Fifty Characters That Make the DC Universe Fun

Just to throw some comics-related content into this BEA week, blogger extraordinary Tom Bondurant at the always-fun The Great Curve has put out the call for The 50 Best DC Characters Survey. I dunno about best...I'm no great judge of what makes a comic or a character a masterwork...so I'm going to list the fifty characters I think best represent my love of and enjoyment of the DC Universe.

In other words, Fifty Characters That Make the DC Universe fun!

EDIT on 5/25/06: Tom Bondurant has pointed out that I needed to rank the characters in my order of preference (or, as I'm judgin' 'em, fun-ness), so this is a revised order if you looked at this entry before. Also, he vetoed my inclusion of Julius Schwartz (boo, Tom!) so I'm substitutin' Blue Devil:

1. Starman (Jack Knight)
2. Ambush Bug
3. Lois Lane
4. Matter-Eater Lad
5. Bobo Benetti
6. Harley Quinn
7. Superman
8. Zatanna
9. Death
10. Alfred Pennyworth
11. John Constantine
12. Sandman (Morpheus)
13. Shade (Richard Swift)
14. Jimmy Olsen
15. Darkseid
16. Red Tornado (Ma Hunkle)
17. Batman
18. Lex Luthor
19. Merv Pumpkinhead
20. Phantom Girl
21. Halo
22. Shade the Changing Man
23. Ra's Al Ghul
24. Starman (Ted Knight)
25. Harvey Bullock
26. Impulse
27. Poison Ivy
28. Guy Gardner
29. Kono (LSH)
30. Blue Devil
31. Stargirl
32. Katana
33. Joker
34. Cheeks the Toy Wonder
35. Space Cabbie
36. Ultra Boy
37. Bat Hound
38. Skeets
39. G’nort
40. Scarface
41. Gorilla Grodd
42. Silver St. Cloud
43. XS
44. Bat Lash
45. Metron
46. Batmite
47. Krypto
48. Foxglove (Sandman)
49. Funky Flashman
50. Orion

And you know...

Of my top eight picks, take away the one non-superhero (Lois, who I think is gonna surprise a lot of people with her strong showing on Tom's final tally), and you've got: Superman. Starman. Zatanna. Bobo. Matter-Eater Lad. Ambush Bug. Harley Quinn: my Seven Soldiers of Victory team.

Heck, I'd buy that book!