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10 |
Luther Arkwright |
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| Luther is a member of a group of people that are dedicated to protecting the multiverse from attack and destruction. He has the rare ability to shift to different dimensions through force of will, and also has a variety of other powerful psychic abilities.
The character originally appeared in a number of different small press comics including "Near Myths" a kind of forerunner to the 80s comic book Warrior. The series had publication problems for many years but was eventually picked up by Dark Horse comics. Highly influential on Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, CoIE et al. |
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9 |
Tim Kelly |
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| Square-jawed 1960s hero who discovered a magic gem in an ancient temple that makes him invulnerable to harm whilst also increasing his strength and speed.
You'd think with invulnerability as a power he'd be invincible, well... unfortunately he's a bit naive and butter-fingered so he tends to lose his magic gem quite regularly! |
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8 |
Robot Archie |
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| Brash and arrogant British robot who was a mainstay of Fleetway comics for 20 years. He traveled the world (and sometimes even time) with two useless companions that he would regularly have to bail out of trouble who would incessantly argue like an old couple.
He's a likeable old character, has some super-strength, durability etc. Like The Steel Claw, every now and then Archie still manages to make the odd appearance. |
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7 |
The Steel Claw |
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| A secret agent with a prosthetic steel claw that makes him invisible and can fire out electrical blasts (using it this way runs the power down faster though).
The Steel Claw dealt with a lot of evil scientists, spies, and super-villains over the years and was even made into a costume-wearing superhero for a short time before being brought back in the early 70s closer to his original concept. Long after his initial run The Steel Claw has had cameos in Grant Morrison's Zenith, and 2005's Albion miniseries. Analogues of him have appeared in Captain Britain stories by Alan Moore, and more recently in Jack Staff comics now published by Image. |
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6 |
Psylocke |
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| I know what you're thinking, Psylocke is Marvel, Right? well she made her debut in 1976 in Captain Britain comic, a publication from the London-based Imprint "Marvel UK", and was not actually seen in American comics until 1986 when she debuted there in a New Mutants Annual. The character was created by England-born Chris Claremont.
Psylocke started out as a supporting character in Captain Britain (she's his Blonde twin sister). Alan Moore later fleshed her out and introduced the now iconic Purple hair, she then had a brief stint as Captain Britain herself before being brought over to X-Men by Claremont in the 80s. |
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5 |
Sláine |
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| Popular Celtic warrior-king from historic Northern Ireland.
Slaine is an experienced axe-wielding anti-hero who fights off invading armies, Demons, and other supernatural foes attacking his kingdom. He can go through a transformation known as a "warp-spasm" which turns him into a huge, monstrous figure of unbridled violence. The plot is like a subversive mixture of Conan and Lovecraft |
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4 |
Captain Britain |
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| Another Marvel UK character, Captain Britain is a magic-based hero who was bestowed the powers and status of Champion of Britain by Marvel's version of Merlyn the Magician after being gravely injured.
The character had an unsure start and went through some revisions over the years, but when Brits Alan Moore and Alan Davis arrived he really started to take shape and find his own voice and style. The "Crooked World" story arc written by Alan Moore definitely has to be one of the best and most underrated superhero stories of its era. |
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3 |
V |
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| The character of V originally appeared in the UK anthology comic Warrior as a creator-owned project (along with Alan Moore's Marvelman). When Warrior was cancelled V for Vendetta was colourised and reprinted in the United States by Vertigo.
V is an anarchist working to bring down a totalitarian government in Britain, the lone survivor of a sequence of cruel experiments. The only character here who has his own movie (so far?). |
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2 |
Marvelman |
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| Marvelman (often known as "Miracleman") was originally a long-lived and popular British copy of Captain Marvel who came about when the company who held the licence to reprint Captain Marvel's adventures in the UK ran out of reprint material and had to go it alone.
Alan Moore rebooted and re-imagined Marvelman during the 80s with a deconstructionist take on the character exploring "man as god" themes, this run was highly influential on US superhero comics. Moore's Marvelman became darker and more sci-fi flavoured than his counterpart, being re-written as an experiment by the British Military to create a super-soldier using alien tech found at a UFO crash site. |
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1 |
Johnny Alpha |
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| Writer John "Judge Dredd" Wagner's other long-lived character. Johnny Kreelman was the Wiltshire-born mutant son of a Genocidal mutant-hating politician, he was treated as a embarrassment and Burden by his father throughout his childhood. Changing his name to "Alpha" he left to become one of the leaders of the mutant resistance.
Johnny's mutation allows him to see through objects and read minds. I've placed him above more famous characters mainly because he's had a much larger and more diverse body of work over the years. He managed to place 27th in Empire's "Top 50 Greatest Comic Characters" list. |
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