Curated playlist

Male characters in comics

Grand Admiral ThrawnAs his bodyguard turned on him, Star Wars villain Thrawn said it was so artistically done.
Jacen SoloJacen Solo, Han and Leia's son, became the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. His twin sister Jaina killed him in a duel.
Scrooge McDuckScrooge McDuck is a cartoon duck known for a top hat, pince-nez glasses and an enormous fortune, but he began as a bitter recluse. In his first story, he sat in a huge mansion and grumbled, "Here I sit in this big lonely dump, waiting for…
Donald DuckDonald Duck was listed as a federal employee at $99,999 as late as 1978.
PopeyePopeye the Sailor Man began as a hired hand who was supposed to leave the story. In 1938, the newspaper strip that carried him ran in 500 newspapers. Over 600 licensed Popeye products were on sale, and his creator, Elzie Crisler Segar, was…
Judge DreddJudge Joseph Dredd carries the whole legal system on his belt. On the streets of the future city of Mega-City One, this street judge can arrest a suspect, convict them, pass sentence and carry it out on the spot. Writer John Wagner and…
Pete (Disney)Pete, the cartoon villain also called Peg Leg Pete, Bad Pete and Black Pete, first walked onto a screen on the 15th of February 1925 as Bootleg Pete. The cartoon was Alice Solves the Puzzle. His nickname pointed to his trade, smuggling…
ClayfaceDetective Comics #40, cover-dated June 1940, introduced a murderer called Clayface, and the man under the costume was a B-list actor named Basil Karlo. Nobody could have guessed what the name would grow into. Over the following decades it…
Lucky LukeLucky Luke made his debut in October 1946, in an adventure called Arizona 1880, printed in the Franco-Belgian magazine Spirou. His creator was the Belgian cartoonist Morris. The hero was a street-smart gunslinger, billed as the "man who…
Sam & MaxSam & Max is an American media franchise built around a dog and a rabbity creature who work as vigilante private investigators. In 2007, their creator Steve Purcell admitted he was somewhat surprised by how far they had travelled. Their…
Alfred E. NeumanAlfred E. Neuman has appeared on the cover of more than 550 issues of Mad, the American humor magazine. He is its fictitious mascot, a scrawny boy with red hair, freckles and protruding ears. Almost every time, he faces the reader head-on.…
The Mask (comics)A bald green head, swollen far beyond human size, grins with a mouthful of enormous teeth. This is Big Head, the creature at the center of The Mask, an American comedy horror comic series published by Dark Horse Comics. The face belongs to…
Pepe the FrogPepe the Frog is a green cartoon frog with a humanoid body, usually wearing a blue t-shirt, drawn by the American cartoonist Matt Furie. In one early comic, Pepe is caught urinating with the bathroom door left open. A friend asks why his…
ZorroZorro first rode into print in 1919, and the novel that introduced him eventually sold more than 50 million copies. That figure places The Curse of Capistrano among the best-selling books of all time. Its author, the American pulp writer…
AnpanmanAnpanman is a Japanese superhero whose head is a pastry filled with sweet red bean paste. When he meets someone who is starving, he lets them eat a piece of that head. The hero gives away part of himself, and the children watching love him…