Have you ever noticed how many reporters there are in comics? Like Stephen King and his predilection for writers as main characters, comic creators seem to love their journalists. From the dueling desks of The Daily Planet and The Daily Bugle to futuristic broadsheets like Transmetropolitan, the men and women breaking news have been the perfect people to get inside the stories of comics.
5. Peter Parker
As a hero Spider-Man is tops, but when it comes to photo journalism Peter Parker always skirted (and in some cases waded deep) into unethical issues. From numerous conflict-of-interests given his scoops involving his alter-ego, to the staging of photos to reap more rewards from the miserly J. Jonah Jameson at the The Daily Bugle, Peter’s got some work to do.
4. TinTin
A classic reporter, TinTin’s profession draws him into intrigue not unlike Indiana Jones’ work as a college scholar does the same. Although his journalistic career was merely a backdrop to get him on the road for his miraculous adventures, he does show a keen interest in everything around him and isn’t afraid to ask questions. But whatever you do, don’t let Snowy proofread your work.
3. Lois Lane
While Clark Kent might be more popular, it’s Lois Lane who truly makes a living as a reporter and earns the awards each time out. She’s up there in a class with Woodward and Bernstein when the story allows it, with the only negative she has is being unable to see that Clark Kent is Superman.
2. Ben Urich
A journalist’s journalist, working in tandem (and sometimes at odds) with Marvel’s heroes trying to get the truth out no matter how dark it might be. He’s ferreted out the identities of Spider-Man, Green Goblin and Daredevil years before anyone else.
1. Spider Jerusalem
Channeling the gusto of Hunter S. Thompson and acting sometimes as a comic incarnation of his co-creator Warren Ellis, Spider Jerusalem tore into the world he lived in with his column for the newspaper Transmetropolitan in the comic series of the same name.
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nice number 1!
Ben Urich rules.
I would have given an honorable mention to J. Jonah Jameson. He isn’t a beat reporter now but he got where he is by being the best.
I would have left Pete off the list and replaced him with Jack Ryder! I might also have moved Lois up one slot. Otherwise, great list!
I cringe when I read your spelling of Tintin… It’s Tintin, not TinTin (not pronounced Tin Tin… like a tin can). French is my mothertongue so I can bitch all I want! The real sound doesn’t exist in english so I guess that’s why you americans call it Tin Tin, still, it’s a fugly surname, Tintin is better! :p
And it’s not Professor Calculus either, it’s professor Tournesol (sunflower) and Dupont and Dupond is the real deal, not Tompson and Thompson! :p
We keep the names of the english characters all the time, Batman is still call Batman in french, not l’homme chauve-souris! Same goes with Spiderman, we don’t call him l’homme araignée! Why can’t you, WHY!? 0_o
Oh and by the way, great article! 😉
It’s Spider-Man, not Spiderman. He isn’t Joe Spiderman. 😉 [You walked into that one!]
Tuer le boiteux!
@ PraxJarvin: Typo! 😉 I was writing with a gun pressed on my left temple and felt a bit pressured… ;p
As an American, KillTheG1mp, I would LOVE a book called: l’homme chauve-souris!
“Zoot allures! It’s the….l’homme chauve-souris!!!!”
LMAO!
“Zut alors, c’est l’homme chauve-souris!!!” but close enough… 😉
Sometimes I envy you, you completely lack that dual-language ambiguity that’s everywhere in Québec. On cereal boxes there’s “Frenglish”, on instructions on cleaning products there’s “Frenglish”, etc. Sometimes, it’s so badly translated that we just piss in our pants laughing out loud, as if some companies just didn’t bother hiring a real translator and just put everything through google translator and patted each other on the back for a job well done.
Anyways, respect for Tintin and his belgian origin is deserved! 😉
That is the single greatest JJ Jameson/Peter Parker panel I have ever seen. I need it on a t-shirt.
Twist record?
“That’s the way I like it”?
Solid gold.
Also, I know nothing about Ben Urich, but judging from that panel it’s a shame Tommy Lee Jones has already been in a Marvel movie.
tommy lee jones would be perfect. i’d cast him. and why not? ryan reynolds played in 2 marvel movies.
JJJ is a huge Big Bopper fan.
I’m a newspaper copy editor, and I heartily endorse this list, especially the choice of No. 1. Spider Jerusalem is a journalist’s journalist.
I’ve approached the “top five journalists in comics” question a lot, albeit slightly differently: mine’s more of an “if you had to assemble a five-person newsroom entirely of comic-book characters, who would it be?” exercise. To wit:
Publisher: Britt Reid (The Green Hornet). Every news organization needs a money guy.
Editor-in-chief: Joseph (Robbie) Robertson. The voice of reason at the Daily Bugle.
Staff reporter: Spider Jerusalem.
Photo/multimedia editor: April O’Neil.
Wild card: Jack Ryder (The Creeper). I’ve observed that news organizations always have at least one guy who seems to do everything, but no one really knows what their actual job is. Jack Ryder is the only example of “that guy” I can think of in comics. Sometimes Steve Ditko portrayed him as a TV anchor, other times as a “troubleshooter”; he had the vaguest job description, but he was always willing to do anything and not get stressed about it, literally just laughing it off.
The rest would be a stable of freelancers, including Peter Parker, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Bras from Daytripper and James Andrews from The Nightly News. I wouldn’t include Tintin, because while he’s a great adventurer, he’s kind of a terrible reporter. Of all the Tintin books I’ve ever read, only once — in two panels in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets — do we ever see him sit down, write a story and file it to an editor. He goes all over the world with his retired sea captain BFF but never thinks to bring a photographer, or an interpreter. Maybe all his real journalistic accomplishments are happening offscreen, or between books.
I’d argue Sally Floyd is the top journalist in the Marvel U, if only for her brave stance on Captain America’s myspace ignorance. She tackles the tough issues other reporters are too afraid to investigate
Lois Lane is number one