Greatest 12 Characters of the 1860's


A New Concept
A New Concept
The List 
These are the greatest characters of the 1860's who first appeared between 1860 and 1869.   .  These would be characters who will go on to be the biggest influences in comics either directly or indirectly.  In other words these will become great inspirations to future comic characters and stories. Right now they are in order of year.

New Stuff 
This is one of my favorite lists.  The characters here come from penny dreadfuls, dime novels, magazine serials, novels and even children's books.  There are always some that don't like a list usually for arbitrary reasons.  For example the Alice Characters.  Sure they were children's books but they were written that way to hide their political content.  The character's from these books have been used a million different ways.  For example two of them were emulated by Batman villains.  Alice's wonderland has a dark side that is intriguing.   I also love Gwynplain.  How can you look at him and not see the Joker?  Not to mention the horrors of the story.  
 Who is Gwyplain!
 Who is Gwyplain!

Here is the past list 
Greatest 12 Characters of the 1850's 

Here is the next list 
Greatest 12 Characters of the 1870's

List items

  • Philip Pirrip better known as Pip. Is the protagonist in a mystery/horror novel Great Expectations in 1860. His influence is broad even being depicted as one of the children in the South Park cartoon show.

  • The Blue Dwarf is sometimes evil and sometimes good to his friend Dick Turpin He first appeared in the Penny Dreadful called the Blue Dwarf in 1861.

  • Inspector Javert is the counterpart to Jean Valjean. Javert is the one who continues to peruse Valjean for his theft of the loaf of bread. The overzealous superhero can look back to Javert as a template.

  • Alice Liddle is the name of the person Alice was inspired by. Alice has had many different interpretations from adventure to horror. Not bad for a children's book. Alice first appeared in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865.

  • Just like Alice Mad Hatter first appeared in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865. He has been depicted in several different incarnation form the Disney cartoon and later movie to the Batman villain to the Murderous monster. There are at least five different versions of the character on this website alone. Check it out he has a least five character pages.

  • The Queen of Hearts was suppose to represent blind fury personified. Her most famous line being off their head. Just like her counterpart Queen of hearts has been depicted in many different incarnations and even as a Batman villain.

  • Michel Adren is the main character in perhaps the first science fiction story of all times. He is even depicted in video games, comics and movies still to this day. He first appeared in De la Terre à la Lune, in 1865 also known as From the Earth to the Moon. This book was surprisingly accurate even predicting the best place to launch from in Florida at almost the exact location of Today's Cape Canaveral.

  • Broad Arrow Jack lives a life of adventure and crime after his first appearance in the penny dreadful Broad Arrow Jack 1866. Penny deadfuls were a comic book precursor. Most recently Broad Arrow Jack serves as Captain Nemo's first officer aboard the Nautilus.

  • Gilliatt is an unlikely hero who even battles a giant octopus in the ocean. He first appeared in Les Travailleurs de la mer in 1866 also known as the Toilers of the Sea.

  • Abraham Lincoln is widely considered one of the greatest presidents of the United States. Shortly after his tragic assassination Abraham Lincoln became more and more widely featured in fiction starting with the story the Forest Boy in 1867.

  • His life was so intertwined with fiction it was difficult to even find the year of his first dime novel. As it turns out The first dime novel was published in 1867.

  • The Joker was directly based on Gwynplain. His entire look was made to resemble the character from the film in 1928. The movie was based on the book written in 1869 and called the Man Who Laughs. Without Gwynplain there is no Joker.