Not Superman and Not Batman

I agree with all that has been said about Ben Grimm. I guess he would be the poster child for somewhat popular character without a crucial story.

I mean, is there a run of comics that one could point out as the defining story arc for the character? Many heroes have multiple ones, but I can't think of a single run for Mr. Grimm.

Shellhead, thanks for reminding me of those poker games! That was my fallback when I ran some TSR Marvel rpg adventures back in the day. Almost anytime a player would ask "Where's Spider-man/Thor/Iron-Man/Etc to handle this?" The default answer..."Guess, they got invited to Ben's poker game...and you suckers didn't..."

Neither Batman nor Superman are or have ever been my favorite Super.

My favorite has always been Rom: Spaceknight, tied with The Punisher. Edge to Punisher, but too close to call.

My second "list" is as follows, because after the above two, they are simply King of the Losers.

Flash (Wally West)
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
Antibody (DP7 Randy O'Brien)

ROM the Space Knight is coming back this year! I'm stoked for it. IDW is doing the book and I like quite a bit of what they're putting out. Their TMNT, Transformers and D&D comics right now are better than any lisenced book has a right to be.

Mr. White wrote: I agree with all that has been said about Ben Grimm. I guess he would be the poster child for somewhat popular character without a crucial story.

I mean, is there a run of comics that one could point out as the defining story arc for the character? Many heroes have multiple ones, but I can't think of a single run for Mr. Grimm.

Shellhead, thanks for reminding me of those poker games! That was my fallback when I ran some TSR Marvel rpg adventures back in the day. Almost anytime a player would ask "Where's Spider-man/Thor/Iron-Man/Etc to handle this?" The default answer..."Guess, they got invited to Ben's poker game...and you suckers didn't..."

I don't think that there was ever a definitive run of comics that serve as a defining story arc for Ben Grimm, unless maybe it was in his dour solo title from the late '80s, which I skipped after a few downbeat issues. But as a member of a small team, he frequently got the spotlight in Fantastic Four, and the glory days of that book began with the long Lee/Kirby run and ended with the Byrne run, interrupted at times by less quality runs within those 25 years.

Personally, my favorite Grimm tales were:

1. The Project Pegasus storyline from Marvel Two-in-One #53-58
2. Marvel Fanfare #15
3. The 8-issue solo title written by Dan Slott
4. Various individual issues from the first 25 years of Fantastic Four.
5. The Hellboy comics. Okay, technically not Ben Grimm, but it's clear that Hellboy was inspired by Ben Grimm.

Mr. White wrote: I'm not sure if it's still Richard Rider wearing the bucket though.

In the newest one by Jeph Loeb (reboot) it's a kid whose dad was in the Nova Corps but is now a drunk janitor, disappears, and now the teenage son inherits the legacy (thanks to a couple of the Guardians of the Galaxy for guidance).

I suspect that Disney (Marvel's parent company these days) balked at the original Nova, because his name could be interpreted as Dick Rider.

I would LOVE a Fantastic Four movie set in the 60s, that's where that book excels.

One of my best friends is writing the Doctor Strange movie, and I drunkenly pitched him my idea for that if Marvel ever got the rights.

Reed Richards is trying to beat NASA and RASA at sending humans into space, but he runs out of funding until he's forced to deal with his college rival Victor von Doom. They go up, get their powers, but their trip is covered up by the US government due to the potential embarrassment of getting shown up by kids right out of college. They have their adventures, beating up the Mole Man or something, but then Reed's experiments send them to another dimension, where they're stuck. Flash forward 50+ years, they're all but forgotten. The top floor of the Baxter Building is still rented to a blind trust funded by the Latverian government.

Some big cosmic event tears a hole in the space-time continuum, and the FF emerge, not having aged at all. They've also rescued Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp who was lost in the flashback sequence in Ant-Man. Wacky modern fish-out-of-water hijinx ensue, with Reed creating amazing giant Kirbyesque machines to do things that modern tech has done for years at much smaller sizes. They're fish out of water, and the only way they can remain sane and relevant is to continue adventures in the Negative Zone, all leading up to a confrontation with Doctor Doom.

Whoo!

But my favorite 2nd-string hero is Starman (Jack Knight). His dad was the original Starman, he always thought super heroics were stupid, so when his dad retired, his brother David took over. Same red suit with green flowing cape, all that. David is hanging out atop a building downtown where he is felled by an assassin's bullet. It's the son and daughter of his dad's arch-enemy, The Mist. Jack has to become a reluctant superhero, using a prototype of the Cosmic Rod that dad and David had used. It doesn't work as well, he's trying to figure it all out, he dresses pretty much the way he's always dressed -- as kind of a punk/rockabilly hybrid. He still owns his retro junk shop, he helps the cops when they need it, but he just kind of wants to be left alone.

Why the hell is Batman carrying a gun?

Because the Punisher never has his enemies released/escacped from psychiatric hospitals to cause more havok. Why? Because a .45 R.I.P. round to the frontal lobe excels at ending criminal careers.