My Top 5 Worst DC Events
Hey guys from Planet-M, this week we have a Top 5 list on some of the worst comic book events that DC comics has had to offer us over the years.
Just a reminder, I won’t be going into full detail with some of these events mostly due to the fact that if I had to list out every problem with these events this would be much longer and probably not worth reading and in this list is just based on my own personal opinion, if you like these events than that okay. So let’s get started on My Top 5 worst DC Events.
5: Identity Crisis
Why: Identity Crisis is a well-known story and is what set the tone for the DC universe all the way till the New 52. Many events came out as a result of this one story, but from beginning to end all I have to say is that it’s nothing but confusing, from the start Identity Crisis is a murder mystery story centring around who murdered Sue Dibney (the wife of the Elongated Man) and the way a murder mystery story is supposed to work is that throughout the story your given clues so by the end you can put the clues together along with the events that have happened throughout the story and come to a conclusion on who the culprit is, but in Identity Crisis we get a series of events, the Justice League (who basically put together a CSI division made of superpowers and advanced technology) don’t find any clues and go after a villain who’s mind had been wiped, so would have no reason to murder to Sue Dibney and by the end the killer Jean Loring gives herself away.
The entire story shows certain members of the justice league in a bad way and makes them come off as unjust and unethical as superheroes as instead of explaining their actions to mind wipe a dangerous villain they have no problem with mind wiping a long-time friend as well and by the end the worst decision is made by Ray Palmer (The Atom) to send Jean Loring (his ex-wife) to Arkham Asylum instead of just sending her to a prison since she seemed mentally sound and by doing this he has ensured no justice for Sue Dibney or any of the other people who were killed in trying to find the killer. Like I said Identity Crisis set the tone for the DC Universe by which I mean focused more on dark and edgy stories that make no sense and killing off characters for no reason in stories like Amazons Attack, Cry for Justice and Rise of Arsenal.
4: Wonder Woman: Amazons Attack
Why: Amazons attack centres around the Amazons having returned earth after the events of infinite crisis due to wage war on the US due to the illegal detention of Wonder Woman, but what we find out is that the queen of the amazons Hippolyta is being mentally manipulated by Circe. Now I’m a fan of Wonder Woman stories, but I have to say I have no love for this event, much like with identity crisis it focuses on well-established characters acting out of the ordinary such as the Amazons killing children and not doing what they know is right while at the same painting the heroes as just unlikable, such as having Batman alright with killing because they are at war with the Amazons and if you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned Wonder Woman it’s because she barely shows up in her own event and when she does show up all of her dialogue amounts to “I should stop my mother”. But the worst part of this whole event was the fact that it was only done so it could tie-in to another even that was going on at the time, Countdown.
3: Countdown/Countdown to Final Crisis
Why: Much like the series 52, countdown is also a weekly series that focuses on the landscape of the universe and the B list characters that live in it, but unlike 52 Countdown barely made sense because they had several different writers working on each issue on a weekly basis and several different stories that revolved around Ray Palmer, Mary Marvel and Jimmy Olson which all took place over 52 issues, the series was later renamed countdown to Final Crisis as that was the only thing good about reading this knowing that something better was just around the corner, in the end the whole story is a mess with many of the comics central stories being resolved in different comics and tie-ins, so for this series there was no resolution even when you got to the end.
2: Trinity War
Why: Like many I’m not that much a fan of the New 52, mostly due to the fact that years of history and characters were tossed out the window, but as I read a few of the number ones I saw this red figure in the background that kept appearing in every first issue, then it was announced that this red figure was in fact the same one I saw at the end of Flashpoint, so when I got to reading this event I thought it was going to be universe building event since it involved all 3 different Justice League teams, a mysterious figure who appeared at the beginning of this new universe and a tag line that said “the epic event that will destroy the world’s greatest heroes”, so to my disappointment it wasn’t any of those things.
The Red figure “Pandora” was never given an explanation for why she showed up at the end of flashpoint and was just the Pandora who released the Seven Deadly Sins into the world, the justice leagues were their just to fight one another (a fight that never had a proper conclusion along with the story for this event) and the entire event was just there to set up another event comic called Forever Evil, which in my opinion is far superior to this one. All I have to say is that I kind of felt cheated by this event, with such build up across this new universe you think it’s going to amount to something, but it’s just slowly paced and doesn’t really pay off in terms of what the tag line or the build promised.
1: Convergence
Why: And now for the number 1, DC’s convergence. Now much like with Trinity War I thought this was going to be a universe shattering event and when I heard in an interview that it was going to be the end to the New 52 I was glad after having gone through a few lacklustre stories, of course it wasn’t it was just the end of the New 52 banner, but I didn’t let that affect my judgement on the story, which in concept is something really good, basically the premise of the story is a Braniac figure known as Telos has taken cities from across the multiverse and placed them in domes on an uninhabited planet, Telos then proceeds to have the domes interact and have the occupants of these different world fight one another for survival.
Now my problem with this event is they’re not really using this idea to its full potential, I will admit that they have reintroduced their multiverse and had various different versions of our heroes fighting alongside some current incarnations, but DC could use this event to incorporate these characters into the New 52, but sadly nothing much comes from this story it just works as a tie-in to the Earth – 2 Storylines of the New 52, by the time I finished reading convergence I didn’t feel cheated by another event, I just felt like this book was a waste of time to read and to me the worst kind of story whether it be told through film or comic is the kind that just leaves you feeling empty at the end.
Well that’s it for this week. Tune in next time, because by that time I’ll have seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi and will have a Star Wars themed blog, Thank You For Reading.