Ron’s List of the Worst Things in Comics in 2010

A wise theme song once said, "You take the good, you take the bad" and that's how I like to approach this reflective look back on the year that was, 2010.  While many people have been praising what was great about comics, I'm a bit of a realist, and for everything that happened in comics in 2010 that was great, there was just as much things that happened that were cringe-worthy, that we'd rather forget.  But sometimes it's fun to wallow in grief, so today, I'm sharing with you my list of the worst things in comics in 2010.

Now don't worry, I'm not all doom and gloom.  I'll be back tomorrow to finish out this look back on 2010 with my list of the best things in comics.  I just didn't want to end on a down note, so we'll start with the worst…

 

10. J. Michael Straczynski
What's this you say? How can the author of one of the most successful graphic novels of 2010, Superman: Earth One, be at the top of my Worst of 2010 list? Regular readers of iFanboy should already know the answer to this, but for those of us not in the know, while the sales of Superman: Earth One were indeed great, the book itself was so-so (in my opinion).  In addition to that, the amount pain and frustration JMS caused this year was nearly unheard of.  2010 started off innocently enough, with JMS starting at DC Comics by doing one-shots on The Brave and The Bold (and they were quite good!).  It seemed as if he was getting the Claremont-esque treatment of being giving an island to go play on.  But then they announced the Superman: Earth One graphic novel, and on top of that, they announced he'd be writing both Superman and Wonder Woman's ongoing series.  On top of that, he'd be writing the controversial "new" Wonder Woman in the newly designed Jim Lee costume which featured Wonder Woman blinking out of existence within the normal DC Universe.  And on top of THAT, his Superman run would feature Superman walking the roads of America to get back in touch with the people.  Now I'm not going to judge too harshly.  I heard some people enjoyed Wonder Woman, but some of those Superman stories sounded like the oddest opposite of Superman stories that I'd ever expect.  But the stories weren't the cause of JMS to be one of the worst things about comics.  No, it was the fact that, once again, JMS was unable to finish what he started.  Superman and Wonder Woman fell to chronic lateness, which eventually led to JMS being replaced by Chris Roberson and Phil Hester respectively on 2 of the "top" titles at DC Comics. He was handed the keys to the kingdom, and like before with Rising Stars and The Twelve, JMS let a lot of people down (especially that poor retailer in Ohio.).  Shame JMS, shame. 

 

9.  The Agonizing Death of the Marvel Cosmic Line
One of the greatest things to happen for me personally in the world of comics was the evolution of the Marvel Cosmic line in the past 4 years or so.  Starting with the Annihilation event, and leading into the epic runs of Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, it was a wonderful time for comics featuring rollicking space action with the characters I loved.  I've been a Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy fan for years and it wasn't until Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning came together to spin some wonderful stories that I found true happiness with this corner of the Marvel Universe.  But we knew it wouldn't last.  We kept on talking about Nova on the podcast, saying things like "I can't believe it's made it 25 issues!" as if we knew it was a matter of time.  And then details started to become sketchy about the future of the line.  Abnett and Lanning themselves didn't seem to know the fate of Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy when we talked to them at cons.  We saw the books that I loved go on "hiatus" for the Thanos Imperative event, only to see that event end with the seemingly demise of Nova and Star Lord of the Guardians of the Galaxy.  And then I was very very sad.  Sure, it seems as if there's hope, with just this week we saw the one shot Thanos Imperative: Devastation which is leading into a new series, The Annihilators.  But without Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy, it just isn't the same.  It was fun while it lasted though.

 

8. 3.99! 2.99! 3.99!
Man, am I sick of hearing the numbers "3.99" and "2.99" together.  We've known there was a price increase coming for a couple of years now, we saw the writing on the wall, but man I never thought the drama around the increase from 2.99 to 3.99 would reach the levels it did in 2010.  After Marvel's shady admission of the motivations in 2009 to our own Jason Wood, I didn't think it would get any worse than that.  But 2010 was filled with bitching and moaning about the prices, DC's failed attempt to pad the more expensive books with backup stories, and Marvel's staunch support of the price increase.  Finally it all culminated in a manic flurry of announcements on the eve of the New York Comic Con, as DC announced they'd roll back to 2.99 (but with 2 less pages), and then Marvel fumbled their response saying they would roll back too, only for the details of that to be cloudy and ultimately not what they seemed.  The saddest part of all of this is that the economics of the comics takes away from what makes the comics great: the stories and the art.  Creators suffered loss of sales and many fans missed out on some great comics, all because of 3 numbers on the cover.  

 

7. Living and Dying By the Success and Failure of Movies
I'm astounded at how many comic book movies come out each year.  It seems that every year, there are more and more, and this year was no different with Kick-Ass, The Losers, Iron Man 2, Scott Pilgrim and more.  What I find even more astounding is the emotional roller coaster we all go on as these movies get released.  Every time a movie is a released, it's as if the slate is wiped completely clean and the entire fate of the comic book industry and future movies rests on the box office performance of the latest movie.  And not even the total box office, but we've distilled it down now to the opening weekend, and in some cases THE FIRST DAY of box office receipts.  Kick-Ass only did $19 Million in it's opening weekend.  Oh well, guess we'll never see another creator owned comic get made into a movie.  The Losers made less than $10 million opening weekend? Oh well, no sequel there.  Can you believe how much of a flop Scott Pilgrim was, with its paltry $31 million total? The horror! We have to realize that the individual success (or lack of success) is not going to determine the fate of future films.  Sure, cumulatively it may have a long term affect, but if you look at the slate of movies coming out in 2011, 2012, and 2013, it doesn't seem like this flow of movies is going to end anytime soon.  And when it does eventually end (and it will), guess what? Comic books will still be around.  

 

6. Cancellations!
Somewhat related to #8, the one thing that cannot be denied when looking at comic books in 2010 was that sales weren't as strong as we'd all like them to be (and that's putting it nicely).  It felt like 2010 saw the emergence of one of the harshest aspects of comic book collecting: the premature cancellation.  As long as I've collected comics, there's always been the threat of that book you like is going to get canceled due to low sales, but this year, with the economy still sucking and the top 2 comic book publishers having new corporate overlords watching over them, it seemed as the comic cancellation became all too familiar, ultimately leading to the vocal minority (sorry folks, it's true) freaking out about the cancellation of Thor: The Mighty Avenger.  Now, creatively these canceled books were often great (like Thor:TMA), but if you're a number cruncher, the numbers have to add up, and with a book like Thor: The Mighty Avenger barely selling 10,000 copies, it's not a surprise it got canceled.  Now it does bring up a host of other questions like, are the publishers marketing and supporting new books effectively? (No.) Are there flaws in the direct market and the ordering system with retailers? (Yes.) Are overall comic book sales going down? (Sadly, yes.) But the adverse affect of this all is that the few and proud who committed to these books and then were heartbroken when they were canceled, are now hesitant to try new series for fear of getting burned.  So in the end, there wil be even less chance of success for new series, which is just sad.

 

5. Hesitancy with Digital Comics
Now, given that iFanboy is owned by Graphic.ly, a digital comics platform, I'm a bit biased here, but does anyone else feel that while 2010 was a watermark year for Digital Comics with nearly every publisher getting into the digital game, that there's still some hesitancy from the publishers? Sure they've got apps and they're providing comics via those apps and it's great, but within boundaries.  Try saying the words "Day and Date" to most publishers and you get the stinkeye.  There's a delicate balancing act going on by the publishers (with a few exceptions) between keeping the retailers happy and keeping the digital comics movement moving forward.  Retailers feel threatened by digital comics, thinking it will cannibalize their business, and publishers feel loyalty to the direct market that's supported them for the past 20+ years and the end result is alot of lip service and slow progress forward.  Personally, I think digital comics is inevitable, that it may negatively affect retailers but it's up to them to evolve their store and services to survive in a changing market.  It may be hard, but it's going to become a "Change or Die" environment, and it's time that the Publishers stop deluding themselves.  Sure it's great that you can get Batman Beyond from DC, Day and Date, but why not the other books?  Why not Justice League of America, which should be their #1 book, and yet barely sells 50,000 copies? Think they could get 50,000 MORE copies sold if they offered digitally as well? I think so.  It's just a matter of time.

 

4. The Lettering on the Twilight Graphic Novels
Seriously, you have one of the most successful film franchises of our time, and you branch out to graphic novels.  There's an opportunity for THOUSANDS, if not maybe MILLIONS of new readers to try visual storytelling by getting hooked in by whatever dreamy vampires are in Twilight.  It could be a great opportunity to then introduce those readers to other comics, like The Walking Dead or American Vampire or hell, even the new X-Men series which had vampires.  As opposed to putting out the best product you possibly can, you release this:

Seriously? I looks like a 7th grader lettered it.  I could have lettered this book better, purely from my annoying obsession with being a fan of lettering.  Talk about a missed opportunity.  Thousands of new readers picked this up and immediately dismissed it, and comics in general, all because of bad lettering.  It's embarrassing.

 

3. Lack of Respect for All Ages Comics
We all know that there aren't nearly enough new comic readers out there.  We know that we've lost the kids to video games and whatever trends that are out there these days.  And yet nearly every publisher will tout their efforts around "All Ages" books.  I realized this past year that "All Ages" has become a synonym for "kiddie books", and it's a damn shame.  All Ages, to me, is meant to be a comic that can be enjoyed by just that, all ages.  It lacks the violence and language and mature themes that we see in most mainstream comics, and yet could be enjoyed by a child or an adult.  Instead, the majority of All Ages books are watered down, "safe" versions that could be read by children.  Don't get me wrong, Tiny Titans is fantastic and has helped me get my 7 year old niece into comics, but what happens when she gets older? Like 8 or 10? I suppose I could hand her Marvel Adventures or something like that, but I've seen kids and their reaction to those books, they don't stick.  Instead we need more truly All Ages comics, like Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers or the Wizard of Oz books or G-Man or Bone to help pull back in the crucial demographic of kids aged 8 to 14.  We all know that if we can get them hooked then, then most likely they'll keep reading through their teen years.  It's time for publishers to do less talking about All Ages, and put their money where their mouth is.

 

 

2.  The Sentry: Fallen Sun & The Rise of Arsenal #3
Now, we try not to be negative here at iFanboy.  There's so much negativity in the world and the internet that we try to focus on the positive.  But I've also read a lot of comic books in my days, and sadly, I've read a lot of bad comic books.  But I have to say that in my time reading comics, I don't think I've ever come across not just one, but two issues of a comic book that made me wonder if anyone in the editorial departments at their respective publishers were aware of these comics being printed. The Sentry: Fallen Sun was the book that we prayed for, depicting the funeral of the character we grew to hate so much in the 2000s and much like the entire Sentry's career at Marvel, this issue served as a fitting eulogy in terms of it's awfulness.  We should have known from the start, with the awful pun in the title.  From the writing (with it's bizarre and random ret-cons) to the art (boring, static and seemingly rushed), The Sentry: Fallen Sun set a new standard in bad comics.  

 

But it didn't stop there! Not to be outdone, DC Comics then gave us The Rise of Arsenal #3, which was like a fever dream of a comic depicting Arsenal, bereft after the loss of his arm, fall into a drug fueled frenzy and we watched as he freebased off of what looked like an iPad and then beat up an alley of bums and other drug addicts with a cat.  Yes, a cat.  I can't even make this up.  That doesn't even account for the awful impotence insinuation that occurred earlier in the comic. The whole thing left us wondering just who was running things at DC to let this through? I hate to bash the products that people, I assume, put hard work into, but sometimes you have to call a spade a spade and point out even the worst moments in publishing, and these two comics set the bar high for future failures.

 

1. John Cassaday Disappoints Again and Again
We've come to terms with the fact that John Cassaday is joining the ranks of those beloved creators, who after successful runs on great comics, decides to pursue other interests, or as some great artists do, fall into the habit of just drawing covers as opposed to taking the challenge of actually drawing interiors.  It's fine.  I accept that fact that Cassaday is a cover artist now.  At least his covers were always good and something to marvel at…until 2010.  I was as shocked as anyone when, during the recording of our podcast, I was commenting on how bad the cover was to Daredevil #509 and wondered who the artist was, to find out that it was non other than John Cassaday.  To then see the parade of Shadowland related covers, and to look across the street at his work on those JMS issues of Superman and wonder, "What's become of my once favorite artist?"  To further have the nail driven into the coffin by the fact that in 2010 Planetary not only finally finished, but we got the beautiful Absolute Editions to read.  To hold in one hand, an issue of Planetary showcasing Cassaday at his best, and in the other hand one of those godawful Daredevil covers from this year, you tell me if you think that's the same artist.  Now, in his defense, I have seen the cover to Ben McCool and Nikki Cook's new Image book, Memoir, that Cassaday drew the cover for and it looks like classic Cassaday (But I'm not convinced he drew that recently – he easily could have drawn that in 2009).  But in terms of looking at Cassaday's 2010 output, either he hurt his hand and no longer can draw as well, or worse, he took the paychecks and phoned it in.  Either way, fans of the once Eisner Award winning Cover Artist were left broken hearted.

Comments

  1. I love how the Twilight lettering made this list lol

  2. Nice article, Ron. Totally agree with you on Cassaday. As well as the stuff about fans caring too much about box office results for comic movies. And it’s always great to see Sentry: Fallen Sun get another well deserved shot.

  3. Only Ron would make anything Twilight related in this Worst list.

    Seriously, good list man and I so agree with you on your number one! What the hell happened to John Cassaday and why are his covers atrocious now? I think I did see a future cover (for March maybe?) that he did for Marvel and it looked pretty good. But for the most part the past year has been a truly awful year for him. Hope he gets his game back up for 2011.

    Rise of Arsenal will always make me realize that J.T. Krul is a horrible writer because at the end of the day: It was HIS idea to make Arsenal go back into drugs and then kill hobos with a cat. Now sure people behind the scenes might give him ideas to how to write an issue, but I seriously doubt Paul Levitz, Dan Didio, or anyone else had THAT in mind when the 3rd issue was being written. You can’t convince me otherwise that what he writes now (mainly Teen Titans) is any good.

  4. When I saw #4 was Twilight’s lettering I just had to giggle.  I wonder though, if new comic readers picked it up, would they actually notice that the lettering is bad by traditional standards?  I’m not so sure.

  5. Spot on about Cassaday. I had written several posts about his horrible covers for Daredevil. A couple in a row were literally aperson standing in the foreground with a face in the back ground…and that wasn’t even drawn or colored well.

    – 365 Days of Comics

  6. Good list and very good points here. I want to read the Rise of Arsenal becasue it looks funny… in a bad way.

  7. RIP Sentry

  8. Am I the only person that still likes JMS?   I mean the things you site him for in this article, are all stuff other creators have done over the years and not been singled out.  He still does manage to tell some good stories out there.  He makes the mistake of committing to many things, but honestly he is not the first and it hardly makes him one of the worst things in comics.  

    Your spot on with the rest of the article, for the most part.   The whole tying of movies and comics is a mixed blessing and curse.  It brings a lot of interest to comics, but everyone is so busy looking for the next big movie property that a lot gets lost I think. 

  9. I will fully admit I don’t read all ages books because it may be spelled all ages but I see “kiddie books” aka stupid, childish, “goofy” (which doesn’t interest me) and terrible art.

    I keep hearing that I’m very wrong for this but it’s hard to break the spell. 

  10. I thought Wonder Woman shipped on time. They threw a dozen artist at the book so it would not be delayed.

    Interesting take on the price flip flopping Ron.

  11. @JNewcomb  No, WONDER WOMAN missed November.

  12. Did JMS fall behind? The WW and Superman book seemed like it shipped on time, and I thought he stepped for the new Earth one series knowing he couldn’t fully commit to it all. Although it is dissappointing to commit to a series and then jump ship.

  13. I never minded the Shadowland covers.  I didn’t think they were terrible.

  14. 9, 7, 6 and 5 got to me as well. I guess the others passed me by. Except Fallen Sun, that was worth it for a laugh out loud funny podcast.

  15. How much does it cost to hire a good letterer?

  16. I would add Second Coming to this list.

  17. I wish people would single Marvel out for cancelations, since DC didn’t drop anything this year (save Unknown Soldier at Vertigo, which still got 30 issue’s overall), including books that sell lower than 10,000. If you start hearing people say that its only Marvel and DC doesn’t do it, there’s a better chance that the Marvel publishers will feel more pressure to keep books going if they’re called out on it.

  18. For all those wondering Wonder Woman did not come out in November, but soon there will be two issues in one month, according to DC anyways.

    I have to ask:  Does this mean Ron actually read the Twilight comic book? 

  19. I dont know what you guys are talking about, that George Reeves tribute in that Superman cover was fantastic.

  20. Rise Of Arsenal #3 was pretty stupid, but it would be pretty short sighted and…well…downright stupid to say that he is a bad writer because of it.

    Let’s look at history…Tim Burton did the Planet Of The Apes remake, Chris Claremont did X-Treme X-Men, Daniel Way did those terrible Wolverine stories, Dan Slott did that Doc Sampson mini, Brian Bendis did Halo Uprising, Peter David did that She-Hulk/X-Factor Secret Invasion crossover, Ed Brubaker with his X-Men and Secret Avengers series, etc…

    All of these stories are incredibly lackluster blemishes in these normally-talented creator’s repertoire, but do we call them bad because they made a stinker? No one’s perfect, life goes on. Krul is pretty great, as his Teen Titans run so far is one of the funnest books that DC is putting out now.

  21. I’m still laughing at the cat thing.

  22. Great list Ron. Personally JMS is number one on my own list. I can’t respect or support someone who obviously has no respect for his readers. At this stage I think he’s dropped off more books (or put out a painfully poor ending to fulfill his contract) than he has finished his run on. I’m looking forward to seeing the follow-up to Earth One crash and burn next year. Although it sold well I’m not convinced that it was as critically successful as he makes out. There was plenty of media buzz, especially non-comics media buzz, but the reviews were only so-so. Most reviews for the book came out after the book launched and readers mainly bought it on hype. The story was shockingly poor when compared to Geoff John’s Secret Origin which came out only a month or so after it.

  23. @TechNoir  I think if DC hands you the keys to Superman and Wonder Woman and you know that you might not be able to do it, yet still take the reigns, it makes you a bad employee and thus a bad part of comics. if JMS has only released the Earth One story this year he wouldn’t even be on this list. Yes a lot of creators do the same thing but not on this scale. He was handed two icons of this medium and a new project. he could have easily told DC “Hey i think thats too much work for me” but he didn’t. if he would have pulled this crap with a green arrow and zatanna relaunch no one would have cared as much but Superman and WW are big time stuff and there’s a lot of responsibility there. JMS should know a little about responsibility after writing spider-man for all those issues.

  24. I’m a huge A&L Guardians o’ the Galaxy fan, but I never read their run on Nova. Is there a good trade floating around out there?

  25. Seriously, those Cassaday covers for Shadowland were terrible. 

  26. Lists like these always rub me the wrong way. I’m not digging the negative vibes. You’re ruining my comics zen thing.

  27. @themanagement  You’re in luck, because pretty much the entire series has been collected in trades.

  28. Twilight Lettering???? really Ron? Do you really think people were going to start reading other comics because of this title?

    ‘See if they had lettered it properly, people would have been turned on to other books and people would have discovered Thor and it wouldn’t have gotten canceled, rable rable!’

    sorry about the bullshit, but come on! Everything else was good 😀

  29. Spot on with the Cassaday thing, I miss his sequential work so much.  Thing is, while he did exceptional work on the Planetary covers, I think it was his interiors that set him apart.  I’ve never found him to be a cover artist on a par with Dave Johnson, Brian Bolland, Adam Hughes et al, but when he does interiors he’s absolutely as good as anyone.  It’s a crying shame…

  30. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    As depressing as the Cassaday covers are, I think I was more disheartened by Scott Kolins’ new style. It’s just not working for me. 

  31. @Simmons  I actually heard a girl in Barnes and Noble complain about the lettering and say “God american comics are so lame” so yeah i think the argument is fairly valid. If one of my friends can start reading comics because of the X-files comic released a few years ago then twilight fans are certainly capable of spending their disposable income on funny books too

  32. The lettering in Twilight is quite bad…its actually just really amateur. But in my opinion the standard for typographic design in comics is very very very low anyways. I’ve always wondered if comic letterists are formally trained in typography and design or just take a few tutorials in how to use illustrator? As good as the art and writing is in comics, lettering and type is so far behind. I see stuff on a regular basis in comics that would get you laughed out of a Community College “Into to typography class”. 

  33. “Look John. Can we just look thru the trash in your studio for something you weren’t going to use anyway? Maybe we can find some unfinished work or some doodles that just might fit as covers on some stuff we have coming up.”

  34. @Ron THANKYOU!! Finally we get to discuss what DISSAPPOINTED us, which sometimes can be taboo. No one likes to be negative 100% of the time but every now and then it makes for good debate(or arguing). Sentry Fallen Sun sounds sooo bad, I think I’m going backissue bin diving just to get my hands on this!!
    as for that twilight book, I’m trying to get my daughter some OGN’s and the lettering also turned me off! The placement and utter SIZE just amaze me!

  35. Good list. That Twilight lettering is atrocious. That’s what happens when computers let people take short cuts. Lettering should never be Times New Roman. I agree with this entire list. As for the digital thing, publishers are so worried about day and date taking sales from retailers, but how does me buying an issue on my iPad take away from an LCS when that store won’t stock what I want?

  36. I also really agree with your sentiments about day and date releases. As long as publishers are so beholden to independent businesses to make their business decisions for them, the industry will continue to spiral downward. Adapt or die is a great mentality, and frankly i think we need less comic shops. My town has about 10 comic shops, but only 2 that are really worthwhile.

  37. Oh wow. That’s a page from the Twilight comics? That looks like some manga for young girls and someone has bit torrent the scans with translation on it. It’s not even in Comic Sans!!!

  38. @vod89  – what are you talking about?  dc cancelled air, greek street, and unknown soldier at vertigo, not to mention brave and the bold and their entire zuda and wildstorm lines.

  39. About the pricing, I’ll stop buying Marvel this 2011 until they succumb to pricing their comics to 2.99. If we as the direct market do not vote with our money, Marvel is just going to get what they want and they’re just price everything they release at 3.99. Until then I’m sticking with DC and try out indies, as there seems to be a lot of good indies around..I hope a lot others do the same.

  40. @-wallythegreenmonster: if the comic shops in your town aren’t meeting your needs then don’t shop at them. To wish them to fail is mean spirited and short sighted. It’s like saying you don’t like a particular book, and in addition to your refusal to buy it, you call for it’s cancellation as well. Not cool.

  41. good: the resurgence (IMO) of many of uncanny x-men

    bad: Greg Land covers and interiors…

  42. @TechNoir:  No, you are not alone. There are still a few of us who enjoy JMS’ body of writing overall, despite his share of difficulties in the industry over the past several years.

  43. That Daredevil cover looks like a Byrne homage. Certainly not vintage Cassaday but if that was what he was getting at, not great cause for anger really. 

    That lettering though, oh my god! Crying here. 

  44. Daredevil in general should have been on this list. I can’t believe how far it has fallen this year.

  45. Never really seen Cassaday as a cover artist. He is a good storyteller and has a grerat sense of composing a page, but his figure work has always been a little wonky. Which is basically the problem with the pictured DD cover.

  46. And regarding point 2: I didn’t read it myself, but tha reviews make it look like you forgot Wolverine: The Best There Is #1 there.

  47. That’s a shame about Nova seemingly going the way of the dodo. It was one of the most consistent books being put out by Marvel, even though I dropped off during the Realm Of Kings business. I wonder what the chances of getting a collected omnibus edition of the run are?

  48. @drake from beginning to end, or just parts?  I really enjoyed certain parts of it.

  49. I know you don’t like or respect the Sentry. but fallen sun wasn’t that bad. You just didn’t like what happen in it beacaue it was following of the alter continuity of hte first sentry mini. It’s still the gimmick wath it’s bottering you instead of the actual content.

  50. @jetstorm I don’t think that’s the case at all.  Fallen Sun was mocked as a whole.

  51. #’s 10-6 I agree with.
    With Nova and GotG, I was never a fan of them, even though I’ve always loved the Marvel Cosmic stuff. It wasn’t until Annihilation that I realized how cool these characters were/are and even picked up the Essential Nova volume when I found it. My friends still give me funny looks when I mention how excited I am to finally be able to read the Rocket Raccoon/Groot story. They woner how I can be so excited about a talking raccoon and a tree. They are slowly understanding, I’m letting them read my Annihilation trades.

    I can also safely say I will never go digital with my comics. I collect them. You can’t collect PDF files. I have zero interest in ‘reading comics’ on my computer and will not buy some new toy I have no interest in just to read them. I prefer to have a real book in my hands. That said I also have easy access to a LCS. Many people, sadly, don’t and this is where digital ‘comics’ come in handy.
    I’m not putting down digital, just expressing my personal opinion that it holds zero interest or value to me. If the industry were to go 100% digital in my lifetime I would walk away from new comics and start re-reading the thousands I own. That should last me til I die.

    That said, great list and I look forward to the best of 2010!

  52. That Twilight lettering makes me sick to my stomach.

  53. Now, we try not to be negative here at iFanboy…but here is Ron’s List of Worst Things in Comics in 2010.”

  54. @SonOfCann  We didn’t say “never”, did we?

  55. On my list of maybe-not-worst-but-most-disappointing things in 2010 would be the final arc of BTVS Season 8. The story was a colossal mess. The art was decent but it took a definite dip. I just didn’t get what it was supposed to be all about.

  56. About Twilight:  I’m pretty sure Times New Roman is a font that NEVER belongs in a funny book.  EVER.

  57. “which was like a fever dream of a comic depicting Arsenal, bereft after the loss of his arm, fall into a drug fueled frenzy and we watched as he freebased off of what looked like an iPad and then beat up an alley of bums and other drug addicts with a cat.”

    How was this possibly a bad comic?  Sounds pretty awesome to me.

  58. Speaking of Arsenal…

    Obviously Marvel admires how DC has made use of its sidekicks.  DC on the other hand seems to hate them mercilessly.  Other than their recent run in the JLA, name the members of the original Teen Titans.  Look at where they are, what happened to them recently, and name what you expect of them in their recent or long term future.

  59. Digital comics, from DriveThruComics or whomever else jumps on the bandwagon, are the future. Printed comics are the past. Comic shops will go the way that record stores already have and that book stores soon will. Naturally, the larger comic publishers are fighting against this tooth and nail, and just as naturally, they will lose that fight. The successful comic publishers of 2020 will be those that embraced the inevitable.

  60. 8.Even though the price of a comic book may still be important, I agree with you on the fact that people complain far too often about them. I just go with the comic books I like, not on how much they cost.

    7.I still can’t believe Scott Pilgrim did so badly! It was an amazing movie!

    4. I have to agree, that lettering sucks. Looks like they lettered it in 5 minutes. But, I disagree with the opinion that if people had liked it they would pick up comic books. It seems like everyone thinks that comic books are just about super heroes and are for children.

    I agree with all these things that you hated.