Neat; that's my lucky number.

Mercenary | September 03, 11:24 CET

It amazes me the number of X-Men in that top 50 list.

Numfar PTB | September 03, 11:48 CET

I'm just pleased to see Zenith on the list, it's my favourite ever superhero story.

Simon | September 03, 12:00 CET

Is it just me or are there at least two of these 'greatest-' lists a week. All of them variants of the same theme [vampire/hero/baddie/favourite/big bad/sexiest]. Yay for Whedony exposure but I think it's a bit played out and smacks of lazy writers trying to get traffic from fandoms. Bit of a lazy rant, yes, but i'm fighting apathy here.

eth3er | September 03, 12:52 CET

There's not that much news over the summer and lists like these give us something to talk about. Once Dollhouse kicks in, they'll diminish in importance..

Simon | September 03, 13:29 CET

Why is the top of the page dated Thursday January 01, 2009 ?

Kane | September 03, 14:12 CET

Beast's description is kind of a peculiarity. There are four sentences, the last three start with the word "but".

Pretty_Hate_Machine | September 03, 14:29 CET

Why is the top of the page dated Thursday January 01, 2009 ?

International time difference ?

Yay Buffy, 13 is one of my very favourite prime numbers under 20 with a 1 in. Not my absolute favourite obviously but it's near the top. Ish.

And yeah, these articles pretty much write themselves which makes them cheap page hits (they're similar to those clip-based talking heads TV shows like "I Love the Middle 3 months of 1987" or "Greatest Ever Car Chases ... in A Pre-2005 Hybrid Car"). Not an insane list as these things go even if the Top 10 are pretty much the usual suspects (and Buffy's definitely a superhero - secret identity isn't a hard and fast rule and anyway, she more or less had one for the first 2+ seasons). Plus, any list with The Tick right next to John Constantine has to get extra points for weirdly random quirkiness.

Saje | September 03, 14:34 CET

We did a list like this of top comic book movies at a convention. It was just a show of hands by people in the room, but the list made the rounds all over the internet.

We were apparently controversial for picking Tim Burton's Batman over Batman Begins.

People do love these lists.

redeem147 | September 03, 15:25 CET

People just love the X-Men. Of all the mainstream superhero teams, their members seem to have the most diverse backstories, which lends to their popularity.

And there are just as many JLA members as there are X-Men. Nice to see that team books are most popular for both companies.

[ edited by CrazyKidBen on 2009-09-03 17:49 ]

CrazyKidBen | September 03, 17:43 CET

Great to see our girl coming in at #13! :D

Jossfan_21 | September 03, 18:06 CET

The Top 10 are pretty predictable. Hulk (simply because I can't see him appearing NOWHERE on the list, not because he'd make MY top 10), Wolverine, Superman, Batman, Iron Man, and Spider Man. I'm drawing a blank on the rest of the Top 10, but it seems like Mr. Fantastic might be there, although he's pretty old to be that high on the list.

jclemens | September 04, 00:02 CET

Secret Identity thing: er - I'm no huge comics follower, but does Hellboy actually have one?

kalia | September 04, 01:05 CET

Hellboy is more just a secret rather than having a secret identity.

Saje | September 04, 12:14 CET

So the magic I've-put-on-eyeglasses-you-can't-recognize-me bit doesn't work for big red horned guys? Huh. ;)

I thought it was odd they were all "Buffy has no secret identity, but I *guessss* we'll let you off this one time . . .", and then right down the page was Hellboy. Surely Vampire Slayer was as secret as Big Red Thing/guy.

kalia | September 04, 23:24 CET