As you know, here at WWAC, we’re committed to bringing you the hardest hitting critical analysis that can be found in comics. We cover the topics others are too afraid to cover! Explore the corners of comics as an industry that others are afraid to look in to! Spend several hours compiling a list of our favorite hair in comics! Wait, what?
Look, good hair is very important in comics. It says a lot about a character! Whether they’re controlled or chaotic, understated or dramatic, good hair needs to suit a character; it has to hang and fall just right, or blow properly in the wind if they’re in the middle of an action scene. That’s why we’ve worked together as a team to compile this important and objective list for your edification. Here’s WWAC’s list of the Hottest Hair in Comics.
Robbie Reyes
All-New Ghost Rider
Tradd Moore (artist)
First: I know that Robbie Reyes’ design was based on Zayn Malik. This means that Robbie’s hairstyle purposely mimics the kind of artfully disheveled quirkiness that sent many young music fans swooning at the height of One Direction’s fame. I know this, and I feel no shame, because this hairstyle had me swooning ever since I read the first issue of All-New Ghost Rider back in 2014. Plus, this is a list about the hottest hair in comics, so of course, I had to go with Ghost Rider.
Before the 2014 reboot, I only knew about this comic book character thanks to Nicolas Cage, who always seemed out-of-place in the Ghost Rider films with his slightly stiff swagger and receding, yet strangely tantalizing hairline. So, when Marvel premiered the latest character to take on this mystic mantle, I was instantly hooked by his updated aesthetic.
Tradd Moore graces Robbie with a badass hairstyle that he subtly manipulates with heavy inks and chaotic curls, telegraphing Robbie’s daily movements in the comics from “messy and lazy” to “gelled back and ready for action” when the story calls for it. Robbie’s bleached tresses are undeniably cool, and they reflect a carefree personality that is so often subdued in the comics due to the many external pressures that call for Robbie to be a responsible adult, perhaps too responsible, given his obviously young age. Even without all this analysis, Robbie’s hair is just really, really, ridiculously sexy, y’all. So it is with much regret that I draft this write up in memoriam, because Robbie is totally bald now in the comics. Thanks for nothing, Marvel.
—Paige S. Allen
Lottie “Snotgirl” Person
Snotgirl
Leslie Hung (illustration), Rachael Cohen (colors)
It’s big. It’s green. Lottie Person’s beautiful hair has a life of its own as it moves with the moods of its owner, a fashion blogger with severe allergies and a whole lot’ta denial. Lottie’s new best friend nicknames her “Snotgirl” at the start of the series, and the name sticks. The pristine fashion icon’s luminescent locks are as expressive as her hands and play a critical role in each of her outfits. One of Leslie Hung’s incredible talents is clothing illustration, and it truly shows in each of Lottie’s outfits. Her hair is as carefully drawn as each new dress, tee, and party outfit. It’s hot in every panel, even when Lottie is having an emotional breakdown. Part of Lottie’s appeal is in this vulnerability, but let me tell you: her hair is never vulnerable.
In fact, Snotgirl’s heroic, chic hair is so hot that writer and artist Bryan Lee O’Malley made it the focus of the very first variant cover he created for the comic when Snotgirl #1 was released in July 2016. From the bangs to the shading to the perfect poof in every emotionally extra scene, Snotgirl’s hair is a lime delight.
—Corissa Haury
Cyborg Franky
One Piece
Eiichiro Oda
Best hair in comics? Eiichiro Oda’s Cyborg Franky, without question. Franky has a super personality and uses his hair to express that. The pre-timeskip pompadour is what I adore. It’s big, blue, and very punk, soft and so shiny. It’s outlandish, but extremely on point and matches perfectly with his persona. All his subordinates have perfect hair, too. I think it’s his way of connecting with the parts of his humanity he lost when most of his body was crushed by a train. Especially after the timeskip and into the current timeline, it is common knowledge that Franky’s hair is as robotic as most of his body (it can change into literally anything at the push of a nose-button), but he still goes to the trouble of adding hair not only to his head, but to most of his body, too, in multiple styles for fun and to be great comic relief. Franky has a style for literally every occasion, and if you can dream it, Franky’s hair can be it.
—Mackenzie Pitcock
Hannah Vizari
Rat Queens
Roc Upchurch/Tess Fowler/Stjepan Sejic (illustrations), Roc Upchurch/Stjepan Sejic/Tamra Bonvillain (colors)
Demon baby Hannah Vizari has a secret to hide and the lustrous, flowing locks to conceal it. That demon heritage (thanks for refusing to keep it in your pants, mom) has graced her with two somewhat terrifying horns, even in a world of magic. So Hannah takes the top portion of her long black hair and styles it in careful bouffants around the horns, leaving the bottom to fall in waves down her back. Combined with her corset and gloves, the style gives her iconic pinup appeal. I loved the concept so much I stole it for Mercy, the tiefling monk I created for a recent Dungeons and Dragons campaign.
But Hannah’s hair is more than decoration. It’s part of her armor, establishing a barrier against the prejudices of the rest of the world. Through three volumes, you only see her with her hair down a handful of times, each a moment of extreme emotional vulnerability. And when she decides she’s done relying on that armor? Well, Hannah never does anything by halves, and she goes from pinup to punk in the blink of an eye.
—Laura Stump
Starfire
New Teen Titans and Teen Titans
Pencils: George Perez (New Teen Titans), Jonboy Meyers (Teen Titans); Inks: Ernie Colon (New Teen Titans); Colors: Adrienne Roy (New Teen Titans), Jim Charalampidis (Teen Titans)
Hottest hair, you say? Kory’s hair turns into a flame trail as she flies, so you can’t get much hotter than that. When she was introduced in the 1980s, she had that decade’s hair. It was big, and it hid lots of secrets. She was created by George Perez, who is one of the all time masters at drawing great hair. Kory’s hair (and lets be real, her body, too) were enough to get her a job as a model.
Kory’s hair has progressed over the years, but good hair has always been one of her defining physical characteristics. She no longer has giant goddamn ’80s hair, but she does have amazing orange to purple ombre hair, and I love it. It was hard for me to pick between Perez hair and the ombre hair. So I included both. BECAUSE I DO WHAT I WANT.
—Corinne McCreery
Storm
X-Men and all its variations
Various artists
Black hair is one of those things that is not often portrayed well in comics in general, mainstream comics in particular. Though there are a few artists who are taking more care with the intricacies of Black hair in its natural state, Storm remains a Black superhero icon that is most often portrayed without kinky hair. Her snow white tresses have almost always crowned the weather goddess like a jet stream or nimbus. She’s occasionally been bald, thanks to some bad guy’s machinations, sported short hair following said shaving, or worn her hair in braids. But the style that fans remember most, one that she keeps coming back to, is Mohawk Storm. When this look first appeared on the pages of Uncanny X-Men #173, it was a striking statement. It represented a woman who had come to Westchester Mansion as a naive, though still extremely powerful young woman, but, through her experiences, had grown into so much more.
—Wendy Browne
Charles Xavier
X-Men
A lot of artists, really just many
Sometimes the most iconic hair style is no hair at all. This is one of those times. Charles Xavier is rocking it just the way he is. He’s just one of those characters who’s so quintessential to me that I would never want to have him any other way. Plus, his baldness serves as a stage to really let his eyebrows shine, and my man Charles has some of the most iconic eyebrows in comics, too! In fact, as much as I love Patrick Stewart’s portrayal of Xavier, I think the eyebrows are the one aspect where he falls a little short. The Professor’s eyebrows allow him to be super expressive with his facial expressions. But whether he’s looking curious or angry, he’s always making a bold fashion statement in my heart.
—Jameson Hampton
Literally Everyone As Drawn By Alan Davis
X-Men, Excalbur, Etcetera
Alan Davis
Am I cheating? A little, maybe, but this entire article was my idea, and I have special editorial powers. If I can’t use those to talk about the single greatest hair-smith in all of comics, then what even is the point?
Chances are, you’ve seen Alan Davis hair. It has volume, texture, it moves with the wind. Davis styles hair with care, making each design unique to the character and still allowing each to shine. Look at that Excalibur image up there; Brian’s, on the far right, is blowing away from the sheer, forceful heat of the Phoenix flare Rachel has going on. Speaking of Rachel, she was queer-coding before it was cool—look at that butch mullet. Kurt Wagner’s is ever a tousled mess, serving the charming roguishness Nightcrawler is known for. Every single character, unique and vibrant—and that’s just the hair. How many artists are that thoughtful?
—Nola Pfau
John Constantine
Hellblazer, Constantine: The Hellblazer, et al
Riley Rossmo and Ivan Plascencia (above), and a bunch of other people
I don’t necessarily think that John Constantine has the best hair in the business, but it is (or it should be) good hair. He’s a former punk rocker turned two-bit conjurer with a penchant for getting his friends killed. He sucks. If he doesn’t look cool, he has nothing else going for him, and through the years his hair has seen a variety of lovely looks—blonde and combed back in Swamp Thing, long and hippie-scraggly in Fear Machine, or trimmed in a neat undercut in Constantine: The Hellblazer. Each one is a statement.
Being bald, too, is a statement, as Jameson covered in their thoughts on Charles Xavier. But Constantine is not Charles Xavier, not even a little, and making him bald is a fucking crime. Why would you do that? In what world would anything make Constantine shave off his hair, literally the only thing he has going right for him at any moment? Nevermind, I don’t care. I’m mad about him being bald and I’ll never forgive the people responsible.
—Melissa Brinks
And now, a very special eulogy for poor Constantine’s newly shorn status:
Alas, poor hairpiece! I knew it, Constantine. A coiffure
of infinite tousle, of most excellent pomade. It has
waved above your brow a thousand times; and now, how
absent on your bald head it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those locks that you have rumpled I know
not how oft. Where be your stubble now? your
tresses? your locks? your flashes of blonde insouciance,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to warm your own cold pate? quite orb-like?
Now get you to the hair restoration products, and seek it, let
you paint it an inch thick, to this favour you must
come; make it reign again. Prithee, Constantine, revive
this one thing.
—Emily Lauer
