Alphabetical...

[fajrdrako]

Bank on Thrusday, isagel did the Alphabet Meme where you comment on five characters whose name begins with a certain letter of the alphabet. I rashly asked for a letter and isagel tossed me a Q.

I coudl think of a lot of Qs, but most were second-string characters, not favourites. Except for:

1. Quislet, a cute alien mechanism from Legion of Super-Heros. Quislet was an invisible energy being who inhabited a metal carapace or ship; following a fine precedent, he'd stolen the ship on leaving his planet Teall. Quislet had a lot of charm, but is no longer in the comic. But that's okay, since I'm not currently reading it - I find Mark Waid's writing boring.
   
2. Q. No, not the Star Trek Q, whom I could never abide. The James Bond Q. He was best when they took him seriously.
   
3. Oliver Queen, who is also known as Green Arrow. Another superhero with no superpowers, except an Olympian ability to shoot arrows, and a fair athletic still for lurking on roofs and running through alleyways.
   
4. Quicksilver, son of Magneto. (I enthused over Magneto when I wrote my list of "M" characters.) Pietro Maximoff is his name, brother of The Scarlet Witch. His power is super-speed, like the Flash. He's a had a chequered history, as if the writers and editors can never decide whether to make him a hero or villain. Sometimes I confuse him with Northstar, the somewhat-more-cool character from Alpha Flight.
   
5. The Question -a mysterious, faceless detective character from DC comics. The Question has always been interesting, but my interest multiplied when the identity was taken over by one of my favourite characters, former Gotham City cop Renee Montoya, who's smart, brave, and lesbian. (And I'm not the only person who thinks Renee Montoya is virtually identical to Dani Reese, the gorgeous female lead in Life.)

So then dewline, playing the same game, gave me an A, which just manages to emcompass a few of my very favourite characters of all time:

1. Aral Vorkosigan, hero of the Lois McMaster Bujold novels Shards of Honour and Barrayar, and who later has a role on all of the Vorkosigan novels as Miles' father. I love Aral and particularly love his relationship with his son. Aral is a bisexual aristocrat who took to the military when Emperor Yuri slaughtered most of his family, sparking a career that includes being the imperialist Butcher of Komarr, the Admiral of Barrayar, and the Regent during the minority of Emperor Gregor.
   
2. Captain Cairo Azarcon, a pivotal character in three novels by Karin Lowachee, Warchild, Burndive, and Cagebird. Azarcon was an orphan when he was adopted by an Earth Admiral, and became fleet Admiral himself, despite a rebellious attitude to the authority of others. At the time of the books, he is captain of the battleship Macedon, patrolling the edges of known space against the pirates and the enemy aliens, and taking in refugees - including his own son.
   
3. Aragorn, son of Arathorn. I always thought The Lord of the Rings should be renamed The Adventures of Aragorn. All my favourite bits are Aragorn moments.
   
4. Adam Pierson - Methos. Okay, yes, this is unabashed cheating, because I listed Methos under my Ms, but I like him enough to list him twice. Five thousand years old and counting, he was a barbarian invader in the Bronze Age, and went throught many identities before being a student agent of the Watchers when he met Duncan Macleod in Highlander in the late 20th century.
   
5. Justin Alistair, the Duke of Avon, hero of These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer, the novel that won her fame. Avon is arrogant, dangerous, and promiscuous, revelling in his nickname "Satanas" - and one day buys a desperate young man from the streets, which sets the plot in motion whereby no one is what they seem and Avon sets out to right an old wrong, and falls in love in the process.

Comments

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

can I play?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Of course! Take a G.

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I'd just like to say that Adam Pierson and Methos are completely different characters, or I classed them as such when I was doing P, and I'm with you on the Aragorn thing (though I has a soft spot for Faramir too).

I like seeing how many of the characters in these memes come from books or comics as well as TV and film.

You can throw a letter at me if you'd like, just not P or F.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Okay: I give you a W.

Thanks for supporting me on listing Adam Pierson and Methos under both names. Great character, either way!

About Quislet?

[dewline.livejournal.com]

You may want to keep an eye on Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds. You may be in for pleasant surprises either in that mini-series, or its sequelae.

Re: About Quislet?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose there's a hint that Quislet will return?

My general problem with the Legion has little to do with the charactes included - more with the fact that the writers and editors don't write them as I like them. (Jo Nah as intelligence-challenged? I don't *think* so!)

And no one writes Brainiac 5 or Chameleon Boy right any more.

Characterisation

[dewline.livejournal.com]

How so?

Re: Characterisation

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, without pointing to any particular writer:

- I have seen Jo Nah portrayed as stupid
- Chameleon Boy as guileless and simple
- Brainiac 5 as too much of a Spock, over-rational, suspicious and alienated

I think all these approaches are wrong.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

Letter please?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Okay, you get an H.

And a bonus thumbs-up for a good icon.