GL:M, as with most of Jones' work, is a personal favorite cause of mine, but if you never read Priest's The Ray, especially early on, you don't know what you're missing.

EVERYTHING ELSE that did well:

Young Heroes in Love=50
This deserved to be in the top ten! Ah well.

The Spectre (as in the Ostrander series)=50
No one suggested that anyone but Ostrander should write the Spectre.

Aztek=49
I never saw what anyone saw in this, either, but it's harder for me to find and thus harder to go back and determine if my first impressions were right or wrong.

Blue Beetle=45
Chronos=45
R.E.B.E.L.S. (formerly L.E.G.I.O.N.)=44
Yay R.E.B.E.L.S./L.E.G.I.O.N!

Doom Patrol=44
World's Finest=44
The Question=41
I welcome The Question back in any form, as long as Denny O'Neil writes it.

Captain Atom=40
Extreme Justice=40
Damage=36
Secret Society of Super-Villains=35
Keep watching the skies for this one... the time may be close at hand...

Power of Shazam=34
Mr. Miracle=31
Justice League Europe/International=30
I'd welcome this back, too, as long as it has the humanity and character development of the old JLE.

Green Arrow=29
Showcase=28
The Outsiders=28
Dr. Fate=26
Yay! Another excellent choice!

Ambush Bug=26
I dunno, kids... judging from Vext, that old magic may be gone...

Shade the Changing Man (2nd series)=26
Steel=26
Black Lightning, by Tony Isabella=25
Yay Tony!

EVERYTHING ELSE THAT we can be certain got multiple votes:

The Atom/Power of the Atom=23
Did anyone read Tom Peyer's Atom Special #1 with art by Steve Dillon? Incredible treatment of a character who's been jerked around a lot by some of his writers...

The Creeper=23
Superman's Girlfriend (Wife?): Lois Lane=21
Isn't it pretty sexist to define her by her relationship with a man? Oh well, those were the days of such attitudes.

Guy Gardner=21
Major Bummer=21
Blue Devil=21
Sandman Mystery Theatre=20
Primal Force=18
The Shadow(Helfer version)=18
Batman and The Outsiders=18
Xero=18
Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen=17
Hawk and Dove=16
Animal Man=16
Sandman=15
DC Comics Presents=15
Valor(now called "M'Onel")=15
"Swamp Thing (I haven't heard about any new series)"=14
Sure you did: I told you about it. But I hear they've switched writers on this project before it's even started... maybe rumors of the title's return have been hasty.

Black Canary=14
New Gods=14
All Star Comics=13
Capt. Carrot and the Zoo Crew=13
Now available through Hypertime...

Blood Syndicate=13
Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth=13
Adv. in the DCUniverse=13
The Phantom Stranger=12
Rumors about this project are also heavy these days... be ready for anything

Manhunter (non-Martian)=12
Secret Origins (as a regular monthly title)=12
Batman Family=11

[ALMOST] EVERYTHING ELSE:

El Diablo=10
Yay Gerard Jones!

Firestorm (Ostrander's)=10
Ragman=10
The Metal Men=10
House of Secrets=10
Fate/Book of Fate=10
The Demon (by Alan Moore and Steve Bissette)=10
Starman (Will Payton)=10
The Demon=10
Booster Gold=10
Young All-Stars=9
Checkmate=9
Vigilante=8
Atari Force=9
Challengers of the Unknown=8
Bat Lash=8
Deathstroke=7
Forever People=7
The Demon (by Ennis)=7
Who's Who=6
Okay, Who's Who was never really a monthly ongoing title, but we need an update of this now more than ever. I'll allow it into the poll for that reason, and because it ran for longer than many new titles do nowadays.

Eclipso=6
Static =6
Ah, Milestone. I think Hypertime will wreck continuity and all borders of decorum, but maybe we can get some of Milestone back briefly before everything goes to heck. I still miss Xombi. Do you remember seeing copies of Milestone comics hanging in Will Smith's room at one point on _Fresh Prince of Bel Air_? I'm glad someone noticed Milestone.

THE PITY VOTES:

Black Condor=5
Omega Men=5
The Heckler=5
Firebrand=5
The Fly=5
Superboy & The Ravers=5
Superman Family=4
Justice League Task Force=4
"Teen Titans - Dan Jurgans Version"=4
Darkstars=4
The only DC comic set in Dallas, Texas (when they weren't in space)

Richard Dragon=4
"Strange Adventures (this may not be the right title, but it was the book that had captian comet, adam strange, the atomic knights)"=4
Plastic Man=4
Huntress=4
The Secret Six=4
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt=4
This was an interesting title, actually.

Hardware=4
"The Outsiders: Metamorpho, Deadman, The Creeper, Ragman, and The Floronic Man"=4
Actually, I rather like this idea.

Metamorpho=4
The Warlord (1st series)=3
Hawk, Son of Tomahawk=3
Star Trek (Peter David version)=3
Shadow Cabinet=3
`Mazing Man=2
Icon=2
Brave and the Bold (the team-up version with Batman)=2
Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld=2
Sugar & Spike=2
The Wanderers=2
Superman Family=1
Plop=1
Warlord=1
The Shadow=1
Hot Wheels=1

GOOD COMMENTS from people (even though they disobeyed me and commented on more of their choices than their #1 vote):

From: Mike Ridd
#2 (for 9 points): The Demon. Alan Moore -writing, Steve Bissette-art. Alan Moore transformed this character during his several appearances in Swamp Thing. Plus, for my money, no-one but Moore has been able to master Etrigan's rhyming dialogue. Even Neil Gaiman's attempt in Sandman seemed clumsy.

From: [email protected]
#8 Mosaic
While we're on a GL theme, I think this book would have worked had it been a Vertigo book and not a spinoff of a 4-color superhero. Mosaic was to comics what Blake's 7 was to Sci-Fi TV: far too intelligently written than people could handle at the time. Damn fine book.

CELEBRITY VOTES:

#10 (for 1 points): World's Finest
#9 (for 2 points): Brave and the Bold (the team-up version with Batman)
#8 (for 3 points): Omega Men
#7 (for 4 points): Doom Patrol (but closer in style to Morrison's first year, not the REALLY weird stuff it evolved into)
#6 (for 5 points):Forever People (the most under-utilized of all Kirby 4th World concepts)
#5 (for 6 points): Captain Atom
#4 (for 7 points): Suicide Squad (and if Ostrander can't write it, I'd be more than happy to... ;-) )
#3 (for 8 points): Firestorm (only if Ostrander writes it)
#2 (for 9 points): Ambush Bug (DC should feel secure enough by now to let the Bug [and Giffen] to run rampant again, shouldn't they)
#1 (for 10 points): Ragman -- why: purely SELFISH reasons! A lot of the material that was done in the 80's and early 90's notwithstanding, I always wanted to write this poor-man's (literally) version of Batman! I think he is and always has been a character with tremendous potential as a comic book and even a weekly TV show.
That was fun!
-- FABIAN NICIEZA

From: [email protected] (Tom McCraw)
#10 (for 1 points): WARLORD
#9 (for 2 points): CAPT. CARROT AND THE ZOO CREW
#8 (for 3 points): ADVENTURE COMICS
#7 (for 4 points): POWER OF SHAZAM
#6 (for 5 points): MAJOR BUMMER
#5 (for 6 points): SPECTRE
#4 (for 7 points):BRAVE AND THE BOLD
#3 (for 8 points): ADVENTURES OF THE DC UNIVERSE
#2 (for 9 points): SANDMAN
#1 (for 10 points): SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS

SOME EXCELLENT CONTEST ENTRIES:

From: [email protected]
SUICIDE SQUAD - stories by John Ostrander; art by Howard Porter; Ostrander ushered in the series and made it a classic. He understands the concept and the characters like no one else. Porter has a very wicked, evil style to his villains. He'd be perfect for this series.

From: [email protected] (Jason Cornwell)
The perfect creative team for "Blue Beetle" would have to be Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis on the writing side, with Kevin Maguire on pencils. Why? They have proven themselves on the character. Giffen & DeMatteis have written all my favorite Blue Beetle stories, and I can't see anyone handling him as well as they did. Keep in mind they have to be together for this to work. While both are talented writers on their own, it is only when they're working together that they become the best writing team for this book.
As for Kevin Maguire, he is the best artist out there for conveying emotion using facial expressions. Something which would come in very handy, on a book like Blue Beetle. Plus, his work on the early issues of "Justice League International", were the strongest of that series.
Best Wishes...

From: [email protected]
1. Suicide Squad - Team of: John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell
In my opinion, this was John Ostrander at his very best. By taking a bunch of second-tier and sometimes third tier DC characters and combining them with the novel concept of villians performing government work, he showed how capable and competent the supervillians in the DC universe really were. If only John could have done this for Heroes for Hire over at Marvel.

From: [email protected] (Steve Parker)
OK, dream creative team for my favourite, and why . . . .
Well, it's a bit boring, but I'd have to say that a re-launched "Suicide Squad" would *have* to be given back to John Ostrander to write. No-one else could have written a series that ranged from farcical comedy (the mystery over the ID of the team custard pie thrower) to high drama (a severely outclassed team getting decimated while stuck on Apokolips) and make both equally plausible. At times the whole thing threatened to collapse under the weight of the myriad sub-plots but, just as it approached critical mass, Ostrander would pull off a typically adept feat of legerdemain and it'd all make sense again. As for artwork, I'd go for Steve Dillon as a nice clean 'n' simple style would suit this nicely. Steve gets loads of expressiveness (is that a word?) in the facial expressions too, which is important in something "character driven" like the Squad.
Cheers.

From: [email protected]
From Steel #1 to Steel #33, he was a pretty dull character. Sure, he was every bit as heroic as Supes, and only a man in a suit like Batman, but he was pretty 2-dimensional.
Then enter Christopher Priest, when the title was dying. Steel became interesting. His stories were unpredictable and intriguing. If more people read just one of Priest's Steel, it would still be going today. To encourage more readers to the title, what does DC do? Jack up the price, scaring any readers away from the tiltle and ensuring any fans that dropped the title before Priest arrived to stay away. Then as soon as the title starts picking up speed with Priest's newly injected subplots, DC pulls the plug, with a final issue that tries to tie up all the loose ends of the plot, leaving many still open and us hanging there forever. Sure, he's in JLA now, but I don't see Morrison (although one of my fave writers) patching up the Boris AIDS subplot any time soon. SIGH... Well, maybe with the JLA exposure and the big role in DC's hot ONE MILLION mini-series, DC will call Priest up and revive the series.
Wishful thinking.
I miss Boris and Natasha.

TWO ENTRIES THAT came darn close to winning (please try again next time!):

From: Lauren
I grew up reading the brave and bold and I got to know many characters through it including the silent knight as well as the team ups with batman and oother dc characters. This encouraged me to check out the other characters. I will always remember the Jim Aparo rendered Batman/Mr. Miracle teamup where they have to escape the deathtraps in an egyptian pyramid. Bring this book back and make Jim Aparo draw it again so I can see that trademark squiggly forelock all the men had.

From: [email protected] (Louise Freeman Davis)
#1 (for 10 points): Black Lightning, by Tony Isabella and Eddie Newell, so we can all enjoy a pinata shaped like a Certain Ex-Editor at the launch party.

It's nice to see some female participation... wish we had more!

HONORABLE MENTION:

From: [email protected] (Steven Greenwood)
Firestorm is my all-time favourite Comics Character, I remember scouring through back issue bins for his first series (all 5 issues) after first reading DC Comics Presents #17, co staring Superman and Firestorm against Killer Frost.
The concept was new to me, Two people merging into one hero, Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein, They could transform themselves from an average teenager and a Nuclear scientist into this wild fun loving god with just a thought, and they looked so good in that costume.
Firestorm had such a great rouges gallery what with Killer Frost, Multiplex, Hyena, Typhoon and Black Bison to name just a few.
Seeing Stormy in "The Justice League of America" was such a thrill, and then the backup series in "The Flash" I was overjoyed and when his new series "The Fury of Firestorm" debuted I was in Heaven.
When Firestorm #100 signalled the end of the line for this once great character I was devastated, I truly had never been so gutted in all my years of comic book reading.
In the 10 years since the end of Firestorms book I have had little reason to rejoice at the sight of my favourite character, the odd appearance in a crossover and his short lived term as a member of "Extreme Justice" only serve to wet my appetite for the Inevitable return to greatness such a fine character deserves.
I just hope someone at DC agrees with me.

From: [email protected] (Jesse Miller)
#!. Green Lantern: Mosaic!
The only creative team that could do this book would be Gerard Jones and Cully Hamner. Why does this book need to be written? Because Ron Marz has been doing his best to turn John Stewart into a big cliche. He has no understanding of the character and is so anti-GL Corps that he would never return John to his Guardian status.

From: [email protected] (Ian Jameson)
REASON : The Ostrander / Mandrake fire elemental version of Firestorm was the first DC comic I started collecting back in 1989. I started with #92, thinking that it was a cool story with heaps of potential, and it had gorgeous artwork as well.
As it turned out it only had 8 issues worth of potential, being cancelled at #100!
The letters page of that issue stated quite confidently that Firestorm would return in his own book within 18 months!
I soon learned not to have a favourite title, as my next top choice became Starman.
- He Who Is Less Than Human ??? G'Nort ? Swamp Thing ?
- The Western Wirlwind >> Now known as Max Mercury (or Max Crandall)?
- The Heroic Herald >> The Scarlet Skier?

From: Geremy George
"He Who Is Less Than Human"- Dead Man
"the Western Whirlwind"- Rawhide Kid
"the Heroic Herald"- Silver Surfer

From: [email protected] (Mike Robinson)
Was the Heroic Herald Jimmy Olsen?
Was He who is less than Human the Spectre?
Was Tomahawk the Western Whirlwind?
Looking forward to more polls.

Well, all of these are incorrect. My own fault, I think... I'll just make this general DC trivia in future... I was running out of good (obscure) epithets anyway.

I'm giving the laurel on this one to Mike Robinson, because he at least seemed to get the idea that these were epithets for characters who'd been around for quite some time... and they were all from the right company...

No more Name That Epithet from me... just straight trivia next time...