Biggest disappointment of a series when you finally read it?

[Crimebuster]

Killing Joke is at the top of the list for me. I just didn't like it at all. I also only got through the first eight issues of Preacher as well. Some good stuff in there, but other stuff just seemed like juvenile shock value nonsense. The worst part about Preacher being popular is that it convinced people to let Mark Millar write comics; that whole nihilistic British ultra-snide style black humor of writing is the worst trend to his comics since Marvel tried to force everyone to draw like Rob Liefeld.

 

Y the Last man I didn't think was bad, it just didn't grab me. Possibly because I had just seen Children of Men, which has a kind of similar theme, and was fantastic; Y seemed tame by comparison.

 

Fables I enjoyed the first 75 issues quite a bit, though i didn't think it was the greatest thing ever. A solid B+ series though. After the main storyline ended, though, it's just been decent, except for the big crossover with Jack of Fables, which was absolutely excruciating to try and read.

[Park]

Think of all the highly touted books around here: Watchmen, Killing Joke, Claremont Xmen, etc. When you finally sat down to read one based on their popularity, what was the biggest disappointment?

 

For me, it was clearly Preacher. I bought a lot of the complete trades and read them over the course of a week I think. It was a chore. By the second or third trade, if memory serves correctly, it felt like I was reading the work of teenagers. The story tries SOOOOOOOOOOO hard to be shocking and I recall the art being pretty mediocre. It had enough of a story to keep me going to the end. But, if I didn't have all the trades, I doubt I would've kept reading.

 

How about you?

 

I have read through the first five trades of Preacher and while I enjoy it and it is entertaining, it was definitely a let down. I haven't finished the rest of the trades and it has been a few months and I don't know if I will go back.

[miraclemet]

Wow, DKR, Watchmen, Swamp Thing....these are seminal works and considered sacred cows. I love these books and have read them 10x over.

 

I thought Gaiman's Sandman was over-rated a bit of a let down.

 

There is something to be said about the build up of hype...it can definitely cloud your expectations.

 

I think it also matters WHEN you read it.

 

Some stories just have more impact on the non-jaded kid who loves super-heroes (CoIE, Secret Wars)

Some stories have more impact on angsty anti-establishment teens (Sandman, V for Vendetta)

Some stories have more impact on over-intellectulaizing college kids (Most Morrison stuff)

Some stories have more impact on meta-aware comic book reading adults (Understanding Comics, Animal Man)....

 

 

[Park]

I wonder if how you read a series affects your opinion as well.

 

I enjoy the Walking Dead as I read it through the trades. I read them as they come out so there is some time to reflect on that storyline as opposed to someone buying all the trades right now and plowing through them.

 

Maybe something like Y The Last Man would be a better example. I read the individual issues as they came out and loved the story. I looked forward to the next issue each month. That story could have less of an impact if someone were to buy all the trades now and read them in one fell swoop.

 

I see a lot of people bringing up Y as a disappointment. I wonder if they read it as they cam out or after everything was out?

[seanfingh]

Some stories have more impact on angsty anti-establishment teens (Sandman)

 

 

 

It impacted me because of the unbelievably rich interweaving of history, literature and world religion into a masterpiece of storytelling.

 

I don't know how many "angsty teens" regularly researched and followed up on Gaiman's voluminous source material, but I did a lot of it.

 

"Angsty teens"

[This is water]

That was a very angsty response.

 

[hogations]

 

That's kind of interesting becuase I don't recall much hype with DKR and SwampMoore were first solicited/released...the hype, I think, came after.

 

 

You're right! There was very little hype, but the books did catch many people off guard and broke new ground in what the medium could do.

 

I'm referring more to people being introduced to these series much after the fact. i.e. 'Hey buddy, here's an amazing series that will blow your socks off etc.'.

[seanfingh]

That was a very angsty response.

 

 

Happy angsty birthday!

[MrBedrock]

From Hell - One of us, the story or me, is way too dense.

 

Anything by John Byrne. His FF work brought about the end of my love for that title. Tried reading the X-men. It was okay for a while, then just bored the snot out of me.

 

cerebus - started out okay. Then just got lamer and lamer. Dave Sim has been a great proponent of Comic Specialty shops though, and I appreciate that. He was all class at a store signing we had in the early '90s. But man, is he a blow-hard in print.

 

Crisis on Infinite Earths, Millenium, Countdown etc. - I may be showing my bias, but none of the big DC crossover series have ever held my attention for long.

 

Secret Wars, Civil War, Age of Apocolypse, Infinity Wars etc. - I may be betraying my bias here but none of the big Marvel crossover series have ever held my attention very long.

 

 

 

[kidcolt]

Good point.

 

I read the WD (1st 25 isues) and all of Y: The Last Man from TP. I enjoyed them but I had the feeling that they could have done more especially in Y. Maybe if I had time to think about each issue longer while discussing them at my LCS than I would have enjoyed it more. I still thought it was good but not great as the hype made it.....If I was the last man I would have a lot more fun than he did .

 

However I think that sometime continous reading in TP helps. I read Bone and Maus that way and I think I enjoyed it more.

 

Good post

 

 

I wonder if how you read a series affects your opinion as well.

 

I enjoy the Walking Dead as I read it through the trades. I read them as they come out so there is some time to reflect on that storyline as opposed to someone buying all the trades right now and plowing through them.

 

Maybe something like Y The Last Man would be a better example. I read the individual issues as they came out and loved the story. I looked forward to the next issue each month. That story could have less of an impact if someone were to buy all the trades now and read them in one fell swoop.

 

I see a lot of people bringing up Y as a disappointment. I wonder if they read it as they cam out or after everything was out?

[Park]

Some stories have more impact on angsty anti-establishment teens (Sandman)

 

 

 

It impacted me because of the unbelievably rich interweaving of history, literature and world religion into a masterpiece of storytelling.

 

I don't know how many "angsty teens" regularly researched and followed up on Gaiman's voluminous source material, but I did a lot of it.

 

"Angsty teens"

 

I read it years after it came out and those books require much more attention than an angsty teen is usually capable of having.

 

I doubt I would have made it through a handful of Sandman books as a teenager. I enjoyed the heck out of it when I read it when I was about 30 or so.

[seanfingh]

Some stories have more impact on angsty anti-establishment teens (Sandman)

 

 

 

It impacted me because of the unbelievably rich interweaving of history, literature and world religion into a masterpiece of storytelling.

 

I don't know how many "angsty teens" regularly researched and followed up on Gaiman's voluminous source material, but I did a lot of it.

 

"Angsty teens"

 

I read it years after it came out and those books require much more attention than an angsty teen is usually capable of having.

 

I doubt I would have made it through a handful of Sandman books as a teenager. I enjoyed the heck out of it when I read it when I was about 30 or so.

 

Nice post. I hope some people dig what you are saying. But really, when it comes to comics, it's whatever floats your boat!

[miraclemet]

Some stories have more impact on angsty anti-establishment teens (Sandman)

 

 

 

It impacted me because of the unbelievably rich interweaving of history, literature and world religion into a masterpiece of storytelling.

 

I don't know how many "angsty teens" regularly researched and followed up on Gaiman's voluminous source material, but I did a lot of it.

 

"Angsty teens"

 

maybe its more interesting than I though...

 

Images like this"

always just struck me as to "emo" for my tastes...

[kidcolt]

It took me 3-4 attempts to get through Watchmen. When I finally keep reading and finished it I enjoyed the book and was happy I finished it. I have read it a few more times since and enjoy it more each time. I think this book had more impact when it first came out due to current events at the time, reading it now or in the past 10 years loses that impact.

[VintageComics]

Some stories have more impact on angsty anti-establishment teens (Sandman)

 

 

 

It impacted me because of the unbelievably rich interweaving of history, literature and world religion into a masterpiece of storytelling.

 

I don't know how many "angsty teens" regularly researched and followed up on Gaiman's voluminous source material, but I did a lot of it.

 

"Angsty teens"

 

I read it years after it came out and those books require much more attention than an angsty teen is usually capable of having.

 

I doubt I would have made it through a handful of Sandman books as a teenager. I enjoyed the heck out of it when I read it when I was about 30 or so.

 

Nice post. I hope some people dig what you are saying. But really, when it comes to comics, it's whatever floats your boat!

 

Is this the new wood?

 

 

[Ken Aldred]

I tend to read through a story in trade format at least twice before moving on to something else, to pick up details I missed just before, maybe reading the story again while I'm in a different mood, and often this allows me to connect to the material better overall.

[Park]

Some stories have more impact on angsty anti-establishment teens (Sandman)

 

 

 

It impacted me because of the unbelievably rich interweaving of history, literature and world religion into a masterpiece of storytelling.

 

I don't know how many "angsty teens" regularly researched and followed up on Gaiman's voluminous source material, but I did a lot of it.

 

"Angsty teens"

 

I read it years after it came out and those books require much more attention than an angsty teen is usually capable of having.

 

I doubt I would have made it through a handful of Sandman books as a teenager. I enjoyed the heck out of it when I read it when I was about 30 or so.

 

Nice post. I hope some people dig what you are saying. But really, when it comes to comics, it's whatever floats your boat!

 

Great post Fingh. It takes a while to understand what it is each individual likes regarding comics.

[Ryan.]

The first TPB of the recent Mark Waid Daredevil run has been pretty well hyped and I found it generic and boring.

 

I read Preacher as it came out, found it wildly entertaining then and refuse all other opinions on it now.

 

Watchmen is great. From Hell is a chore. Miracleman > all things.

[jjonahjameson1]

Other candidates for disappointment of a series that no-one's mentioned yet (hey, I like these titles, but listed here just to engage conversation):

 

1. Ronin

 

2. Marvels (quite a few folks listed Kingdom Come, but none have 'outed' Marvels...yet)

 

3. Miracleman

 

4. McSpidey

 

5. McSpawn

 

6. 1963

 

7. Byrne re-launch (chose your flavour)

 

8. New Mutants

 

9. Bone

 

10. Camelot 3000

[jbud73]

Fables

 

Burn the heretic.

 

As always to each their own. I haven't read Kingdom come, but I will now give it a shot.

 

For the record I love The Walking Dead, Fables; I love the Anatomy Lesson Moore's first story arc / retooling of Swampy - I think that single issue is genius horror noir storytelling. I will admit that Moore is sometimes enveloped in his own literary genius, almost a "I will write a highly stylized comic that would garner literary praise and word smith ad nausea to do so." He can loose poignancy as he waxes poetic on tangents and the story does suffer for the grandstanding. Still some of those issues are really great single stories where a lot is conveyed and when he keeps the story moving and away for self adulation of just how higher advanced a writer he can be, the issues are really brilliant, just NOT all of them.

 

Preacher was OK, I appreciated the plot lines and whit, but it did lag on occasion.

 

Some will argue that Sandman doesn't get good until Seasons of the Mist, maybe slightly before. The first issues are at odds with were he wants to take the character so they don't come off as well.

 

I still love Fables d@mn it.

 

Oh and Frank Miller's Year One still stands the test of time IMO.