Worst Trend of 2007

Jim Doom says: finding out exactly what DC writers liked when they were kids!

Whether it’s the Saturday Mornification of the Justice League – complete with the Hall of Justice monolithic headquarters and the Hall of Doom sitting in the swamp – or bringing back the Legion of Superheroes in as many books as possible or just wanting to relive the Silver Age, DC after Infinite Crisis absolutely reeks of comic book creators having free reign to relive their childhood.

I kind of like the Legion of Superheroes, but I’m really sick and tired of them popping up everywhere. They were in JLA, they were in JSA, they were in Countdown, they were in Action Comics (I’m not even sure if that’s the same version of the ones we saw in the Lightning Saga; how additionally awful if it’s not).

Silver Age comics even infected the modern version of the LoSH, as Mon-El made his own individual appearances in Action Comics and way off in the 31st Century Mark Waid version of the Legion.

I don’t think I’d mind so much if the comics seemed to be written by kids as well. Dwayne McDuffie just made JLA stupider than I could ever imagine a professional writer being allowed to.

Honorable mention: Zombie Covers.
God, zombie covers are stupid. Shame on anyone who is buying them and encouraging Marvel to keep doing it.

Honorable mention: $3.99 comics
It’s happening all the time now. It doesn’t even need to be a special event. Wolverine #56 was $3.99 FOR NO REASON.

Doominator says: lateness!

Everyone else is going to say zombies. I think the worst trend is chronic lateness. See All-Star Superman and Astonishing X-Men … if you can find any of the scant issues that came out this year.

Fin Fang Doom says: interrupting arcs to get an issue, any issue, out on time!

As opposed to Marvel, who found a very good way to get books out on time, DC started using a really bad one. When high-profile creators started getting behind on their deadlines, DC would just start publishing a different story in the monthly series and push the finale to the annual. They did this with Alan Heinberg on Wonder Woman, Richard Donner and one of the Kuberts on Action Comics, and Carlos Pacheco on Superman. I had long since given up on WW and AC when that happened, but I’m still reading Superman. While the fill-in issues published for the title were usually pretty good, the Camelot Falls arc was hurt a lot by the interruptions. Pacheco’s been around long enough that it’s not hard to tell how long it’s going to take him to complete a six-ssue arc. Since Camelot Falls was divided into a few smaller arcs, it should have been easy to work out the shipping schedule so that none of the arcs were cut off mid-story.

But at least when Superman arcs were interrupted, Kurt Busiek was still writing the fill-in issues. On Action Comics, Busiek, Fabian Nicienza and someone else who’s name I can’t remember did fill-ins instead of Geoff Johns. Occassionally in 2007, Paul Dini’s Detective Comics run would be interrupted by a fill-in writer. I can understand why an artist can get behind. There’s a certain point where you juts can’t draw any faster and have it be the same quality. But why shouldn’t a writer be able to come up with a story in a month? But if Kurt Busiek can write a fill-in in a month, for a series that isn’t even the one he’s currently writing, why the hell can’t Johns or Dini?

Doom DeLuise says: zombie variant covers!

Ooh, Runaways turn into zombies this issue. Sweet. OH WAIT NO THEY DON’T THAT COVER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS AND MARVEL SUCKS.