7 Most Overrated DC Comics

With nearly 90 years of publishing history, there are a lot of DC Comics for fans to dig into. Stories featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and just about every other major hero you can imagine are all a part of the publisher’s deep, rich catalog. Among the many comics and stories that DC has put out over the years, many are excellent and, even among those excellent stories, there are some that stand out and above the others as true masterpieces, stories that have held major influence over stories after them and even continue to capture reader imagination sometimes decades after release.

But even among those notable stories, there are some that, while still good, are overrated. They’re stories that many hold up as the best of the best but maybe aren’t actually the masterpieces they’re pumped up to be. Here are seven such comics that, are by no means bad but just aren’t the be all, end all of comics. And no, we’re not including Watchmen on this list (though we absolutely could.)

7) Injustice: Gods Among Us

There’s a particular sort of allure to Injustice: Gods Among Us. The concept is actually pretty interesting: in a parallel universe, Superman becomes a tyrant in charge of a brutal new world order when the Joker tricks him into killing Lois Lane and destroying Metropolis. In attempt to stop Superman, Batman taps various other heroes as part of an insurgency to fight back. As alternative universe stories where the heroes (or at least some of them) are actually the villains go, it’s solid and it makes for a great video game. It’s also not a bad idea for a comic book, particularly a tie in one, but that doesn’t mean the result is an all-time great.

Written by Tom Taylor, the tie-in Injustice comic is definitely a fan favorite and it’s an entertaining read, but it’s also not necessarily a pleasant read. Overly dark, very convoluted at times, and even a bit overdone, the book is one that feels more like it rewards shock value rather than solid storytelling. It makes for a fun read but overall, it’s certainly an overhyped story.

6) Tom King’s Wonder Woman Run

This might be a controversial entry on the list since it’s a current run that is still ongoing, but Tom King’s Wonder Woman regularly gets a lot of hype that it doesn’t necessarily deserve. There is no denying that King is a solid writer and some of his books are genuinely great (Mister Miracle and The Human Target come to mind) but Wonder Woman isn’t one of them. His run on the title, even with all the hype, has faced critics for its odd pacing, poor characterization of Wonder Woman, and even the book’s frequent lack of focus on her as a character. Very frequently, the title feels like an unfinished idea that puts style over substance.

And that style might be the one thing about King’s Wonder Woman that isn’t actually overrated. Daniel Sampere’s art is consistently regarded as the best part of King’s run and while it’s well deserved, when a run is that imbalanced to where the art is better than the story, you probably have a book that’s being a little too glazed.

5) Flashpoint

A lot of people really love Flashpoint and it’s understandable why. The crossover arc written by Geoff Johns with art from Andy Kubert is a good story that sets up a lot of the New 52, establishing major changes in the DC Universe when Barry Allen/The Flash finds himself in a version of the universe very different from the one he knows. It’s the story that gives us Thomas Wayne as Batman and Martha Wayne as the Joker.

Where Flashpoint ends up overrated is in how people consider it to be the definitive Flash story and that’s a mistake. While Flashpoint uses Barry Allen as it’s central figure and largely its entry point, the story is more of a large DC Universe tale than one about the speedster. It also completely disregards much of the Flash’s history. While it makes for a good DC story, it’s overrated as a specific Flash story, landing itself on this list.

4) “The Death of Superman”

“The Death of Superman” is overrated. Is it a good comic? Absolutely yes. The story involved some absolutely insanely talented creators — Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Butch Guice, Jon Bogdanove, Tom Brummet — and was a massive moment in DC. Superman getting beaten by Doomsday is kind of iconic. But in terms of how highly we regard it years later, it’s turned into a situation where we value The Death of Superman more for its moment in time than the story it actually told.

“The Death of Superman” is a story that is largely spectacle and is an iconic moment in comics history, but it’s more notable for the stories that it sets up after it than the core story itself.  “Funeral for a Friend,” and “Reign of the Supermen” are true classics and are vastly better than the main story. The end result is a situation where the individual parts are better than the whole.

3) Batman: Hush

While Batman: Hush may be one of the best known and higher profile Batman stories (and DC stories more broadly), it doesn’t really earn the praise it often gets as one of the “best” Batman stories. The Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee story certainly has its value. It’s a story with wide scope, incredible art, and is a well-paced, enthralling read. However, it’s also a case where, when you look a bit more closely at the story you recognize that it doesn’t necessarily hold up.

Like Tom King’s Wonder Woman, it’s the art in Batman: Hush that is the real star of the show and is likely what most people revere rather than the whole story itself. Lee’s art in the story is incredible and outshines the actual story at almost every turn. In terms of the story, Loeb pulls in a lot of interesting concepts but doesn’t execute them well — particularly the ending which is pretty weak.

2) Batman: The Killing Joke

A lot of people elevate Batman: The Killing Joke as one of the all-time greats because it’s Alan Moore and Moore has written some absolutely definitive comics. A lot of people elevate the story because of how it sort of redefines the Joker and upends the status quo for a lot of characters in the process. But a lot of people hold onto the more shocking elements the story and that’s where we start to get into overrated territory — especially years later.

One of the biggest things about The Killing Joke is what happens to Barbara Gordon in the story and it is probably the weakest element of the story. There is no real purpose to what the Joker does to Barbara other than to be shocking and cause strife for the male characters in the story while reinforcing something that Batman readers already know: the Joker is the actual worst. While the whole story left a lasting impression on Batman’s mythos, it’s ultimately a story that is largely praised because of the creators behind it rather than the story it tells.

1) “Knightfall”

Probably one of the most iconic Batman stories, “Knightfall” is in a lot of ways a genuinely great arc. It’s the story that gives us Jean-Paul Valley’s Batman and sets up Bane to be a major villain for Bruce Wayne, something that continues in comics to this day, and even gives us the iconic moment where Bane breaks Batman’s back. From the perspective of how important that moment is to contemporary Batman history, the significance of “Knightfall” cannot be overstated.

However, one iconic moment alone does not a truly great story make, and while “Knightfall” does quite a bit in terms of the Batman story and sets things up for some major changes for the hero and for Gotham, the actual quality of the arc is honestly just okay. “Knightfall” is another case where we’ve elevated a good but not great story just because of its significance in the bigger picture or just because of the moment in time it inhabits. It’s by no means the best of the best and as such, gets a little too much hype for what we wish it was rather than what it actually is.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

7 Great Supergirl Stories That Aren’t Woman of Tomorrow