Unfortunately, these much anticipated stories were nothing to write home about.
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00:00 Now, the long-running nature of comic books means that, after a while, some of the ongoing
00:04 storylines might lose some of their luster and even relevance. Repeating tired tropes,
00:09 bringing back dead characters and/or returning the world to their original status quos can push
00:15 away readers and risk having their stories cancelled. This is why, every now and again,
00:20 a publishing company will announce a comic and tout it as the next big thing, and use ominous
00:25 taglines such as "Everything will change" to describe the upcoming cataclysmic events.
00:30 And, as you can imagine, some of these just don't live up to the hype, and in fact,
00:34 may be overhyped. And that's what we're here to discuss today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:40 and these are 10 Overhyped Comic Books That Were Incredibly Mediocre.
00:44 10. Identity Crisis
00:46 In the last two years alone, DC has gone through two different crises-ies-ies-ies-ies,
00:51 and is about to go through a third one. Despite this over-reliance on crossover stories,
00:56 their crisis events have been well-crafted and entertaining for the most part. Unfortunately,
01:00 this can't really be said for 2004's Identity Crisis, a widespread murder mystery that was
01:06 unbelievably tone-deaf and left a bad taste in most readers' mouths after they finished it.
01:10 Following the death of elongated man's wife Sue Dibney, the Justice League sets out to find the
01:15 killer, before they can strike again. In the process, the team learns the uncomfortable truths
01:20 about how far its members would be willing to go to protect themselves and their loved ones.
01:24 The story is rife with inconsistencies in the characterization of various heroes,
01:29 and paints the normally united team in a disturbing and disjointed light. In addition
01:33 to this, the story's core component and its resolution were both underwhelming and
01:37 definitely sexist, showing that the creative team were unable of crafting a murder mystery
01:42 that respected the characters involved.
01:44 9. Civil War
01:46 Seeing heroes clash is conceptually interesting due to the prospect of knowing who is more
01:51 powerful and/or skilled. Furthermore, the ideological differences and situations that
01:55 force these heroes into conflict are even more compelling. Unfortunately, Marvel's grand event
02:00 missed the mark in delivering a satisfying hero vs hero showdown, despite its potentially profound
02:06 themes. Civil War may have given us moments such as Spider-Man revealing his identity to the world,
02:11 and the iconic Captain America and Iron Man fight, but at the same time, the heroes involved
02:15 were woefully out of character and rather unlikable. Following a tragedy involving a
02:20 rookie superhero team, the nation calls for increased accountability in the superhuman
02:24 community. This culminates in the Superhero Registration Act, a document whose content
02:29 tore the Avengers and most superhero teams apart. Acts such as Tony Stark employing
02:34 supervillains to hunt down his former comrades, and Reed Richards' construction of an
02:38 extra-dimensional prison for said heroes were not only despicable, but also robbed the story
02:43 of its moral complexity. Ultimately, the story's impact is undercut by a shakily defined act and
02:49 a rather underwhelming resolution.
02:50 8. Heroes in Crisis
02:53 Before its release, Heroes in Crisis seemed promising due to its proposed exploration of
02:58 the mental health of various superheroes in addition to the main murder mystery. Sadly,
03:02 the comic series handled these themes in an unconvincing and rather insensitive manner,
03:07 and its treatment of Wally West in particular left a lot to be desired. The story introduces
03:12 the Sanctuary, a secret rehabilitation center that caters to the needs of superheroes and
03:17 reformed villains. Following a mass shooting that claims the lives of characters such as
03:21 Wally West and Poison Ivy, the League investigates the heinous act with Booster Gold and
03:25 Harley Quinn as its main suspects. As the mystery unfolds, two things become clear. One,
03:31 the existence of the Sanctuary is unsettling for the superhuman community, and two, Wally West's
03:35 involvement in the massacre is more convoluted and disturbing than initially expected.
03:40 And you know what? The mental health element of this story amounted to nothing and seemed
03:44 to serve more as a selling point rather than a tasteful exploration of its characters' various
03:49 psyches. This is seen in Wally's treatment, an act that strives to mine his trauma for shock value
03:54 more than anything else.
03:55 7. Old Man Logan
03:58 Old Man Logan is an intriguing exploration of a dystopian Marvel universe as well as an older,
04:03 more world-weary Wolverine. That said, some of its narrative elements were pretty, well,
04:08 terribly misguided in hindsight. The majority of the heroes in this timeline are dead,
04:12 and the rest are under the mercy of a cabal of supervillains such as Red Skull, Kingpin,
04:17 and a villainous Hulk who took over after wiping most of this Earth's superhero community out.
04:22 An older Logan lives with his family in Hulk-controlled territory, and due to the
04:26 pressures of the former Powerhouse's family, sets out on a cross-country journey with Hawkeye.
04:31 The artwork here suitably captures the bleak and gory world the characters inhabit,
04:35 but the generic story itself paints them in a rather awful light. It is bleak to a fault,
04:41 and while this is the point of dystopic stories, it quickly gets exhausting to immerse yourself
04:46 into. Characters such as the Hulk and She-Hulk are extremely off-putting, and Logan's pacifism
04:51 feels rather undercooked, as its inciting incident is both inexplicable and rather infuriating.
04:57 All in all, this story has some intriguing aspects, but as a whole,
05:00 it was kind of frustratingly executed.
05:02 6. The New 52 as a Whole
05:05 For every post-crisis era or rebirth era in DC, we get the New 52, easily the most
05:11 disappointing initiative DC has undertaken in the modern age of comics. The decision to take
05:16 away 10 or so years from the histories of most of DC's characters is fascinating on paper,
05:20 but the younger heroes, villains, and supporting characters were not as compelling as their older
05:25 counterparts, and felt like second-rate parodies of themselves. Characters such as Superman and
05:30 Starfire became unlikable in an attempt to make them more flawed, and most heroes' costume
05:34 designs made for uncomfortable sights due to their over-designed, tactical armor-like nature.
05:39 The continuity was all over the place as well. For starters, Batman had multiple Robins and a
05:44 10-year-old son with Talia, despite being a hero for only a few years. Such a discrepancy was
05:49 reflective of the New 52's failed attempt to take countless years of history and condense them into
05:54 a relatively short time frame. Fortunately, DC Rebirth was able to set most of these things right.
06:00 5. Fear Itself
06:02 This 2011 crossover event follows the machinations of the Serpent, an Asgardian fear god who schemes
06:09 to claim the throne of Asgard, which spelt "Disaster for Earth". Despite focusing on the
06:13 diabolical deity and the trio of Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man, the event was a muddled
06:18 tale with a questionable plot structure, lackluster writing, and inconsequential nature.
06:23 Following the settlement of Asgard on Earth after the Siege storyline, Red Skull's daughter,
06:28 Sin, recovers a relic that transforms her into the Serpent's head. This sets off a chain of events
06:33 that imperils both Earth and Asgard and pushes the hero of the former to their limits. Despite
06:38 featuring fan-pleasing moments such as Captain America wielding Mjolnir, the main story is
06:43 poorly paced from the onset. Its build-up was poorly done as well, meaning that the rest of
06:47 the story did not flow as intended and this served to work against the far-reaching nature of the
06:52 story. That said, the event's tie-ins made for entertaining reads, even if they undercut the
06:57 impact of the main story in some instances.
06:59 4. A Death in the Family
07:02 It's not every day that readers actively choose the fate of a character via a phone call,
07:06 but this was indeed the case with A Death in the Family. Centering the story on an unlikable
07:11 Robin, Jason Todd, was ingratiating for readers back in 1988, but having the readers kill him
07:16 off was essentially an admission by the staff at DC that they were incapable of redeeming Todd
07:21 or making him more palatable for readers. Up until the titular death, the story's tone is all over
07:27 the place and ranges from silly and Silver Age-esque to disturbing and grim. Let's talk
07:32 about the Joker here. His tenure as Iran's ambassador to the UN is a poor attempt at humor
07:38 and arguably Islamophobic. All in all, one of Batman's most iconic stories is a messy attempt
07:43 at adding stakes in the Batman mythos and elevating Joker's threat level.
07:47 3. Ultimatum
07:49 The ultimate Marvel imprint that ran from 2000 to 2015 was a mixed bag, to say the least. The
07:55 modern reimagining of classic Marvel characters and teams was criticised for its edgy take on
08:00 superheroes, and its dated attempts at this left a sour taste in most readers' mouths.
08:04 For every ultimate Spider-Man tale that was at least palatable, there was an ultimate Captain
08:09 America acting nationalistic, incestuous siblings, and an unsettling amount of cannibalism. Suffice
08:14 to say, Marvel's attempt to streamline their universe was a bit of a mess.
08:18 This is best reflected in Ultimatum, the 2009 story that saw Magneto seeking revenge on Earth
08:24 for the deaths of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. His plans go horribly well, and in the chaos,
08:29 heroes such as Thor, the Wasp, Cyclops, Professor X, and Doctor Strange all die,
08:34 in addition to the countless lives around the globe. As much as the storyline helped differentiate
08:38 the ultimate universe from the main one, the gory deaths were disgusting to see and felt like they
08:43 were included to add shock value to the story more than anything else. The ultimate universe powered
08:48 on for a few more years after this event, but it never fully recovered after this ghastly crossover.
08:53 2. All-Star Batman & Robin - The Boy Wonder
08:57 If you were to read this comic and expect a grand, emotionally stirring epic in the vein
09:01 of All-Star Superman, you would be in for a rude awakening. Frank Miller's retelling of Robin's
09:06 origin story completely butchered the likes of Batman, Robin, and other DC characters,
09:11 and is an example of the writer's jaded sensibilities not always working in a world of
09:15 heroes. The art by Jim Lee is reliably well-crafted, and is often considered to be the saving grace of
09:21 this comic. Beyond that, readers are, well, treated to a cruel and sadistic Dark Knight who
09:26 insists to a young, grief-stricken Robin that he addresses him as "the goddamn Batman". Not only
09:31 is the line unintentionally hilarious, it blatantly ignores the character's capacity for warmth and
09:36 empathy. In addition to that, the treatment of a young Dick Grayson is disturbing, to say the least,
09:41 and strips Batman of whatever shreds of humanity he had left. His fellow heroes, especially Green
09:46 Lantern, are seen as ineffectual and only serve to reinforce Batman's unstoppable persona. That said,
09:52 Batman & Robin's takedown of Green Lantern is hilarious, and almost feels like a mockery of the
09:56 zany Silver Age of comics. 1. Spider-Man One More Day
10:01 Following the game-changing events of Civil War, Spider-Man fans were curious to see where Marvel
10:06 would take the beloved icon following the reveal of his secret identity to the world. One More
10:10 Day explores this new change to the status quo in initially interesting fashion, before then going
10:16 off the rails with its second half and conclusion. After Aunt May is shot by a sniper and hospitalized,
10:21 a desperate Peter turns to the likes of Doctor Strange, the High Evolutionary, and even Doctor
10:26 Doom for assistance. When none of them offer the help that Peter needs, the demonic Mephisto offers
10:30 to save May's life at the expense of the hero's marriage to Mary Jane Watson. While the story may
10:35 be slightly lauded for emphasizing how Spider-Man's life is defined by sacrifice and protecting his
10:40 loved ones from his heroic identity, the story's deus ex machina resolution feels like a cheap and
10:46 cynical attempt at returning the hero back to the status quo. Removing his marriage to Mary Jane
10:51 negates any chance at growth for Peter, and involving Mephisto in the ordeal removes his
10:55 agency as a character. Ultimately, Peter Parker's past and future were disrespected in a story
11:01 afraid to look at both periods as a whole for the hero. And there we go, my friends. Those were 10
11:05 overhyped comic books that were incredibly mediocre. I hope that you enjoyed that and
11:10 please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section below. As always,
11:13 I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter @RetroJay but the O is a zero,
11:17 and the same for Instagram, RetroJay but the O is a zero. Hope to see you over there. As always,
11:22 I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.