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Nancy Thompson

A list of my favorite characters would not be complete without the presence of a horror movie final girl, and while my all time favorite, Laurie Strode, couldn't beat Princess Leia for the letter L, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET's Nancy Thompson ranks very highly for me and easily deserves this spot.

The impossible position she's put in, fighting a demon in her own dreams, is truly terrifying. That she triumphs (or does she?) is oh so satisfying.

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Countess Marya Zaleska, Dracula's Daughter

She has been called online the first lesbian lead character in American cinema (though I find the claim unlikely). She captures the tumult and torment of a closeted existence all too painfully. She is iconic, cloaked alternatingly throughout DRACULA'S DAUGHTER in smoke and shadow. One wishes for an ending where she can know her true power, but as a creation of the Hays Code era, it is tragically not to be.

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Princess Leia Organa

I cannot overstate to you how in awe I was when, watching STAR WARS for the first time on VHS at ten years old, I saw Princess Leia take over her own rescue from the well-meaning but ill-equipped trio of Luke, Han, and Chewie. She was everything I wanted to be.

I love her so.

(This entry IS making me feel a little bad about not picking James T. Kirk for "J" though.)

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Captain Kathryn Janeway

I was so close to choosing Kal-El (Clark Kent, Superman). But I think it would be a mistake for me not to have at least one entry devoted to the pop-feminist "girl power" characters of the 1990s, as they were such an important part of my early teenage years. For all the flaws of that era, and of this character specifically, Janeway remains a favorite into adulthood (VOYAGER is one of my "comfort shows" & her return in PRODIGY was a joy).

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Jabba Desilijic Tiure

His full name comes from a 1994 role-playing game supplement, GALAXY GUIDE 11, but really he needs no further name than the one originally given to him in 1977...

Jabba the Hutt

No matter how many other Hutts Star Wars introduces us to (and there were a lot of fantastic Hutts in this month's THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU) Jabba will always be THE Hutt. His is such a powerful screen presence; I love him so much.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm

When the prompt first went up, there was only one character whose first name starts with "I" that I could think of. There have been a number of really great ones posted that I was tempted to glom on to, but... Dance with the fella that brought you.

Who would have guessed (before Jeff Goldblum's casting at least) that a cynical Jewish mathematician would be both the moral center of JURASSIC PARK, and its breakout sex symbol? 🫦

@ami_angelwings It's the Pisces in me.

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Hildy Johnson

I love Rosalind Russel in HIS GIRL FRIDAY. Hildy Johnson is essentially Lois Lane in a world without a Superman (which maybe makes this a little bit of a cheat, so I can talk about Lois Lane while leaving the letter "L" open for another character). She will do anything to get her story, even if it puts her at risk or might be slightly unscrupulous, but all out of a deeply rooted sense of justice.

All that and a fantastic sense of fashion.

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Ganja Meda

Marlene Clark's performance in Bill Gunn's 1973 film GANJA & HESS is absolutely bewitching. The character is powerful and vulnerable, seductive and repulsive, raw and unyielding and hypnotic. I cannot recommend this film enough, a poem written in grainy celluloid and crackling sound, and she is everything within it.

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Finn

Throughout the lead up to 2015's THE FORCE AWAKENS, I was sure that Rey was a shoo-in for my favorite new Star Wars character, and while I do love her, I walked away from that movie deeply enamored with Finn. He had such a wonderful arc, pushing through his fear and finding someone to fight for.

I strongly dislike what was done with him in THE LAST JEDI, and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER should have done more (though it's a good start). But here? So much love.

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Ellen Ripley

Special thanks to @ami_angelwings for reminding me of this one, because she absolutely is one of my all-time favorite characters. The only character that I could think of on my own was "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark".

What an incredible character, an all-star figure of both the horror and sci-fi genres, with such a powerful journey across her three appearances (Ripley 8, though I love her too, is a different character in my mind).

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Princess Diana of Themyscira, Paradise Island

It couldn't be anyone else. The inspiration for my first tattoo. I could not tell you what my first exposure to the character was, why I already loved her before picking up my first Wonder Woman comic (2006's WONDER WOMAN No. 1). She is like something supernatural in my life, an inspiring presence that has always been there and always will be.

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Chucky

I had a different character picked for this letter, one who has been a favorite since childhood, but this little monster has brought me so much joy as an adult that I couldn't not acknowledge him. The work of a gay artist (writer and sometimes director Don Mancini), there isn't a bad movie in the series and the television show is a delight.

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The Bride of Frankenstein

I first saw her eponymous 1935 film in the summer of 2005. I was obsessed with her. Elsa Lanchester plays both "The Monster's Mate" and "Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley" (though she is only credited as the latter); to me she became an icon of a woman creating herself, a totem I clung desperately to. She remains a favorite to this day (I absolutely had to go out to see Maggie Gyllenhaal's THE BRIDE! this year, reviews be damned).

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Artemis of Bana-Mighdall

My beloved Bad Girl Wonder Woman. So furious. So tragic. So '90s.