Worst Things...

Earlier, I wrote of the 100 Greatest Things About Comics. Now, it's time for the reverse - 100 Bad Things About Comics.

Here, in no particular order:

1. Lateness - a problem plaguing the industry for the past decade
2. Celebrity artists - they get a gig and screw it up in a matter of months
3. Celebrity writers - same as above, or they never finish what they start - Kevin Smith...
4. Rob Liefeld
5. Enhanced covers
6. Variant covers
7. Marvel's Heroes Reborn/Return - whatever, it was shit
8. Onslaught (a horrible Marvel character)
9. The overexposure of Wolverine
10. The plethora of BAD, BAD, BAD X-titles
11. Events - every other week, it's a new one - Final Crisis, Civil War, etc.
12. Poor coloring - with today's computer artistry, there is no reason to muddy the pages
13. Chris Claremont - he just sucks now
14. Unfinished stories
15. Jack Kirby not getting a creator credit on Marvel comics that he co-created
16. The abyssmal treatment of artists and writers from the Golden and Silver Age
17. Characters who don't stay dead - do you hear this, Marvel?
18. The absence of Golden Age characters
19. The absence of Golden Age characters in the Marvel Universe
20. The absence of good comics for kids - yeah, there are some, but so very few.
21. Todd McFarlane
22. The overexposure of Batman
23. The absence of good, second- and third-tier characters
24. The loss of the secret identity
25. The raging asshole that Iron Man has become
26. The loss of the thought balloon/bubble
27. The absence of footnotes
28. The loss of continuity - especially in the Marvel Universe
29. Third-party grading services - c'mon, people, this is a hobby, not a way of life
30. CGC grading service in particular
31. Rebooting series - leave the goddamn things alone!
32. Marvel's renumbering a few years back that has caused all kinds of Hell for those of us that catalogue our collections
33. The lack of Golden Age reprints - aside from the Archives and Masterworks series
34. Tittie artists - those who can only draw humongous breasts on women and nothing else
35. The lack of Silver Age reprints of great series such as Mystery in Space, Strange Adventures, My Greatest Adventures, Millie the Model, Sugar and Spike, Patsy Walker, etc.
36. Digest comics - like DC did in the 1970's
37. Treasury sized comics - like those done recently by Alex Ross and Paul Dini
38. Roy Thomas not being credited as a contributing architect of the Marvel Universe
39. Chuck Rozanski - this man is out to make money, people - lots and lots of money...
40. The lack of great pulp heroes in the comics - where's Doc Savage, the Shadow, the Spider, etal?
41. Outrageous price gouging on hot/current issues
42. The lack of Gold Key and Dell reprints
43. Youngblood
44. Convoluted X-Men continuity - after over 30 years of reading comics, I still cannot figure out how some of these characters fit in (Cable, Bishop, Rachel Summers, Psylocke, etc.)
45. The lack of funny animal comics
46. The lack of western comics - I know there are a few, but that's it (read Jonah Hex and the Lone Ranger, folks - these are damn good comics)
47. The lack of comics for girls
48. The "good-girl" art prevalent in the comics today - yes, I know the readership is mostly male, but, for Godsake, we don't all fantasize about great big pendulous breasts
49. The lack of romance comics
50. Writers who write specifically for the trade paperback format instead of telling compelling stories
51. Covers that have absolutely nothing to do with the contents of the comic
52. The over-abundance of licensed toy properties
53. Harley Yee - another dealer who marks his stock waaaay up, beyond reasonability
54. Soliciting a trade/hardcover when the original series isn't even finished
55. The overexposure of the X-Men
56. Wolverine on every single team in the Marvel Universe
57. All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder - this series is awful, shitty and just plain bad
58. Frank Miller on superhero comics
59. John Byrne's ego
60. The lack of creator's who create new characters
61. The Detroit Justice League
62. The leather jacket phase of the Avengers
63. JMS bringing back Gwen Stacy and the stories that ensued
64. The Clone Saga
65. The abyssmal way DC has treated Wonder Woman
66. The abyssmal way Marvel has treated the Scarlet Witch
67. Spider-Man's Brand New/One More Day
68. Marvel not giving creators credit like DC does for its characters (Superman created by Siegel & Schuster, Batman created by Bob Kane (and Bill Finger))
69. The abyssmal way the industry shuns gay characters, except lesbians, because that's what fanboys want to see
70. John Stewart Green Lantern being shoehorned into continuity and is still one of the worst characters going - the era of the angry black man is long over, DC
71. Shitty superhero movies - Catwoman, Punisher, Elektra, Daredevil
72. Archie Comics poor treatment of creator Dan DeCarlo - shame, shame, shame!
73. The unfortunate legal tangle that is keeping the Adam West Batman series from arriving on DVD
74. The Marvel Superheroes not being on DVD
75. Series that take years to complete - Daredevil: Father, Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do, Daredevil: Target (still unfinished), Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk (still unfinished)
76. The watered down icons (Superman, Batman, Spider-Man)
77. The lack of war comics
78. The current rash of zombie comics/covers
79. The lack of anthology comics (World's Finest, Adventure Comics, etc.)
80. The lack of try-out series (Showcase, Marvel Premiere, etc.)
81. The lack of reprints of Archie's superhero comics
82. Event tie-in books - most are just bad
83. Series that halt their storylines to tie-in to the current "event" book
84. Characters whose personalities take dramatic turns and have no explanation (Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, Professor X)
85. No JLA/JSA summer cross-overs
86. The exhorbitant prices of today's comics
87. The lack of teen-age sidekicks
88. Manga-style superheroes
89. The overexposure of the Punisher
90. The lack of captions in stories
91. Wonder Woman's invisble jet
92. Retroactive continuity inserted just for the sake of the current storyline
93. Unsigned cover art
94. The overexposure of Spider-Man
95. The lack of spinner racks
96. Parents suing store owners after buying adult material for their kids - most are bad parents anyway and just looking for free money
97. Speculators - yes, they are out there...
98. Wizard magazine
99. Marvel comics of the 1990's - pretty shitty stuff, guys
100. Comic shop employees/owners who are unfriendly, unclean and uncouth - you know who you are...

That's it for now...