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#1226899 2018-10-04 10:11 AM
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I was inspired by this Youtube video:




Marvel Comics Toilet Paper,
Comic Tropes Crappy Comic Book Contest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fAtCfEncnw



I think we all can offer a few unsavory contenders. There are many criteria to determine "the crappiest". If one goes strictly on bad storytelling, it would just be too uninteresting to be worth the trouble to read and review.
I prefer selections that should be good stories, where the creators have the talent to do something better, but just do it badly, to the point of disappointing and insulting readers.



For me, the absolute worst comic I ever read was AMAZING SPIDERMAN 289. Where after literally years of buildup (starting with issue 238) and clues left across countless issues and other Spiderman titles, the identity of the Hobgoblin is revealed, and none of the clues match up with the character revealed!

The run where Roger Stern began the Hobgoblin storyline were fantastic, and still among my favorites, across 238-251. The Hobgoblin appearances in SPECTACULAR SPIDERMAN and other titles were also passably decent. Up till this particular issue.
As high above, so far below...






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Pretty funny that Marvel printed a comic on a roll of toilet paper.

They could make that an annual tradition, for the issue that Marvel readers select as the crappiest story each year.

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Perhaps "most disappointing comic" would be a better description of what you're looking for.

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Well, as I partly laid out, there are many criteria for "crappiest".

Offering a finale that doesn't conform to the clues leading up to it is certainly one form of bad storytelling.

Stories that are conceptually bad or just in bad taste is another. Such as HANSI: THE GIRL WHO LOVED THE SWASTIKA. Although that story is about a girl who was indoctrinated as a nazi, and then became disillusioned as a Christian and came to see the nazis as evil. And fronts itself to be a true story.
Or the LOIS LANE story where she becomes black.

Or BROTHER POWER THE GEEK.
Or Simon & Kirby's 1974 offering THE SANDMAN.
Joe Simon's 1968-1978 writing across the board for me is just deliciously out of touch with 1970's readers.
PREZ?
GREEN TEAM?
But bad as these series are, that actually makes them fun to read.

We've discussed it before, for me among the absolute crappiest were Ernie Chan's run on BATMAN and DETECTIVE in 1975-1976. Teamed with writer David V. Reed, and often with inker vince Colletta.

Another contender is Marvel's TEAM AMERICA, which as I recall was to be an Evel Keneivel series, but then he had some scandals, so they did the series with similar characters under another name.

STAR BRAND, and virtually all Marvel's 1986 "New Universe" titles.

Virtually anything pencilled by Sal Buscema. The saving grace on any of his books was an inker who could make it not look like Sal Buscema. Some books he pencilled include MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, THE DEFENDERS, INCREDIBLE HULK, and ROM.
I actually liked ROM, but more so when Aiken/Garvey were inking it, around issues 25-50.

To a degree, "crappy" is in the eye of the beholder. And books I hate, others look back on with affection, despite arguably not having the greatest story and art. And vice versa.

There's also a "so bad it's good" category. In the template of Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Jack Kirby's 1975-1976 run on CAPTAIN AMERICA 193-214 kind of fits that criteria.




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How about the Tyroc issues of LEGION in the mid/late 1970's:




A black militant character who came from a centuries-segregated island of black separatist racists. As I recall, Grell disliked the character, as did Paul Levitz. To the point that it was quietly drifted out of continuity.

As I recall, Tyroc appeared in SUPERBOY/LEGION 216, 218, and 222.




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Another I hated that others would disagree with me on is LOVE AND ROCKETS by the Hernandez brothers.

Butch lesbians, the L.A. punk rock scene, hispanic subculture, the cynicism, the ugly minimalist art... others see brilliance in this series, I just hated it to no end and could never get into it.






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 Originally Posted By: Wonder Boy



We've discussed it before, for me among the absolute crappiest were Ernie Chan's run on BATMAN and DETECTIVE in 1975-1976. Teamed with writer David V. Reed, and often with inker vince Colletta.


Yeah, that is probably the nadir of bat-runs, at least during my childhood. Especially when you consider it was running around the same time as classic runs by O'Neil/Adams/Novick, Englehart/Rogers and anything drawn by Jim Aparo.

These days, I'd probably dance a jig to have those guys (well, maybe not Colletta) back.

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No argument there, about the Reed/Chan/Colletta team being an unbearable drop in quality from the greatness of O'Neil/Novick/Giordano and O'Neil/Adams/Giordano, and the Aparo run on BRAVE AND THE BOLD.

That's an era where I loved the Bat-titles, and it took something truly putrid for me to stop buying at that point, an awfulness which Reed/Chan provided.
What the hell was DC thinking?

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Neal Adams' SKATEMAN. Just conceptually bad from the outset.
And mercifully, only one issue.

All the more shockingly bad, to have come from a creative giant like Neal Adams.


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Despite my love for Jack Kirby, and its role in opening the door for alternative publishers to rival Marvel and DC, and for royalties and creator rights...



CAPTAIN VICTORY (Pacific Comics)

...definitely makes the cut.

A 1950's-style alien invasion series, but with a cast of characters more suited to a Saturday morning cartoon, and with art from a Jack Kirby that was sadly beyond his prime.

Some nice pages here and there, but definitely for a readership nostalgic for Kirby's 1970's work, and not easily appreciated by new readers who were not already fond of Kirby based on his previous work from better days.





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