Great Moments in Bad Characterization

Actually, this was completely in character for Superman, as shown by the previous time he voted not to kick out someone who'd killed from an organization they were a part of.

Back in the 60s, there was a Legion story where Star Boy was 'forced' to kill in self-defense ('forced', because Brainiac 5 later showed there was a different tactic he could've used instead, but he'd not thought of it at the time). He was put on trial for violating the Legion's no kill rule. Superboy went so far as to be his defense counsel, since he believed that those members who weren't invulnerable like him should have the option of saving their own lives/other lives by killing someone *if there was no other way*.

The Flash scenario was the same; Barry didn't go out intending to kill Zoom, and given Zoom was about to kill Fiona, it wasn't considered unnecessary force (in fact, as I recall, Barry didn't even realize he'd killed Zoom until a couple of minutes later, thinking he'd just made him unconscious).

Actually (aging fanboy that I am), that was the LSH code. This is not to say the JLA was in favor of killing but ti wasn't an organization-wide taboo.

Bill Bickel http://www.comicsidontunderstand.com http://crime.about.com/msubcomics.htm

Nightwing getting his own book. After more than a decade of character development in which he was determined to get himself out of Batman's shadow. So, in a brilliant move on his part, he moves closer to Gotham, to a city just like Gotham, and turns into Batman, Jr.

As good as the intentions were, and as good as the issue was - Dr Doom shedding a tear in the ASM WTC issue.

Wolverine in DD 196 - worst issue ever. Poor artwork, poor writing and I dunno who that was in the Wolvie suit but it wasn't the same little runt that was appearing in the X-Men at the time. Sample dialouge 'Buy a ticket to the next mutant's ball'.

Oh, and almost any character written by Howard Mackie - after he utterly ruined Ghost Rider.

I wasn't reading FANTASTIC FOUR at the time, but can someone please explain to me what(besides Tom DeFalco) possesed Sue to run around in that godawful 'Image' style bad-girl outfit, circa 1995? With the cutout panel on her chest that showcased her cleavage like she was Power Girl yet? Now that was *miles* further from her character than using the word 'ass'...

I'm with you there. We all know what paves the road to hell. Dr. Doom would slaughter untold numbers at the drop of a hat if it suited his needs and how many times has he attacked the Baxter Building in the heart of NYC? And Magneto crying over 'flatscans' killing each other? Please. It just justifies his bigotry. Also, crime didn't stop at Ground Zero (one cop I know had to be stationed there to guard trash because people were looking for business account numbers from the WTC), so I don't see The Kingpin getting weepy either.

Why even include the villains? It was silly.

Of course not. That's why you have a goo-goo, do-gooder alter ego. Multiple personality disorder comes in darn handy, sometimes.

Kevin

It's not fair! Some people have multiple personalities, while other people don't even have ONE!

<snip>

The early run of Amazing and Peter Parker Spider-Man after the reboot. Peter Parker thinks he can LIE to Mary Jane about being back in the suit? With the great power motto you'd think he'd show a little responsibility towards his marriage. Of course, I'll point out that it was a missed opportunity to show a flawed Peter Parker, but the way the whole thing is carried out it's as if MJ was a bitch getting in his way. During a creative rut it was a new low point.

Mackie's list of corpses in the 'great moments in bad characterization' graveyard would be a long one, indeed. The body count from Ghost Rider alone is staggering (and begins with GR

Another point: in MU standards, the WTC bombing was just a little accident. Ultron destroyed an entire country and no villain gave a damn, Genosha was wiped out, no villain gave a damn, Kang almost conquered Earth, killing thousands, no villain gave a damn. A building was destroyed, even Dr.Doom cried?!?! Puuuleeease....

Another bad characterization: Byrne turning Sandman into a villain again. I know it was explained later, but still was painful to accept that.

As yes, Howard Mackie.

The reason I stopped reading Spiderman all together. The clown had the writing chores on both ASM and PP and couldn't co-ordinate his own continuity. After building up the mystery in ASM about Spidey possibly never wearing the suit again, the next week out comes PP and there's ole Spidey - in the suit.

Good ole Howie. He couldn't even buy a clue.

But having said that I just picked up the first two graphic novels with JMS and JR Jr's run. Juniors art has certainly improved from his horrid run of passing of his thumbnails as full pencils and JMS has gotten me back to wanting to read Spidey.

I dunno about the removal of Mary Jane tho.