Worst of 2012 in Batman Comics

[InformationGeek]

Ah... before we get off track anymore, let's revert back to the topic at hand. The Top 3 Worst Books currently voted by you guys are:

1. Catwoman with 20 votes

2. Batman: The Dark Knight with 16 votes

3. Batgirl with 13 votes


Interesting to note, every single comic now officially has one vote, so no comic listed here doesn't at least have one person who hates it. No comics here goes unhated!

[Conway]

I guess if I had to choose which title I had the most problems with in 2012 it has to be Snyder's Batman. Part of that is because we all have so much hope for it, DC promotes it more than any other title, and every review is gushing with praise. In the end it always feels like a let down.

[tylenoljones]

Like what? I'm curious because I've been searching for something good Indie related and I have been coming up with very little or the ones I try are slowly getting weaker and weaker. I mean, I tried Saga since everyone is crazy about and that fell completely flat on its face for me. Same thing happened with Manhattan Projects and Happy. So far, the only non Marvel & DC books that came out this year that I truly like are Mind the Gap, Saucer Country (I count it), and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (yes indeed, I enjoyed myself more reading this than most other Images books this year).

I'm probably not the right person to make recommendations for you, lol. Our tastes seem to go in completely opposite directions, and I love all three of those Image books you said you disliked. Some of the other books folks have recommended, like Mind MGMT, probably aren't to your taste either.

You'd like Nick Spencer's Bedlam. It's got a Batman vibe to it. The second issue just came out a few weeks ago, and I think they're reprinting issue one soon.

Classic CBR. the "Best" thread falls into obscurity, while the "worst" thread will most likely thrive for 40 more pages.

Well, it might help if you jumped over to the "best" thread you love so much and struck up a discussion. Although maybe that wouldn't be antagonistic enough for you?

[darkseidpwns]

I normally try to stay away from anything that could be considered worst,I mean why bother with crap?

But from my experience the worst written books are easily David Finch and Jenkins The Dark Knight and Nocenti's Catwoman.

Worst arc would have to be the Terminus story in B&R

Worst villains are easily The Court of Owls and Lincoln March.

[NinjaMic]

Catwoman #0 was just flat out garbage.

I'm really trying to think of more options but that was just...ugh

[Elric of Grans]

I would like to piggy-back this a little. As a new reader, I am curious about the peripheral works. As Information Geek puts it, Batman: TDK, Batgirl and Catwoman are far and away the bottom three, according to this poll. Ironically, I was quite interested in starting all three of these. I was wondering if some people could share why they are so bad. Are they bad because they do not do the history of the characters justice (and therefore, as a new reader, I would not know any better), or is the issue more fundamental? Terrible art, writing, etc. Things even a newbie can take one look at and turn to better comics.

[sunofdarkchild]

I would like to piggy-back this a little. As a new reader, I am curious about the peripheral works. As Information Geek puts it, Batman: TDK, Batgirl and Catwoman are far and away the bottom three, according to this poll. Ironically, I was quite interested in starting all three of these. I was wondering if some people could share why they are so bad. Are they bad because they do not do the history of the characters justice (and therefore, as a new reader, I would not know any better), or is the issue more fundamental? Terrible art, writing, etc. Things even a newbie can take one look at and turn to better comics.

Regarding Catwoman, while I've stayed far away the plot outlines and scans I've seen have all been total garbage, without execption.

TDK is also crap. Stay away.

Batgirl is an average written book with terrible villains and a depressing heroine that falls under the 'too stupid to live' category, which is made worse by the fact that Babs used to be one of the absolute smartest people in all of DC. If you never read anything of Babs as a congresswoman or as smart enough to beat Braniac as Oracle you might enjoy it more, but I would still find it average even at its very best even if I didn't know about those things. It isn't anywhere near as bad as the other 2, but given Gail Simone's usual standards and the standards set by the Cass and Steph Batgirl ongoings it is much more disappointing. If you are going to give one of these 3 a try, Batgirl is the one, but I'd still recommend avoinding it. There's not a single element to it you can't find done better in Batman, Detective Comics, or Batwoman. Actually, if you haven't tried it, Batwoman is a much better option to check out than any of these 3.

[Fate's Faith]

I would like to piggy-back this a little. As a new reader, I am curious about the peripheral works. As Information Geek puts it, Batman: TDK, Batgirl and Catwoman are far and away the bottom three, according to this poll. Ironically, I was quite interested in starting all three of these. I was wondering if some people could share why they are so bad. Are they bad because they do not do the history of the characters justice (and therefore, as a new reader, I would not know any better), or is the issue more fundamental? Terrible art, writing, etc. Things even a newbie can take one look at and turn to better comics.

Problems with Catwoman have only been recent happenings since I have found the title a pretty good read but the Dollhouse arc shifted the character to me to one who was firmly an anti-hero mold (not the killing type) to heroic. Her addition to JLA seems to confirm the shift. I think this has affected her characterization some since she doesn't have the edge I really loved in the beginning. Catwoman is basically a selfish character that does what makes her happy over others. Not to the point of committing or condoning killing but she's pretty clearly a about pleasure so this shift didn't quite bring that along with it.

Batman: TDK I like almost as much as Catwoman. We get Batman's foes once again but its not all action pack. I've enjoyed that Scarecrow arc for the look at that character and his motivations. They are much more explored in depth here. Its been much better than the previous White Rabbit one which was quite odd and didn't have a clear plot. But the title has picked up though I do wish it wouldn't stretch things out to the length it does.

Batgirl is the one I've had the most trouble and this is due to the way the character is presented. For example, one page with have her commenting that she's about done for and this one maneuver is all she's got left. It works. Then she does it again the next page. She is one of the most down on herself characters I've ever read. And not like a self loathing type but as if its common knowledge how much she lacks. It drives me crazy. And like all the titles, the villains could use some work.

So I do recommend them all myself. I think each save for TDK are pretty easy to get into. I exempt TDK from that because I think that first arc would confuse anyone which didn't help the title any. Batgirl has been fairly standard throughout its run with nothing really good but nothing really bad (save for the inner dialog). TDK has been all over the map and nothing absolute great. Probably the weakest of the Batman titles currently. Catwoman I enjoy most of all but the opening arc was quite good to me.

[AJBopp]

I only read Bat titles that featured Batman, plus Nightwing (well, a couple issues of Batgirl). I toughed out Batman/Court Of Owls all the way through, and I have to say that it was the worst of the lot of what I read. It was so bad I even dropped the Bat titles that I was enjoying.

[vicvega]

I disagree with that. As good as Image has become, they don't put out anything that's as philosophical as Mike Carey's The Unwritten or China Mieville's Dial H. They're the closest thing to the old Vertigo movement, something even Image can't compare to.

but Image isn't trying to be like old Vertigo though so I'm confused. If anything Image is trying to be a place for indie creators to try new and exciting things. all of the other indie publishers have their niches. IDW does licensed comics, Dark Horse does its thing, Top Cow I dunno, Dynamite has pulp, etc. Image is a place for creativity to breed, not to mimic old Vertigo.

[vicvega]

Worst bat book was definitely dark knight until Hurwitz took over.

Worst villains:
uhhh going to have to go with Court of Owls/Owlman. I mean they weren't terrible because they met the standard requirements of villainy for me but they were terrible in the sense that they were really inconsistent, and I was a big supporter of them as villains too until I took a step back and looked at it overall. They didn't accomplish much of anything outside of frightening Batman and killing a few people which isn't really as large scale as they were hyped up to be.

[maximiliani]

I voted Catwoman, only because NONE of what's spun out of the reboot for her character has matched the wonderful, sensitive, engaging and classy build-up and reinvention Brubaker and Cooke and later Cameron Stewart delivered ten years ago.

Looking back at that run it reads and looks more like a Vertigo-style grown up pulp BTAS book so high quality and good, the output coming out now pales in sophistication and that is really, really, sad. All superhero comic books should look to that initial run as 100% benchmark for how to write and construct a well rounded comicbook.

[zur en arrh]

Like what?

nowhere men
saga
multiple warheads
morning glories
prophet
mind mgmt
planetoid
the manhattan projects
hellboy
bprd
the massive
sweet tooth
chew
blackacre
change
elephantmen
comeback

I know I'm forgetting some.

And Marvel has some great titles too. Fantastic Four, FF, Thor: God of Thunder, anything by Jonathan Hickman, etc etc.

[Mr. Holmes]

but Image isn't trying to be like old Vertigo though so I'm confused. If anything Image is trying to be a place for indie creators to try new and exciting things. all of the other indie publishers have their niches. IDW does licensed comics, Dark Horse does its thing, Top Cow I dunno, Dynamite has pulp, etc. Image is a place for creativity to breed, not to mimic old Vertigo.

I'm not sure what you're confused about. I'm not saying Image should be exactly like Vertigo, I'm comparing quality.

[shark]

Catwoman is dreadful, but I wasn't expecting anything from it. Batgirl was the biggest disappointment, so it gets my vote.