Best and worst comic book mothers

[Missy]

Here's Newsarama's list of the best and worst comic book mothers.

I can't speak about all of them, but I'd swap Aunt May's place with Martha Kent's, if only because she's been a single "mother" for most of Peter's life. Martha had Jonathan to help her guide Clark into adulthood, whereas May has been alone for almost 15 years.

As for worst mothers, where's Mystique? She raised Rogue to be a villain, and had her permanently absorb Ms. Marvel's powers. She had a tryst with a demon, and then threw the baby (RE: Nightcrawler) over a waterfall. And she birthed Graydon Creed after a fling with Sabretooth, gave the kid up for adoption, then later assassinated him.

[dc20willsave]

Yeah, they were definitely reaching on some of the choices. The Alien Queen is not a comic book character and even then, she's trying to feed her children and make sure they grow strong. As for Catwoman and Black Canary, in both cases they're trying to give their children better lives that they know superheroine mothers would be less likely to give, especially when one kid is targeted by fucking assassins and the other's mother has a pretty long enemy list.

[Missy]

Martha Wayne being on there -- especially as number three -- "because she never taught Bruce Wayne coping skills" is bullshit. It's a poor attempt at a bad joke.

[Koete]

I think the Invisible Woman is so high on the list because Reed forces her to live by 1950's American values.

[KnightWing]

I'd say that Martha Kent deserves her place as number-one not because of any hardship she had to endure, but because she was a more positive influence on Clark than May was on Peter.

Martha was fully aware of her son's otherworldly abilities, and taught him to use them to better mankind. She knew him and accepted him as he was, and helped raise him to be the greatest hero of all time.

May didn't even know Peter had abilities for a long while (now she's forgotten again), and during that time she mostly served to make Peter worry. Sure, she provided moral support for Peter, but wasn't so supportive of Spider-Man until she found out that he was her nephew. And, unfortunately, in many of the Spider-Man stories, May is portrayed as being rather dim-witted, being completely oblivious to Peter's alter-ego. She's generally used as a target for super-villains.

[Koete]

May didn't even know Peter had abilities for a long while (now she's forgotten again), and during that time she mostly served to make Peter worry show how tirelessly and selflessly Peter worked to support himself and his Aunt.

Fixed.

Sure, she provided moral support for Peter, but wasn't so supportive of Spider-Man until she found out that he was her nephew.

She and Uncle Ben also raised Peter to be the person he was, albeit without the alien from another planet factor. And her love of Peter/dislike of Spider-Man was another dichotomy of the Spider-Man mythos.

She's generally used as a target for super-villains.

And survived them all, even getting the upper hand on them in some cases. How many scrapes has Martha Kent been in?

[KnightWing]

That's all true; I won't argue with you about that.

I just think that Martha was a more purely positive influence than May was.

Granted, I'm focusing entirely on the eventual outcome of their motherly care, not how much hardship they had to endure. (I think Sarah Connor wins that one)

[You Know Who]

why the Hell is Lara Lor-Van on the list of top 10? why didn't she go into space with her son? or did the plot of "The Last Son of Krypton" just make her a bad mother? (this goes back to something you and James said in WFP #21)

[Molly]

Where's Carol Danvers on the worst list?

[slothian]

Martha Wayne being on there -- especially as number three -- "because she never taught Bruce Wayne coping skills" is bullshit. It's a poor attempt at a bad joke.

Agreed. I know my mum wasn't preparing me at the age of 8 for the possibility that she and dad might be shot dead in front of me.

[KnightWing]

Agreed. I know my mum wasn't preparing me at the age of 8 for the possibility that she and dad might be shot dead in front of me.

Random true story, albeit dealing with fathers, not mothers:

When I was fourteen, I was on my way out the door to go to school that morning when my dad suddenly started talking to me about college and responsibility and all that random crap. I was a little frustrated at him "wasting my time", and I almost cut him off right there to say I had to leave. However, a thought went through my head just then: "when Peter Parker was rude to his Uncle Ben, he really regretted it later." So I was patient and listened through his story, and probably learned a thing or two about life because of it. That was the last time I ever saw him alive; later that afternoon, his aorta ruptured (we're still not sure why), and he died before I got home from school.

So yeah, a lesson I learned from Spider-Man kept me from making my last words to my father harsh ones.

[Missy]

Holy shit! Thank goodness you listened to your gut.