Legion of Doom’s Worst of 2005- Events
DC’s All-Star Comics line. I just can’t believe the timing on that. DC didn’t need stunts – they had fantastic stories building. And one thing that Superman and Batman had over their Marvel counterparts was that new readers could pick up a high-numbered issue of either character’s titles and not be bogged down with continuity. Those characters have stayed reasonably pure, and so a DC equivalent of the Ultimate line just wasn’t necessary. The books themselves only proved that even more. -Jim Doom
The Other. It just didn’t work. Here’s a thought: Don’t have three writers combine on a single story arc. -Jean-Claude Van Doom
The launch of the DC All-Star line. DC advertised this as completely continuity-free stories of their icons using the most basic and well-known aspects of the characters as building blocks. It was supposed to be the Batman and Superman that folks who had seen the movies but had never laid hands on a comic would recognize. Instead, we get a Batman who curses randomly, murders police officers, and kidnaps and psychologically tortures young boys. We get a Superman who regularly hangs out in space with crazy characters. While that doesn’t necessarily make for bad stories (although it does), it’s not what DC themselves said the line was going to be about. These are not the characters that Joe Anybody knows, these are Ultimate Superman and Batman. If they would have just admitted that from the start, I would have no problem with the line. I still wouldn’t read it, but at least I wouldn’t have considered it a screw-up. -Fin Fang Doom
I’m not trying to defend The Other, because I’m not, but don’t crossovers usually involve more than one writer?
And re: All Star, aren’t “continuity-free stories of icons using the most basic and well-known aspects of the characters as building blocks” and “Ultimate” synonymous? I mean, that’s what the Ultimate universe set out to do.
Had the All-Star line done what the Ultimate universe does, I think it would have been fine. But instead, it seemed like an exercise in distorting, not refining, what those building blocks were in the first place.
Sure, maybe Frank Miller and Grant Morrison were starting out with the right stuff, but it just seemed like an attempt to hold it up to a funhouse mirror and see how wacky it could be while still being Batman or Superman. That’s not what the Ultimate universe is at all.
The line is a screw-up because it is neither back to basics or Ultimate (which I still say are synonymous, but anyway). It’s become nothing more than ongoing Elsewords titles, and who cares about that?
I think the way to do it would have been, if they were bringing back the multiverse, and since fictionalizing the actions of editors is all the rage in DC these days, why not have a universe be created in the storylines that is supposed to be a purified version of the Earth we know? Then, rather than breaking down their own barriers by saying to the customers, “Here, these are the regular continuity stories, and these are the stories if we hadn’t gotten so bogged down,” we can actually read the stories of Earth-1 (or whatever the post-crisis earth is) and Earth-AS, and it’d be a real universe with roots in the DC multiverse.
I don’t back-to-basics and Ultimate are interchangeable. Ultimate is back-to-basics with a twist. The writers in the Ultimate Universe are expected to change things about the characters, make them different yet just as complex as their 616 counterparts. All-Star was supposed to be simple versions of the characters to attract non-comic readers who fear the complexity of 70 years of history. At least that’s how I saw it.
I’m not sure it’s entirely up to interpretation, considering the “continuity-free” thing was a big part of the Ultimate marketing when it launched. The twists aren’t necessary in the Ultimate universe, but if they happen, they are supposed to not infringe upon the core essence of the character. Nick Fury is black, but does it matter? No, because he’s a badass loner. Venom’s origin is different, but the essence is that he has personal reasons for hating Spider-Man.
I don’t recall any twists that seemed contrived or seemed to really hack at the core of the character like Cop Killa Batman.
I guess I don’t really see The Other so much as a cross-over as a single arc. Because it’s not like they combined X-Factor and X-Men, they combined Spider-man and Spider-Man.
I should mention I just wrote a lengthy piece for the newspaper about how much All-Star sucks, so it was definitely numero dos.
I find it funny we’re arguing about why the All-Star line sucks. Even funnier because we might not actually be disagreeing, just interpreting each other’s reasoning differently than we intended.
You bet All Star was number two!!
Ha ha, get it? Number two?
Poop?
My explanation for All Star suckiness is as follows:
Regardless of the rationale for its creation, the books simply aren’t any good. If they were really great, we probably wouldn’t be arguing over whether they’re serving a good purpose. But since they suck, it’s dissecting time.
My main problem with ASBAR was exactly that stated in the post: DC specifically called out that it was intended to bring in new readers, and, I quote, “the younger readers, the kids”.
And there’s no way in hell I’d let any of my kids near ASBAR.
Plus, as aptly pointed out in this here comments section, the books are no damn good (yes, even the Superman one, as big a Morrison fan as I am).
The Jim Lee art is his excess at its worst, and I’ve never liked Frank Quitely, either.
Anyhoo. Just letting you know that you have a supporter, one who thought the All-Star launch bombed worse than House of M, The Other, and Rann-Thanagar war all put together.
Keep up the good work.
Could we start calling it ASSBAR?
The extra “s” is for “Sucks.”