Re-reading Zero Hour.....whoa

[Big Al]

so for some reason I started re-reading zero hour (a big cross over event from the early 90's if you don't know what it is), as I remember it this was supposed to somehow fix a few things that kind of fell through the cracks with COIE a few years earlier.

it is possibly the worst comic book event I have ever read. I'm just talking about the main series, not all of the tie ins (I remember those were actually pretty good as they teamed up a teenage Dick Grayson with the then Robin Tim Drake and so on and so forth).

the writing is bad. it's like they tried to smash down a 12 issue event into 6 issues, the story is rushed, the characterization is terrible. characters come in and come out with no reason behind it, they say kind of random things. it's a mess.

they basically just erased the Team Titans from existence, none of them really said or did anything in the series up to that point (only Mirage and maybe Terra say something along the lines of "I feel compelled to attack you" and Battalion says he'd rather die than lose a battle-or something along those lines).

terrible.

[WillieMorgan]

I remember picking this up in trade about 10 years ago for peanuts and reading it again. I had a similar feeling.

I don't know about it being the worst event out there but there's no doubt that it hasn't aged well. It didn't really accomplish it's goal either.

Much of the material from that decade I struggle with actually. Even more so when I compare it to work from the 80's.

[Buried Alien]

ZERO HOUR read to me back then and today as sort of a low-budget rehash of COIE. If not for the fact that Hal Jordan was shockingly cast as the main villain, it wouldn't have been notable at all.

I also didn't like its compressed ten-year (from the debut of Superman) timeline, though in retrospect, that was expansive compared to the five-year New 52 timeline.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Big Al]

I remember picking this up in trade about 10 years ago for peanuts and reading it again. I had a similar feeling.

I don't know about it being the worst event out there but there's no doubt that it hasn't aged well. It didn't really accomplish it's goal either.

Much of the material from that decade I struggle with actually. Even more so when I compare it to work from the 80's.

maybe I was a bit harsh with the 'worst ever" tag, it was very, very bad and I like the creators associated with it too that's what's kind of baffling.

the dialogue at times is so terrible, everything is so rushed. nothing is fleshed out. there is a part where Extant claims to be more powerful than Waverider and...even though there is a total time crisis taking place and the fate of the universe is at stake waverider proclaims he will "prove you're not as powerful as I am" (or something along those lines, that's not an exact quote)...it's so BAD.

[WillieMorgan]

maybe I was a bit harsh with the 'worst ever" tag, it was very, very bad and I like the creators associated with it too that's what's kind of baffling.

the dialogue at times is so terrible, everything is so rushed. nothing is fleshed out. there is a part where Extant claims to be more powerful than Waverider and...even though there is a total time crisis taking place and the fate of the universe is at stake waverider proclaims he will "prove you're not as powerful as I am" (or something along those lines, that's not an exact quote)...it's so BAD.

Oh, you're dead right when you say it's not good. I'd actually forgotten about the Titans attacking the other heroes and the 'I don't know why I feel compelled to destroy you!' dialogue or some-such rubbish.

I'm always going to nominate 'Amazons Attack!' as the worst event that I've ever read though. And that was only about a decade ago.

[Buried Alien]

Oh, you're dead right when you say it's not good. I'd actually forgotten about the Titans attacking the other heroes and the 'I don't know why I feel compelled to destroy you!' dialogue or some-such rubbish.

I'm always going to nominate 'Amazons Attack!' as the worst event that I've ever read though. And that was only about a decade ago.

AMAZONS ATTACK was bad, but I still hold GENESIS (by John Byrne) as the abysmal standard for worst DC event.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Big Al]

AMAZONS ATTACK was bad, but I still hold GENESIS (by John Byrne) as the abysmal standard for worst DC event.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I don't even remember amazons attack.....lol, or Genesis for that matter.

I have darkest night or something like that on my IPhone, I don't even remember buying it (I only have the first issue) but it looks bad too.


I guess I was just shocked by how incredibly rushed the whole story seems to be, like I said before nothing is fleshed out, characters come in and out with no real reason. they could have at least thrown Perez on there to do the art. dan Jurgens is a good artist but he's not an 'event artist" IMHO.

[WillieMorgan]

I don't even remember amazons attack.....lol, or Genesis for that matter.

I have darkest night or something like that on my IPhone, I don't even remember buying it (I only have the first issue) but it looks bad too.


I guess I was just shocked by how incredibly rushed the whole story seems to be, like I said before nothing is fleshed out, characters come in and out with no real reason. they could have at least thrown Perez on there to do the art. dan Jurgens is a good artist but he's not an 'event artist" IMHO.

I think you are referring to Blackest Night by Geoff Johns. Compared to the stuff that myself and Buried Alien mentioned that's a bloody amazing crossover.

Only if you're familiar with the prior world-building that had been taking place in Green Lantern though. Anyone else would probably be

[Buried Alien]

BLACKEST NIGHT was OK. I've never been big on zombie stories, but that was fine for what it was.

THE FINAL NIGHT, however, might stand as a textbook example of an efficient crossover event, and ironically, was a sort of coda to EMERALD TWILIGHT and ZERO HOUR.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Big Al]

the book I was talking about is called "the final night"

I liked blackest night actually, thought it was really cool, especially zombie J'onn asking why no one ever remembers he's as powerful as superman...lol

I thought that book had a lot of cool moments in it.

[WillieMorgan]

the book I was talking about is called "the final night"

I liked blackest night actually, thought it was really cool, especially zombie J'onn asking why no one ever remembers he's as powerful as superman...lol

I thought that book had a lot of cool moments in it.

Ah right. Yes, I remember 'The Final Night' well. That makes more sense actually as it's from the same time period (mid 90's).

[Big Al]

For some reason I feel like I need to re-read "war of the gods" and debate which storyline is executed worse......

[Buried Alien]

Ah right. Yes, I remember 'The Final Night' well. That makes more sense actually as it's from the same time period (mid 90's).

It was a pretty good series too...very tightly paced and presented, though its original impact is now softened because Hal has since returned to us alive and well as a Green Lantern again.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Big Al]

It was a pretty good series too...very tightly paced and presented, though its original impact is now softened because Hal has since returned to us alive and well as a Green Lantern again.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I've only read a few pages. overall I look at the story first and then the art is kind of secondary. from what I've seen the art is terrible. it's so bad it actually detracts from the story IMHO. how do some of these guys keep getting work and why would DC put someone like this on what was (at the time) a big project?

[EmeraldGladiator]

I didn't mind Zero Hour, it was sort of a surprise that after all of the Extant build up, it was really Parallax that was behind it all and in the end, he actually won. Yep in the end Hal is walking into the nexus to recreate the universe. My fondness for it really comes from the Green Lantern Zero issue, it was one of the best issues of the Ron Marz run (that and the Parallax view GL issues of Hal vs the JLA). Nobody, not even Ivan Reis my all time favorite GL artist (or George Perez for that matter) could draw Hal in the Parallax armor like Darryl Banks. Then again he invented it. Compelling story that painted Hal not as a one note villain but as a fallen hero desperate to get back what he lost no matter the cost. Back then I thought if handled correctly Par(Hal)lax could have become DC's greatest alpha level antagonist. Too often we here about how a villain wasn't always bad but we see their more heroic side in flashbacks, however Parallax would have been compelling because it would pit say the Justice League against a foe that most of the members saved the universe with multiple times. Someone whose motivations weren't bad just what he was willing to do to get there was. Now if you want to talk garbage then Amazon attacks because I do believe there had just been a similar story line in WW not too much prior to it. My least favorite however was Final Crisis which rendered the New Gods so toxic that DC couldn't touch them for a minute (though Legion of 3 Worlds was cool). Morrison is hit or miss for me and this was a whiff.