shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jan 10, 2015 10:11:59 GMT -5
I don't know if there's any character in comicdom that is universally panned. Even Ben Reilly has fans. But as for characters that, quite simply, no one cares about, how about Rob Liefeld's Feral:  While most of the completely unoriginal characters he shoved into the final issues of New Mutants in order to earn some royalties were pretty forgettable, Feral strikes me as having been the most thoroughly useless, especially since the New Mutants already had a half-wolf girl. Funny you mention Feral... They TRIED to forget about her... I don't have the particular issue, but Loeb has her get arrested and go to jail, and clearly planned to leave her there forever. No character mentions her for year. The fans, however, do... In the 25-ish issues I read the last few days... at least 1/3 have a letter printed that asks where Feral is. So while I agree she's the worst of the Rob Liefield-ness, and no one ever fixed her (like Cable and Shatterstar, who overcame that to be decent characters), there are still people out there who are fans. I wonder, though, how many of those fans really care about the character, and how many simply dislike loose ends in their comics. |
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Post by paulie on Jan 10, 2015 10:16:30 GMT -5
I don't know if there's any character in comicdom that is universally panned. Even Ben Reilly has fans. But as for characters that, quite simply, no one cares about, how about Rob Liefeld's Feral: While most of the completely unoriginal characters he shoved into the final issues of New Mutants in order to earn some royalties were pretty forgettable, Feral strikes me as having been the most thoroughly useless, especially since the New Mutants already had a half-wolf girl. Oh Dear that art is crap. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 10, 2015 10:17:45 GMT -5
That's actually one of the least offensive Liefield creations  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 10, 2015 10:20:06 GMT -5
I wonder, though, how many of those fans really care about the character, and how many simply dislike loose ends in their comics. I would think that, too, but it wasn't really a loose end.. .going to jail is an ending, I think. I guess they needed to kill her? What I thought was funny was that people were like 'they all were her friends' don't they care?'. Yet, the comics I read with her in them, she was a bitchy mean-spirited jerk who only knew Cable. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Jan 10, 2015 10:23:25 GMT -5
I wonder, though, how many of those fans really care about the character, and how many simply dislike loose ends in their comics. I would think that, too, but it wasn't really a loose end.. .going to jail is an ending, I think. I guess they needed to kill her? What I thought was funny was that people were like 'they all were her friends' don't they care?'. Yet, the comics I read with her in them, she was a bitchy mean-spirited jerk who only knew Cable. Sounds like it was more a concern for the team than for the character. In order to continue to believe in and like those characters, the fans needed to see that they cared about and took care of one of their own. When Junior died in Sgt. Fury's Howling Commandos, I could have cared less, but it was important to me to see that they grieved for him properly. Similarly, if someone you've fought with for years is sent to jail for life, that should matter to you, even if you feel they deserved it and walk away with a complicated sense of having been betrayed. Then again, I didn't read these letter columns myself, so I freely admit I'm speculating. |
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Post by The Captain on Jan 10, 2015 10:53:27 GMT -5
As for Deadpool, I liked the initial incarnation of the character as envisioned by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. He was a mercenary who would work for the highest bidder, would switch sides or stop entirely in the middle of a fight if the other side offered more money, and had the healing factor that tied him into the Weapon Plus program.
Under Joe Kelly, he became a Looney Tune; I would have had no problem with that except for the fact that they kept him as part of the 616 Universe. It's jarring to me to be into a serious story and have Deadpool break the Fourth Wall to address the audience or actually acknowledge the fact that he knows he's a character in a comic book. Had they shunted him off to his own universe and let him be as wacky as he wanted to be, that would have been OK, but by keeping him as part of the mainstream universe while making him a "comedy" character has made me hate him more and more.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Jan 10, 2015 11:02:29 GMT -5
It's jarring to me to be into a serious story and have Deadpool break the Fourth Wall to address the audience or actually acknowledge the fact that he knows he's a character in a comic book. To be fair, She-Hulk was similarly doing this back in the '90s. |
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Post by The Captain on Jan 10, 2015 11:05:41 GMT -5
The Punisher  Much as I believe Garth Ennis redeemed the character, I had the chance to speak with Gerry Conway at length during a panel about the Punisher last year and got the distinct impression that he didn't really like the character either. Punisher, much like Deadpool, was fine in his original form. He was a counterpoint to the "thou shalt not kill" heroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Captain America; he was seeking revenge for his family's deaths and did not want to go through the "put them in jail only to let their lawyers get them out time and time again" cycle. It made for interesting debate about the nature of what a hero actually is and if a hero should ever take a life even of a horrible criminal or killer.
Unfortunately, Marvel took the idea and ran it into the ground to the tune of three monthly titles at one point. The killing became tedious, as there could only be so many mobsters in New York for Frank to knock off, and there was no way they were going to let him take out someone like the Kingpin, so it was an unending string of nobodies that no reader cared about and whose passing did not affect the Marvel universe at all.
Ennis did what he could, and while I enjoyed his take on Frank to a certain extent, it seemed like it was just more of the same, only "Preacher-ized".
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Post by The Captain on Jan 10, 2015 11:07:29 GMT -5
It's jarring to me to be into a serious story and have Deadpool break the Fourth Wall to address the audience or actually acknowledge the fact that he knows he's a character in a comic book. To be fair, She-Hulk was similarly doing this back in the '90s. True, but because she was rarely seen outside of her own book, it was almost as though she was in her own universe, just with other Marvel characters occasionally popping by to visit. Deadpool for a while was EVERYWHERE, and that is where the problem for me came in. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Jan 10, 2015 14:54:10 GMT -5
Worst character? Everyone mentioned so far is to me either forgetable, derivative or annoying at worst. To be an actual worst character, I'd say it has to be one of those characters whose specific concept is troublesome, like DC's Black Bomber (who luckily didn't see print). Maybe Marvel's Mandrill?
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Post by fanboystranger on Jan 10, 2015 15:15:15 GMT -5
Worst character? Everyone mentioned so far is to me either forgetable, derivative or annoying at worst. To be an actual worst character, I'd say it has to be one of those characters whose specific concept is troublesome, like DC's Black Bomber (who luckily didn't see print). Maybe Marvel's Mandrill? Dwayne McDuffie actually used him in his Justice League run just to tear the whole idea apart. It was the highlight of McDuffie's run.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jan 10, 2015 15:23:55 GMT -5
One word. Triathalon.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 10, 2015 16:11:28 GMT -5
Did he ever team up with Man-Thing? |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 10, 2015 16:13:18 GMT -5
I don't know if there's any character in comicdom that is universally panned. Even Ben Reilly has fans. But as for characters that, quite simply, no one cares about, how about Rob Liefeld's Feral: While most of the completely unoriginal characters he shoved into the final issues of New Mutants in order to earn some royalties were pretty forgettable, Feral strikes me as having been the most thoroughly useless, especially since the New Mutants already had a half-wolf girl. Oh Dear that art is crap. My eyes!! THE BURNING!!! MAKE IT STOP! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 10, 2015 16:19:35 GMT -5
Yeah, he was pretty bad... the spot that wouldn't come out of the otherwise stellar Busiek Avengers run. That he was a token minority made it even worse. |
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