Bronze Age Babies: Who's the Best... Male/Female Partnership?

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Who's the Best... Male/Female Partnership?

30 comments:

Edo Bosnar said...: Mr. Miracle (Scott Free) and Big Barda.
Close runner-up: Ka-zar and Shanna.; October 9, 2014 at 6:06 AM
Anonymous said...: Doug & Karen!; October 9, 2014 at 6:28 AM
Anonymous said...: Reed and Sue Richards - they're the longest lasting couple in Marveldom and they've split up a couple of times but always get back together.; October 9, 2014 at 6:59 AM
Doug said...: Anonymous --

Stop it...

Edo, your suggestion made me do a forehead slap. I could not for the life of me come up with a reasonably high profile couple from DC other than the Hawks, so I settled on Joker and Harley. Good suggestion by you!

Colin, given your nomination centers around marriage, we could suggest Hank and Jan Pym, although their tenure as crime-fighting partners ended back in the Silver Age.

Doug; October 9, 2014 at 7:31 AM
david_b said...: NICE ONE, Anonymous..

I'm watchin' the old 'Thin Man' series now. I'm loving their shared screentime and chemistry. Highly recommended.

Perhaps Bronze Age Robin and Batgirl..? Some of the later Batman Family issues were starting to improve both art and stories.

(Donnie Heck was driving me bananas.....)

I'd go for Silver/Bronze DD and Widow. Not only did Natasha prove herself as DD's equal (slightly more so than female fatale), but their ultimate breakup was done in a very stark yet dramatic/mature way, and like most mature relationships in real life, it went on for months. Last year, I collected all the issues during that period and it was frankly riveting. Luckily, writers brought Natasha in several time since then. Some breakups never quite last, yet I saw some broad character development out of both in the process.

Colin, I'd like to vote for Reed/Sue, but other than the marriage, I never saw them doing much by way of equal teamwork outside of the foursome.

Perhaps Hank/Jan when Byrne drew them in MTU.; October 9, 2014 at 8:14 AM
Dr. Oyola said...: I would suggest Scott & Jean (Cyclops and Marvel Girl), except that wouldn't be true.

I am going to have to give this more thought.

I can think of one's I don't like (like Spider-Man & Black Cat) more than ones I do.; October 9, 2014 at 8:23 AM
Anonymous said...: Well my first thought was Cloak and Dagger. Not sure why but I always like them as a pair.; October 9, 2014 at 8:56 AM
J.A. Morris said...: I'll go with Scarlet Witch & Vision. I don't care if John Byrne compared their coupling to a woman being married to a toaster.; October 9, 2014 at 9:11 AM
Anonymous said...: #1) Sue and reed, #2) Jan and Hank. 2 very different relationships.; October 9, 2014 at 10:02 AM
Anonymous said...: What about brother/sister combos? ... Aurora & Northstar, Sue & Johnny Storm, and of course Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver; October 9, 2014 at 10:07 AM
William said...: How about Daredevil and Black Widow. They even shared a title for a few years.; October 9, 2014 at 10:25 AM
david_b said...: Ok, I revise my opinion on Hank/Jan.

I was reminiscing on all the 'Must-Save-Jan' moments Hank had, but repondering it, they did make a pretty solid team in the Silver Age, more hit-miss perhaps in the '70s and '80s.; October 9, 2014 at 10:27 AM
david_b said...: William..,

Check my post a few hours ago.; October 9, 2014 at 10:27 AM
Doug said...: I liked the nostalgic aspect of Jan teaming with Scott Lang during the Under Siege storyline.

Thinking back to the Bronze Age (don't we just do that all the time?), a good buddy comic might have included the Hulk and Valkyrie. But only with art by Our Pal Sal.

Doug; October 9, 2014 at 10:34 AM
Garett said...: Joker and Harley Quinn are the most popular couple at Comic Cons in the last couple years.; October 9, 2014 at 11:58 AM
Anonymous said...: Ralph and Sue.; October 9, 2014 at 12:52 PM
Anonymous said...: How about Green Arrow and Black Canary; they didn't always get along perfectly (mainly because of Ollie being a dick), but when they worked, they worked well.

Mike W.; October 9, 2014 at 1:18 PM
david_b said...: Gawwwwd if I SEE ANOTHER HARLEY cosplay, I... will.. barf..

Most, sincerely, 'MOST over-done cosplay character ever'.; October 9, 2014 at 1:20 PM
Karen said...: My brain is completely fried after work, but I was trying to come up with an example of a good non-romantic couple. Failing, obviously. On TV, I enjoy the pair on the show Sleepy Hollow. It is goofy as heck but the two leads work well together.

Well, I liked Iron Fist and Misty Knight, although they were a romantic couple.; October 9, 2014 at 6:55 PM
Humanbelly said...: Ohhhh, DaveB-- you got the drop on the first. . . THE FIRST!. . . partnership that came to my mind: Nick & Nora Charles! There are bits in those movies (mostly from Myrna Loy's delightful delivery) that make my wife & I roar every single time we watch them. We've probably watched that first film ten times. . . and I still lose track of who exactly did what.

I feel like the comics world could use some more regular male/female partnerships that are non-romance based. Oh, I've always been on board w/ most of the relationships mentioned above (that I've been familiar with)-- and would add Hawkeye/Mockingbird to the list, although they never got handled very well once they were established. It pretty much became a contest to see how irreversibly the relationship could be screwed up once they got married.

So, the one that I like the best in comics would have to be Smax & ToyBox from Alan Moore's TOP 10. A couple of Metahuman "beat cops", that develop a grudging and very deep non-romantic affection for one another. A clear and intentional television-inspired cliche' that works very well (as good cliche's often do, eh?).
Given the television connection, I'd agree w/ Karen on our Sleepy Hollow heroes. And would add the really, really, REALLY nice, slow, sincere bond that's been built between Joan Watson & Sherlock Holmes in ELEMENTARY. I'm loving that one a lot, yes.

Oh! Can I toss in Harry Dresden & Karen Murphy from the Dresden Files? ANYBODY read that series besides HBSon & myself? O'course, that one is hopelessly based on romance repressed/denied. . .

HB; October 9, 2014 at 7:57 PM
Martinex1 said...: I always enjoyed Hank and Jan in the earlier days. Would have liked to see a Yellowjacket / Wasp series. May not be popular but I liked Cap and Diamondback. However Polaris/Havok, Dr Strange/Clea and Medusa/Blackbolt never did much for me. I do like Adam Warlock and Gamora and wish they did more with them. But the all time best male-female partnership: Starhawk/Aleta. Oh boy.; October 9, 2014 at 8:54 PM
Humanbelly said...: Ooo--

Sugar and Spike--????

HB; October 9, 2014 at 9:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Well I got nothing original to add so I'l just echo the popular choices here - Cloak & Dagger, Reed & Sue, DD & Black Widow, Hank & Janet Pym, Scarlet Witch & QUicksilver.

- Mike 'still looking for Mrs. Right' from Trinidad & Tobago.; October 9, 2014 at 9:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Ohh how could I forget - Thor & Sif!

- Mike 'Odin's 23,856th cousin' from Trinidad & Tobago.; October 9, 2014 at 9:54 PM
Rip Jagger said...: Let me add E-Man (Alec Tronn) and Nova (Kane) to the list. The addled alien and the stripper with a heart of gold are a classic team and have a delightful banter.

Rip Off; October 10, 2014 at 2:01 AM
Edo Bosnar said...: D'oh! How could I forget E-man and Nova?! Good one, Rip.
I also agree with HB's suggestion about Smax and Toybox. Another good non-romantic, male/female partnership in Top 10 was Irmageddon and Officer Joe Pi (although I'm not sure if it counts since he's a robot).

Karen's right, though: in comics at least, it's pretty hard to find non-romantic male/female partnerships.; October 10, 2014 at 4:13 AM
Humanbelly said...: Oh, I think he counts, edo. A robot, sure-- and unless I'm wildly mistaken, a Transformer-cloned one at that-- but clearly one programmed to adhere to a gender identity. That partnership just developed so late in the series that I was reluctant to submit it. Geeze, what a great, GREAT bunch of characters. . . now I want to go read it all over again. . .

HB; October 10, 2014 at 8:43 AM
dbutler16 said...: I'd have to go with Ralph & Sue. Reed & Sue is probably runner up. Reed can act like a jerk as a husband sometimes, but heck, they've been married 50 years.; October 10, 2014 at 2:49 PM
Teresa said...: Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad. They have been together since the early 1960s Adventure Comics.; October 10, 2014 at 8:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Katar and Shayera were way ahead of their time in terms of an equal marital partnership. Too bad they never made a comeback in a more marriage-friendly era. Ka-Zar and Shanna were awesome when she first replaced Bobbi Morse as the series female lead.; October 11, 2014 at 9:46 AM

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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Who's the Best... Male/Female Partnership?

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