Worst New Series of 2008

Jim Doom says: X-Force!

It’s hard to be too informed in a judgment of a bad series. Typically, when something is terrible, I just stop buying it.

The launch of X-Force was just part of the shallow stupidity that concluded Messiah CompleX. In my review of issue #1, I said “My big problem with X-Force is the philosophical situation set up in which Cyclops thinks he can keep the X-Men’s hands clean by having X-Men dress up in different costumes and call themselves X-Force. The leader of the X-Men is still ordering these hits. […]

The reason I think my nitpicking is more than just standard complaining is because we are supposed to buy these comics because we’re supposed to care about these characters […] But these kids are being used as weapons – just like in Weapon X, and those guys were bad guys, remember? – by Cyclops.

It would be one thing if I felt there were any indication that Cyclops were being set up for a judgment of some sort, but I don’t get that feeling. Instead, I get the feeling that this is just a shallow way to prop up Cyclops as the new and improved Tougher Scott Summers who’s doin’ what it takes to get the job done!”

Honorable mention: Hulk

This was another disappointment I dropped quickly, but it doesn’t get the top spot because I’m not as annoyed by the awful mistreatment of a new character as I am by the awful mistreatment of characters and a franchise that I have a long attachment to.

Doom DeLuise says: Eternals!

After the horrible Neil Gaiman miniseries that led into this thing, I was hesitant to even give it a chance, but I got my hands on a few free issues, so I decided to read them. Thankfully, I didn’t spend any money on this thing, nor will I ever.

I might be in the minority here, but I think Daniel Acuña (Battle for Bludhaven, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters) is one of the worst artists in the business today, and his art was reason enough for me to walk away from the Eternals. Not that JRJr’s was any better, but you get my point.

Fin Fang Doom says: Titans!

I only made it two issues into the new Titans series last year. Having the old New Teen Titans group back together seems like a good idea, but then you realize that Wally West, Donna Troy and Nightwing have clearly outgrown the group and have no logical reason to be there anymore. And the whole Trigon/Raven thing has been done to death. It felt re-hashed when Geoff Johns explored it early in his Teen Titans run, and that was the first time I’d ever read a Trigon story. I also remember Joe Benitez’s terrible art being a significant factor (he also drew the issue of JLA in 2007 that made me give up on that series).

And here were our picks for Worst New Series in years past:

Worst New Series
2007:
Doom DeLuise: Mighty Avengers
Jim Doom: Avengers Classic
Fin Fang Doom: Countdown

2006:
Doominator: newuniversal
Jim Doom: Batman Confidential
Doom DeLuise: Flash: The Fastest Man Alive
Fin Fang Doom: Nightwing (OYL)