The WORST Bat-Comics of All Time

[Bongo Jack]

Isn't the "God-damn Batman" a rehash of the very first spoken dialogue in the legendarily-awful Sam Hamm screenplay for Watchmen that was doing the rounds on the internet a few years ago?  "Oh no - it's the God-Damn Watchmen!" or something like that?

Hush - without doubt, one of the worst comics I've ever read, and whose only half-decent moment is a cliffhanger - lifted wholesale from the story 'the Mud Pack' during Alan Grant's Batman run alongside Norm Breyfogle - when Jason Todd turns up at the end of the issue.  The writer even lifts the reveal that it's Clayface for the next issue, despite it making no sense whatsoever for him to be there - then lifts a scene from the Batman animated series where Clayface disappears in pouring rain.  Awful.

Batman: City Of Crime is also terrible - like a sixth-former's angsty poetry told over several hundred pages.  It's hard to accurately describe it - have you ever seen the cut-scenes from the Max Payne videogame series?  Pretty much identical to that - it's just a relentlessly juvenile attempt to be adult and edgy, but unlike Max Payne, it's not even funny.

The Larry Hama Batman run - the one where he stole an old Eisner Spirit story beat-for-beat (because, y'know, The Spirit is pretty obscure and no-one will notice) and featured the Batman toys in every other issue, like the Batman Aqualung action-figure turning up because he needed to fight a half-woman, half-whale villain called Orca.
I'm not making that up.

War Games was a disasterous event, not just for Batman (because it was pretty dull and added nothing of interest to the series beyond pointlessly ending Bats' 'urban legend' status), but for DC in general, as the treatment of one character led to an outcry from female readers and the creation of Girlwonder.org, a website for female comics nerds of a feminist inclination.  Of late, DC have resorted to retconning the whole affair in the Robin title, so that gives you an idea of how bad it was that they won't even bother to try spinning the whole thing anymore.

A lot of Morrison's Batman stuff is too self-indulgent and misses the mark, so I'd say that counts as pretty bad - especially when we know he's capable of doing better.

Another vote for Digital Justice and DK2 - the latter especially really was as bad as people say, and certainly doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt some have given it.  Miller with nothing to say and it shows.

[Ignatzmonster]

**I like the fact that it (All Star Batman) can exist in the same universe as the sixties Batman movies. **

That is fuckin' deep and right on the money. I kind of like the crazy unreality of the series. After all the ass kicking I always expect Batman to break it down and do the watusi. And after all it Was a retarded question. I'm a big Flaming Carrot and Pat Mills fan so no doubt it makes the comic easy to digest.

The problem is Jim Lee. That man wouldn't know a facial expression if it mugged him.

Hush gets my vote. Bad drawing bad script. Digital Justice was awful. Most of the Elseworlds books were non events.

[Robin Low]

"Year 2. Remove the part about it being Batman's second year and it's actually not a bad story. Probably more of a marketing fuck up than writing. Some gorgeous art at the start from Alan Davis only then to switch into the awfulness of McFarlane. ISTR hearing that a Year 3 was in existence as well..."

Year 2 was indeed shite. Memory says that Year 3 (which I don't think was ever collected) was as bad or worse. Where it really failed was that it was written as mix of flashback and the (then) current storyline, which just missed the point as far as I was concerned.

One of the early Legends of Dark Knight storylines could easily be interpreted as a 'real' Year 2. (I can't remember the details, but I remember Batman building the Batmobile from scratch in the Batcave.)

I can't remember exactly when I gave up getting the all the comics (around 1996, probably), but I remember that from Knightfall onwards things started getting ropey to say the least.

Regards

Robin

[Robin Low]

"Digital Justice was awful."

Even I didn't buy that and it came out when I was buying almost every Batman comic going.

"Most of the Elseworlds books were non events."

I'm sure there were some good ones along the way, at least early on. I seem to remember Gotham by Gaslight (one of the earliest, if not the first) was quite good.

Regards

Robin

[Robin Low]

"Digital Justice was awful."

Even I didn't buy that and it came out when I was buying almost every Batman comic going.

"Most of the Elseworlds books were non events."

I'm sure there were some good ones along the way, at least early on. I seem to remember Gotham by Gaslight (one of the earliest, if not the first) was quite good.

Regards

Robin

[House of Usher]

What about the current issue of Batman? I didn't read it, but I had a flip through and it looked pretty crap. There was a villain who had a blindfold and eyes drawn on his fingertips. I'm guessing Grant Morrison didn't get all of that out of his system on Doom Patrol.

[scutfink]

http://www.pvponline.com/my-parents-are-dead/">Best. Batman. Ever.

[scutfink]

Ooops did I cock up that link?

Link: http://www.pvponline.com/my-parents-are-dead/" target="_blank">http://www.pvponline.com/my-parents-are-dead/

[Ignatzmonster]

Gotham by Gaslight wasn't bad but really it was Mignolas art and design that sold the comic. I remember kind of liking Thrillkiller by Chaykin and Bereton. I'm sure there's one I'm forgetting. But that is three out of hundreds.

[Wils]

"Digital Justice was awful."

Even I didn't buy that and it came out when I was buying almost every Batman comic going.

I, to my eternal shame, *did* buy it, but I managed to foist it onto an unsuspectinmg messageboarder. Hyuk! Hyuk! Hyuk! ;)

Whilst in FP a while ago, I noticed Pepe Morino's name on the spine of some TPB I'd never heard of (in the sale section for tuppence ha'penny). Having a quick flick through, his traditional, non-80s CGI art is pretty shitty-biscuits as well.

[I, Cosh]

I remember people talking about how great Digital Justice was.

Recently I learned that some people don't like Arkham Asylum. I fnd this hard to believe. It's beautiful.

[scutfink]

I must've blocked it out of my memory, but the post No Man's Land run by Larry Hama was something of a low point, especially as it ran concurrently with Greg Rucka's exellent stint on 'Tec...

It did have some pretty sweet Scott McDaniel art, but Sweet Bouncy Jesus those scripts were awful...

[Pete Wells]

I quite like All Star Batman and Robin too, but that's probably 'cos I'm a casual bat fan. I thought the bit about how Robin got his name was inspired! Did Miller come up with that idea or has it always been the case?

[Robin Low]

"Recently I learned that some people don't like Arkham Asylum. I fnd this hard to believe. It's beautiful."

It's very pretty in places and has one genuinely great moment (Joker's April Fool), but on the whole it didn't excite me much.

I'd previously read Gaiman and McKean's deptiction of Arkham, Green Ivy and Batman in the Black Orchid mini-series, and those brief scenes were so much better.

Regards

Robin

[Woolly]

Never read much Batman, but i do seem to remember a pretty pish run from the 90s where he got addicted to drugs.

Was it called Venom, or something?

Sorry, i'm not much help!