Men With Hats

June 25th, 2006

Filed under: Comics

Look at male characters in comic books and what do you see? Most have of full heads of hair, but a few are strikingly bald.

Now take a look around at the men of the real world and what do you see? Many men have a full head of hair and there are a few who are completely bald (but not as many as in the comics), but a large number of men are losing their hair. Where are these balding men in the comic books? Few and far between.

In the comics, balding men seem to fall into one of three categories: Servants or Advisors, C-list Villans/Heroes, or Mysterious Cosmic Powers.

Servants/Advisors include:
Alfred
Jarvis
Lucien
Vulko

C-Listers include:
Dr Druid
The Ventriloquist

Cosmic Powers include:
Guardians of Oa
Elders of the Universe

This is simply unfair, and as a man beset by limited follicular resources, I call upon the comic book creative community to bring us more realistic male character hairlines. Givem me major heroes and villains who find themselves irritated by hair restoral commercials on TV, who wear a hat at all times when out in public (a la Tim McGraw), or who sunburn their scalp because they forget they have to put sunsceen up there too.

*As far as I can tell, there is one A-list balding villain (Ra’s Al Ghul). There are also 2 balding upper B-list villains, but in both of these cases, the hair loss accentuates their character. Baron Mordo’s balding is yet another another reason he’s not as good as Stephen Strange (who has a whole head of hair), and Hector Hammond’s hair loss is used to accentuate the physical weakness/mental strength dichotomy.

15 Responses to “ Men With Hats ”

  1. Chuck T.
    June 26th, 2006 at 9:00 am

    I swear, I’m this close to having the Reed Richards grey temples. (Also ala Nick Fury and Dr. Strange.) I’m pretty sure that isn’t supposed to happen in nature, so I blame too many comics.

  2. mike.
    June 26th, 2006 at 9:58 am

    Everyone knows that balding men are an ineffectual, conniving sort, always trying to take what little power they can away from their hair-ed superiors. “8^p

  3. Erich
    June 26th, 2006 at 10:40 am

    Some time ago, a theatre company in Atlanta produced a play called “Mr. 4-Wheel Drive,” an affectionate spoof of super-hero comics. The title role was played by a young, handsome, talented…and balding…actor named John Benzinger, who perfectly captured the super-hero persona. So, although he’s never actually appeared in comics, there is at least one follically challenged hero out there.

    Here’s an old on-line review with a picture of Benzinger (unfortunately not in costume):

    http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A15970

  4. Jeff R.
    June 26th, 2006 at 11:39 am

    Doesn’t the Penguin count, here?

  5. Matt B.
    June 26th, 2006 at 1:02 pm

    Thinning hair would be fairly difficult to draw, as the temptation is to use lines to denote specific hairs, but then the more lines, the thicker the hair will seem. But receeding hairlines would be more easily done, certainly. That may be down to writers, more than artists, for not calling for such characters to be designed. But I think if you look at crowd shots in lots of comics, the artists often include bald or balding extras/bystanders or secondary characters (uncles, bartenders, etc).

  6. David Ferraro
    June 26th, 2006 at 1:15 pm

    Hey, isn’t Lex Luther bald? He’s like THE villain of DC.

  7. Scott
    June 26th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
    Official Comment

    Lex is completely bald, and a good number of A-list heroes and villains are bald. I’m looking for characters who are balding, and not purely bald.

    The Penguin is a good example. It seems that Batman has the most balding villains.

  8. Nina K
    June 26th, 2006 at 5:59 pm

    Black Adam has that rising widow’s peak hairline.

    Namor has it too, depending on who’s drawing him.

  9. Steven
    June 26th, 2006 at 7:10 pm

    Black Adam is Namor with pants.

    A lot of the original JSA had gone bald before they died or were de-aged. Jay Garrick still has thinning hair (and wears a hat to cover it up!) Alan Scott does too, when he’s looking old.

    The Ultra-Humanite, despite being in an APE BODY, has a bald spot (though that maybe for easy brain access).

  10. Kevin Melrose
    June 26th, 2006 at 7:38 pm

    A few Bat-villains are balding/thinning: Riddler, Mad Hatter (I think), Zsasz …

    Dr. Strange foe Baron Mordo is losing the mystical battle of the hairline, too. The Leader is in similar shape.

  11. Blog@Newsarama » Meanwhile…
    June 27th, 2006 at 2:13 pm

    [...] Where are the superheroes who are balding? Look at male characters in comic books and what do you see? Most have of full heads of hair, but a few are strikingly bald. [...]

  12. Jim Treacher
    June 27th, 2006 at 2:18 pm

    Sometimes they draw the Hulk like his skull got bigger but he still has the same amount of hair circumference as Banner. Is is it radius? I always get those mixed up.

  13. Dizzy D
    June 27th, 2006 at 4:31 pm

    Does X-factor’s Strong Guy count? He’s not completely bald, but his patch of hair is on his forehead, Deadpool’s hair was similar in a joke in Gail Simone’s Deadpool-run; a single patch of hair on an otherwise completely bald head.

  14. Chris M
    June 28th, 2006 at 1:01 am

    ‘Green Arrow has a bald spot. That’s why he wears the hat.’ – Ralph Dibney, Identity Crisis, no 1.

  15. boolean
    June 29th, 2006 at 4:01 am

    I just chalk it up to the same reason why there are few overweight super-heroes and villains.

    Most of the characters in comic books are much better looking than us.

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