What IS it about Bad Boys?
So. What exactly is it about Bad Boys that warms the cockles of a girls heart? I had this question posed last week, while browsing over at "Our Valued Customers", a simply hilarious blog that you really should be reading at http://ourvaluedcustomers.blogspot.com/. Anyway, someone had raised the question of exactly WHY all those silly girls were in a tizzy over Loki of all people.
Because there is just SOMETHING about a villain. Or not a villain, but an anti-hero. Or simply maybe we just like jerks.
I know that I do. Face it, I'm a Guy Gardner fan. I'm a Hal Jordan fan. I tend to enjoy the heck of of complete assholes. For that matter I am also a Booster Gold and Blue Beetle fan, and lets face it, both Booster and Ted had their moments. In fact for a while there, the entire JLI was practically composed of jerks. Just look at Max Lord! I LIKED Max! Not so much now, that he's toppled from Bad Boy over into complete Villainy.
Heck, for that matter, I like Flash's Rogues too...Captain Cold and Weather Wizard in particular. I can't even say exactly why, but when they are well-written, I just love them to death. And I do like Barry, but there is no way on earth,that he can be considered a Bad Boy.
I loathe Gambit however. He's supposed to be a Bad Boy...but I think he's faking it. He's a Bad Boy as written by Committee, and it rings false to me. And I didn't like Jack T. Chance much either, for the same reason, so I'm just as glad that he's dead.
Of course I just happen to like perfectly NICE Boys as well. Barry is nice. Alan and Jay are nice. Superman is VERY nice. Even Nightwing is nice. Jason Todd isn't, but I don't like him much either. There has to be a certain charm involved, and I don't find Jason charming in the least.
And yes, I will admit it, I like Loki too. I've always had a soft spot for Loki, because I was always a fan of Norse myths from waaay back before I even started reading comics. Loki may have caused a fair amount of trouble, but he wasn't EVIL per se...he just really enjoyed causing a certain degree of mayhem, and who can blame him? And while he did cause quite a bit of trouble, he was equally good at getting the Gods OUT of trouble. It was really only when portrayed in Marvel Comics, that he became unrelentingly EVIL. So I am just as happy, that he's back as a boy, and trying to do the right thing. And I also have to admit that Tim Hiddleston is HAWT!
Sexy kid Loki!
I prefer my Bad Boys with the requisite Heart-of-Gold of course. And the possibility of redemption, which is always very important. A lot of girls have the feeling that Bad Boys are simply Misunderstood, and that all they need is the Love Of A Good Woman. Look at all those old Teenaged Death tunes! Of course a REAL Bad Boy needs a heck of a lot more than the love of a good woman to be redeemed, but a lot of us like to kid ourselves. Which is why stuff like Comics and the Movies are a whole lot safer than the real thing sometimes.
So.
What other Bad Boys are out there, and who likes them? And conversely, do boys like Bad Girls?
Gosh, I just love my Bad Good Guy.
posted by SallyP @ 12:02 PM
6 Comments:
Batman is kind of the ultimate "bad boy" - the Batman in The Animated Series was an early crush of mine (I was in elementary school...) and I loved that he did the whole DARK thing. He's a LONER. Look at him all apart and doing his own thing!
Tommy Monaghan from Hitman was another great, lovable bad boy. Catman from Secret Six. The Question (both Charlie and Renee, technically). Black Adam, back when he was trying to be a good guy in the JSA, pre-WWIII.
And oh my goodness are you ever on the nose regarding Mr. Hiddleston :)
Oh God, I forgot all about Tommy Monaghan and Catman. Both Bad Boys and both so adorable.
I liked Black Adam best when he figured out that "Chocolate Egg Cream" was the new version of "Shazaam".
Never seen the appeal of bad girls myself - Catwoman leaves me cold, for example.
Strong, confident women are another matter entirely. Power Girl's top of the list, but characters like Fire, Big Barda, Black Canary and even dear old Wonder Woman are up there, too.
Give me a woman who knows what she wants any day of the week.
Gary, you have excellent taste in comic book women.
I don't think Booster is a bad boy. A underdog but not a bad boy. Between him and Ted maybe he'd be considered one as he's not a shiny example of heroism.
Yes, I find Jason charming when written right. He was a sweetheart in his original run as Robin, he has some great moments in RHATO despite what people say. He was very endearing in #6 when he met Starfire.
Part of the bad boy charm is having a tragic backstory and in most cases hiding their emotion behind a rough side. Booster doesn't really fit that since he uses humor playing up the fool image. Guy fits it, Jason so does, and Spike from Buffy too.
Well...I agree to an extent. I think that we can both agree that Booster has had his share of tragedy, and instead of being an asshole about it, he hides it behind humor and bravado. Rather like Ted, really.
I can't say that I really know all that much about Jason, I wasn't reading Batman when he was Robin. I'm still not sure if he has dark hair, or red hair, or what the heck is going on.
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