My Five Favorite Comic Book Heroes

Well, I actually get asked this question all the time (when I teach Seniors we do this whole unit on fictional heroes...so it does come up a lot). While most fans to comics go for Wolverine or Batman or the obvious choices, I kinda like the lesser-worshiped heroes.

1. Green Arrow -- Oliver Queen: I like this hero, because he has the whole Batman thing going for him (normal person, no powers) but without all the weird Mommy & Daddy hang ups which always weirded me out. I know its tragic and all, but a healthy person should be able to move on. G.A. is cool because he has this whole liberal, leftist agenda which he doesn't hesitate to share. He is outspoken, rude and happily will yell at heroes and villains who could easily kill him.
2. Nightcrawler -- Kurt Wagner: First off, he's German, which is fun to read (lots of 'V's where you should have 'W's) second of all, he just looks so cool, not human at all, but he isn't all depressed and mopey about it. I'm kind of tired of heroes who whine about how hard it is to be heroes (talking to you Spider-Man).
3. Invincible -- Mark Grayson: Aside from being one of the most beautiful, funny and gory comics out there, he does the whole its-tough-having-a-secret-identity-thing without coming off like a cry-baby (paying attention Spidey?). On top of that, the conversations he has are so well grounded in real sounding dialogue, that its relatable, even if you don't have superpowers.
4. Red Robin -- Tim Drake: The third Robin, all grown up, and ticked off. Yeah, his name sucks (Red Robin is a popular restaurant chain where I grew up), but I've been reading Robin since I was 16, its cool that he's finally grown up, and really angry. For years he's been this icon in the DC Universe for being calm and level headed and handling himself very well for a teen hero. Now that Bruce Wayne is dead, and the new Batman fired him, he's out to kick some major European tail. Awesome.
5. Shadowcat -- Kitty Pryde: Sure, she's probably dead, but when she was still around, she kicked major booty. Aside from the fact that she has probably the coolest and most underutilized powers ever, the fact that she is trained martial artist and a world class computer hacker makes her nerdy enough that teenage comic book reading geeks (like I was in High School) found a heroine that gave us hope for being cool some day. Still waiting...

There you go, judge me if you, but I think this stuff is interesting, and therefore, cool.