Top Ten: Comic Book Vehicles (Part One)

Several months back, I listed my Top Ten Lamest Comic Book Vehicles, which inspired some good discussion in the comments section. So, to keep the conversation going, let's balance the cosmic scales by taking a look at the Top Ten COOLEST Comic Book vehicles. 

(According to ME, that is.)

The Spider-Mobile: In addition to its sporty dune-buggy design, the early 1970's roll-out of the Spider-Mobile was also a clever parody of crass commercialism and celebrity endorsements.  As part of their campaign to sell a new non-polluting car engine, the ad agency of Carter and Lombardo convinced a reluctant (yet cash-strapped) Spider-Man to lend his name to the promotion. With the help of gear-head Johnny "Human Torch" Storm, the Spider-Mobile made its debut in Spider-Man #130 (1974)...becoming a source of constant embarrassment and irritation for Web-Head until it sunk into the Hudson River less than a year later. More precisely, a dozen panels after the image below (from Spider-Man #141). Sure, as a concept the Spider-Mobile was a joke (a joke Spider-Man was in on), but it's cool design by artist Ross Andru demands the first slot on my Top Ten list.

 

The Asgardian Starjammer: Something I've always loved about Marvel's classic Thor series was its "Lord of the Rings meets Star Trek" fusion of fantasy and sci-fi elements. Take the Starjammer, for example. Looking like an ancient Scandinavian dragon ship, the enchanted Starjammer could sail the "seas" of the universe with only a sail and rudder as its only visible means of propulsion and navigation.  An odd sight, to be sure, but perfectly consistent with the surreal mythic/cosmic whimsy that made Thor such a consistent joy to read.

Brainiac's Skull Ship: When DC upgraded Brainiac from a green bald guy into a Gigeresque high-tech horror, they also traded in his old 50's era flying saucer for a terrifying new spaceship that mirrored his spooky, skull-like head. Adding to the creepy factor were giant tentacles snaking and probing from the bottom of the ship. Although Brainiac himself has undergone several more upgrades/retrogrades since then, the Skull Ship has managed to stick around in essentially the same sinister form.

The Silver Surfer's Board: Has there ever been a character more perfectly suited to the time of its creation than the Silver Surfer? Channeling the surf culture of the early 1960's, artist Jack Kirby inserted this mysterious chrome-plated character into the artwork of Fantastic Four #48 (1966), taking writer and F.F. co-creator Stan Lee completely off guard...though not for long. In fact, Lee added some polish to the Silver Surfer by infusing his dialogue with noble, philosophical musings that mirrored the hippy-dippy cosmic spirituality of the age. Although the character is still surfing the skyways today, no artist has ever surpassed (much less equaled) the streamlined cool and eerie grace of Kirby's Silver Surfer...with the heiroglyphics of elaborate flight paths zig-zagging in his wake.

 

 

The S.H.IE.L.D. Flying Car: Nearly two decades before a DeLorean flipped its wheels and flew into the closing credits of Back to the Future (1985), Marvel Comics entered the international spy craze in style with their flying Porsche 904. Built for the security organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. by Tony (Iron-Man) Stark, Nick Fury and his fellow agents could look classy on the road, then flip the wheels into hover-mode for aerial surveillance or a quick getaway! 

 

 

That'll do it for Part One. Stay tuned for the top five comic book vehicles in Part Two! Some will be obvious choices...but there may be a surprise or two as well.

Comments

[kwed]

Lovin the top 10 so far. I am calling the next 5, batmobile (duh), maybe Green Goblin's flier, the FF's jet...ok so I called 3 of the 5. It's a better percentage then I get on those quizzes.

[Jeff]

I dunno. As goofball as the Spider-Mobile was, it had to have saved a lot of web fluid for old Spidey. It didn't run on web fluid over gasoline, right?

Who knows, maybe Marvel will bring it back--With Transformers being a hot commodity now, I wouldn't be surprised. (:

[Nimbus]

If you've included the Silver Surfer's board in this list of vehicles then I guess Iron Man's suit of armour could also be considered a vehicle.

I also second the Batmobile and the FF's Fantasticar and add Blue Beetle's Bug and/or Nite Owl's Archie.

[Mark Engblom]

"If you've included the Silver Surfer's board in this list of vehicles then I guess Iron Man's suit of armour could also be considered a vehicle."

I realize the definition of a "vehicle" gets stretched with the inclusion of the surfboard, but here's my logic: I'm defining "vehicle" as anything separate from a character (or characters) that can transport them from point A to point B. I realize Iron-Man's armor is technically a separate entity from Tony Stark and a vehicle of sorts, but on a visceral level, you see one "object" when you view Iron-Man....and "two" when you view the Surfer on his board. So, that's why I've ruled out suits of armor in my survey yet kept the board.

Clear as mud? Good!

[Brian]

Great list so far, haven't heard of a few of them. That's why I love this site. Superman's spaceship with the fists at the front has to be number one. Always wanted that toy and never got it. Sigh...

[Hube]

Gotta disagree with you, Mark, about no one surpassing Kirby's depiction of the Surfer. IMO, no one outclasses [original SS series penciller] John Buscema in that regard.

[Mark Engblom]

Buscema was certainly one of the best Surfer artists (and one of the best overall artists), but I think it depends on which "version" of the Surfer one bests responds to. I wasn't much of a fan of the emo soliloquizer Stan Lee made the Surfer into, which (to me) will always be synonymous with Buscema's correspondingly overwrought body language. I love Buscema's work, but his tendency to push emotion to "volume level 11" sometimes crossed over into silent movie caricature.

Before the Surfer routinely covered his eyes with the crook of his arm in despair, Kirby's Surfer was a more mysterious, ethereal, and somewhat eerie figure. Part of that came from the way Kirby drew the Surfer's eyes...wide,unblinking, almost saucer-like, and evoking the big-head aliens of countless UFO stories. Kirby's body positions for the Surfer conveyed a single-minded confidence, his elaborate flights paths a complex, unsearchable intellect. I didn't get any of that with Buscema's Surfer...who often just stood and moped on his board, head in hands.

[Wes C]

Well I was going to say what Hube said...

I love Kirby's rendition of his own characters over anybody else, except for the Silver Surfer. Buscema really did make that character his own. The art Buscema did on the Surfers series is just incredible. Even if he is all emo.

I hope the "Flying Bathtub" Fantasticar makes it in the list. I've never cared much for the other clunkier version.

I remember liking the Black Knights Atomic Steed, hopefully that'll make an appearance.

[Cabin Campbell]

The number 1 coolest vehicle, the Atomic Knights giant, mutant Dalmatians. High five! Anyone? No one? Aw the heck with you guys!
P.S. Keep up the outstanding blogging!

[zubzwank]

Didn't Denzel Washington and another sub crew member get into who was the best Silver Surfer artist in Crimson Tide? Denzel came down on Kirby's side as I recall.

Didn't the golden age Fiddler (not Riddler) have a fiddle-mobile?
Wasn't there a Joker Sky Sled?
A one-shot hero named Starman in a Batman story had a Starplane I think.

While I see the reason for modernizing Brainiac's ship, the good ol' flying saucer worked pretty good. That style was good enough for Klaatu, Kurggo, Leslie Nielsen, Ray Harryhausen, the invasive saucer men, the thing (from another world, 2x) and many other distinguished visitors.

I always like the original fantasticar, too, even if many early fans wrote in calling it a flying bathtub. Why did the FF call their jet a pogo plane? Was it like a Harrier?

[Mark Engblom]

Brian and Zubzwank:

I did include the Supermobile and the Fiddle-Car...in my Top Ten Lamest Comic Book Vehicles, that is. Check out parts one and two to see them, plus eight other losers.

[stephen]

u got to love that flying porsche would love to see that in a fury movie