Don't you mean Lex's boyfriend? Honestly, shrift, one would think you'd never heard the term "cocksickle"!

It depends on which incarnation of Superman we're talking about! Sometimes he's Lex's boyfriend, sometimes Batman's. Occasionally he belongs to Lois or Nightwing!

Miracleman, I guess I haven't been exposed to enough Captain Marvel, so can you expound upon why he makes your list? (I'm not challenging his inclusion; I just don't know enough about him.)

Because he's awesome.

Okay, that's the overly simplistic answer.

Part of it is his history...back in the day, Fawcett Comics jumped on the "Yea, super-dudes in tights!" bandwagon and C.C. Beck and Bill Parker came up with Captain Marvel "The World's Mightiest Mortal." He was fun...he was all superpowered and could fly and stuff like that AND there was humor and whimsy in his stories. He was so fun in fact that he rapidly outsold DC Comics Numero Uno, the Man of Steel Hisself.

So, natch, DC tossed a big ol' lawsuit Fawcett's way alleging copyright infringement. Massive legal battle, blah blah and Fawcett was forced to go under.

So, right there, you got the guy who kicked holy hell out of ol' Supes just by existing. And that's fun.

He's a great kids' power fantasy. Batman...a rich adult who became what he is because his folks were killed. Not a blast for a kid to contemplate. Superman...a super-powered alien from another planet.

Captain Marvel was a kid who became a superhero by saying a magic word...but, at heart, he was a kid. And then he got his friend and his sister in on the act. How awesome would that be? Being a kid and getting your pals together to turn super and kick some evil scientist ass!

There's the whole (largely bullshit) mythology connections. The Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, the Stamina of Atlas, the Power of Zeus, the Courage (read: Invulnerability) of Achilles, the Speed of Mercury...the ultimate synthesis of mythic and legendary heroic archetypes.

There's the lightning! Captain Marvel made lightning cool! Lightning is usually a scary thing that can kill you and black out your house. NOW it can give you superpowers! (Yes, as a kid I would run outside during lightning storms shouting "SHAZAM!" and hoping. Stupid, I know, but statistically less likely to kill you than tying a red towel around your neck and tossing yourself off a house hoping you will fly.)

And he was just...friendly. Batman was grim, Superman was stern...Captain Marvel was always smiling! He always seemed to be having such a BLAST just bein' a superhero! Which, I tell you, is something I really dug.

I mean, don't you think you'd have FUN flying around and doing superheroic stuff? I sure as hell would. I'd probably end up being not as effective as Supes just because I'd be stopping in the middle of an alien invasion to say shit like "Isn't this fucking GREAT?! DUDE! This is so frickin' AWESOME! Hey, when we're done with this, let's go find Lex Luthor and egg his house from SPACE! Huh? Wouldn't that be the BOMB? Watch me knock this mothership into the sun...no, watch, this is gonna be hella cool!"

Hell, that's a large part of Spidey's appeal...he's funny! He's having fun! And so is Captain Marvel, even if he's not generally as witty as ol' Webhead.

So I have great fondness in my heart for the Big Red Cheese.

Yep, Black Summer a bit more on the epic ultra-violence while Sellouts was more cosmic, I think...

Haven't read Black Summer, but Sellouts...dude, Supershock burned down the Vatican and laid waste to the Gaza Strip.

Pretty ultra-violent.

(Not, you know...Miracleman #15 Johnny Bates personally wastes half of London one person at a time ultra-violent, but...)

Captain America? Having fun? I never got that vibe off him. He's a little wonderbread for me.

When listing parodic heroes, don't forget Lobo.

My awesomest heroes include Storm (although I've gone off her since the OOC Black Panther thing), Martha Washington, Wolverine, Longshot (there's a man who didn't know how to not have fun), Batman, and Batgirl (the Cassandra Cain pre-evil incarnation).

Baloon animal anatomy

From here (flash site, so can't link directly. Click on 'digi-art'): [link] I also love the Gummi-bear conception one....

avengers

yup. hi Gud!

OK, best parodic superhero/supervillian?

Nixon's head in a Mark Fiore cartoon from just before Bush was re-elected.

Captain America? Having fun? I never got that vibe off him. He's a little wonderbread for me.

No, Captain America doesn't have fun.

Captain Marvel does.

Also, Captain Marvel has, so far, not been assassinated.

Captain America doesn't have fun.

I have no idea how I managed to read just the last Captain reference in your post as America, and the rest as Marvel.

I guess that means I should go home for a nap, right?

I was delighted to learn that taking the vegetables I'd used to make veggie broth and pureeing them with cream and water makes a very bright and tasty soup. And by bright I mean pointedly unsalted. Very nice indeed.

I have no idea how I managed to read just the last Captain reference in your post as America, and the rest as Marvel.

Eh. It happens. Too many "Captain" heroes.

What we need is more heroes with different ranks.

Sure, you got your Sergeant Rock and Sergeant Steel and Major Force...we need to explore the lower rank structures.

Ensign Awesome. Private First Class Power Dude. Midshipman Maximum. Chief Petty Officer Omnipotent. Things like that.

Rear Admiral Submariner.