Bronze Age Babies: Who's the Worst... Mini-Series You Ever Bought?

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Who's the Worst... Mini-Series You Ever Bought?

52 comments:

J.A. Morris said...: Secret Wars II. I bought every issue and every tie-in. Even at the time, I didn't think it was very good, but I kept buying. Because I thought it would "get better". Plus, I thought some of the issues would increase in value. Right.; February 4, 2014 at 6:10 AM
Fred W. Hill said...: I thought the first Secret Wars was bad enough. Jim Shooter seemed to be purposely dumbing everything down (actually, I'm sure he was). I quit just a few issues into it. This was about the point when I was breaking out of my Marvel zombification and checking out more comics from other companies.; February 4, 2014 at 6:25 AM
Edo Bosnar said...: One that comes to mind is Krypton Chronicles. It was sort of a follow-up to the World of Krypton mini that came out about a year or two before and recounted the lives of Jor-El and Lara. Chronicles explored Superman's genealogy way back into Kryptonian history, and it was just completely uninteresting. Also, Supes had a non-stop series of illustrious ancestors, like famous inventors, artists, explorers and warriors, making him almost like royalty. Just an eye-roller for me even back then.

Another one I'll mention here, even though I first read it in tpb form a few years ago, is Batman: The Cult (which was originally a mini-series). Stunningly beautiful art by Berni Wrightson, but just a horrible, awful, deplorable, etc. story. Seriously, the absolutely worst Batman story I've ever read. Starlin really wasn't a good fit with Batman...; February 4, 2014 at 6:28 AM
Anonymous said...: Secret Wars was bad, all right. It was plumb dumb. I didn't buy the collected edition, but I got suckered in enough to follow several titles for a while, which later got thrown in the garbage.
I've got D.C.'s Zero Hour, but I ain't proud of it!
In a fit of stupidity I bought Batman Knightfall. A masked wrestler beats up Batman.
I want my money back.; February 4, 2014 at 7:02 AM
Humanbelly said...: Oh daggone it, J.A.-- you totally beat us all to the punch! Yeah, I actually spoke "Secret Wars 2" out loud, word-association style, the second I read the question. I'm sure my wife wonders what's going wrong in my noggin. . .

But that series is a triple-threat:

1)Painfully obvious and shameless marketing/sales grab, with endless in-book cross-references to the other individual titles that you needed to pick up to get the "whole" story behind the events on the page. . . which then proved to be amazingly pointless (or, at best, relatively inconsequential) once those other issues were obtained.

2) The writing (from what I remember) was forced, shallow, and just unexciting. It's especially aggravating because the premise (Omnipotent being discovering the process of becoming human) has HUGE potential, even if it's not terribly original. Instead, that being spends a good chunk of time dressing and looking like that era's version of Michael Jackson. In the CONTEXT OF THE STORY! (ggggggyyyYYYYAAARRRGH!!!)

3) Grand Champion Transgression of All: The art was the worst I've ever seen in a mainstream comic book. Some issues clearly-- CLEARLY-- had pages that went to press with very rushed pencils and apparently no inks at all. I was still the biggest Marvel Zuvembie on the planet at that point, and holding that one particularly awful issue in my hands was a turning point for me, where I thought, "Why in the world am I even buying this??". It was such a bald-faced, shameless betrayal of the fan-first hype that Marvel had always bombarded us with.

SWII aside-- the problem with coming up with a "worst" is that, of course, you tend to just forget about those bad mini-series' once you've put them down. In a way, "forgettable" is almost worse than bad, and I'm having to wrack my memory, 'cause I know I have a box-full of series' down there, and I'm certain there are many that I could't begin to tell you about.

Hmm-- how about that BEAUTY & THE BEAST Dazzler/Beast outing? Anybody remember that clunker? Completely driven by the "clever" title concept, and then forgotten forever?

Honestly, that grand-daddy CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS is not a big winner at all, since it served primarily to introduce a pack of woefully ill-conceived international super-heroes (who were about a half step above Looney Toons caricature level), rather than actually focus on the MU's existing stable of A-listers.

There was a HAVOK/WOLVERINE bookshelf format mini 'way back that I just never understood the appeal of. It was an early experiment in painted comics, and looked pretty awful and over-stylized, and again, the writing was pretty much at fanfic level-- never a sense of either character being the "real" Alex or Logan.

[BTW-- I never picked up MILLENIUM. . . was it indeed that bad? I tell ya, that cover REALLY grabs me, and would have almost certainly enticed me to pick up the book! Guess it's doing its job. . . !)

HB; February 4, 2014 at 8:04 AM
Anonymous said...: I know I've not been posting any comments but I have a good excuse, honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

Worst mini-series I bought? Easy Wolverine and Kitty Pride. No wait, SuperPatriot Liberty And Justice. It can't be Bug cause that was a one shot. I would go with Secret Wars. Oh wait, would the thirteen issues where the Marvel people were in the bubble universe count, I bought all thirteen of all four titles. Please say yes, cause that would be it.

The post-Apocalypse Astonishing X-Men series....that's the one. That's the winner. That's what I've been meaning to type. Amalgam.....definitely Amalgam, where DC and Marvel mashed up everybody.

Holy Crud, I own some really bad BAD stuff (and by stuff I mean the other "S" word).

Whole post, no exclamations!!!!

Dag Nabbit.

The Prowler (putting on his waders and going back in).; February 4, 2014 at 8:12 AM
david_b said...: Jeez whaaaat a topic to get a rise in discussion today..!?!

There's so many which I heard was bad, and I didn't collect much in the '80s (luckily...), so I vested nothing AND curiousity never got the best of me, so my list will be VERY limited.

That being said, just adding two cents as to what I actually did purchase/hope for best/massive disappointment.., the list as follows..:

1) Batman: The Cult. As Edo described, disappointing, depressing dribble. I found the initial issue of Batman being wounded and strung up in the sewers and drugged into believing in a Messiah interesting, but bleccch. Wasn't impressed, actually hating to purchase the next issue, but thought out of loyalty (and just after Dark Knight and Killing Joke..) should I not complete the collection..?

2) Secret Wars II. Ok, I confess, NEVER bought it, looked waaaay too lame, but I felt it needs mentioning as the worst dreck ever, so sue me. At least the first series had **some** level of novelty to it, and a toyline to increase interest.

3) Epic's Steelgrip Starkey. It looked entertaining and different enough from standard hero fare. It was satisfying, but not all that great.

4) Hawkeye. I found the WCA limited series better, but Clint's was so-so. I never liked Mockingbird much, but felt Clint's 'moment' had finally arrived so I invested. I actually found the single ish of Avengers 189 a LOT more fun than the 4-ish limited series. So WHY did I spend money on this when I could have bought a few more back issues of Avengers or Captain America..? Dunno.; February 4, 2014 at 8:24 AM
J.A. Morris said...: The 'Kitty Pryde & Wolverine' miniseries was very disappointing to me when it came out. Bad art and not a very good story either. Remember Kitty's attempt to "look Japanese"?
http://tinyurl.com/lljqdx8; February 4, 2014 at 8:39 AM
ChrisPV said...: Civil War. Hands down. As bad as Millennium was, as bad as SW II was, none of them can compare, pound for pound, to the damage wrought by Civil War. Millennium is dull, nonsensical, and designed to sell us on the New Guardians. But Civil War is about twisting characterizations way past the breaking point in the name of arbitrary drama. And it set the Marvel trend of each event not so much ending as bleeding into the next event. Pure. Trash.; February 4, 2014 at 8:57 AM
Humanbelly said...: KITTY PRYDE & WOLVERINE was on my radar as well, except that I found Al Milgrom's art oddly and unexpectedly appealing. I'm not a big fan of Al's pencils at all-- but this was a series where he was clearly pushing his boundaries and abilities. While it's not great or stellar, it still exceeds what my expectation would've been for him, so that does sneak the series in just above the "worst ever" bar for me. The only thing I remember from the story is the horrible Kitty-regressed-to-a-baby/reborn-as-a-ninja idiocy. Wow-- maybe it doesn't clear the bar after all. . .

HB; February 4, 2014 at 8:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Marvel was trying to cash in hard and heavy on the X-men phenomenon (if you wanna call it that) by publishing a lot of limited-series titles, Kitty Pride meets Doctor Doom, or just regular inbred misbegotten mutant titles, like X-Force, Young Mutants, New Mutants, New Mutants in Love, Famous Housewives of Mutants, or the Fox News program, Fox and Mutants in the Morning.; February 4, 2014 at 9:01 AM
Doc Savage said...: Byrne's Man of Steel. His "clever" destruction of everything I liked about Superman and the Superman mythos. Ugh. Lois Lane as virago. Lex Luthor as Gordon Gecko. Batman as a-hole. And on and on.; February 4, 2014 at 9:05 AM
Doc Savage said...: Also Miller's "Dark Knight," which I found neither funny nor serious, mostly just drab and depressing. Almost 30 years later, it's still talked up like a great story but I feel it's pure hype. When I look at it, it just embarrasses me that this is what comics fans think it takes to be considered legitimate entertainment. It's just an ugly story about ugly people doing ugly things.; February 4, 2014 at 9:14 AM
Doc Savage said...: You know Secret Wars II was awesome. Of course an omnipotent being would go for jheri curl and pleather jackets with lotsa zippers. I always assumed it was commentary on societal values.; February 4, 2014 at 9:18 AM
Anonymous said...: What I got from it was that everything the Beyonder knew about our universe he got from watching Hall and Oates videos on MTV.; February 4, 2014 at 9:45 AM
Mike said...: Its Secret Wars II, hands down. If SW was the beginning of the end, I guess SW2 completed the damnation -- the final nail in the coffin, the singularity, the point of no return ... and doggone awful to boot.

However, you wanna read something incredibly horrible, created by comics demigods no less, pick up "All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder". It is torturous as you read it as each page is progressively worse than the previous. And remember, I'm a huge Batfan, and a former Miller geek (this one obliterated anything left of my fandom for him). I'm not even sure I finished reading it. The absolute worse rendering of Batman ever put on paper, period.; February 4, 2014 at 9:51 AM
J.A. Morris said...: The 'Kitty Pryde & Wolverine' miniseries was very disappointing to me when it came out. Bad art and not a very good story either. Remember Kitty's attempt to "look Japanese"?
http://tinyurl.com/lljqdx8; February 4, 2014 at 9:53 AM
Doug said...: Mike, I read one issue of that All-Star Batman and Robin and found it deplorable. I feel sorry for young folks reading comics today.

HB, I never read Contest of Champions, but I did read an article in Back Issue that said Marvel was going for a tie-in with one of the mid-80s Olympics -- hence the new international characters. Can't remember the details, but the project fell through, part of it was already penciled, so they cobbled what they had already done and threw it together. Contest of Champions was the result.

I don't remember much about Millennium, other than I was disappointed in Englehart's script and felt that Joe Staton had done better work a few years earlier during his Earth-2 heyday.

Doug; February 4, 2014 at 10:39 AM
Anonymous said...: I also picked up the first issue of All-Star Batman and Robin, and thought I was missing something, or I just didn't get it, but,I sure didn't like it. I don't know what Miller was trying to do.
Just awful.; February 4, 2014 at 10:53 AM
William said...: CIVIL WAR is hands down the worst thing I've ever read! The biggest piece of garbage I ever wasted money on. Words cannot adequately convey the depth of my hatred for that story. It took everything I ever loved about Marvel and took a big steaming dump all over it. I was so angry after the last issue of that mini that I immediately quit buying all Marvel Comics (including the Ultimate stuff).

I did start reading Spider-Man again a few months later - when I found out they were going to (sort of) reboot his corner of the MU. But that didn't last very long, as they went right back to "deconstructing" his character, and I eventually gave up buying any Spidey books as well (after a lifetime of reading and collecting).

So, I can thank "Civil War" for being the straw that finally making me give up buying all new comics.; February 4, 2014 at 11:20 AM
mr. oyola said...: I will stick to mini-series I actually purchased, so that means not Secret Wars II, which I may have gotten one issue of back when it came out and quickly dropped.

No, I would have to say the two Vs. X-Men series that came out in the 80s. Avengers vs. X-Men and Fantastic Four vs. X-Men. So boring.

I know I am in the minority, but I kind of like the first Secret Wars.; February 4, 2014 at 11:35 AM
William said...: Uhg, I almost forgot about "All-Star Batman & Robin". I must have tried to erase it from my memory to spare myself the pain of having read it. What a piece of garbage. I picked up the TPB from the library for free (and I still felt ripped off). As Matt said, each page is more terrible than the last. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You want to turn away, but you just can't. Oh, the horror!!! I still can't believe that they actually wasted money to print that trash.

You can also put me down as not a fan of Miller's "Dark Knight Returns" either. IMO, one of the most overrated books of all time. To this day I still don't get it. It was just way too dark and depressing and totally devoid of any fun at all. And the so called "deep political commentary" read like it was culled from a 10th grader's social studies paper. Frank Miller hasn't really done anything I liked since Daredevil. And if anyone ever let's the man near a director's chair again, they should be flogged. (See "The Spirit" for proof).; February 4, 2014 at 11:40 AM
Humanbelly said...: Mr. O, I'm gonna give you some support on that. I also enjoyed the first Secret Wars just fine. It wasn't perfect, certainly, but the art was generally fine, and the characters were mostly handled in an interesting and appropriate fashion (well, except for the X-Men, for some reason-- their sub-plots, if I remember, seemed shallow and rushed). But for something that turned out to be created as a toy-selling gimmick, it clearly had a lot of thought and creative energy poured into it well ahead of time.

Yeah, those X-Men vs. and Mephisto vs. series came to my mind as well. I couldn't begin to tell you what they were about, exactly-- just that they were "must-have blockbusters", and that they were more expensive, naturally.

Also, the reason I can't include CIVIL WAR myself is because I, too, never bought it. First issue, aaaaaaand done. I'm not sure the word "worst" fits it, though. It wasn't actually that the innate quality was bad, it's more like it was the most malevolently "wrong" mini-series ever, y'know? It sort of surpasses the threshold of being just lousy because it willfully and wholeheartedly did damage (which the creators didn't recognize as being so) to the entirety of the MU. Kind of a different category entirely.

HB; February 4, 2014 at 11:50 AM
Doug said...: Does anyone else recall the post-Man of Steel maxi-series that was comprised of three 4-issue minis? I believe it was World of Krypton, World of Smallville, and World of Metropolis. If I recall, it ran sort of like a "Solo Avengers" book.

Bought all 12 issues, but obviously no long-term memory attached to it.

I was such a completist back in the day...

By the way, I was very enthusiastic for TDKR when it was published. However, within a decade that had waned as it became very apparent just how influential a story that was -- across both companies! I need to read it again, but I know I can not without being jaded against it.

Doug

PS: I appreciate the fun everyone is having today. Mark your calendars for one week (2/11), as we'll do the same drill but with a "Who's the Best..." flavor. Save your loves until then.; February 4, 2014 at 12:20 PM
Anonymous said...: I liked the first Secret Wars, but I stopped buying Secret Wars II after the second issue (although I did get #9, just for the big fight scene with everybody vs. the Beyonder).

I remember being disappointed after getting the first issue of the second Hercules mini-series, then realizing it was set way in the future and had nothing to do with the contemporary MU. I was also disappointed by the Jack of Hearts mini; when I first encountered him in Marvel Team-Up, I thought he was interesting, but his mini-series did nothing for me...maybe Spidey should have guest starred.

Mike W.; February 4, 2014 at 12:26 PM
Garett said...: Talking about All Star Batman + Robin, it had one of the worst representation of Green Lantern. Batman confronts GL by painting a room yellow, then having Robin take the ring off GL's finger as they talk, with Flash-like speed. : /

I read through the series as I had read an interview with Miller where he said that modern comics were too realistic, that heroes should be bigger than life, exaggerated. I agreed. Jim Lee's art was nice in this, but Miller's writing has deteriorated. Outside of whether his content is too grim etc, his actual writing has gone from tight and impactful in Dark Knight to lazy and dumb in ASBAR. It tickles me that the acronym is ASBAR though. : ); February 4, 2014 at 12:54 PM
J.A. Morris said...: I tried to read All Star Batman but couldn't finish it. "I'm the Goddamn Batman!" is still the dumbest example of "gritty" dialogue I've ever seen in comics.; February 4, 2014 at 1:02 PM
david_b said...: Mr. Oyola, for a brief few months, I tried out X-Men with both those 'vs FF' and 'vs Avengers' limited series.

Yep, both dull and self-important.

Pure 'Oooo, more pages of Wolverine going off on some character, it'll sell like hotcakes' schlock.

Gave 'em away quickly. Typically if you want to tally the worst of mini-series, just casually look at eBay pricing and those dollar bin boxes at LCS's.

Actually pretty over-priced for dollar bins.

Frankly, I won't have much to offer for the upcoming favorites column, other than WCA and perhaps the four Tales of the Titans 'Origins' issues. Nothing else really impressed me, but I heard the Hercules one was sweet.

AHHHH, forgot one..:

Vision and Scarlet Witch 12-issue limited series (the 2nd one..).

Terrible Milgrom art, terrible story.

{gasp..gag..gasp..}; February 4, 2014 at 1:33 PM
Edo Bosnar said...: David, I kind of liked the first Hawkeye mini, and I also like Mockingbird - and I liked the fact that Clint, after having such bad luck with Natasha and then Wanda, finally got lucky at love (at least for a while). However, I agree with you about that solo story in Avengers #189 - great fun.

Doug, I have the World of Krypton mini in a tpb, and it's actually a pretty solid SF story. And that whole book is pretty nice, as it also has a bunch of Krypton stories that appeared as back-ups in the various Superman books in the '70s.; February 4, 2014 at 1:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Contest of champions was supposed to tie in with the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. When the US boycotted them in protest over the USSR invading Afghanistan, Marvel put the project on hold until 82. I have no idea how they were planning on tying in with the actual Olympics. I don't see how it would have been much better. Maybe not the worst miniseries, but one of my biggest letdowns. Having every Marvel hero in a miniseries should have been cool. But mostly they hung around while a few guys went off looking for some medallion thing.

I was lucky to have bailed out of SW2 after the first issue. I was getting out of comics at that point. no way was I going to start buying a bunch of new comics.

I had a lot of first issues of miniseries that I couldn't get interested in. One I used to have was from the Questprobe series with the hulk. It was based on a videogame.

Alan; February 4, 2014 at 1:40 PM
Doug said...: Edo:

This is what I'm talking about. Are we discussing the same mini?

Doug; February 4, 2014 at 2:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Make mine Millennium. Rushed-looking, occasionally sloppy art; key developments that didn't take place in the mini-series itself but in one of the tie-ins; that whole lecture about counting from 1 to 10 and the nature of the universe; Gregorio the limp-wristed stereotype; that terribly unconvincing speech by Superman in the first issue somehow persuading everybody that letting aliens decide the future of humanity is a great idea; and of course the rotten foundation of the whole series: the way it was all leading up to the creation of the New Guardians, possibly the least interesting super-team ever.

Rusty; February 4, 2014 at 3:06 PM
Doug said...: Rusty --

Bought the whole thing (may even still own it!) and not a single thing you said rang a bell.

Truly the hallmark of one of the worst mini-series I ever bought.

Doug; February 4, 2014 at 3:13 PM
Rip Jagger said...: I have to reach beyond the Bronze Age for my choice, because for all their clunkiness the Bronze Age limiteds all have some charm, usually giving some character a shot at the big time, if in a flawed fashion.

The limiteds that really burn me are the money-grabs like Dark Horse did with the Conan license. They had a major mainline story going in the core title but kept layering on limiteds by other lesser talents that had no business being four issues long. It felt like they were intentionally stealing my money and so I eventually dropped it all.

Of the old Bronze Age limiteds, I've seen Hawkeye get some heat, but I rather liked it, though I see the criticism. Some of the X-Men limiteds were pretty random, the weakest being the Iceman one. Angel never got one, though he deserved it.

Rip Off; February 4, 2014 at 3:43 PM
Ray Tomczak said...: I cannot adequately express how much I hated "Wild Dog" by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty. I didn't even bother to buy the final issue, which revealed the title character's secret identity, because I by that time could not care less. I found the series utterly reprehensible in the way it glorified vigilantism and unashamedly presented a hockey mask wearing, automatic weapon wielding murderer as a hero of the common man.; February 4, 2014 at 5:42 PM
Logan said...: I have to go modern on this because as disappointed I was in Secret Wars, SW2, Contest of Champions and Civil War, the all-time worst was Age of Ultron. I actually enjoyed each issue until the last issue...and no resolution. Nothing but a lead-in to the next miniseries. I was so angry that I emailed Marvel and demanded my money back and dropped their titles from my pull-list. Still haven't read a Marvel book since...actually it drove me almost exclusively back to my Bronze Age comics.; February 4, 2014 at 5:56 PM
Humanbelly said...: Ray's mention of WILD DOG brought to mind a disturbing maxi-series from Marvel that I never enjoyed-- even though I bought the whole thing: FOOLKILLER.

I do think we've touched on it before at some point in the past-- but geesh, relentlessly unhappy, grim, bleak storyline. . . a protagonist who was neither charismatic, compelling, or sympathetic. . . and barely mediocre art. Plus I think some of the issues may have been printed w/ that experimental, over-bright color separation process that was so garish and unpleasant (I think, at least-). A forever-long series that had nothing at all to speak for it.

Good call on ICEMAN, Rip! Although the fact that it was Iceman (featuring Bobby's foray into wanting to be an accountant, of all things) still made it enough of a curiousity to sustain a bit of interest.

HB; February 4, 2014 at 6:22 PM
Graham said...: I know it's more modern-aged, like Civil War, which I didn't even try to read.....but I tried to read the Neal Adams' Batman: Odyssey mini a while back, but didn't make it past the third issue. I wanted to stop after the first one, but I thought I'd give it a chance to develop. Couldn't imagine going through the entire series.; February 4, 2014 at 6:52 PM
mr. oyola said...: Logan, I didn't even mention Age of Ultron b/c it was so recent, but YES! It is by THE WORST mini-series I ever got.

Unlike you I think the whole thing was really really terrible. I only ended up getting all the issues b/c it was on my pull-list and so I got a discount and I knew it'd be easier to re-sell as a complete series (which I did, basically making my money back on eBay).

It was so bad, in the first issue the big reveal at the end is Captain America sulking in the heroes' secret hideout in a world where Ultron has won. In the second issue at the end he stands up and says "I have a plan!" No joke. I am not exaggerating, that is all that basically happens.

Third issue She-Hulk and Luke Cage sacrifice themselves to get info they then turn out to have all along (so really for nothing except for the spectacle of seeing those two heroes die)

and then the whole series becomes an exercise in time-travel with Wolverine and Sue Richards (of all people) going back in time to kill Hank Pym to stop him from ever making Ultron, b/c just telling hi won't do it.

And then they "break the timeline" and wolverine is forced to kill his own alternate future self and I don't know what else. . . someone appears from the Image Spawn universe b/c Marvel won the rights to the character and more junk. I don't know.

Nothing mattered. There was nothing at stake. There was no characterization. No cool superhero fights. Mediocre art. It made no effort to fit into continuity with itself! (for example, in the tie-in issues Spider-Man was the Doc Ock version, but in the main title of the mini, he was written as Peter Parker). Seriously, there was nothing to like no matter what it is you like comics for.; February 4, 2014 at 7:44 PM
Logan said...: mr. oyola, glad you agree. I guess I was treating the whole mini as a What If? story - I remember some of those having the same iffy characterization - so I let some of those things go in hopes of it going somewhere. But you are right...it didn't! It was like watching a movie with the last reel missing. Compared to that, I would re-read Secret Wars II any day of the week.

I remember being pretty disappointed in the Jack of Hearts mini too...although it's been a long time since I read it. I had always loved the character and they went way out there with his origin.; February 4, 2014 at 8:30 PM
Doc Savage said...: I guess I'm lucky I quit DC and Marvel circa '88...many of these titles you mention sound unfathomably awful. I enjoyed Secret Wars for what it was: an excuse to have most of the main heroes tussle with a passel of bad guys. Pretty good.

Secret Wars II is one I've never read except for whatever crossed over into comics I already bought like Avengers, Spider-Man, Daredevil, FF. But I assume it must be awesome if everyone hates it so much! After all, everything that starts with "S" and ends with "II" is great: Superman II, Star Trek II, Star Wars II (aka Empire Strikes Back)...

I kinda want to read Secret Wars II now to see what the heck all the fuss is about.

Oh, and Hawkeye's series was fun. Nothing great, but fun. Speaking of archers, someone remind me next week to bring up the 1st Green Arrow miniseries as a longtime favorite. Sooooo much better than that awful Grell series where Black Canary is raped and tortured and Green Arrow decides murder is okay and tosses his trick arrows.

P.S. Today's my birthday!; February 4, 2014 at 8:37 PM
Doug said...: Well Happy Birthday, Matt!

You don't look a day over 81, my brother!

And you've inspired me to re-read Longbow Hunters, too. Thanks!

Doug; February 4, 2014 at 8:43 PM
Doug said...: Off-topic:

A couple of weeks ago I highlighted a new original X-Men boxed set of Marvel Legends. The asking price at that time was a ridiculous $139.99. Happy to report, although it's still well past my price point, that they are now only wanting $89.99. I suppose that's more doable for some.

Doug; February 4, 2014 at 9:01 PM
Kid said...: Okay, it's not quite the same thing, but you know what was the worst one-shot (can't get any more 'mini' than that) comic I ever bought? Fantastic Four Roast! I usually like Fred Hembeck's stuff, but this was the most boring, bum-numbing comic I've ever read in my life. A case of an idea stretched FAR too far! Might've worked as a 5-pager, but a whole mag? Sheesh!; February 4, 2014 at 11:01 PM
Edo Bosnar said...: Doug, re: the World of Krypton mini - yep, that's the one.

HB, glad you mentioned Foolkiller; even though I only read it the first time way after the fact (around 2005 or 2006), I must have mentally blocked it out, because I was so incredibly disappointed by it - all the more so because it was written by Steve Gerber, who's otherwise one of my favorite comics writers. That whole series was a misfire - like you noted, he just wrote it as a straight-up grim, bleak and violent story, with a completely unsympathetic title character.; February 5, 2014 at 3:17 AM
david_b said...: Ahhhh, no one brought up GA's 'Longbow Hunters' by Mike Grell. I KNOW I'm in a minority here, but I never warmed to Grell's style in anything, but to turn GA into essentially a urban vigilante ala 'Dark Knight'..?

The tone was gritty, lots of realism, and I found it dire, dismal and dull. Big regret.; February 5, 2014 at 7:10 AM
david_b said...: Ahhh, sorry didn't read the late-breaking previous comments on 'Longbow'.. I found it's realism a bit extreme for my tastes, per my posted comments.

Plus as dapper and frankly silly GA's Bronze hat was (like Thor's helmet), I must confess I missed it. Didn't like the new threads at all.

His earlier 4-ish limited series was more fun to read.; February 5, 2014 at 8:02 AM
fantastic four fan forever said...: I have to say hands down....drum roll please....Secret Wars!....As much as I like Mike Zeck's art, I believe editor Jim Shooter made him re-draw pages. It was a total mess all designed to sell toys. I wish that Sal Buscema drew the series instead. I did hear a rumor that he drew the first issue and Jim Shooter didn't like the results. However, this series was the beginning of the end of my Marvel brand loyalty. This showed me how an editor's interference hurts a book. Jim should have assigned this project to another top notch talent who knew what he was doing.

Secret Wars II had the Beyonder with that disco outfit that was ridiculous. The Al Milgrom art was very painful to see. It's the perfect guide on how not to make a limited series comic.

I have to agree with Matt Celis on Dark Knight. The art became very painful to tolerate. I was surprised Neal Adams or another big name artist wasn't asked to draw this series. There are some good moments, however the art is uneven. Dark Knight II: Dark Knight Strikes Back, was another travesty that should have not been published or redrawn by another talent. When I think of all the fans out there, there are fans like myself who would have done justice to the art ....and could have drawn it better than Frank Miller could. Dark Knight II showed me how Frank truly jumped the shark.; February 5, 2014 at 8:34 AM
Doc Savage said...: So glad to discover I'm not alone in my assessment of Dark Knight Returns as dreck...most comics readers I've known act like it's the Bible and style manual all in one...which sadly explains why so many modern comics are what they are...Watchmen, too, except Watchmen had really nice art and was pretty good (though I still think it's incredibly overrated)...really I'd rather read something unself-consciously fun like Sword of the Atom, the Shadow War of Hawkman, Green Arrow's 1st miniseries, etc., than these "meaningful" comics.; February 5, 2014 at 9:08 PM
abraxas9971 said...: maybe I'm chiming in here too late, but for me any mini series published by marvel after quesada took over. Civil War especially. Actually Marvel for me just doesn't exist after he took over. I think that I just disliked everything so much that I've elevated things that I might not have liked in the late 70s, the 80s and most of the 90s because even things that sucked back then is still way better than anything being published today.

This is my first comment here. I've benn reading for a little while and I enjoy your site alot. I'm going to try to comment more in the future.; February 9, 2014 at 12:37 AM
Doug said...: Abraxas -

Welcome to our community! Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Doug; February 9, 2014 at 10:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Super Powers mini... It's Kirby's first work chronologically that brings nothing to the table. And as a diehard Kirby fan, it pains me to admit that such work even exists. That last issue, especially. I'm really surprised no one else has mentioned it here.; February 12, 2014 at 4:35 PM

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