Successful 80s and 90s mainstream characters

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A thread to list characters - including supporting characters - created between 1980 and 1999 in mainstream comics who are still being used.

(Let's define that as "has appeared prominently in the last 2 years". Bonus points for regular appearances, though.)

1. John Constantine

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

And there we go.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

At least some of the X-Men characters -- Gambit's got his own series again, Jubilee, Bishop.

Tim Drake
Firestorm
Superboy
I guess most of the Titans, come to think of it -- Impulse/Kid Flash.

Has Deadpool showed up in the last two years?

Doomsday, unfortunately

The late Ant-Man II, I think

Various Wildstorm stuff

Black Cat?

Sabretooth? I know he first showed up in Iron Fist, but not when.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Deadpool and Cable have their own ongoing, so yes, they count.

Spawn and the Savage Dragon.

Sabretooth is pre-80.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Firestorm was in the 70s, the first guy at least.

Lobo
If Tim Drake counts (which I don't think it should, since Robin isn't a new concept...but if Tim Drake doesn't count, then Nightwing should, and that doesn't wash either), then Kyle Rayner counts too.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Booster Gold suddenly counts again.
The entire cast of Gotham Central (except Harvey Bullock, who I think has been around since the 70s)

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

When did Lobo last appear?

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm pret-ty sure Raven, Starfire, Cyborg etc were all eighties creations...

― Vic Fluro, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Vic OTM.

Lobo's set to appear in a one-shot w/ The Authority!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

When were the Gotham Central characters created? I assumed most of them were originals, except for Bullock and Montoya (wasn't she created in animated series? Speaking of, wasn't Harley Quinn created there too?).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

A significant amount of current supporting casts are going to have qualifying characters, if only because that's what happens to supporting casts. The Batman cast, a lot of the Flash and Green Arrow casts, the non-Asgardian Thor cast, pretty much everyone in Black Panther who isn't T'Challa or Klaw, the Hulk cast has always had a revolving door but I'm not sure about the moment ...

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Lobo had a miniseries in '04.
I don't know if Montoya started on the animated series.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Connor (Green Arrow, Jr.) Hawke
the current Batgirl
Huntress, sorta. There was a very similar character intro'd in the 70s, but she was the daughter of Earth 2's Batman.

Maxwell Lord
L-Ron
Manga Khan (he was in FKAJL)

And depending on how loosely we're going to define "new", what about Wonder Woman, whose 86 relaunch had no connection to the previous history of the character.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Superboy

created in '80s??? really???

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, the CURRENT Superboy is a product of the 80s & 90s. The CONCEPT, of course, is older than the wheel.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I'm not going to be prescriptive about what counts or doesn't here, if I was making the list on my own I'd probably put "revitalisations of characters" in a separate little box.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, the only real similarity is the name. The current one's a clone, not a young Superman, the powers are different, he coexists with Superman, etc.

It's like with Tim Drake. New character, old name. Or Wonder Girl, for that matter -- the original pre-Donna Troy one was just a younger, flashbacky Wonder Woman.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

The current Superboy didn't show up until after Superman was d-e-d, ca, what? 92?
Of course, if you've been following the thrilling legal correspondence between DC/Warner & the Shuster or Siegel heirs (see how closely I've been following it?), there seems to be some (very marginal) potential that DC may lose the rights to THE Superman, and the Superman-as-a-boy Superboy character. So, this cloned Superboy may indeed be DC's back-up plan to carry on should such a thing take place.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, Supergirl, speaking of which. Again, same name, but no relation to the previous character, since she's essentially a shapeshifter who took a form in homage to Superman [and then a bunch of different stuff happened to her in her solo series, but that was the starting point] (has that changed in Superman/Batman, or is that a different Supergirl?)

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I think that's a different Supergirl who is basically a new version of the 'old' Supergirl.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

PAD-era Supergirl might not have shown up in the last two years, then, I'm not sure.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

There was briefly yet another Supergirl, a brunette this time, who was supposedly Cir-El, Superman's daughter from the future. She had a really shitty costume and made a brief appearance in Superman/Batman, which confused the fuck out of me.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

So, wait - there's the Matrix Supergirl (the shape-shifter), the brunette / black-costume Supergirl, and the Michael Turner "eat a sandwich, girl from Krypton" Supergirl, too?

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Matrix, there we go, I couldn't think of the name -- I kept thinking Paragon, which I think was the name of "Her" (the female Adam "I used to be called 'Him'" Warlock) before she was called Her.

Superman/Batman's in my reading queue, maybe I'll read it before reading the War Games stuff.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The Pocket Universe storyline that intro'd the Matrix S'girl was awesome...at the time, at least.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Neron. Steel. (If they're still being used)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

This is all quite DC. Have they resisted the time-freeze-ray more than Marvel?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Did Vixen appear before the JLA Detroit? If so, she counts.

xpost, who reads Marvel?

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Groo!

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Thursday, 24 March 2005 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Cannonball.
Venom.

Darkhawk is on the last page of the new issue of Runaways....does that count?

― David N (David N.), Friday, 25 March 2005 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

The New Warriors are making a comeback! Actually, I think every Marvel-Uni-related character is making, or has made, some sort of comeback in recent years. (Even Sleepwalker, ever so briefly!)

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 25 March 2005 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Oracle is old character new concept and probably the most successful reinvention of a character.

Hitman!!! (Successful character, series finished)
Starman!!! (Successful character based on old one but certainly different enough in a wingy nerd way, series finished).

― Pete (Pete), Sunday, 27 March 2005 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Hitman was cancelled about ten months ahead of when it was meant to finish, so maybe not so eligible

― kit brash (kit brash), Monday, 28 March 2005 02:48 (twenty years ago)

When was Psylocke first created? I'd be surprised if it was before the 80s

― Mark C (Markco), Monday, 28 March 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't she originally from Captain Britain? She was the guy's sister, after all.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 28 March 2005 21:39 (twenty years ago)

First appearance (UK): Captain America #8 (1976)
First appearance (US): New Mutants Annual #2 (1986)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

I be surprised!!

― Mark C (Markco), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

I be missing the days of her puffy pink shirts and her school marm hair buns.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 13:55 (twenty years ago)

In the pub on Saturday Vic F and I realised that Claremont's female characters are a collection of fetishes while his male characters are a collection of accents.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

Unglaubich!

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

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