6 Worst Ever Comic Book TV Shows
Comic books and television have a very long relationship. Since 1952s The Adventures of Superman, which featured George Reeves as the Man of Steel, there have been numerous attempts to bring superheroes to the small screen, both in animation and live-action. The results have been a pretty mixed bag. 1966s Batman unfortunately set public perception of comic book superheroes being juvenile and campy, and thats a perception that not many live-action shows sought to correct. Animation has fared slightly better, especially since the 90s, which saw the debut of the groundbreaking Batman: The Animated Series. Not only did it bring us the most-accurate adaptation of The Dark Knight in the history of film and television, but it also showed to the general public that animation and superheroes could be serious and appealing to adults without alienating children. With the advancement of technology and new avenues for release such as digital streaming, as well as the public hungering for more superhero action after blockbuster successes like The Dark Knight Trilogy and The Marvel Cinematic Universe, there has never been a better stage for TV shows based on comic books. The CWs Arrow just wrapped up a very successful first season while this fall will see the debut of Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC. And with Joss Whedon helming the show, the man who was responsible for not only The Avengers but hugely-popular cult TV shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, it looks like its going to raise the bar even higher. Of course, this wasnt always the case. For every Arrow or The Incredible Hulk, there are about a dozen more attempts that were just plain awful. Here were going to look at some of the worst of the worst. Since thats a pretty wide net to cast, Im going to set a few ground rules: 1) Just focus on live-action, throwing animated series into the mix would increase the available candidates by a lot. 2) No made-for-TV movies or unaired pilots, this is only for shows that were able to amass a few episodes under their belt.