When I was younger, I always wanted t-shirts with my favorite hero symbols on them, especially The Flash, but they were never available. Ironically, as I have aged, such products have become more and more common, but were too expensive when I was broke in college, and too small for me to wear once I reached an age where I had money. (This phenomenon is known as the middle-class fortyish fat guy’s lament.) Still, these days, even a man of my girth has access to Superman, Green Lantern and Flash merchandise, a veritable plethora of options, which then leads me to having to decide which I want, and also to today’s query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) always liked Ultra Boy’s big green “dragon” symbol, even if it took far too many years for me to realize that it represented the ‘space whale’ that ate him, asking: What character has the coolest, most dynamic symbol of all?
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I’ve a huge weakness for the Legion symbol, specifically as the flight ring. I’m not really a merchandise buying kind of guy, but I did pick up the flight ring when it was offered
There used to be a relatively famous shirt printing company in the Cleveland area called Daffy Dan’s. In my youth, Daffy Dan himself would beam his glorious feathered mullet and weird 70s bushy moustach into our living rooms through the magic of television. During these commercials he would scream “and if YOUR shirt doesn’t have a double d on the sleeve IT’S JUST UNDERWEAR!!!”
and that is why I will always be a little bit partial to the Daredevil logo.
I’m partial to the Bat-family logos.
They may not be as cool or dynamic as some symbols, but I’m partial to the Green Lantern symbol and Superman’s S shield.
Of course, there is also something to be said for the Decepticon logo, the Ghostbusters symbol, the Seal of Rassilon from Doctor Who and the Gokaiger pirate key symbol.
Superman. An icon (in the modern sense). Universally recognised (even outside pop-culture) as a symbol of power, right and decency. Cap’s shield symbol is growing in familiarity to mean the same things. Both are cool and dynamic, as the question asks, and familiar to the public at large.
If Dredd’s shield counts as a symbol then I’d have to go with that. Whilst Superman’s symbol is iconic and looks fantastic in many iterations, all it really tells you is that the guy’s name starts with an S (leaving aside the Kryptonian hieroglyph nonsense – it’s a freaking ‘S’). Dredd’s badge, on the other hand, communicates the core nature of the character and the themes of the book. He will – in the strictest possible sense – protect the innocent, and he should absolutely be feared as a ruthless agent of an authoritarian state.
Ralph Hinkley- The Greatest American Hero who wears the handles of scissors on his chest.