Best Character Ever 19: Snake-Eyes

The Sideshow collectibles figure is on my Amazon Wishlist should anyone
have $200 burning a hole in their pocket. 

You can’t get much cooler than Snake-Eyes.

I mean, think about it. He doesn’t talk. He’s nearly invincible and you can almost never take him by surprise. He’s a master of stealth and a master of both hand to hand combat and the use of the Uzi, a.k.a. the coolest submachine gun ever created by man.

And he looked completely different than the rest of the G.I. Joe line.

And he got a pet wolf too!

The fact that he was hard to find made him that much cooler to my brother and I. Eventually we got a hold of him, about the time we first learned that he could shrug off radiation like it was nothing.

He would go on to be a featured player in several multi-part G.I. Joe episodes, but the show never really gave him the respect I thought he deserved, instead focusing too much time on Duke and Scarlett, and later Flint and Lady Jaye. Thankfully, the comic would not do the same.

Still can't believe my
mom bought this cover
for young Nick. 

But it was the first issue of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic that I bought that really cemented my love for Snake-Eyes. The look into the intricate and mysterious origins of Snake-Eyes inside had me hooked (though the appearance by Scrap-Iron and Firefly, my two favorite Cobras didn’t hurt). More importantly, it got my older brother to start buying every issue.

From then on, we were both fans of the coolest ninja ever, especially when he embarked on a quest to save his fallen brother Storm Shadow. The two would settle their differences and become strong friends, a recurring theme through many years and variations of G.I. Joe stories (right up to the second stronger film G.I. Joe: Retaliation.)

His origin, told through a few different short run stories on the title, was filled with pathos. His family was killed by a drunk driver while he was away on a mission that ultimately left him horribly disfigured. He would find inner peace with the Arashikage ninja clan, but would never rest until he found his family’s killer. (A man that ultimately turned out to be Cobra Commander.)

My brother and I would go on to buy every Snake-Eyes figure to come out from the original line of figures, six different toys in all, sometimes more than one.

I am sure much of my fondness for the character comes from the age I was at. I was a child of the 80s, in love forever with the ninja, and to me Snake-Eyes was a ninja but better. He was an American ninja and not just some schmuck from a weak action film. (Sorry, Michael Dudikoff.)

Snake-Eyes would eventually pretty much take over the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero title for much of its later run, going so far as getting top billing during the Andrew Wildman era.

As a mainstay of the Joe team ever since, through dozens of new incarnations Snake-Eyes has remained. Ninjas are damn cool and they will never get much cooler than the silent warrior with the lost family and the hot redhead girlfriend.

And he will ever be the best damn warrior this or any army will ever see.

Best Character Ever 17: Raphael

Mouse Guard's David Petersen did this amazing cover for the
IDW Raphael one-shot.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hold a special place in my reading history. The toyline debuted right around my ninth birthday, but it was another year before I moved past the triumvirate of G.I. Joe, Transformers and M.A.S.K. to embrace the Turtles. But once I did, I was hooked. Over the next five years, TMNT rose to become the biggest toy line in the world, but I was busy digging deep into its history and in doing so fell in love with Raphael.

Nick's version of the character is a bit more visually
complicated than the previous cartoons.

While most everyone else my age just watched the TV show and bought a few toys, I was already a ravenous comic reader. So when I found out that the TMNT came from one of those weird black and white comics I would sometimes see, my search began. And my local small town bookstore was able to help out. They carried the colored First Comics collections of the first dozen TMNT books.

The first thing that became clear to young me was how cool Raphael was. He was the one that didn’t quite get along with the rest of his brothers. He had his own way of thinking about life and the world around him. While it was initially inspired by Wolverine (check out his monologue in the very first TMNT comic), he quickly developed into an independent thinker thanks to the Raphael micro-series. He also met another fellow that will be the star of a future Best Character Ever.

Sophie Campbell's art for the IDW series was a
true highlight for the characters.

The creators of the live action film clearly caught on to the strength of Raphael as a character. When the Ninja Turtles film hit the market, I was overjoyed to see Raphael take the major starring role, even taking over Leonardo’s role as the guy that took on the Foot Clan single handed. While the movie had some flaws, the story proved to cement Raphael as the best of a line I already loved.

Over the years, I’ve remained a TMNT fan. I bought through the Archie book, the color Mirage series, the black & white Mirage return title, the revived Tales of the TMNT and the 2000-era cartoon, all into Nickelodeon’s purchase of the characters. And throughout all of them, Raphael always remained the strongest character on the team. I continue to enjoy his adventures in the new CGI-animated series and the IDW series where Tom Waltz and Kevin Eastman continue to craft the most compelling Ninja Turtles ever. Meanwhile, they have become box office stars once more with a second theatrical release due to drop this summer.

It’s never too late to fall in love with the TMNT. Go check out the IDW series in trade or digital. You will not be disappointed.

Samurai Jack is coming back!

One thing I hope most people can agree upon is that Samurai Jack was one of the finest pieces of animation to come out of the Cartoon Cartoons era of Cartoon Network. Well, that greatness looks to continue in 2016 as the show will return as part of the Toonami block of Adult Swim. What this means for the content of the new season remains to be seen.


Of course the big questions for long term fans is whether Phil LaMarr will be back to voice the lead as well as who will replace the late Mako as the mighty Aku.

Expect those answers sometime next year.

(Personally I'm just giddy to see Aku back in action. He was long one of my favorite villains in animation. Hopefully we will get a worthy follow up to Mako's voice in the new show.)

Best Character Ever: Iceman

Art by Joe Madureira. Character owned by Marvel.

For a lot of kids the first superhero they fell in love with is Spider-Man or Superman or Batman. Maybe the Hulk. My earliest memory of superheroes probably was Richard Donner’s Superman, but he wasn’t my favorite hero from early childhood.

No, that was Iceman.