Top five worst comic books ever written

I have read many comic books in my life. Sometimes I read some very good books, like the new "Justice League of America" series and "Ultimate Spider-Man". But for every good story, there are multiple bad stories. This is the list of the worst stories that I have read.

5. The series "Spider-Man" (issues 1-14, 1990)

Written and illustrated by Todd MacFarlane.

It could not get any better for comic fans. Coming hot off his run on "The Amazing Spider-Man", MacFarlane was given his own Spider-Man series. The first issue of this series sold 2.5 million copies, so it had to be good, right? As Lex Luthor in "Superman Returns" said, "Wrong!!!"

Primary reason why the story is on the list: The first three issues had practically no plot. It was just the Lizard running around attacking people. The points of comic book issues are to progress a story, not bore the readers. And even when the plot progressed, it was a horrible plot.

Best use for these books: Donate to an animal shelter to line pens.

4. "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" (issues 1-4, 2001)

Written and illustrated by Frank Miller.

Daddy was coming home! Frank Miller and Batman reunited! It was going to be Christmas all over again. And some of you are probably going "Huh? There was a sequel to 'The Dark Knight Returns'?"

Primary reason why the story is on the list: The plot was too complex to follow. It was almost like a mean spirited parody of superhero stories. It seemed like Miller didn't even care about what he put down on paper. And the artwork was some of the worst to ever grace comic pages. It seemed like Miller drew this story with his left foot.

Best use for these books: Starting a bon fire. The glossy covers will ignite faster than standard covers.

3. "The Other" (various "Spider-Man" titles, 2005)

Written by Peter David, J. Michael Straczynski and Reginald Hudlin. Illustrated by Miek Wieringo, Pat Lee and Mike Deodato Jr.

This story was billed to have a major impact on the character Spider-Man, totally changing his life. Spider-Man got into a battle with a villain named Morlun and died. Then he comes back to life with pointless new powers, like spikes coming out of his wrists and enhanced spider-sense.

Primary reason why the story is on the list: The story had no impact on the character at all. If you read any Spider-Man comic today, it is like the story never happened. Everything was quickly forgetten like Aunt May's clone, Peter and Mary Jane's baby and the Spider-moblie. And the story could have been wrapped up in four issues, but it took 12.

Best use for these books: Since there were 12 issues, why not use them to light the barbeque for 12 weeks in the summer?

2. "For Tomorrow" ("Superman" volume 2, issues 204-215, 2004)

Written by Brian Azzarello, illustrated by Jim Lee.

There was a lot of hype for this story. In 2003 DC Comics announced that "100 Bullets" writer Brian Azzarello and superstar artist Jim Lee were taking over the book "Superman". The team sounded good on paper, but the product was crap and let readers down.

Primary reason why the book is on the list: It was a very confusing story that had very heavy Christian overtones with people disappearing from Earth and being transported to a Phantom Zone- like Krypton. The plot did not even progress until the eighth part of the story. Lee's artwork saved this book from being a total flop. This story proved writing is more important to a story than artwork.

The biggest problem with this story is how much DC hyped it. Lee was in the middle of his "Batman: Hush" run, which added more hype to the book. They were making it sound like it was going to go down as one of the greatest "Superman" stories ever.

1. "The Clone Saga" (various "Spider-Man" titles, 1993-1995),

Written by Tom DelFalco, Tom DeZago, Howard Mackie. Illustrated by Mark Bagley, Tom Lyle, Gil Kane and Sal Buscema.

The writers on the "Spider-Man" books decided to revisit the plot to "The Amazing Spider-Man" #150. In that issue, Spider-Man discovers that a scientist made a clone of Spider-Man and his deceased girlfriend Gwen Stacey. The twist was the clone named Ben Reilly had all the memories of Peter Parker and thought he was Peter Parker. Then, the real Spider-Man began to think he himself was the clone. Spider-Man defeated his clone in a fight, threw him down a vent and the clone died…or so we thought!

Primary reason why the story is on the list: What happened can only be described as chaos. The writers went back and forth almost on a monthly basis as to whether or not Peter Parker, or Ben Reilly aka the Scarlet Spider, was the real person. It was like the writers could not make up their minds what they wanted to do.

Lasting legacy: It was so bad they even made fun of it in the 90s cartoon "Spider-Man the Animated Series" in an episode called "I Really Really Hate Clones". Spider-Man meets up with other Spider-Men from other dimensions and one of them is Ben Reilly. Reilly explains to our Spider-Man about how it is not clear who is the clone to which our Spider-Man responds, "Wow. Sounds like a bad comic book plot." Indeed Spidey, indeed.

Now this is where you come in. I am inviting you to post online under this article in the response section at keeneequinox.com what you think is the worst comic book story ever, with an in-depth explanation as to why you think so. Not just "the writer sucks" reasons, but real reasons why you think say, "Archie Meets the Punisher" was a terrible story. Go forth and post!

Keith O'Neil is a junior majoring in journalism.