"Forgotten" Heroes

Ah, the comics of my mis-spent youth. In the mid-Eighties, DC Comics could get me to pick up nearly anything with an Eduardo Barretto cover.

I remember seeing the cover to DC Comics Presents #77, not knowing any of the characters on the cover (other than Superman, of course) but instantly falling in love with the leggy platinum blonde in the Daisy Dukes, the monkey and Aquaman's ugly dressin' cousin to the right of Superman. How could one not? They were after all rendered with grace by the sainted Barretto. From this cover and the story contained within, I learned about eight supposedly "forgotten" heroes:

Animal Man, Dane Dorrance, Dolphin, Rip Hunter, Cave Carson, Congorilla, The Immortal Man and Rick Flag.

With puberty some twenty years behind me, I thought we'd take a look at the status of The Forgotten Heroes:

Animal Man: 19 years ago, Animal Man was re-re-introduced to comic fans with a new series written by Grant Morrison. Morrison wrote the first 26 issues with critical and commercial success. Animal Man even went on to briefly join The Justice League. Animal Man is also one of the few DC Comics characters with the ability to cross between the DC and Vertigo universes. Animal Man was last seen playing a key role in DC weekly maxiseries, 52 and is also slated to be one of the main characters in the upcoming Countdown To Adventure mini-series.

Dolphin: After meeting Aquaman in the pages of his monthly, Dolphin had a brief romance with The Sea King. Later, Aquaman's former sidekick, Tempest, the former Aqualad, met and fell in love with and married her. They've since had a child and after an attack on Atlantis by The Spectre, her and the child have gone missing.

Rip Hunter: After aiding the bringing about of The Multiverse, Rip Hunter is due to play a major role in the upcoming Booster Gold series.

Dane Dorrance: After re-forming The Sea Devils, Dorrance has recently been seen in the pages of Aquaman.

Immortal Man: Killed during The Crisis On Infinite Earths, Immortal Man hasn't been seen since. Although, let's be real, wasn't Ressurection Man basically an Immortal Man series?

Rick Flag: Flag went on to head-up The Suicide Squad and after dying and not dying again, he's re-formed The Suicide Squad and is due to star in a new Suicide Squad mini-series.

Cave Carson: Recently seen in the pages of JSA helping rescue Sand from the earth's crust.

Congorilla: Formerly known as Congo Bill and once was the star of his own movie serial, he is also one of DC Comics' oldest heroes. He was later merged with a giant mystical golden gorilla and as we all know, nothing says DC Comics like a giant mystical golden gorilla. Since his stint in The Forgotten Heroes, Congorilla has starred in two Vertigo mini-series.

For a bunch of Forgotten Heroes, not too bad, huh?

So, my question to you is this:

"Which DC Universe characters deserve to be "forgotten?"