Comics that have disappointed you

[SID]

I know that this could apply to a lot of comics but has there been a comic that started with great potential only for it to fail or not meet your expectations?

For me, this would be Strip magazine. A comic that had plenty of promise but failed due to distribution problems.

[starscape]

Strip for me too. Not just the distribution though. The stories weren't as good as what I expected. I was looking for more a return to Valiant/Action/Warlord etc. Stories full of excitement and adventure that worked in short installments. Here, it was more the modern way of story telling. Overly complicated plots that need you to follow every issue (which I did) but just aren't that riveting. I mean, god's dog for goodness sake. I was so desperate for a Tom Tully/Gerry Finlay-Day style action.

[SID]

Agreed that not all the strips were my cuppa tea but I thought that Strip definitely had potential especially with the new King Cobra. However, it came out so erratically that it was difficult to get into.

Another mag that was cut down in its prime was Warrior.

[geoff42]

Starlord should have excelled far more than its paltry 22 issues. It was outselling 2000 ad at the time but, maybe this is crucial, it was more expensive to produce as regards paper and format. Tharg won out. But, with hindsight, I reckon that was a good thing. Had Starlord won out, we wouldn't have 2000 ad now (obviously) and Starlord would have merged with Eagle or vice versa, and the combined title would have died in the early-mid nineties. So... can't complain, can we?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Not a comic, but a strip that disappointed me:

I SPY [the character] was 'killed off' in May 1970, in an especially bleak story, and I kept soldiering on with SPARKY without my favourite character, although the paper was quite hollow without him [some other good strips, though].

5 months later, the character was declared as being in a state of comeback, and I was delighted.

On the way back from the newsagensts with issue 300, I opened SPARKY up to devour the much longed-for return of the strip as I walked home [ I done this all the time, that's how much I loved the character] however instantly my heart sank: the artwork looked alien and different: clearly, another artist was being employed as I was pretty saddened by this.

I discovered that Les Bartons' spirit of cartooning was a big part of the appeal of early I SPY and his successor Brian Walker ---a very good artist-----never really injected quite the same spirit into the stories; his style was just, different.


Today, I actually quite rate the Walker I SPY strips: they are very good in their own right and a deserved part of the characters' considerable legacy.

The Barton definitive will always have a special place in my heart, though...


aw............cute.




For a disappointing comic, it has to be HOOT. The strips and artwork were fine but the paltry 16 pages and then-high 20p price-tag was really off-putting, and I only bought the debut issue. Just poor value, end of story.

[SID]

Another one for me was Krazy Comic. It was quirky and fun and in some ways a precursor to how humour comics were going but then got merged into Whizzer and Chips. Yes it lasted more than 22 issues but not much more.

[starscape]

Hmmmm, we're really talking about two completely different things here. Comics that were great but finished and comics that were terrible. Might make more sense to just have one on this thread. It's apples and oranges.

[wilsia]

Found Jackpot a bit of a disappointment most of all for the way they done the lettering in the strips. It spoilt the comic, Lew would know the name for that type of lettering.

[Bethanys grandad]

Clint nuff said

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Clint nuff said

Love it, B.G.!

I shouldn't really kick a bad comic/mag while it's down, but that was sho' a dubious 'un.

[starscape]

Quite enjoyed a number of the stories but the attitude of Clint just drove me away. They made it clear they didn't want anyone that read comics to read Clint (even though I'm pretty much the same age as the writer). Well done. You managed it.

[colcool007]

I must admit that I thought the attitude of Clint appeared to be that they wanted an audience that thought lads mags were highbrow.

I liked a couple of the stories, but not enough to pay out for what was essentially a lads mag with a couple of comic stories in it.

[SID]

Hmmmm, we're really talking about two completely different things here. Comics that were great but finished and comics that were terrible. Might make more sense to just have one on this thread. It's apples and oranges.

The original premise of this thread was to talk about comics that started off with great promise only to fail. Either because those key ingredients disappeared or the comic itself packed in/got merged with a sister publication.

Starlord is a good example (already mentioned in this thread). Some say that it started off good lost its way before being merged away. Not sure that I agree with some of that. But everyone agrees it was a great comic in the first place.

[starscape]

In that case then, how about the Daredevils then? Alan Moore's Captain Britain, with Frank Miller's Daredevil, finished off with Stan Lee's Spider-Man. No way that could fail surely?

[Lew Stringer]

I must admit that I thought the attitude of Clint appeared to be that they wanted an audience that thought lads mags were highbrow.

I liked a couple of the stories, but not enough to pay out for what was essentially a lads mag with a couple of comic stories in it.

I enjoyed CLiNT apart from the articles on comedians etc. putting Frankie Boyle on the cover of No.1 was a big mistake, I felt.

It actually worked out cheaper to buy CLiNT for the strips than to buy the individual American editions of each strip. Later issues had even more comic strip content, especially after it's relaunch. I think the delays between issues were its main downfall. God knows how much Smiths would have penalised them for missing a schedule.