The Worst Marvel Comics Ever

Comic books are the product of so many different people and collaborations — writers, artists, inkers, letterers, colorists, editors, executives — and they have to be produced under an incredible time crunch. Every month (or sometimes multiple times every month) a new issue is due out in stores. Fans expect their fix every single Wednesdays, no matter what is happening behind the scenes at Marvel or DC. Comic books are so hard and so complicated to make it’s a miracle any of them are good.

It’s a credit to those talented creators up and down the line that so many of Marvel and DC’s comics are wonderful, and have gone on to inspire some of the most popular movies and television shows in history. With all that pressure, and all those crazy deadlines, they can’t all be winners, though. Occasionally across the 80 year history of Marvel Comics, there have been some definite clunkers — and even a couple outright disasters.

Some of those misfires include obscure characters, and that makes sense; part of the reason those characters faded into obscurity is because their comics weren’t very good to begin with. But some of the Marvel’s worst flops star the biggest names in the company’s history, including The Avengers, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four (or their quasi-affiliated spinoffs), and they were written and illustrated by some of the company’s most popular artists. But as the saying goes, nobody’s perfect. And the ten comic books, crossovers, and storylines below prove it.