Comics can be a harsh mistress. Fans may love the characters and teams the books are about, but that doesn’t mean that every run is created equally. Over the years, many fan-favorite writers have launched comics, made them extremely popular, and then moved on. This is a double-edged sword, as it can bring in fresh new blood to the book, but it can also ruin everything.
No comic is immune from this and certainly not ones published by DC. Over the years, plenty of books have been ruined because of a shift in creative teams, taking a precipitous fall from grace.
10 JLA Passed To Superstar Writers After Grant Morrison Left But Never Reached The Same Heights
Writer Grant Morrison and artist Howard Porter’s JLA relaunch catapulted the once dead team to the top of the comic industry. It’s gone down as one of the best team comics of all time and is still the pinnacle of the team’s books in the last forty years. After Morrison left, writer Mark Waid took over and turned in the excellent “Tower Of Babel,” but things weren’t the same.
Waid tried to harness the same big idea superhero energy that Morrison did, but it didn’t work as well. JLA was never actually a bad book, but it did get worse. It went from the best team book around to a merely good one.
9 Green Lantern Corps Suffered After Tomasi And Gibbons Left
After Hal Jordan’s return to life in Green Lantern: Rebirth, DC went all-in on the Corps, relaunching Green Lantern Corps with a miniseries. An ongoing was soon released with writer Dave Gibbons aboard, and Peter Tomasi would soon join the book. Gibbons and Tomasi, working with artist Patrick Gleason, turned in some great stories, and eventually, Tomasi took over as sole writer.
Tomasi would continue writing the book through the first twenty issues of the New 52 reboot but would eventually be replaced by Robert Venditti and Van Jenson. The book’s quality suffered after Tomasi left, and while it was never exactly bad, the book would take an even more pronounced downturn once DC Rebirth hit.
8 Judd Winick Made The Outsiders Popular Again, But The Relaunch After He Left Was A Lead Balloon
Writer Judd Winick and artist Tom Raney relaunched The Outsiders in 2003, and the book became one of the best team comics on the market. A highly underrated run, Winick took Batman’s old team and gave it to Nightwing, creating a fan-favorite group that made the Outsiders popular for the first time in decades.
After Winick left, DC banked on the team’s newly won popularity and relaunched it as Batman And The Outsiders, keeping members of Winick’s team and adding others. Written by Chuck Dixon, the book had a run that is nowhere near the quality of Winick’s time with the team.
7 The DC Rebirth Nightwing Relaunch Went Bad After Tim Seeley Left
DC Rebirth saw a lot of successful relaunches, and Nightwing quickly jumped to the top of the line. Writer Tim Seeley understood Dick Grayson like few other writers and turned in some best of all time Nightwing stories, constantly proving why Nightwing is one of DC’s best heroes. However, after he left the book, things took a nosedive.
The book went through a succession of writers like Benjamin Percy and Dennis Hopeless before Dan Jurgens took over and the Ric Grayson years began. The book’s momentum completely stopped once Seeley left, and it got worse with each successive writer until Tom Taylor took over in 2021.
6 Batman Became Cliche After Tom King Left
Tom King’s DC Rebirth relaunch of Batman has a mixed reputation, but there’s no doubt that King took the book in new directions. The writer concentrated on the psychology of Bruce Wayne and his run orbited around the twin poles of Batman’s relationship with Catwoman and his rivalry with Bane. It was an unexpected way of writing a Batman book; some fans loved it, and others didn’t.
James Tynion IV took over after he left, but his Batman was basically just cliche stories of Batman facing off against new and old threats. He did the requisite Joker story and a big crossover event, but the book never felt as vital as it did when King wrote it.
5 Teen Titans Fell Of A Cliff After Geoff Johns Left
The Teen Titans are DC’s premier teen team, but there were years when the book had worn out its welcome. All of that changed with writer Geoff Johns and artist Mike McKone relaunched the book in 2003. It quickly became one of the hottest team books on the market, and Johns stayed on the book for years, working with artists like Matt Clark and Tony S. Daniel once McKone left the book.
Writer Sean McKeever took over after Johns left, and the book was never the same again. It stopped being as popular as it was and fell down the charts. The New 52 relaunch was even worse, and since then, Teen Titans comics have been a tough sell.
4 Watchmen Sequels Without Alan Moore Are Just About Entirely Universally Panned
Watchmen is considered the greatest comic of all time. Written by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons, no one ever thought there would ever be a sequel, mainly because the book didn’t need one. While it took years, DC eventually released the Before Watchmen prequel miniseries’, focusing on the characters’ pasts and worked on by some of the industry’s best writers and artists.
Fans’ reactions to these series were mixed, and things only got worse when writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank launched Doomsday Clock in 2017, a Watchmen sequel that brought the characters into the DC Universe. 2020’s Rorschach, by writer Tom King and artist Jorge Fornes, was much better received than all of them, mostly because it had nearly nothing to do with the original other than being set in the same world.
3 After Peter David Left Aquaman, The Book Sunk
Aquaman is one of the strongest aquatic heroes in comics, but for years, he wasn’t exactly a fan favorite. All of that changed when writer Peter David relaunched Aquaman in 1994 with artist Jim Calafiore. These were the hook hands years of Aquaman, redefining his powers and making him into the warrior king fans love nowadays.
He left the book with issue 47, and writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning took over. Their run was unremarkable, and things only got worse from there. The book went on until 2001, but fans left in droves. It took years and several relaunches before Aquaman was a beloved comic again.
2 Justice Society Of America Was Set On The Road To Cancellation When Geoff Johns Left
The Justice Society of America is one of DC’s strongest teams, and they were brought back to prominence by 1999’s JSA. Geoff Johns joined as co-writer of the book with David S. Goyer once James Robinson left and eventually took over as sole writer. After Infinite Crisis, he’d relaunch the book with artist Dale Eaglesham as Justice Society of America.
The book was still considered one of the best team books until Johns left with issue 26. Classic Justice Society writer/artist Jerry Ordway took over, and while his run was good, it never reached the same heights as when Johns was writing it. Lackluster runs followed afterward, and the book was put out of its misery by the New 52.
1 New 52’s Action Comics Died On The Vine After Grant Morrison Left
The New 52 relaunch of Action Comics with writer Grant Morrison, joined by artists Rags Morales, Ben Oliver, Andy Kubert, and Travel Foreman, is a quintessential Superman run. It’s a nineteen-issue story, and it’s one of the highlights of the entire New 52. Once Morrison left, though, the book was pretty much done for.
Immediately succeeded by writer Andy Diggle, Action Comics in the New 52 went through peaks and valleys, but the peaks were never as high as when Morrison was onboard the book. The book changed hands many times until writer Dan Jurgens came back with DC Rebirth and righted the ship.
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