As I’ve mentioned multiple times on this blog, my all-time favorite comic book character is Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man. I discovered him just as I was getting into comics in the early 1990s — which is about when he achieved his first real taste of prominence — and his style, unique powers and sarcastic sense of humor solidified him as my guy.

This week, the first issue of the new Dazzler mini-series is coming out from Marvel Comics, and it will feature Multiple Man in a supporting role. Writer Jason Loo has been on quite the journey at Marvel since bursting onto the scene with his own love of Multiple Man, and I can’t wait to read Dazzler to see what he does with the characters in an actual, published comic (Loo has been doing great work with Madrox in the digital only Infinity comics).

To honor this new comic with Multiple Man in a supporting role, I decided to rank my favorite comics that have featured Multiple Man as a main or supporting character! Just for funsies, really.

6. Multiple Man

I just didn’t like writer Matthew Rosenberg’s take on Jamie Madrox. He wrote the character as a cowardly jerkass who everybody hated. This was also a bad time for the character because Madrox Prime was dead and a duplicate or dupes were running around as Multiple Man. With those drawbacks in mind, this is still a solid story in its own right, and Rosenberg and artist Andy MacDonald have a lot of fun with his powers and time travel and alternate realities. It’s a wacky, time loop of a story that does some neat things with Multiple Man as a concept, and I can applaud that.

Though the less said about Rosenberg using this character in his brief, time-killing Uncanny X-Men run the better…

5. X-Corp

I think X-Corp was a great idea that didn’t have time to flourish. Taking place in the Krakoa Era — where all mutants were living in their own island paradise — X-Corp was about the business of running a mutant kingdom. Other comics in that era were about the superhero or the government side of Krakoa, while X-Corp was about the money, the business relationships and the like. I very much enjoyed it, even if it was cut off at the knees to multiple degrees. Written by Tini Howard with artwork by Valentine De Landro and Alberto Foche, X-Corp featured Multiple Man in a supporting role as a scientist/advisor to the X-Corp Board of Directors and he got a lot to do (and was killed, which is a running gag for him). I think it nailed the corporate aspects it was going for, but was also hampered from fully exploring them and using them to tell a unique story. Such are the demands of superhero comics.

4. X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic

The Infinity Comics are Marvel’s current digital-only stories, and they’re often a lot of fun. There’s a Maggott storyline I would pay good money to have in a physical tpb. The X-Men series has been a place to tell stories featuring the more obscure characters in the X-Men realm, including Multiple Man. Jason Loo was tapped to write a couple of Multiple Man stories, with his best pal, Strong Guy, and his family as supporting characters. They’re a hoot! Guido and a dupe get lost in the middle of the ocean on jet skis, and wind up on Monster Island. A duplicate goes rogue and becomes a space pirate, and Multiple Man has to team up with the Fantastic Four to rescue his toddler son. These may only be digital comics, but they’re a real hoot of adventure and solidify Jason Loo as an up-and-comer — especially where Multiple Man is concerned!

3. X-Factor (1991)

Multiple Man’s first role in an ongoing series was Fallen Angels, but that’s a weird one I haven’t really read. He actually came to prominence when writer Peter David was brought on to revamp X-Factor in the early 1990s. PAD and Marvel completely rewrote the book, taking a bunch of random X-Men characters and turning them into one of comicdom’s favorite teams of all-time! They were government agents, and Multiple Man really rose to fame as the team’s jokester, often teaming up with his new best pal Strong Guy. He received his most iconic costume and PAD established all of his best character traits. He got his biggest stories at the time — from his evil dupe to his apparent death — and this is where I first met the character. Multiple Man continued to appear as the book went through several roster changes, but it was never as awesome and popular as it was in those early days.

2. X-Factor (2005)

The original X-Factor put Multiple Man on the map, and this third volume made him a star! Peter David returned to the title and put Madrox in the lead role of a new X-team operating as a detective agency. This series was great! PAD seemed to be having a ton of fun coming up with wild adventures, fascinating cases and some deep, new lore into Madrox’s past and mutant status. There was romance, friendship, action, adventure, drama and all sorts of niftiness. This series doesn’t get enough credit. A comic book series with Multiple Man as the main character lasted for 100ish issues with the same writer. What other comics in the modern age can boast that longevity? Other than traditional ongoings? Exactly!

1. MadroX

I am blessed as a comic book fan. My favorite comic book character has a single story mini-series written by his biggest champion. Released as a stand alone story before being picked up into the X-Factor revival, MadroX came out of nowhere in 2004 to revitalize and reinvent the character in the modern day. No longer just a supporting jokester or a weird suit and power, Jamie Madrox was his own man with his own problems, a leading man with a great sense of humor and real protagonist potential. This series, written by PAD, with art by Pablo Raimondi, is a great little detective story with good twists, fun character interactions and a real effort made to both elevate the character and use his powers and his world to their fullest effect. Any comic book fan should be happy to have a comic this good about their favorite obscure superhero.

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