Father’s Day is today and I thought it would be fun to run through some father’s from comic books. Some are superheroes, and others are fathers of heroes. And others are not nice at all! Father figures are very important to our characters. Let’s focus on DC, as usual. Here are ten comic book fathers some really good and others not so much!
Jor-El
There have been a million revisions to this character, but usually in the changes involve how Krypton will explode and what they can do about it. The one constant is the fact that he loves his son so much, he puts him in a rocket and shoots him to another planet so he can survive.
Pa Kent
I said before that I prefer it when Ma and Pa were alive in the Superman books. Because Pa Kent was great for grounding Clark and reminding him who he was and what he stood for. Still, even in the era when he dies when Clark was young (silver age and the New 52 era) the fact that someone he loved died and there was NOTHING he could do would serve to be a cold reminder to Clark that there are just somethings a Superman can’t do no matter how much he wants to help. Either way, Pa Kent is very important to the Superman character.
Thomas Wayne
It’s easy to scoff and say “what did he do besides get shot in an alley?”, but there is more to it than that. There is a reason that Bruce chose to honor the memory of his father after they died, because he admired them. To Bruce Thomas was a strong man who he loved. We have seen versions of Thomas in a the Bat suit. There was a silver age story that would be wiped away by Crisis where he wore a bat suit once which helped inspire Bruce later. And later on we got the Flashpoint version which is a lot more aggressive than Bruce. I do like the end of Flashpoint where he has Flash bring a restored Bruce a letter saying how proud he is of him.
Roy Harper
It was rare for heroes to have children in stories when Lian was born, and yet he did and we got to watch her grow up. Until she was killed in an awful story we won’t discuss. What makes Lian even more impressive is the fact that Speedy had a major heroin habit years earlier. So this was a great success story to see this hero not only beat addiction but become a good father at the same time. Of course, DC had to ruin that.
Slade Wilson
When your father is not only an assassin but the best assasasin money can buy, it can kind of mess you up a little. Grant Wilson was introduced before his father was believe it or not. When enhancement he had gotten killed him, Slade stepped up to take over the contract Grant had been working on. The end of that contract introduced us to Jericho. Jericho was mute thanks to Slade, and was the kindest person you’d ever meet. Until that whole Souls of Azarath thing anyway. Rose or Ravager is a long story and one of those characers that changes depending on who is writing her.
And again I don’t know the revised New 52 stories so forgive me if this seems out of date.
Silas Stone
Like with every time I discuss Cyborg I am going by the version I knew from the late 80’s. I am pretty Silas and the Victor’s relationship has been changed since. But when Cyborg first came around, Silas was a father who loved his son but work came first. When he accident came that almost killed Victor, Silas put it all on the line to save him even though he knew Victor would hate him forever (he didn’t). Before dying he built Titans Tower and make sure Victor had a place he belonged. I think these days he is alive and more of a mentor figure.
Aquaman
It gets forgotten but Aquaman experienced something very few heroes do in comic books. The loss of a child. It was Black Manta who kidnapped the child, who died when Aquaman and Mera failed to save him. As you may imagine when something like that happens, it affected the characters forever after that.
Ra’s Al Ghul
Ra’s heads the League of Assassins’ and while he does care for his daughter Talia his reputation is hardly of being a great dad! While this was after I stopped reading I know people will kill me if I didn’t mention Damian. He is the genetically engineered son of Bruce and Talia al Ghul meaning of course Ras Al Ghul is the grandfather. Yikes! Long story short he would become the fifth Robin. While this kid is a brat, to be put it kindly, but still managed to be a successful addition to the Bat family.
That’s bad but is there a father so bad, so heinous, so evil that you could call him the devil?
Trigon
Raven is of course the daughter of this demon and an Earth woman (who he tricked into his bed). This gave her a few issues. She spent many years fighting the evil inside of her and doing her best to keep his father from using her as his herald to destory Earth.
Superman
just to show that I do pay attention to comics made after 2005, I should mention that Superman has is own son these days. Named Jonathan Samuel Kent. Why Samuel? Because Lois’s das was Sam Lane, an old fashioned jerk who pushed Lois to be the best. I am ommitting Connor Kent because I am not really sure where he fits.
James Gordon
I keep forgetting that in the comics Barbara Gordon was at one time the daughter of Jim Gordon. That’s because she became his niece or adopted daughter after the Crisis for some reason. Jim is a good father but is never let in on the secret that her daughter is also Batgirl.
Plenty more out there including Wally West, Originnal Green Lantern Alan Scott, Highfather and even Darkseid! I also forgot Tim Drake’s father, Jack, who was alive for awhile when Tim was Robin. Not forever of course, because…well DC!
Happy Father’s Da
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