DC over the last few years has been on a kick of bringing back the "real" versions of characters, from Ollie Queen to Hal Jordan to Barry Allen. Leaving aside whether this is a good or a bad thing, who are some legacy characters that you've liked?

Wally West/Flash - This is pretty much the character that introduced me to the DC universe, starting with the first issue of his series.

Tim Drake/Robin - I loved the slow build-up of the character taking on the Robin identity, and Chuck Dixon and Tom Grummett had a great run on his comic.

Connor Hawke/Green Arrow - Another character that Dixon had a hand in developing. Thought his backstory was interesting, and I liked the way his more pacifist outlook played off of his mentor (of sorts) Eddie Fyers.

Bart Allen/Impluse/Kid Flash - Loved the Mark Waid series and Bart's interactions with the DC universe in general, and with Wally in particular. For some reason he's a character that almost no one else writes well.

Young Justice - Based mainly on the friendship of Robin, Superboy, Impulse, and Wonder Girl. I don't know that the series ever lived up to its potential, but it was pretty fun.

Jack Knight, definitely.

I liked Wally, Tim, and (eventually) Impulse, although the latter took a long time to grow on me. Just about the time he did, they completely changed him. But definitely the first two.

The 90s Superboy and Steel are decent characters. Both have found a solid niche in the DCU.

The 90's Superboy was just a bit too much for me. The sunglasses, the jacket, the belts and accessories... Once they put him in the T shirt and jeans, I could handle the character.

I really liked Kyle Rayner -- it's just too bad they needed to shit all over Hal Jordan for him to come about.

Maybe a cooler way would be Hal starting a new GL Corps and being Obi Wan to Kyle's Luke.

I know Kyle's been showing up in the Green Lantern Corps book, but I think that takes away a lot of what was appealing about him in the first place, which was his being a bit of a regular guy back on Earth.

I like how Kyle has been portayed since the Rebirth mini. He's a solid part of the Corps and his time as the lone GL gives him some extra clout. He'll make a stand when it's needed and does what he can to resolve things. He recently got his ass kicked by Sinestro but it definitely made sense given the situation.

That whole fan controversy over who should be the Green Lantern was grotesque in its intensity. Really, you wonder about the mental stability of some people for getting that emotionally invested in a fictional character.

There's plenty of non-comics related historical precedent.

Agree. It would have been much more liked. Or even Hal retiring with Carol and handing him the key.

OH, SNAP!!!

Twitchy wins... FATALITY.

Add the Ray to my list. I liked PAD's Supergirl series, too.

I love PAD's Supergirl run. It's one of my favorites of all time.

I almost never like replacement characters. I did like Guy Gardener, though,
at least for awhile when he first took over the Green Lantern role. But about
a year of him in the book and/or his time in the Justice League book would
have been enough.

The rest of them should have never been legacy characters. They should
have just started a new earth, and started telling new stories featuring the
"legacy" characters as the original characters. Then, when people wanted to
read stories about the 1960s' Hal Jordon character, or the 1940s' Alan Scott
character, you still could. Plus, we could have those great Earth 1, Earth 2,
(and Earth 8?) team-up stories once every couple of years. Just spread them
out so it doesn't always happen for the JLA/JSA, say, for example, maybe just
in a Flash Annual in 2010, A Green Arrow Annual in 2011, whatever. Don't over
due it each year--just do it when an artist/author team has a good idea.

I'd have been okay with that. For me, it was never about which character was "real" or how many versions were running around.

This, except I never liked Guy going from nice/tragic gym teacher to world class jerk.

Wally as Flash worked (because that was a logical progression). Kyle didn't work for me because we already had multiple Green Lanterns. Connor didn't work for me because we already had Speedy. Superboy and Supergirl just seemed forced (though PAD gave both of them some needed personality).

It is sort of weird how "un-unique" DC heroes are... each character has several versions of himself running around... from the Supergirls, Superboys, Mon-Els to the Robins, Nightwings, Batgirls to the Kyle Rayners, John Stewarts, Guy Gardners to the Jay Garricks, Wally Wests, Impulses to the Donna Troys, Wonder Girls, Hippolytas...

Why did you pick such a hard-to-read font for the all-girl group?

Sexist.

I would have loved that.

It didn't get out of hand until you neared Crisis. You had your Earth 1 and Earth 2 doppelgangers (keeping to their own planets), but the sidekicks were fairly separate in identity from their mentors. Stewart and Gardner were seldom seen until you got towards the mid-80's.

Me too! Criminally undercollected. And the two or so TPBs they did are out of print.