The problem with 'the worst of' lists is that anything truly bad at least engenders some kind of emotional response on the part of the consumer in order for it to be judged terrible, thus even monumentally-awful books can be justified as a purchase as they provide food for thought and rumination on the part of the consumer. What is better is to ask about the kind of thing that engenders no emotional response whatsoever on the part of the reader to the point that he/she can simply dispose of it without complaint or a second thought, and - if asked - can muster no criticism beyond "I just couldn't be bothered so I stopped reading it and went and ate some cornflakes. I feel no malice or disappointment towards those who created such a thing, only emptiness."
To this end, I nominate post-Mark Miller Ultimate X-Men. Miller's stuff was juvenile, but it was at least entertaining and eventful in a way that the normal X-books weren't at the time (and the regular Marvel X-books have taken a great deal of inspiration from Miller's UXM run), but the book since has been pure drudgery that simply uses post-millenial comic storytelling (decompression, aimless plotting, no standalone issues, all stories written with the trade collection in mind instead of the monthlies) to retread the most boring elements of the kind of navel-gazing 1990s X-men stories that led directly to Marvel's bankruptcy and subsequent purchasing by a toy company. I can't even say "these books are pure shit!" because I find myself incapable of viewing them as anything other than subsistence literature aimed at people used to buying and reading comics out of habit and making no critical judgement on their quality beyond that they feature Wolverine with a goatee.
I have absolutely no gut-response to UXM, and that to me is more damning than loving or hating it with a passion.
To this end, I nominate post-Mark Miller Ultimate X-Men. Miller's stuff was juvenile, but it was at least entertaining and eventful in a way that the normal X-books weren't at the time (and the regular Marvel X-books have taken a great deal of inspiration from Miller's UXM run), but the book since has been pure drudgery that simply uses post-millenial comic storytelling (decompression, aimless plotting, no standalone issues, all stories written with the trade collection in mind instead of the monthlies) to retread the most boring elements of the kind of navel-gazing 1990s X-men stories that led directly to Marvel's bankruptcy and subsequent purchasing by a toy company. I can't even say "these books are pure shit!" because I find myself incapable of viewing them as anything other than subsistence literature aimed at people used to buying and reading comics out of habit and making no critical judgement on their quality beyond that they feature Wolverine with a goatee.
I have absolutely no gut-response to UXM, and that to me is more damning than loving or hating it with a passion.