Since the Top is not an especially popular character, occasionally I get asked why I like him or people seem to be incredulous that anyone could. I figured it was finally time to write a short essay about it. This isn’t necessarily intended to change other people’s minds about him; of course he has a ton of flaws and I’m well aware he’s not particularly appealing to most people. It’s just an explanation of what I like about him.
I first developed an interest when reading some short biography, which stated to the effect “He taught himself to spin at high speeds, and the spinning increased his intelligence”. Frankly, I was delighted by the sublime ridiculousness of it, and can’t understand why some people consider that aspect of his origin to be a negative thing. I enjoy at least a bit of silliness and light-heartedness in superhero comics, a genre that by definition has some inherent goofiness.
I admire that he’s very much self-made. He taught himself about tops and the physics of rotation, taught himself how to spin, and built all of his own wide-ranging inventions. His genius intellect and psionic powers were unexpected gifts, but also the result of his own achievement (spinning). His repeated escapes from Hell and returns from the dead seem to have been the result of his own cleverness and stubbornness; he decided he wanted to come back, so he went and did it. He has a hell of an ego, but you can see why.
Relating to the previous point, I enjoy his history as a ghost. It wasn’t part of his original character concept, but adds nicely to it. Plenty of characters seem to magically return from the dead in a convenient new body[1] or are revealed to never have died, but he definitely died and is still expressly a ghost who needs a host body to interact with people. That’s relatively unique, particularly amongst characters not clustered in DC’s supernatural-themed books.
He’s interesting. His spinning power is fairly unique, particularly when you remember that he precedes most other spinning characters in comics. He’s intelligent, acerbic, and eccentric, which I like. His costume is kind of goofy, but it’s unique too and I’m fond of it. And I like his relationship with the Golden Glider, which was oddly sweet despite both being fairly crazy and neither particularly cuddly individually. They genuinely seemed to love and care for each other.
People may find this odd, but to some extent I identify and sympathize with him. I’m not seriously insane, but have my own mental health issues. I (hopefully) haven’t systematically alienated everyone I know, but have always struggled to fit in and been rejected more times than I’d like. Modern Roscoe is actually a somewhat pathetic figure — far too mentally ill and arrogant for his own good, having pissed off pretty much everyone and utterly alone; and on a metafictional level, even the fans and creators mostly dislike him. Geoff Johns has said that his favourite moment writing the Rogues was killing the Top, and that he’d always wanted to do it.[2] I find it difficult not to have sympathy for the character after that. During Johns’ first run, there are two occasions when Roscoe seems to be genuinely trying to connect with the other Rogues, and they (for fairly good reasons) completely reject him. But he probably doesn’t realize they are good reasons, and is the one on the receiving end of it. Any socially awkward person can relate to that.
As it happens, most of my favourite characters are villains, although I don’t quite know why. I think I’ve always resented being told who to root for in a story, possibly related to my own social isolation. You watch enough popular people always getting cheered on while everyone else is sidelined, and eventually start to like the other misfits.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit to being fond of unpopular characters. I never deliberately gravitate towards them, but it happens often enough that it’s an observable trend. They aren’t necessarily ones who are hated per se, but often don’t have a lot of fans and aren’t headliners. I once noted that most of my favourite comic characters are dead, and an acquaintance retorted that it’s what I get for not liking big names like Spider-Man and Batman. In all honesty they don’t appeal to me much, and I don’t see why I should expect to be ‘punished’ for liking more minor characters or ones that aren’t particularly popular.
So in summation, these are the aspects I enjoy about the Top, and I hope this makes clear why I like him. I find him compelling, and yes, oddly likeable despite his many faults. Ultimately there will always be people who don’t understand why you relish a character (or a genre), and you can’t let it stop you.
[1] even if we limit the discussion only to Rogues, the others have been resurrected by Neron, the White Entity, or stayed dead.
[2] Favourite Rogue Moment:
“I knew I wanted a couple of Rogues to die in ‘Rogue War’ and I always wanted Captain Cold to get in there and kill the Top. Top is an elitist, he’s a snob, he thinks he’s better than everybody, so to have a bruiser like Cold just freeze him and shatter him, that’s a moment I found very satisfying and wanted the readers to as well.” –Geoff Johns, interview in The Flash Companion (page 172)
“Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit to being fond of unpopular characters. I never deliberately gravitate towards them, but it happens often enough that it’s an observable trend.”
That’s partly why I became a Flash fan. When I was discovering comics in grade six… Friend 1 liked Wolverine and Batman. Friend 2 liked Spider-man. I gotta be me!
Great essay.
Thank you, glad you liked it!
Being a fan of less popular characters can be fun (you can build a reputation as “that Flash fan”), but it’s also rather isolating sometimes too. Near the end of the “Dastardly Deaths of the Rogues” storyline, when it seemed like Future-Top was actually Roscoe, I couldn’t get anyone else to be delighted with me that he was apparently back. I was pretty bummed about that (and then it turned out not to be him after all). But you manage with the hand you’re dealt, I guess.
I will admit that The Top is not on the list of my 5 favorite Rogues, but I will also admit that I’ve always admired his character and felt that the Flash universe was better off with him. Honestly it wasn’t until The Secret of Barry Allen that I really began to appreciate him. An iffy origin that could have definitely been expanded into something very interesting if given the chance. All those Rogue central stories that came out focusing on their origins would have benefited with a Top special. Great write up Lia.
Thank you, and thanks for your comment!
Yeah, Johns did touch on his early life briefly a few times (and often so subtly that you might miss it if not looking for it), but I was kind of hoping for a Top spotlight. On the other hand, Johns clearly didn’t like him so maybe I wouldn’t have enjoyed the result anyway :>
Have to admit I’m half-eagerly and half-nervously anticipating what will be done with him after the reboot. If he gets used, that is.
http://www.stashmycomics.com/blog/index.php/2012/01/stashmycomics-com-interview-with-the-flash-co-writer-brian-buccellato/
Brian Buccellato: Well, there’s going to be a story where you see all of them together but we’re not introducing them together just yet. So you’re going to get to see some of the Rogues. You will see The Top. You’ll see Weather Wizard. You’ll see the classic Rogues and you may see some Rogues you never met before. But in terms of when and where, I don’t want to get into details of that.
I saw that interview, but since somebody pointed out that Turbine (debuting in Flash #8) could arguably replace him, I’ve been somewhat concerned about it. All you have to do is change Turbine’s name and you’ve got the new Top (fool me once in Dastardly Deaths of the Rogues, have me wary the next time).
Obviously I’m hoping it’s Roscoe Dillon, and it likely will be…but I’m just not 100% convinced it is, let’s put it that way.
Also one of the social outcasts (I like Cyclops way more than Wolverine! Gasp!) I’ve never liked any villain (too much empathy with the victims of crime having been victimized.)
However, what Geoff Johns said in the quote just made me more ticked at the man. Every character has fans. To take relish in killing off someone’s favorite character just makes me bristle. I realize that Cold is Johns favorite, but that’s all the more reason to be irked…like an abuse of power seeing as he had control over the book. Well, that’s my feeling and God knows I have some strong emotions when it comes to entertainment. 😛
As I was saying to the other Speed Force guys last night, I’d wondered for quite some time why all the characters in Johns’ run are so hostile to the Top, and that quote showed why. So in that sense I wasn’t surprised to see it, but it was still fairly shocking, yeah. I was a little miffed that it was intended for me to enjoy my favourite character’s brutal death (and also grumble about Johns always making Cold the best and greatest). Once again it comes back to the idea that fans of less popular/minor characters should expect to get shafted because their favourites aren’t important, and now that I think about it, Top vs Cold sums up that concept really well :>
Yeah, I kinda like the Top too.
A bit of silliness and his unique style is what makes him fun as a villain.
Well I could say the same from the whole Rogues. That’s why I prefer them over any Batman, Superman or Spider-man villain!
Some folks and I were just talking about that on Tumblr a few days ago — the slight silliness of the Rogues is part of their appeal to a lot of people. And, interestingly, we were talking about it because some guy on the web said the Top was silly :>
Even though I’m not a fan of any of the villains, it does burn my beans that the Flash Rogues are being corralled towards being like the Batman baddies. If I *wanted* super powered homicidal maniacs I’d be one of the many Gothic Knight fans rather than a Flash fan. Make Flash gory and I’ll have to admit that others were right that Wally is best kept MIA in the Flash book. We don’t need another Joker or Mr. Freeze.
Everyone character has reached out and found an audience somewhere. I tend to like the people who are pulled to those third and fourth stringers.
I also firmly believe all it takes is a write who is passionate about the character to change people’s minds. For years people looked at me funny for saying my favorite Marvel character was Iron Fist.
Also I’ve tried to pitch a Wild Dog story to Dan Dido at two different conventions. One day he’ll have to let me write it.
DiDio’s a pretty good guy, I like him. And I’m not just saying that because he said the Top is his favourite Rogue :> (that absolutely flabbergasted me, by the way, and I started fangirling like an idiot).
My favourite Marvel character is Pyro, which people have also always found bizarre. My husband digs Rom the Spaceknight, so we can sympathize. I wouldn’t think it’s weird at all to be a fan of Iron Fist, even before his revival.
Rom is awesome. I wish it wasn’t all tangled up in legal red tape.
You’ve really got to wonder what the problem is. I doubt the rights cost more money than Marvel/Disney can pay. But maybe they’re content with just using the Spaceknight elements they already own and can’t be bothered to get Rom himself.
I don’t know anything about the situation with Rom, but after reading about how they’re treating the creator of Ghost Rider, I don’t think it’s about the money so much as it’s about control.
Great essay!
What you describe makes me wonder you feel about Chunk.
Thank you!
I like Chunk well enough, though I have to admit to not being a huge fan of that era of the Flash. So that kind of colours my opinion on all those characters. Still, he was nicely off-beat and I appreciate that he wasn’t a typical sidekick.
Damn right! Nobody tops the Top! If he’s brought back into the DCnU, we can only hope he’ll keep his goofy appearance and batshit insanity. Unlike the other Rogues, he won’t even need to suffer a retcon of his powers!
I miss him using all those top weapons from the Silver/Bronze Age, but he really was ahead of the trend of giving the Rogues powers over gimmick weapons, wasn’t he? Though it makes him less distinctive amongst the DCnU Rogues, as now pretty much everyone will have powers and he isn’t unusual. Kind of a shame.
First, great essay. Perhaps due more to Johns’ efforts of recent years, when one mentions the Rogues, the Top doesn’t rise to the top (per se) of the list. Fanboys will always mention Cold, MM, Trickster, Boomerang, and so on. But he brings his own brand of kookiness to this eccentric group which brings me to:
Second, I’ve always loved Waid’s thinking of how Barry was always afraid if the Rogues ever went ‘serious’. If they put their minds to it, they probably could rival Batman’s rogues in terms of psychosis.
But they don’t nor should they. Their particular brand of craziness and Flash obsession is what separates them from the rest of DC’s villains. If I want demented violence, I’d read more of Batman. But I’d rather read of the Rogue’s crazy antics and how they stick together through their own twisted sense of honor.
Taught himself to spin at high speeds? That’s crazy good and ingenious. How can you not like that? 😉
Third, I feel your pain as well. I borrow my name from a villain I thought held great potential for being an ongoing top-tier opponent for Wally. Waid built up a great history and background for Savitar. Only to have Johns bring it crashing down by killing him in Rebirth, a token scene death at that. One of many reasons I’m currently disgruntled with Johns.
Thank you! Presumably he isn’t as likeable as the other Rogues (I think he is, but Rogues fandom tends to be really hostile to him) and I can’t fault people for who they do and don’t like. I honestly don’t mind if other people don’t like him, but wish some folks were less rude about it. Fans of Axel Walker can probably relate.
I imagine it’s tricky for writers these days to handle the Rogues — on one hand, it seems to be generally clear that a lot of people like them for being distinct from the Batvillains. But on the other hand, modern writers obviously feel pressure to make them more of a threat, more hip, and more relevant.
To some extent, I think writers have gone too far in the latter direction, making them viciously brutal at times and (apparently) giving them all meta powers now. But I sympathize with their dilemma in making the Rogues relevant for modern audiences while still trying to keep what people loved about them in the first place. I’m not entirely sure how I’d handle them if I was a DC writer.
Yeah, I was really surprised how Savitar was brought out of obscurity only to be quickly killed off. Definitely not a fan of that tactic (Johns did the same with Rainbow Raider, who’s also one of my favourites…yes, go ahead and laugh 😉 ). And Waid did it with the Golden Glider, another favourite.
Johns killed Savitar and then quickly followed that with the former “Lady Flash”. One of my favorite scenes featured her..when she was trying to off Linda in order to have Wally for herself. That scene had me laughing. To have my last memory of her and Savitar being…that? Yeah, Johns is not big on my personal hit parade.
I also don’t like what he did to Rainbow Raider. Just because he didn’t like him. I wonder how he’d feel if a future writer came in and demeaned Captain Cold, Barry, and Aquaman. Needs to develop a bit of something people refer to as *empathy*.
How? They’re out of colors on the emotional spectrum.
Well, we’ve seen him get publicly cranky when the Rogues were written badly in Countdown (to be fair, I’d do the same in his place), and he went out of his way to fix the Rogues stuff from The Fastest Man Alive run. He clearly gets annoyed about it.
However, he’s hardly the only writer guilty of bringing back characters to kill them or killing off characters he dislikes. Waid did it too, as I mentioned. A lot of writers do it. It’s a common lazy tactic to make your villain seem scary — have them kill an established character.