Comic book runs are one of the most interesting forms of writing there is from a purely outside perspective. Writers collaborate with artists, colorists, letterers, and editors to create a new take and continued story of well-established, sometimes legendary characters. Then, usually, they must leave the character and stories in a place where future teams can pick it up and tell their own adventures. For a few months or years at a time, these teams can leave their mark on these sensational characters, showing us how they think these heroes tick, and the types of stories they want to see with them.
Videos by ComicBook.com
It’s very hard to put a comic run together, no doubt. Some are good and some are bad, but the ones that stick with us the most are the ones that are nearly perfect, that embody everything everyone wants to see and then some, bringing something entirely new but equally familiar to the table. These runs are standout, generation-defining titles, and that’s exactly what we’re looking at today. Because, even in the cream of the crop of DC’s most inventive, fun comic runs, there are strange decisions that leave us questioning why it was ever printed. These are the questions, oddities, and terrible choices that nearly ruined five of DC’s most-beloved runs.
5) Pérez Wonder Woman – Aging Up Steve Trevor
<img src="https://comicvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/George-Perez-Steve-Trevor.jpg” alt=””>Image Courtesy of DC Comics
George Pérez’s Wonder Woman (1987) is undeniably the most influential run of the character outside of the original Marston comics. It revolutionized and modernized everything about her, solidifying her adventures with Greek myths and making her into a true pillar of the DC Universe. It’s not an exaggeration to say that every run since has been in response to or inspired by this version of Diana. Yet, its strangest choice was to age up Steve Trevor, Diana’s main love interest, and make him into more of a brother/fatherly role, even marrying him off with Etta Candy.
I understand the idea that Steve’s character is inexplicitly tied to World War Two and that modernizing Diana without a main love interest definitely is useful, but it’s still insane to imagine Wonder Woman without Steve Trevor. He’s as important to her stories as Lois Lane is to Superman’s. Arguably, even more so, considering his arrival is the literal inciting incident that kick-started her adventure to Man’s World. Diana and Steve have been a love story since the very beginning, and removing that connection left a serious hole in her stories that, even though others tried, could not be filled. Denying Steve’s importance is just an insult to Wonder Woman’s comics.
4) Morrison JLA – Constant Character Shuffling
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
When the very concept of the Justice League was floundering and dying in the ’90s, Grant Morrison stepped in to reaffirm why we loved this team. They recentered the team around the original seven members and their successors, giving the League a core heart and desperately needed identity. They also elevated the team to near-deific status, showing that the League truly was the best of the best by having them tackle world-ending threats on the regular. This run is still regarded as a classic without peer, one of the best with the League in general, but that is in spite of how often characters changed in the middle of this run.
3) Marz Green Lantern – Fridging Alex DeWitt
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Back in the ’90s, Hal Jordan was struggling as a character, so DC sought to replace him with Kyle Rayner. While there’s definitely some bad blood with how they chose to do that, there’s no denying that Kyle’s debut run was something special. He breathed new life and creativity into the classic role, turning being Green Lantern into something fun. Watching an inexperienced guy tackle such massive power, slowly learning how to bear the strength and responsibilities, was awesome, and Kyle is a fantastic protagonist, from his humor to his unique uses of the ring. However, the biggest disappointment in this run came very early on, with the fridging of Kyle’s girlfriend, Alex DeWitt.
Alex was killed for no other reason than to advance Kyle’s arc. Not only was she killed, but she was hacked into pieces and stuffed in Kyle’s fridge in the most brutal way imaginable. Her death was so senseless and violent that it kick-started the revolution to demand better treatment of women in comic books. The term fridging came from this incident. Kyle’s run is such a whimsical, fun time filled with constant struggles to live up to the legacy that’s so much bigger than him and its corrupted former champion, but it’s all built on the back of this foundational, violently uncomfortable death.
2) Morrison Batman– Talia Drugging Bruce
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Another of Grant Morrison’s classics, and arguably their greatest work, is their multi-year run on the main Batmantitle. This run was concerned with making every single Batman story ever told work in then-current canon, crafting a meta-narrative about the nature of Batman and Robin as characters who are always evolving, but also staying the same. It’s a masterpiece that brings Batman back to his roots just as much as it forces him into an exciting new reality. One of the biggest changes was introducing Damian Wayne as the newest Robin, but that came with its own retcon that mucked things up. In Damian’s first appearance, Batman recounted that he was conceived because Talia drugged him senseless.
Obviously, that’s terrible and wild. Damian was based on the son the two had in Son of the Demon, which was clearly consensual. This was eventually retconned back to it being consensual, and Morrison offered several explanations over the years. They range from that they forgot how the original went to Batman only being given fertility-enhancing drugs that didn’t impair his judgment, but either way, that he was denying getting Talia pregnant to skirt his fears of being a parent. Those both ring hollow, and neither really changes the fact that this was who Talia was for years, which definitely stained her character for a bit.
1) Byrne Superman – Conservative American Superman
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Superman has been tied to the idea of the United States for a long time. He started out as openly challenging corruption in any form, especially established powers, but pivoted to being a symbol of the country when WWII rolled in, and his popularity boomed. That was fine, because what superhero wasn’t like that in that era, but it really seemed strange when John Byrne turned that patriotism up to eleven with his post-Crisis reboot. He reimagined Krypton as a cold, scientific world and based the heart of Superman’s character in Clark, which was awesome, but he also went and did wild stuff like have Superman openly be a Reagan-era Republican.
The thing with Superman is that he stands for kindness and goodness in all forms, not just in one particular ideology. In fact, Reagan-era Republicanism is very much antithetical to a lot of what Superman does and should stand for. It didn’t influence the actual stories all that much, beyond a few large exceptions, but the general vibe and way it presented Clark, and how he talked, were just so strange in this period. Clark deferred too much to the grand idea of the American status quo, and had a general air that just felt very limited in a way that Superman never should.
Also, to top the weirdness off, Byrne went out of his way to make the most convoluted explanation of all time with the birthing matrix to explain how Superman was definitely born an American and can definitely be called a real American and run for president. It’s all just so prevalent that it’s insane. Byrne made some awesome contributions to Superman’s mythos, but his dedication to making Clark stand on his own as a “man’s man” and the pinnacle of being, in his own words, a Super Republican made his run leave a sour taste when you actually get down to it.
What runs do you love that are almost ruined by some really strange choices? Let us know in the comments below!
5 DC #1s and One-Shots You Cannot Miss This Month
More Comics
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Comics
1 day ago
The X Men Have One Of Marvel’s Most Underrated Villains, And It’s Time To Bring Her Back
<img src="https://comicvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/x-men-outback-4-review-1.webp” alt=”X-Men: Outback #4 Has Its Charms But It’s Weak and Basic (Review)”>
Comics
1 day ago
X-Men: Outback #4 Has Its Charms But It’s Weak and Basic (Review)
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Comics
1 day ago
DNX #1 Is a Fantastic, Character-Driven Start to the X-Men’s Newest Event (Review)
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Comics
1 day ago
Absolute Cassandra Cain: The Shadow’s Hand Perfectly Reinvents the Best Batgirl (Review)
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Comics
2 days ago
This Story That Was Supposed to Kill Nightwing, and Why It Couldn’t Might Surprise You
Comics
2 days ago
Marvel Is Revisiting One Of The X-Men’s Most Infamous Characters, And It’s Working
