The 10 Least Anticipated Comics of 2015

Holiday season may be over but the forthcoming year of comics releases has a lot of turkeys on their way. Here are ten of the worst that I think are going to stink up the joint something fierce:

10. All-New Hawkeye by Jeff Lemire and Ramon Perez (March, Marvel)

I LOVED Matt Fraction and co.’s Hawkeye and can’t wait to see how it’s going to end (at the time of writing there’s still two more issues to go), but afterwards they’re done and off the title. Jeff Lemire will be taking over writing duties which makes some sense as he wrote a well-received run of Green Arrow over at DC. But I didn’t care for it and I haven’t liked any of Lemire’s work for hire stuff at DC so I’m very wary of how All-New Hawkeye’s going to go.

9. Clean Room by Gail Simone and Jonathan Davis-Hunt (?, Vertigo)

Digital exorcism in the world’s most dangerous room is the idea behind Gail Simone’s first Vertigo book and I’m not looking forward to it. I liked her first Batgirl book but really didn’t like her second, then I read some Secret Six books recently and my estimation of Simone plummeted. I’m sure her fans will like this but I’m not one of them! 

8. Tokyo Ghost by Rick Remender and Sean Gordon Murphy (?, Image)

At the end of the 22nd century, people are addicted to technology - can’t possibly imagine what that’s like these days! I’m not at all a fan of Rick Remender’s stuff and actually think he might be the single most overrated comics writer working today. Couple that with Sean Murphy’s equally overrated art and you’ve got a comic I’ll be steering well clear of! 

7. Archie by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples (March, Archie Comics)

Archie has been going on FOREVER - really, still with the malt shops and proms?! This year sees Mark Waid and Fiona Staples rebooting the series for the first time in 75 years. Waid is a writer who hasn’t produced anything inspired in quite some time and, couple that with a franchise I couldn’t care less about, you’ve got a title that’ll pass me by completely! Though I’m sure quite a few Saga fans will turn up to see what Staples does with Riverdale. 

6. The Black Vortex by Various (February, Marvel)

Brian Michael Bendis does ANOTHER Guardians of the Galaxy/X-Men crossover (the last being The Trial of Jean Grey) with The Black Vortex though this mini-Event also sucks in issues of Nova, Cyclops, Legendary Star-Lord, Captain Marvel and some others. I’m sure if you’re a fan of Bendis, you’ll love this, but even then, that’s a big jumbled list of issues to be picking up to read the full story. Probably best to wait for the trade then! 

5. Chrononauts by Mark Millar and Sean Gordon Murphy (March, Image)

A time-travelling buddy story of two friends who jump from Renaissance Persia, the American Civil War, and New York in the roaring ‘20s. It doesn’t sound terrible - until you see that it’s written by Mark Millar. I used to like this guy’s work but I got burned so many times by him in 2014 with utterly crap scripts from MPH to Kick Ass 3 to Starlight to Jupiter’s Legacy that I’m totally sworn off his work from now on. Expect Chrononauts to read like a bland storyboard for a film. 

4. Nemo: River of Ghosts by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (March, Top Shelf)

Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill bring their Nemo trilogy to a close with River of Ghosts (be honest - did you even know it was a trilogy?). I couldn’t believe that I’d read both Heart of Ice AND Roses of Berlin (the first two books) as I hated both but I won’t be making that mistake this March with this third one. I expect it’ll be as pointless and uninteresting as the other two have been. 

3. Superman: Earth One, Volume 3 by J. Michael Straczynski, Sandra Hope and Ardian Syaf (February, DC)

Superman: Earth One Volume 1 was a terrible book while Volume 2 might well have been the worst Superman book ever - it was certainly the reason why I’ve avoided any book with JMS’ name on the cover! The third book? It might end the world. Or just suck, really, really hard. Probably the latter. 

2. Secret Wars: Battleworld by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic (May, Marvel)

Yup, the two least anticipated comics of 2015 are going to be the Big 2’s MASSIVE Event comics. Marvel’s offering, Secret Wars: Battleworld, will feature an eight issue core story by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic with who knows how many other spin-off titles. The promotional material we’ve seen so far has been full of references to past Events so expect a lot of time-travel and in-jokes. It’ll drain Marvel zombies’ wallets and probably come off as an unholy mess. So, the usual then! 

1. Convergence by Various (April, DC)

DC’s Convergence Event takes the biscuit for least anticipated comic of the year because it looks even more obnoxious in size to Marvel’s Event book. Originally called Blood Moon, there are going to be 40 - 40! - two-issue stories within Convergence and HALF of the New 52 line will be culled. The latter detail is why so many have speculated that 2015 is the year DC reboot their reboot. It kicks off after Grant Morrison's Multiversity ends so perhaps it'll be  a Crisis on Infinite Earths-type Event? All I know is it is going to be a sprawling heap of comics that I won’t even begin to attempt to understand. It’s exhausting just to contemplate!