Happy Shark Watch to those who celebrate! Not only is it that time of year when a certain television channel/streaming service shows a lot of footage of nervous scuba divers, but it’s also the 50th anniversary of Jaws, so — dun dun, dun dun — go get that bigger boat you needed because the ComicsXF team is celebrating by tossing chum into the sea and descending in the cage off the side in search of the best and most fun shark-themed characters in comics!
Jeff the Land Shark
The breakout star of the 2018 incarnation of West Coast Avengers (and 2024’s Marvel Rivals video game), Jeff has eaten his way through countless fourth walls, past his adoptive owners Gwenpool and Kate Bishop, and into his own series not once, not twice, but Infinity Comics times. We hold his popularity to be self-evident, and that’s the tooth. On his triangle-topped wordless back, behind his not-really-threatening smile, rests the burden of 80, or 100, or maybe 2,000 — who knows, really? — years of wordless one-page comics, gag strips and funny animals who can (as T. S. Eliot said) communicate before we know what they mean. By the time each Jeff-centered story says fin, all the boys and gills understand. Sometimes he dreams he’s a hero. Sometimes he is one. Sometimes Kate just needs him out of the bath. Resemblances to Blåhaj, great plushy protector of trans kids, or to Blåhaj’s less colorful sibling Gråhaj, are surely coincidental.
— Stephanie Burt
Shark-Girl
Life’s tough for a teen girl. Just ask Iana Dos Santos, whose mutant power is being a were-shark, giving her the ability to transform into a half-shark, half-person with the ability to breathe underwater and punch through walls. Naturally, being a shark person ain’t easy, but with the help of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Iana became so comfortable with her Shark appearance that she rarely changes back. Currently, she’s been showing her more musical side, drumming for Dazzler’s touring band and partnering with fellow mutant DJ for their own band, She Attax!
— Adam Reck
Tiger Shark
Olympic swimming champion Todd Arliss wanted to be a hero. So, on the verge of becoming a professional swimmer (which is apparently something that existed when Arliss debuted in 1968), he saves a guy from drowning. But because the Marvel Universe never lets any good act of hubris go unpunished, he hurts his back in the process, forcing him to preemptively retire from his inconceivably lucrative professional swimming career. Then, he does what any of us would do in his place — team up with a cackling villain in a green jumpsuit named Dr. Dorcas, who promises to restore his swimming prowess. Dorcas dangles one wand of his Morphotron in a tank of angry sharks, and jabs the other into the nigh-impenetrable hide of none other than Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and with a ZZZZIKKT! and an AAARRHH, Arliss becomes Tiger Shark, a dude with super-strength, gills, an unkissable mouth of razor-sharp teeth, a shark-fin hat and a new mission: kill Namor and become the new king of Atlantis!
Tiger Shark spends the rest of his career menacing Namor and occasionally befriending him, with occasional glow-ups to battle the Avengers and other land-based foes. While he’s never, to our knowledge, returned to professional swimming, he has been a member of organizations called Deep Six, Defenders of the Deep and Tiger Pack, and no one can take that away from him.
— Anna Peppard
Mako
One of the things that set Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon apart from his previous work at Marvel was the extreme level of violence packed into many of the early issues. The Dragon’s rogue’s gallery of Vicious Circle freaks were truly bloodthirsty and willing to murder anyone who got in their way. Mako, a giant muscle-y shark-man (formerly Lou Drumm, radiated), was no exception. And while his crimes sent him in and out of prison before his death, whenever he got out, murder, dismemberment and maybe even eating some people were his status quo. Heck, he even fought The Maxx in a memorable crossover issue in Sam Kieth’s book. Luckily for us, this scary dude got his head sliced in half by Dart II, so we can rest easy while he sleeps with the fishes.
— Adam Reck
King Shark
Nanaue was a Hawaiian monster who might be the son of a shark god. Superboy encountered him not long after moving to Hawaii, and put a stop to his violent rampage. He later was drafted into a version of the Suicide Squad assembled specifically to defeat a Hawaiian tech crime syndicate called the Silicon Dragons. He next resurfaced alongside the second Aquaman post-Infinite Crisis, and eventually joined the Secret Six before the New 52 reboot. He’s also alternated between looking like a great white shark and a hammerhead shark, depending on whichever Selachimorpha species the artist thinks looks coolest.
— Tony Thornley
In 2020, the DC animated film Justice League Dark: Apokolips War had King Shark appearing in a very amusing scene with bisexual warlock John Constantine. Constantine, Raven and Damian Wayne are at an underground fight club to meet up with the Suicide Squad. When Constantine and Raven spot King Shark and Harley Quinn, Constantine says, “Oh bollocks, it’s my ex.” Raven assumes he means Harley, but Constantine says, “Do I look mad?” That’s when the camera switches to King Shark, who smirks and then winks, to Constantine’s embarrassment. In 15 seconds, this scene brilliantly showcased Constantine’s bisexuality while also introducing King Shark’s role as a member of the Suicide Squad.
— Latonya “Penn” Pennington
Great White Shark
While Warren White has a sharklike moniker, he’s possibly the least shark-like character on this list. White is a rich financier known as the Great White Shark for his ruthless business style. He embezzled the retirement funds of his clients and thought he had the best way of getting out of his criminal trial: plead insanity. That way he gets a nice, cushy stay at a mental hospital, right? Well, Warren, you’re standing trial in Gotham, so that nice, cushy hospital isn’t really an option. The white-collar criminal was instead sentenced to the local mental health facility: Arkham Asylum. The perfectly sane, if utterly amoral, White spends time in Arkham as the whipping boy of the more deadly inmates until he winds up trapped in Mr. Freeze’s cell, which gives him frostbite on his face and costs him his hair, ears and nose.
This, unsurprisingly since it’s Gotham, does indeed cost him his sanity and makes him look sharklike, but also makes him focus his ruthless energy on actual crime. From within Arkham, White takes over Gotham’s mobs briefly, and soon the Great White Shark is one of Gotham’s top mobsters. He’s never made the A-list of Gotham rogues, but he’s teamed up with Penguin and Black Mask, so that’s better than some other characters who were created for one miniseries to just prove what an f’ed up place Gotham is. And you know what? Mobsters, like sharks, just have to keep swimming.
— Matt Lazorwitz
Jabberjaw
The thing about Scooby-Doo is that there have been a long, long number of knock-offs. Among them is a great white shark living in an underwater civilization bringing joy and music to the world against a cavalcade of supervillains. While not the best of the Scooby-Doo knock-offs (Josie and the Pussycats is hard to top), Jabberjaw has a charming quality to him that makes him timeless despite hinging his entire persona on a reference to a vaudeville comedy act that is only semi-remembered, mainly for the bit he is referencing. But of course, what he is perhaps most well known for is one of the most beloved music videos of the early 21st century, all about him. Who says he gets no respect?
— Sean Dillon
Shark Rider
One thing that’s fun about Ghost Rider is you can make him ride just about anything. Motorcycle? Check. Car? You know it. Wooly mammoth? Why not? But did you know there was a Ghost Rider that rode a shark? That’s right, True Believers! Jason Aaron, a true lover of sharks (seriously, he’s been responsible for multiple races of shark-things in the 616) loved the idea so much there are actually TWO Shark Riders, an Atlantean one featured in Ghost Rider Vol. 6 and a Samoan one mentioned by Ka-Zar in the pages of Aaron’s Avengers Vol. 8. And let’s face it, a Ghost Rider riding a shark is a great idea. Now where is Shark Rider’s solo series?
— Adam Reck
Guppy
Bludhaven is always going to be Gotham’s little sister. It’s Gotham with less class and verve. Every now and then it tries to match up and never really makes it. Take, for example, Guppy. Guppy is a shark guy, like King Shark, and a criminal, like Great White Shark. You’d think that would make him top tier. But the dude is named Guppy. He’s a low-level henchman who is oh so very sad. He’s popped up in a few issues of Nightwing in the pre-Ric Grayson era (so at least better than the during Ric Grayson era), and he got a little internet buzz for being a sad shark boy. He hasn’t shown up since then, so he might join the collection of forgotten Bat-related characters. Or Scott Snyder and co. might remember he exists, and Absolute Guppy becomes the breakout character of the universe. We’ll see.
— Matt Lazorwitz
Bludgeon
One of the best things about the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is that basically any animal can become an anthropomorphic powerhouse. Bludgeon (not to be confused with Armaggon, despite originally being written by Tom Waltz to be the earlier Archie Comics TMNT shark-creature) is no exception. Bludgeon was used by Shredder and the Foot Clan alongside Koya as defense, but was ultimately blinded in a battle with an android Donatello during the ancient Foot Clan ritual the Gauntlet. Now, Bludgeon seeks peace through meditation but is still willing to help his allies when they need him.
— Adam Reck
Buy Jeff the Land Shark #2 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
Stephanie Burt is Professor of English at Harvard. Her podcast about superhero role playing games is Team-Up Moves, with Fiona Hopkins; her latest book of poems is We Are Mermaids. Her nose still hurts from that thing with the gate.
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom. Follow him @adamreck.bsky.social.
Anna Peppard
Anna is a Ph.D.-haver who writes and talks a lot about representations of gender and sexuality in pop culture, for academic books and journals and places like Shelfdust, The Middle Spaces and The Walrus. She’s the editor of the award-winning anthology Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero and co-hosted the podcasts Three Panel Contrast and Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow! Follow her @annapeppard.bsky.social.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble. Follow him @brawl2099.bsky.social.
Latonya "Penn" Pennington is a freelance contributor whose comics criticism can be found at Women Write About Comics, Comic Book Herald, Newsarama and Shelfdust, among others. Follow them @wordsfromapenn.com on Bluesky.
Sean Dillon is a writer/editor for numerous publications, including PanelxPanel, Comic Book Herald, and Arcbeatle Press. He is the author of two books.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
