10 Comics You Loved As A Teen (But Should Never Return To)

Can we get a 'yikes!' in here?

by Ewan Paterson
Batman Hush
DC Comics

Although there's a good chance there are folks who only just encountered comics when they were adults, for most fans, it's likelier they first embarked into the medium when they were young. There are comics geared towards a wide variety of age ranges, but most tended to make the big leap when they were teenagers - and that can mean there's a great deal of nostalgia attached to the comics that got them into the medium in the first place.

Unfortunately, some of those comics just don't hold up all that well when you revisit them through a more experienced lens. In a lot of cases, what could've been a nice trip down memory lane instead turns into something pretty awkward fairly quickly, as the flaws of those old, beloved storylines of yore suddenly become just that little bit more noticeable.

Of course, there's nothing to stop readers from loving those books for being their gateway into comics, and it's likelier still that plenty have their admirers today. It's just that, the further you get away from certain comics, it's easier to notice what they got wrong - in some instances because the creator of said book has gone on the record to state just how much they don't like it.

Factor in dated industry practices, a classic ol' dollop of superhero sexism and threadbare storylines being rescued by legendary art, and it's plain to see that some of those old, beloved comics just don't cut the mustard anymore - no matter how much it pains us to admit it.

Advertisement
Content Producer/Presenter

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.