8 Terrible Comic Book Events Marvel And DC Wish You'd Forget

Civil War... the sequel? Really??

Secret Empire Marvel
Marvel Comics

If you happen to have dabbled in the comic book medium over, let's just say, the past thirty years or so, you're probably more than aware of the fact that DC and Marvel love events, and that - for the most part - their readers hate them.

Ever since Marvel kicked things off with 1984's Secret Wars, the big two have been at it year after year, trying to come up with the most bizarre and bombastic ways to bring their universes together to take on a massive threat. The reason why they're so derided, however, is that their frequency not only devalues their own narratives, but encroaches on others as well. Endless tie-in books, crossovers and convoluted reading-lists dominate the event landscape, and with that in mind, it should come as no surprise to hear that there have been some truly terrible books over the years.

With Marvel Legacy now launching with the tagline that every series will be an 'event' in itself (groan), and with the upcoming Dark Nights Metal and Doomsday Clock fast approaching, it's obvious that events remain an indelible influence on the industry landscape, for better or for worse.

Now there are events out there that have cranked out some truly terrific storylines (52 and Final Crisis are two of them), but it's undeniable that there have been more misfires than successes over the years, both critically and commercially. Error-laden events have all too often typified the decline of the industry in recent years, and while we can only hope that they'll improve in the coming months ahead, it's important to remember that, for some time now, most have been pretty awful.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.