and GA was chasing after him.

There's this scene where the guy shoots an arrow at GA from about 20 yards away and menacingly yells, "Your girlfriend looks like she's hurt pretty bad!"
Next panel down is GA catching the arrow.
Next panel is GA shooting the the same arrow back at the villain and thus breaking his bow (I think).

GA: "Yeah. My girlfriend's hurt pretty bad."

....You can't not like the guy after reading that story!

Also, I gotta admit I thought Green Lantern was cool as hell after reading Infinite Crisis 7 (I think) when Batman's team was assaulting Brother Eye. Green Lantern is right outside fighting the OMACs all at once, and the new Blue Beetle says something like, "That guy is crazy," to which Batman responds, "You have no idea." (I think that's how it went down)

[darima80]

More came to mind:

Supergirl - it was a 2-part story on Showcase right before the PAD launch that made me get the title.

Oracle - Morrison's JLA (think it was issue 18 or 19)

Firestorm/Ronnie Raymond - The story where he meets Jason

[GCarbone]

Huntress - Batman 574: The Joker empties a gun on her while she stands between him and a bunch of babies. Yet she refuses to yield.

[michaelman9]

Kevin Smiths Green Lantern, never cared much about ollie until that story


I'm with Roi.

I didn't get Superboy until Teen Titans

Most of my love for DC Characters comes from the animated series.

[HartyPotter]

The Question: JLU Animated

[rwe1138]

Bump. <space>

[BankyE37]

Powergirl- JSA:Classified 1-4
Mr. Terrific- Checkmate 1-4
Captain Marvel: JSA
Wonder Woman- JLA 5-7
Aquaman- JLA 5-7

[Vespa]

Black Adam in 52

[JMarsh642]

Gail has MADE the DC for me

Oracle- BoP: Of Like Minds

Dinah- BoP: Sensei and Student

Huntress- BoP (obviously) can't remember the issue number, but it was a done in one with her date with Josh as well as becoming a teacher

Catman - Villians United

Ragdoll II- Secret Six

Ted Kord - Countdown to Infinite Crisis :(

Detective Chimp - Day of Vengeance

Wonder Woman- C'mon Gail, I know you make me care about this character!!

Ralph and Sue - Identity Crisis :( :mad:

Mary Marvel - I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League

Guy Gardner - Formerly Known as the Justice League

Superboy - Infinite Crisis #6 :(

Tim Drake - Identity Crisis

Lex Luthor- Lex Luthor: Man of Steel

Bart Allen- Impulse