So there was a caller this morning on Howard Stern's show who asked him who he thought were the 5 worst superheroes. I thought his choices were intriguing for several reasons--including the fact that none of these characters ever had a celebrated association w/JB. Anyhow, Howard's choices follow, along with some paranthetical explanations and a few of my personal thoughts. I'd love to get JB's own take on the list, as well as the opinions of others on this board. They were, in no particular order...

*Thor (Howard commented that you just can't relate to a guy weilding a hammer and wearing a funny hat. While I personally love a few of Stan & Jack's cosmic Thor stories and a big chunk of Simonson's run, I basically agree.)

*War Comics (Okay, these are obviously not in the superhero genre, but I will wholeheartedly concur that a war comic has never kept my interest!)

*Dr. Strange (Yeah, Ditko's early trippy artwork is killer, and several of Roger Stern's later issues had solid stories, but this is a character it's hard to get excited about.)

*Martian Manhunter (The JLA's "Flo" [my comment, not Howard's], great as a supporting character, deadly as a lead. Howard also alluded to Marvel having an equally ridiculous Martian character but I have no idea who he was attempting to refer to.)

Ant Man (Sure, JB co-created Lang, but Howard was referring to Pym. And while his mental instability has occasionally made him mildly interesting, I don't think too many people will argue the fact that's he's a pretty flat character.)

"Honorable" Mentions--Green Arrow, Aquaman

Finally, Howard went off on a funny riff about Mr. Fantastic, attributed to Norm MacDonald. Basically the premise was that the other three FF characters got mind-blowing powers too, but none of them were egotistical enough to put the word "fantastic" directly in their codenames.  

I would have expected less stellar names in there, though admit Ant Man always seemed a step too far. I mean, while I'm not Thor's biggest fan, the fact that he had a successful book seems to show he ain't so bad. Maybe Disco Dazzler could have been in or something?

As for Mr. Fantastic, that is an odd part of his character. In one of the early issues (first 40 or so) he talks about how everyone began to call it him... even though he gave himself the name. The guy's clearly got some issues.

That's pretty weak..."these are the worst 5 because I don't like them...".

Lets make a list of the five worst radio jocks.

Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Stern


Did I miss anybody?

yeah...Don Imus....