The Bendis Board asks: What comic was the biggest disappointment of 2006?:
“for me, gotta say infinite crisis. i bought in, y’know. i truly bought in and i felt let down in almost every way. deaths that weren’t deaths(nightwing), incomplete and rushed art, story edits and fixes in a hardback money grab, the culmination and resolution of major plot points (the minis) in books (the mini specials) other than the one book (ic) we were promised they would culminate and resolve in, a battle of metropolis with every major super goodie and baddie involved over in less than half an issue, 12 issues of sprawling story crammed into 7 and pouring out the overstuffed sides… it was a fine read. entertaining enough, i guess. but i bought in. thought it was going to be epic. all the build-up, the minis, prelude, geoff johns! i believed, and in the end, it just didn’t work for me.”
“The first four issues of Civil War… Clor. That says enough by itself on that issue. Iron Man finally offers Cap a chance to talk things out, explain some of his ideas, you know, just be rational adults instead of destroying NYC every time some of them go outside, and when he offers a friendly handshake? Cap sucker punches him. Completely out of character.”
“Grant Morrison’s Batman. I was expecting so much, like Batman’s New X-Men. Plus, how can you go wrong with 50 ninja man-bats? Somehow he found a way. And I was so looking forward to it. I guess there is still the hope that it could get better… hey, it could… maybe.”
“I’m gonna say Black Panther. I love the character, but his book this year has been nothing but one big money-grubbing, publicity-grabbing event that was hastily executed without any thought on what it would do for the characters involved, other than their public profile. But I love the character, so I keep buying and I feel like a tool.”
“[Civil War] has had its delays, and ,for me at least, those delays are just now starting to piss me off. an event that was supposed to pop has instead been on a slow simmer for 4 months. but the story has stayed true throughout and looks to be something that may indeed actually reimagine the marvel universe, something that respects the past and looks to the future. i mean, there’s still a chance, a damn good chance having read lots of millar, that civil war’s payoff is gonna be as big as its promise.
and one thing we know for certain, marvel is going to be a different place post-cw, characters are going to be forever (5 years at least) changed.”
I love the “forever (5 years at least)” bit. But now it’s your turn, Newsablogreaders. What was your most disappointing book of the year?
December 21st, 2006 at 9:29 am
I understand those complaints, but so far I’ve liked everything they mentioned. I don’t know what the biggest disappointment was for me, because I prefer to just forget it and move on to better things.
I suppose, if looking only at high-profile books, Civil War has been kind of a disappointment. It delivers on the blockbuster action scenes, but falls short on decent character development. I feel like we’re not getting the whole story, just snapshots of a story.
Okay, I’ve just remembered the most disappointing book: JMS’s Fantastic Four. I know it’s hard to follow Waid’s zany adventures, but I honestly thought JMS was up to the task. And it’s not that the stories were poorly crafted–it’s that the book was missing that “anything can happen” feeling that ought to be signature for the FF. You know what I mean: that comic book wackiness, that unpredictable-ness. Instead, the stories were far too grounded, focused far too much on characters when the real meat of the book should have been the zany adventures. And there’s also the Civil War tie-in, which further grounded these explorers. Send Thing into space, darn it! Not freaking Paris!
December 21st, 2006 at 10:04 am
Buckaroo Banzai from Moonstone, definitely the biggest disappointment. Finally, Earl Mac Rauch brings us the story of BB versus the World Crime League… and includes elements you have to have read the novel to understand, Stephen Thompson’s are is unbelieveably ugly, most of the story is all over the map with difficult scene transitions. Joe Gentile is credited with “additional material”, which is a red flag right there. I’ve long suspected that one reason there’s been no BB sequel, novel, TV, film, or otherwise, is that Rauch is unwilling or unable to write it. I have a feeling Gentile wrote the script out of Rauch’s notes.
December 21st, 2006 at 10:22 am
I can’t say Civil War, because the entire premise for the series is completely stupid.
I’d have to choose the Eternals. Gods living amoung us is something Gaiman has done brilliantly in Neverwhere, American Gods, and the Anasi Boys. So when I heard he was doing a story on Jack Kirby’s concept, I thought it would be the greatest thing ever.
It wasn’t even close.
December 21st, 2006 at 10:51 am
For me the biggest dissapointment has to be Paul Dini’s Detective run. I went in really wanting to like it but this reads like the same story month after month. It’s nice to see Batman using detective skills but I’d also like to see him do other things as well.
December 21st, 2006 at 10:57 am
Two industry veterans with tremendous talent! An underdeveloped character with potential! What could go wrong?!!
Hawkgirl.
sigh.
(loving Dini’s Detective, myself)
December 21st, 2006 at 11:16 am
Neil Gaiman’s American Gods makes me want to fight people. While we’re at it, Rucka’s Finder/Keeper crap instils anger in me as well. THOSE were the two disappointing books that I couldn’t finish reading this year.
As for comics, Matt Fraction’s Punisher War Journal. There, I said it. It just plain sucked. Sorry, Matt, but the Punisher doesn’t make comments about government space guns and what not. HE PUNISHES!!!!!
December 21st, 2006 at 12:24 pm
I’m almost afraid to say it but Seven Soldiers….I’m just not a huge Morrison fan and this was my “let’s give him a shot” series…the way they hyped this and built it up before anything had been released…I just expected more…that’s not to say certain parts of the series were just awesome(Klarion, Frankenstien, Gaurdian)…but overall I felt really let down by the majority of the stories and the bizarre/ rushed/ momentum killing lateness of the last issue…
and speaking of momentum killing lateness….Civil war…you’re on notice…
December 21st, 2006 at 12:45 pm
The entire Ultimate line at Marvel, except Ultimate Spider-Man.
I don’t know what’s happend.
Ultimate X-Men lost it’s way a while ago. I keep hoping that having a full time writer in Kirkman, but it just hasn’t gelled for me yet. And that solicit for issue 80 doesn’t instill me with any confidence.
Ultimate Fantistic Four has had too many different creative teams in its short life. There’s just been too little consistancy in tone and character. (And I really didn’t like seeing Bright Abbot playing Johnny Storm during Land’s run.)
The Ultimates is based on how late it is. I enjoy each issue. The art is spectacular. The problem is that each issue is so tied to the last on that when a new one comes out as late as it does I have only a vague idea of what has happened.
The only thing I liked about Ultimate Extinction was the last issue and how the people of Earth frightened off Gah Lak Tus. I just hope Gah Lak Tus doesn’t show up to take revenge on Earth.
Ultimate Power. I just don’t get it. Two issues and even with the fighting, nothing’s happened. Maybe in the next issue something will happen.
And then there’s Ultimate Vision. Can I just get a collective sigh about that one?
December 21st, 2006 at 5:58 pm
The Wonder Woman relaunch. Long waits, and not even good books when they do come out. I know most people don’t think that, but to me Heinberg’s run is really overrated.
December 21st, 2006 at 9:54 pm
I second the Ultimate line except I’ll throw Ultimate Spider-man in there. The Ultimate Clone Saga was as bad as the first one – the only real difference was length.
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:17 am
Speaking of Ultimate X-Men, Kirkman doing Marvel titles is a huge disappointment. The total opposite of Brubaker (who has been fantastic). You’d think the writer of Invincible and Walking Dead wuold just rock on Marvel characters.