Minor Superheroes

Dear Wal,

So you may have noticed that J'on has been sneaking into my posts quite a bit lately. It's because I've found a new obsession in minor superheroes no one knows anything about. Let's face it-there are plenty of minor superheroes that are really pretty cool, they just haven't found their place to shine in their respective universes. J'on is one of them. When we think aliens and superheroes, we usually think of Superman or alien invaders come to take over the Earth for one devious purpose or other, not the Martian Manhunter.
He isn't a refugee sent from a dying planet to Earth as a child, he was actually born and raised on Mars so he retains his identity as a martian and thus his grief for his people. Even more than for Supes, Earth is his adopted home. Sadly, other than his DC Showcase the Martian Manhunter doesn't has never had an ongoing series. He's a core member of the Justice League, and in my favorite version of the mysterious and illusive JLA origin he pretty much only works with the JLA, but he has so much potential as a title character of his own series. I can see why he was cut out of the current JLA-he's not particularly popular, and he doesn't have the kind of intricate mythos the rest of the JLA has, but there's no reason he couldn't be given a chance with the New 52 to steal the show with his own series.
Animal Man is another of my favorite superheroes. I'm attracted to the ones who have stable relationships-and Buddy is actually married and has kids. I haven't read any Animal Man other than Morrison's work with the character, but I intend to read the relaunched series. I'm always up for a lesser-known character getting his or her own title. Firestorm also got his own new title, which I was excited about until I actually got to read the comics. I don't recommend them. Captain Atom is also another of my favorite minor DC heroes who I feel should get more attention. He guest stars in JLA stories occasionally, but other than that I haven't seen him that much. He plays a major roll in one of the JLA stories in my fanfiction. (hinthint: it's a pretty epic tale. One of the many reasons of awesome why you should keep up with the fanfic here.)
Now I generally put heroes into two categories-major heroes like Bats, Supes, Spidey etc. and minor heroes like J'on and Animal Man. There are a few that drift between the two categories, including Daredevil. He's popular enough to get his own movie, but not well known enough to be treated with dignity in that movie. He's had his own running title for years but (thankfully) he isn't popular enough to produce any spin-off characters, other than Elektra and Echo, who did have her own miniseries. By spin-off I'm talking the four Robins and counting, Batgirl/woman and whatever else. I don't keep up with the sidekicks/partners. They annoy me. Anyway, he always seems to walk the line between a really popular character and a character no one's ever heard of.

It seems to me that minor superhero characters tend to be treated with more respect in the comics, writers and artists have to do something extraordinary with those types of characters in order to get them noticed, there's Grant Morrison's Animal Man of course, and when Bendis revealed Daredevil's identity in his run on the comic. Minor superheroes are just too much fun. I enjoy pulling obscure references out of my hat that no one else gets. They also have a much more personal feel to them, whereas everyone has a basic knowledge of Bats and Spidey, very few people know who Booster Gold is.

/endrant

P.S. Anyone know of any cool minor Marvel heroes? Or heroes from other publishers? I'm game.