Welcome to Comic Bastards' yearly "Worst of" list. That’s right, “Worst”! We don’t just tell you what the “Best” of the year is we remind you of everything you’d like to forget. We have so many contributors on the site now that we actually had to break the list up into parts this year. This is part one which will cover: "Worst Comic Event", "Worst Revival" and "Most Annoying Industry Habit of 2013" with amazing belts created by our very own Steve Paugh! You can find Part 1 and Part 3 by clicking on the previous links. Also be sure to check out this week's podcast to hear Kevin and Dustin read and have fun with everyone's worst of list! Thanks for reading and if you’d like to check out the “Best of” list then you can do so here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
Worst Comic Event
James - Forever Evil (DC Comics)
I was real stoked on this, and then I read it :(
Jeff - Forever Evil (DC Comics)
Age of Ultron sounded terrible but Forever Evil had Geoff Johns finally completely running out of gas and featured ugly and gimmicky tie-in covers that made DC enough cash that it's rumored they are considering doing something similar again soon.
Samantha - Forever Evil (DC Comics)
I tried to get into this series so hard but always felt myself forcing the reading.
Jordan - Forever Evil (DC Comics)
If the cornball name of this event wasn`t foreboding enough that you knew this thing would be crap, I don`t know what would be.
Adam - Forever Evil (DC Comics)
Most of us seem to agree on this one.
Erik - Forever Evil (DC Comics)
I'm going to have agree with Samantha on this one. I had to make myself read every word. So eventually, I just stopped reading.
Kevin - The Death of Damian Wayne (DC Comics)
It happened so early in the year and had zero impact on anything. Mostly due to the fact that the Bat books were fucked up with the jump to the New 52.
Steve - Age of Ultron (Marvel Comics)
Unnecessarily circuitous, boring and it BARELY even featured Ultron. Fine, it set up the time quake in Marvel, but that really hasn't proven to be worth it. Lame. As. Shit.
Dustin - Octo-Spidey (Marvel Comics)
Rather than go into a long-winded rant on why everything Marvel has done with this character since "One More Day" has sucked, I'm just going to say that the idea of letting the writers actually change the status quo on the book didn't need to happen with a "new" version of the character. It could have been done with PP given the correct writer and an editor willing to take the chance. Lazy storytelling wins again.
Carl - San Diego Comic Con 2013 (#SDCC)
Nothing good came from this.
Worst Revival
Adam - Brain Boy (Dark Horse Comics)
I don't really have a great reason for this, I just remember doing the group review for the first issue and really hating it. I just wish I didn't have to see it come back.
Samantha - T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (IDW Publishing)
I can't get over how unorganized this series is. It brings in some old school comics, but not the right stuff.
James - G.I. Joe (IDW Publishing)
It is hard for me to absolutely hate anything. I always try to find something good where I can, but with the Joe's, everything seems so cheesy. I just am not into it at all. My kids don't even get in to it and I showed them the old 80s cartoon with its overly acted storylines (which are kind of cool). This stuff though, no.
Dustin - G.I. Joe (IDW Publishing)
I hate to constantly bash on IDW and Dynamite for handling their licenses in a piss poor manner, but they refuse to leave my childhood in the past where it belongs, so fuck’em. I had to go with one book from one company and that’s G.I. Joe from IDW. Though I could tag on the other two books they rebooted with it as well. I wasn’t opposed to a G.I. Joe reboot, but we soon discovered that they pulled a New Ghostbusters/Marvel NOW and just put a different creative team on the book with a #1 on the issue and called it a day. This series sucked from the get go and is continuing to pull the golf ball through the hose with each issue.
Kevin – He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (DC Comics)
Since DC has owned the rights they have never really put the time and effort into this IP. With the launch of this year’s series, that trend continues.
Carl - Any Titty Book About a Fairy Tale (Mostly Zenescope)
If I have to masturbate to another Wizard of OZ adaptation where Dorothy is wearing lingerie and being spanked by flying monkeys, I'm going to be pissed.
Steve - OZ, Wonderland (Zenescope Entertainment)
They have a LOT of talent come through, but they waste it all on applying vapid cheesecake to legendary properties that deserve better.
Most Annoying Industry Habit of 2013
Carl – Pricing (3.99 and Rising!)
How could a teenager possibly collect comics when the books average $3.99 an issue? Can't someone make comics more affordable--not just for special events?
Jordan – Pricing (3.99 and Rising!)
I agree with Carl on pricing. I'm fairly well off and in my early 20's and I can’t afford my comic book hobby.
Erik - Baby Covers (Pick a Company)
I liked it at the beginning. I thought that it was kinda cool, but I lost interest and became annoyed really fast.
Samantha – Tweeting Every Damn Picture from the Set of a Movie
Enough said.
James - Teasers to Teasers
Only 3 days till the (Place Movie Here) trailer release....Only 2 days till the (Place Movie Here) trailer release...Redundant, and annoying after a while. I want to be hyped about the movie, not the damn trailer of the movie, enough already.
Kevin - The "Big Two" Teasing Shit
…and by shit, I mean fuck your stuff.
Dustin - Worst Teasers Ever
If it wasn't DC teasing characters you had no reason to care about it was Marvel using adjectives, verbs and nouns to hint at a fucking book. What sucked more is that smaller publishers started copying them and it sucked too. Take a page out of Dark Horse's book and make the teaser worth the time or don't bother at all. If you're going to be lazy and use only one word make it "Lazy" and call it a day.
Steve - Villain's Month / 0.1 Issues (Marvel/DC)
Barring a few exceptions, everything about VM, from the mostly lackluster stories to the gimmicky approach to the poor strategic planning was pretty terrible. And 0.1 numbering is just dumb.
Adam - Cashing in on the Zombie Craze
Zombie War, enough said.
Jeff - The Event Book Eating Itself
Even the word 'event' no longer feels relevant as there are so many that we can actually look three events ahead just by reading ads. It's a predictable target but it was worse in 2013 than any year I can think of prior with the Big Two really going out of their way to challenge their own relevance to the industry. -- Keep going with our "Worst of 2013" list by checking out Part 1 and Part 3! Thanks for reading and please leave us a comment below!