As fans of Lost or Game of Thrones know all too well, it can be devastating to follow a series avidly and be let down by a rushed, mismanaged, or plain bad conclusion. Comic books fans are no stranger to bad endings, despite it being easy to lambast modern creators as being somehow worse than the rose-colored ideal fans have of yesterday.
Comic book creators are some of the most underappreciated people in the industry of storytelling and rarely can a writer or artist be solely to blame for a sub-par ending. Unfortunately, these things have always happened and will continue to happen and while it may be a downer to focus on all the bad of the past it can also help to give one perspective on the here and now.
CONTENT WARNING. Some of these comics deal with very serious and sensitive issues. Please keep in mind before continuing.
9 Terra Dies After Being Groomed By Deathstroke
1984's The Judas Contract by Marv Wolfman and George Perez is arguably the single most well-known Teen Titans story of all time. While its impact and importance cannot be understated, the mismanagement of its most central character is a major blemish on its legacy. In The Judas Contract, Deathstroke grooms and is implied to romantically seduce and manipulate 16-year-old Terra. Despite being abused by a man several times her age, she is portrayed as an out and out morally reprehensible sadist who doesn't deserve the love or care that her teammates gave to her.
Legends, by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne, was released in 1986 as the first major event comic of the new Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity. For seemingly no reason, Darkseid makes a bet with the mysterious Phantom Stranger over the fate of the DC superheroes. His machinations are foiled when Robin appears with droves of children to help snap their parents out of the influence of Glorious Godfrey.
It's overly saccharine and yanks much of the menace out of Darkseid who is now usually portrayed as the end-all-be-all villain of DC. To be fair, Robin had to get beaten and hospitalized to save the day, so it's not unearned. Surely this will be the last time Jason Todd goes through such a traumatic event.
8 Hawk Was Monarch
1991's ironically titled Armageddon 2001 by Dennis O'Neil and Archie Goodwin with art by Dan Jurgens set up a wonderful mystery of the time-traveling villain Monarch and which hero he might be a malignant future version of. All signs pointed to Dr. Manhattan's inspiration and classic Charlton Comics character Captain Atom. Then the reveal got leaked.
DC quickly tried to get ahead of this by instead revealing it was Hawk of the duo Hawk & Dove who would, in an alternate future, become Monarch. This failed to gel with readers as not only did it go against the well-laid seeds of the first book, but completely contradicted several beats and elements of its own narrative.
7 Superman Was Never Dead
The Death of Superman was a major crossover event in which every main Superman title would follow the trail of destruction left by the alien monster Doomsday. Superman would give his life to stop his foe, and the following year was filled not just with some genuinely beautiful and heart wrenching stories in the Funeral for a Friend arc, also the much-derided and very convoluted Reign of the Supermen.
The Man of Tomorrow returned in an all-black suit with guns, a mullet, and the reveal that Clark Kent never really died, but simply fell into a Kryptonian Healing Coma that is in all respects indistinguishable from human death, felt like a huge cop-out. Superman was always going to come back, but for him to have never died in the first place harms makes the prior event feel empty and pointless.
6 Alex DeWitt Gets Fridged
Comic book fans likely know the phrase "fridged" from legendary writer Gail Simone and her 1999 website called Women in Refrigerators. The inspiration for this was 1994's Green Lantern #54 by Ron Marz with art by Steve Carr, Derec Aucoin, and Darryl Banks, where Kyle Rayner's partner Alexandrea DeWitt was grotesquely stuffed in his fridge by Captain Atom's nemesis Major Force.
This followed in a long legacy of superhero girlfriends getting killed or tortured à la Gwen Stacy, but the offhanded way in which it is handled really cements this issue as the prime example. Despite Alex never being a breakout star of the ongoing title, she certainly wasn't a bad member of the comic's cast and surely deserved a better exit than being trauma fodder for a villain not even regularly associated with the book.
5 Hush Is Thomas Elliott
Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee is a beautiful book that really shows why Lee is the iconic DC artist of our generation. Hush is also one of the easiest murder mystery cases of all time. Surprisingly, the brand new character added to Bruce Wayne's backstory ends up being the brand new mysterious villain that's appeared to threaten Gotham. That, plus some questionable choices in the suspension of disbelief department, and Hush is a better art book than it is a story in spite of the lofty goals it sets for itself.
4 Jean Loring Killed Sue Dibny
Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer with art by Rags Morales and Michael Bair is another downright gorgeous murder mystery comic let down by its own writing. Despite everyone from Batman to The Atom searching every single molecule husband and wife superhero duo Sue & Ralph Dibny's home, not one of them was able to discover who really murdered one half of DC's most lovable couple.
To add fuel to the fire, Identity Crisis retconned that longtime Justice League enemy Doctor Light sexually assaulted Sue back during the JLA's Satellite Era. Casually fridging Sue Dibny was one thing, but the tasteless assault of a character who has no agency in the story is why Identity Crisis remains one of DC's most controversial crossover events of all time.
3 Amazons Attack! Was An Ad For A Worse Story
Amazons Attack! from 2007 is very bad. Will Pfeifer and Pete Woods attempt a major Earth-shaking event that not only undoes tons of work going on in other Wonder Woman titles, but ends up being a prolonged tie-in and advertisement for one of the worst series DC ever made. After the Amazons, well... Attack, it is revealed that this was all the machinations of Granny Goodness of the New Gods who has kidnapped and impersonated the Greek pantheon. If a battle between gods old and new sounds exciting, one would, unfortunately, have to go read the horrendous Countdown to Final Crisis.
2 The New 52 Was Barry's Fault
Flashpoint by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert is a very entertaining Flash story and a great read for anyone who loves when the character plays with time and alternate realities. By no means the best Flash story of all time, Flashpoint is a harmless and enjoyable romp with fresh ideas and takes on familiar characters. Or at least it would be harmless if midway into production it wasn't turned into the brand new catalyst for a rushed and poorly planned company-wide reboot.
As the reader watches Barry race back in time to fix reality, we see Pandora quickly shove in exposition about how everyone's favorite Wildstorm character Grifter is now canon in DC and everyone gets cool new battle armor with fancy lines on them.
1 Wally West Is The Sanctuary Murderer
After being wiped from reality and eventually brought back only to live in a world where his wife doesn't know who he is and his kids don't exist, Wally West comes to Sanctuary, a mental health home for DC superheroes set up by the trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. In Heroes in Crisis by Tom King and Clay Mann, we see this all come crashing down as Wally has a mental breakdown that results in the death of several superheroes including his longtime Teen Titans partner Roy Harper. Here's hoping the next decade is better for Wally than the last.
0 Comments