damian esteban - my top 5 comic book antiheroes

MY TOP 5 C O M I C B O O K A N T I H E R O E S

D A M I A N E S T E B A N . N E T@ E S T E B A N R U L E S

S T R E E T W E A R

FIRSTL E T ' S D E F I N E O U R T E R M

ANANTI HERO

I S S O M E O N E W H O I S T H E

F R O N T - R U N N E R I N A S T O R Y ,

W H O D O E S N ’ T N E C E S S A R I L Y

R E T A I N T H E T R A I T S T H A T W E

U S U A L L Y A S S O C I A T E W I T H A

H E R O .

He or she may seem unscrupulous to a third-party eye, whereas she would say that she is

perfectly consistent in her own scruples. Suchcharacters may be lacking in idealsim, courage,

nobility, fortitude, morality and altruism.

L E T ' S S T A R T W I T H T H E

B O T T O M O F T H E B A R R E L ,

S H A L L W E ? *

*Ya, I know all of the listed (anti)heroes havetheir own TV shows or movies or are featured

in TV shows or movies belonging to other(anti)heroes. That's completely a coincidence.

Completely.

MARV # 5

A loveable brute. Marvdoesn’t really give much

talk about idealism oraltruism, but he takescare of what he values

emotionally. Such asGoldie.

S I N C I T Y

MARV # 5

He’s reckless and brutish,but he has a good heart thatwe can all identify with. Andabove all, he’s confused andhaving an existential crisis

of his own, with the onlyshining light being love.

Who can’t relate to that?

S I N C I T Y

THE PUNISHER # 4

Yeesh. Talk about sorrow. Thisguy lost his wife and his two

children in a mob shootout. Butinstead of giving into despair,he does what any average joe

would…he wages a war oncrime using coercion, extortion

and…torture.

A K A F R A N K C A S T L E , T H E P U N I S H E R

THE PUNISHER # 4

A K A F R A N K C A S T L E , T H E P U N I S H E R

OK. When we talk about dark, youcan’t really get much darker thanThe Punisher. His name alone is

dark, let alone his tactics. Butagain, we can’t help rooting for thisguy, because he has his own comic

book series...and a heart ofgold/lead/coal/nitro glycerin(?).

CAT WOMAN# 3

First appearing in Batman #1(1940), Cat Woman is one

character who has constantlyoscillated between villain andantihero. In some cases, she’sbeen directly opposed against

Batman and those that wewould typically think of as “thegood guys”; in other cases she’s

allied with them.

A K A S E L I N A K Y L E , B A T M A N

CAT WOMAN# 3

A K A S E L I N A K Y L E , B A T M A N

The Dark Knight Rises film does a pretty good job ofencapsulating this. She’s more than just a love interest.

She’s an agent of change with her own agenda. And she's got kicks.

RORSCHACH# 2

Poor Walter Kovacs. Soabsolutist. So brutal. He’s almost

childlike in his worldview ofright and wrong, good and bad.

It’s something that makes hischaracter simultaneouslyappealing and alienating.

A K A W A L T E R K O V A C S , S I N C I T Y

RORSCHACH# 2

A K A W A L T E R K O V A C S , S I N C I T Y

But he’s also a BA. Rememberthat one scene when the policeare coming to his apartment to

take him in? He’s a perfectexample of a character who, forbetter or worse, doesn’t abide

by the laws of the world aroundhim, but by his own.

DEADPOOL# 1

You probably saw this coming. Well, you had to, because he

was in the title slide, duh!Deadpool is one of my favorite

comic book heroes…ever.

A K A W A D E W I L S O N , D E A D P O O L

DEADPOOL# 1

A K A W A D E W I L S O N , D E A D P O O L

He combines the quick witof Spiderman with the

agility of a ninja, theruthlessness of a hungry T-Rex, and the foul mouth of

a Quentin Tarantinocharacter, AND he’s got

moves...

DEADPOOL# 1

A K A W A D E W I L S O N , D E A D P O O L

DEADPOOL# 1

A K A W A D E W I L S O N , D E A D P O O L

W H O ' S Y O U RF A V O R I T E A N T I H E R O ?

( L E T M E K N O W W I T H A

C O M M E N T ! )

@ E S T E B A N R U L E S D A M I A N E S T E B A N . N E T