And in this corner, our champion, Jakita Wagner. She is fond of hitting people in the brains until they stop fighting. 
I'd like today to gush just a little, if you don't mind, about just how happy comics/TV scribe Brian K. Vaughan makes me. Or, rather, how happy Mr. Vaughan's writings make me; while I have no doubt that his personal happy-making skills are considerable, I've never met the guy, so we'll just stick with the stuff he's written for now.
I've never read any of BKV's output that I haven't at least liked, and most of it I've absolutely loved. As I told Timmy B. a few days ago, I'm pretty sure Vaughan could write a long-form comics series focusing on the trials and tribulations of a multi-generational clan of overly-flatulent mole rats and I'd dig the hell out of it. The man can almost do no wrong by me, and I say the "almost" only because there's always a possibility he could write something that just didn't hit me right. So far, though, that possibility remains theoretical.
I truly love the fact that if you boil most of Vaughan's works down to the one-sentence high-concept pitch, they don't necessarily sound like anything exceptional, and can even border on the trite — I love it because it's proof that execution trumps concept (at least in his case), and that's inspiring to me as a writer who doesn't feel like his ideas are anything exceptional. C'mon... Y: The Last Man isn't exactly the first "last man on Earth" story ever written, but what BKV has done with the story has been moving and compelling and exciting and generally most excellent. I'll happily leave the "mad ideas" to the likes of Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis, but I'll take Vaughan's work over theirs most any day. [1]
Some selected highlights from the Vaughan Oeuvre:
• Runaways. Six kids in L.A. discover that their parents are super-villains and, well, run away. Vaughan makes the personalities of each of these kids distinct and appealing in their own way (especially appealing: eleven-year-old mutant Molly). Sure, BKV frequently succumbs to Joss Whedon-esque Real Kids Don't Talk This Way syndrome (Vaughan actually turned the writing of this book over to Whedon after thirty issues), but hey, what the dialogue lacks in realism it more than makes up for in entertainment value.
• Y: The Last Man. As noted above, not the most original concept ever, but just a terrific batch of characters and situations. Y shows off one of the things Vaughan does best: thinking through the ramifications of his setup and of the actions of his characters. Almost every issue of Y features a moment of "Well, duh, of course that's what would happen if suddenly all the men were gone."
• Pride of Baghdad. A graphic novel based on the true story of four lions who escaped from the ruins of the Baghdad Zoo after the U.S.'s initial attacks on the city in 2003. Disturbing, sad, haunting... and I mean that as a compliment.
• Ex Machina. Not quite Runaways-good or Y-good, but still damn enjoyable. One-time superhero Mitchell Hundred uses the goodwill he generated after saving New York City to get himself elected mayor. Ex Machina boasts far more political intrigue than it does big superhero action (though it has a fair share of that, too). Vaughan tries hard to strike some balance and not let Hundred's liberal tendencies turn this into a left-wing diatribe; Hundred's idealistic liberalism gets regularly smashed by the realities of a less-than-ideal world. Also: the first issue of Ex Machina features one of the single most breathtaking final pages of any comic I've ever read.
• Doctor Strange: The Oath. I just read this one last week — thanks, Timmy B! I've never cared all that much for Doctor Strange; I didn't hate him, but neither the character nor the mystical corner of the Marvel Universe he inhabits eever interested me much. Vaughan, however, wrote a Doc Strange I'd be happy to read more about: arrogant without being assholish, fiercely loyal to his friends, charismatic, possessed of a biting sense of humor and immensely powerful.
Vaughan's been scaling back on his comics work over the last year or so as he's now a story editor for Lost, which makes me want to watch that show again (as does the presence of Buffy vet Drew Goddard on the writing staff). But as good as Vaughan would be at the TV game if he gets pulled farther in that direction — his episodic storytelling skills seem profoundly influenced by television — I hope he keeps several toes in the comics pool, as I'd truly miss reading his words.
(Cross-posted in a slightly altered form at Allen's site.)
Armor-Plated Captain America — The last time Cap got a serious costume update, it wasn't by someone with the design sense of Alex Ross. In fact, I'm not sure it was someone with the design sense of my five-year-old. Here's the deal: Steve Rogers' body begins to break down because, I don't know, he's old or something. (Who paid attention to the details of any Marvel comic in the mid-90's, really?) Anyway, Steve-O's forced into wearing a star-spangled exoskeleton (read: armor) to keep his body from falling apart on him. (Ah, the 90's! Just look at all that needless over-rendering! Good times.) Obviously at some point he got himself fixed up so that he could go back to his regular duds, but I couldn't tell you how. And even if I could tell you, I honestly don't think I'd care to.
Armor-Plated Batman — Surely you know the basics of the near-interminable Knightfall story which overran the Batman titles in the early part of the 90s by now: 'roid-rager Bane snaps Batman's back; a crippled Bruce Wayne handles the mantle of the Bat to serious nutjob Azrael, who adopts a ludicrously over-the-top armored costume for his time as Batman. While the look of the costume certainly matched the mental state and background of the character wearing it, the design itself was terrible and nearly impossible to draw in any way that didn't look ridiculous, as you can see right over there on the laughable cover of Detective Comics #567 (drawn by Kelley "all humans have 300 ribs, right?" Jones).
Armor-Plated Daredevil — Why did Daredevil ditch his normal red togs for black-and-red armor? Because the 90s, that's why. (OK, it's because his secret identity became public knowledge and he, I dunno, thought that changing his costume would give the media something new to talk about during their next news cycle so they'd leave him the hell alone. How many times can this guy have his ID outed and deny it before the public stops believing him? Lindsay Lohan's "rehab was so good for me, I'm never ever going to party anymore!" claims have more credibility at this point.)
Armor-Plated Booster Gold — Are you starting to sense a theme here? Booster, much like Captain America, needed his armor to say alive after getting an arm hacked off and other internal injuries. Luckily, Booster's best friend was a super-genius and could cobble up some life-support armor for him that just happened to match the color scheme of his costume! (Yes, this was the start of the "darkening" of the Giffen-DeMatties Justice League that Dan DiDio has had such fun with over the last few years.)
Bug-Girl Wasp — As part of the Avengers aptly-named mega-crossover "The Crossing," most of the team got spiffy new designs courtesy of then-series artist Mike Deodato. Some of the uniforms were fairly decent (like the Scarlet Witch's), some were just a little different (like Hawkeye's or Thor's) and some were... well, they turned the Wasp into a big orange-and-pink bug. [1] The design of Bug-Jan wasn't particularly appealing, and the treatment of the character seemed even less so. Luckily, something positive came out of the Heroes Reborn/Heroes Return hooey which followed shortly after: this move was wiped off the books.
Electro Superman — Honestly, I don't think I'd hate this costume or this power set... if it weren't supposed to be Superman. I mean, c'mon, DC. Changing Superman so completely (and yes, they tried to pull the "No, this is permanent, we swear!" routine) was done just to get the media to look their way for a few moments. Was it worth it, DC? Was it worth absolutely bastardizing your number-one asset, just to get some play on CNN? *sigh* This is why nobody likes you, y'know. Everyone's all cool to you to your face, but behind your back, they're all "That sumbitch DC don't got no respect, it's all 'Hey, look at us break Batman's back!' or 'Hey, look, Superman done stuck his finger in a light socket, ooooh!'"
Noseless Wolverine — Does this count as a redesign, when it was really more of an obviously temporary state for the character? Well, I'm going to say yes, because if I don't, then I can't include this atrocity here. So something happened to Logan which regressed him to an even more animalistic state than normal (yes, again, I'm a bit fuzzy on the details), and apparently "more animalistic" when applied to Wolverines means "big fangs, poor posture and no nose." Yet for all of the oddness to his appearance, the loss of his ability to speak in more than grunt, the dragging his knuckles along the ground... Logan still felt the need to tie a flap of cloth with eyeholes in it around his head to wear as a "mask." Erm... wha huh?
Bike Shorts Wonder Woman — Don't get me wrong here: I actually love me some bike shorts. But that doesn't really say "Wonder Woman" to me, y'know? Neither does all the black. Also, another clue that we're in the 90s: the jacket. Not an absolute travesty as compared to some of the other designs on this list, but if it weren't for the "WW" motif, this design wouldn't even be recognizable as Wonder Woman. (This design also qualifies as part of the "Temporarily Replacing An Icon With An Unworthy Stand-In" trend, which hit most every major hero at some point during the decade, but that's for some later post. This one's long enough already.)
Torn Hoodie Spider-Man — Oh, look, another installment of "Temporarily Replacing An Icon With An Unworthy Stand-In," though I guess Spider-Man's clone would theoretically be just as worthy as he, right? Anyway, once Ben Reilly, the aforementioned clone of Spidey, decided to take on his own Spideriffic identity, he threw together a red bodysuit and a ratty blue spider-emblazoned sweatshirt which would do Bill Belichick proud. And thus was born: the embarrassingly-named Scarlet Spider! This one counts as a redesign to me as since Ben even took over the lead role in the main Spider-Man books for a little while. This costume? Uuuugly, especially in comparison to the other new Spidey costume we got for awhile in the 90's (the one now worn by Spider-Girl, Spider-Man's alternate-timeline future daughter. Clones taking over for the characters from which they were cloned? Potential-future offspring from alternate realties? Who says comics are hard to penetrate for new readers!)
Skinhead Hulk — Not technically a costume redesign, true, but the hairless Hulk just never looked right to me. He looked more ridiculous than scary, even under the pencils of John Romita, Jr. During the early part of writer Bruce Jones' run on The Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner buzzed his dome in an attempt to hide from... well, everybody, since it seems that Banner-as-Hulk had done Something Bad. While we spent a lot of time with Baldie Bruce, we didn't actually see a full shot of the Hulk for several issues as Jones built the Hulk up using the "what you don't see is scarier" technique. And then, once we got a good look at Romita's Hulk... I snickered when I should've been shuddering.
7.Coast City:
6.Riverdale: Don't let his pratfalls fool you. Don't judge him by the wacky predicaments he finds himself in. Archie Andrews rules Riverdale with an iron fist (and a letterman's sweater). Betty and Veronica are smitten with him only because their familes are desperate to avoid his wrath.
5.Snowtown: 
4.Astro City: While Fell above uses its locale as a external force acting on its hero, Kurt Busiek's Astro City does the opposite. The people, the streets, the landmarks... they're all Astro City, and Busiek's mission is to show you how the hero affects the city.
1.Opal City: If you haven't yet, go read as much of James Robinson's Starman as you can get your hands on. You almost forget you're reading a traditional (not to mention fictional) superhero comic, with nearly every page soaked with the history of one of the DCU's oldest cities. Starman's finale, where the city itself is the target of a brutal and vengeful attack, is everything comics used to aspire to but by and large don't anymore.
10. Shazam #12: Mmmmmary Mmmmmarvel. I think I just realized why I loathe Countdown.
9. World's Finest #226: Superman (to Batman): "Metamorpho, the Doorknob of the DCU. Everybody gets a turn."
8. JLA #116: For my money, Justice League America had the most consistently good 100-page Giant covers, so it was hard to narrow it down to the few in this list. These days, kids see that cover and assume Santa just can't hold his hooch. Back then? Mind-blowing and frightful. (I don't have the issue handy--can someone explain why Dr. Mid-Nite's on the cover? The story's not titled Crisis at the North Pole.)
7. Shazam #16 Back in the day, I always wondered why the Seven Deadly Sins looked so goofy, but now it makes perfect sense. Would you really expect Greed or Sloth to look like something out of Hellraiser?
5. Detective Comics #440: Don't know how much influence DC's large line of spooky comics (House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Ghosts, etc.) had on many of these Giants, but take a close look and you'll see creepiness everywhere. 
4. World's Finest #225: See what I mean? "Bow Before Satan's Children"? Brrr... not seeing that on Super Friends Saturday morning.
3. Brave and the Bold #116:Here's a Spectre who would simply not abide by the Goddamn Batman.
2. Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #202: Much like modern comics, this actual scene doesn't take place in the book. But unlike the comics of today, there's at least Devil Fish in this story. 
1. Detective Comics #439: This cover didn't grab me as immediately as some others in this list did the first time I saw it, but this image sticks with me to this day, so much so that it was easily the first comic I considered for the 10. It also contains a Batman story easily in the top 5 all-time. (I know this list is about covers, but you gotta be able to break ties somehow.)
