History Narm / Comicbooks

* During Ed Brubaker’s run on ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'', he exhibited an occasional but noticeable habit of having emotionally distraught characters use mild bad language as a substitute for far worse words. While this is nothing new in mainstream comics, here it results in a moment in which Havok’s response to seeing his insane brother murder his father is to scream, “You bastard! You freaking bastard!”

* During Ed Brubaker’s run on ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen, he exhibited an occasional but noticeable habit of having emotionally distraught characters use mild bad language as a substitute for far worse words. While this is nothing new in mainstream comics, here it results in a moment in which Havok’s response to seeing his insane brother murder his father is to scream, “You bastard! You freaking bastard!”

* On a similar note, during the 90s the X-Men cast went through a very bad case of {{Dark Age of Supernames}}. There were characters like Meanstreak, Junkpile, Ahab... But by far the character with the worst name of all was '''Holocaust'''. ToyBiz's action figure line renamed it to the more benign "Dark Nemesis"

* On a similar note, during the 90s the X-Men cast went through a very bad case of {{Dark Age of Supernames}}. There were characters like Meanstreak, Junkpile, Ahab... But by far the character with the worst name of all was '''Holocaust'''. Hasbro's toy line renamed it to the more benign "Dark Nemesis"

** Much later in the series, a hand-to-hand sparring session uses a certain sound effect a few times. That sound effect? "Fap". [[ADateWithRosiePalms Um]]...

%% * ''Batman: Fortunate Son''. The comic states that all forms of rock'n'roll are evil. This comic wasn't published in TheFifties, when [[TheNewRockAndRoll that was a common belief]], but in 1999. It brings us lines like these:

** "So! They laugh at my '''boner''', will they?! ''I'll show them! I'll show them how many '''boners''' ComicBook/TheJoker can make!'' This emphasis on '''''boners''''' has given me an idea ''for a new adventure in crime!'' Gotham will rue the day they mentioned the word '''''boner!'''''"

* This ruined [[https://i.imgur.com/PQWnp2V.jpg the cover for Issue #21]] of the [[ComicBook/DCRebirth Rebirth]] run of ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws''. Red Hood's pointing his gun at ComicBook/ThePenguin's face while Cobblepot smugly [[SecondFaceSmoke blows smoke into his]]. Most of the cover is very well drawn until you realize that Jason's hand looks like it's coming from his crotch.

* In an attempt to make an excuse for ComicBook/PowerGirl's fanservicey costume, Creator/GeoffJohns had her claim to Superman, in a melodramatic ramble, that it was the result of waiting for whether she should put his S-shield symbol there or something else. (Never minding that there was nothing stopping her from just filling it with ''cloth''.)
* ComicBook/{{Superboy}} [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oGvsPo8kEhc/R5pzCOjZaFI/AAAAAAAAA88/H6Un6KLGc0U/s1600-h/CTDWN13-2.jpg Prime]] will kill you! He'll kill you '''[[ShapedLikeItself TO DEATH]]!!!'''

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}} #680'' by James Robinson had some pretty weird dialogue, but this line really takes the cake:

* A Free Comic Book Day featuring ComicBook/IronMan and [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] ends with the villain doling out this apparently unironic gem:

* While Johns' run on Franchise/GreenLantern is excellent overall, the Red Lanterns are hard to take seriously, seeing as they vomit up blood as a weapon. Made even more hilarious by the fact this is a reference to the saying "blood boiling with rage". ''They're so angry that their blood is literally boiling and coming out of their mouths!''
** On a similar note: [[http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/9232/ragekittydemotivatorow1.jpg Dex-Starr]] is awesome!

* One early Franchise/SpiderMan story arc saw him getting captured and chained up by gangsters. When he breaks free, his narration doesn't attribute it to his super-strength, but to a far sillier sounding ability:

* James Robinson also wrote some rather... ''[[HoYay questionable]]'' thought captions in a 1994 ''Tales of Suspense'' one-shot. ComicBook/IronMan is questioning why ComicBook/CaptainAmerica even hangs out with him, because Cap is basically perfect and Tony is deeply flawed. His musings begin, "I look at your handsome face... into your clear, azure eyes..."
* Creator/GeoffJohns' run on ''Franchise/TheFlash'' is excellent... with one minor exception. In the ''Iron Heights'' one shot, The Flash dramatically unmasks serial killer Murmur, who until then was horror incarnate. What followed was a full page of Murmur's face, which revealed two things: [[spoiler:he had sewn his own mouth shut]], and he was more wall-eyed than Marty Feldman. For some readers, this combination reduced a "Damn!" reveal to a "Wha?" one.

* Starfire from ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' has always walked the line of looking ridiculous, since she's an alien princess with really, really long hair that's sometimes drawn in a very 80s style and wears a pretty {{Stripperiffic}} costume that walks the boundaries of both good taste and plausibility. ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'' then proceeded to fall off that tightrope by featuring Starfire dressed in such an ''absurdly'' revealing outfit that made it hard to take seriously.

* Creator/JimShooter's tenure as writer of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' was good on the whole, but his constant indulgence in PurpleProse resulted in several ventures into narm territory. His habit of introducing villains off-screen while the heroes stared out of the page and cried, "OH, GOD, NO! NOT YOU! ANYONE BUT YOU!" Fine when genuinely dangerous villains like ComicBook/{{Ultron}} were involved, but less effective when it was lesser threats (like the Grim Reaper) or silly, forgotten opponents (like Tyrak, who looked like an Atlantean member of the Music/VillagePeople).

* The early Comicbook/TheMightyThor comics were full of this, to the point where it borders on Adam West territory. Seeing Loki try to make his escape by summoning a cloud of pigeons is funny enough... but it becomes even more hysterical when, the next time he makes an appearance as a villain, he tries to escape by actually turning into a pigeon. Considering that Loki's current motif is the Magpie, it does make you wonder if he just really likes birds or something.

* The DarkerAndEdgier ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats: Dogs of War'' features this line:

----> '''''[[WrittenRoar RRAAA]][[MemeticMutation ARRL]]'''''
----> '''''RONCH RONCH RONCH'''''

* In ''Uncanny X-Men #424'', one panel has a bunch of corpses. The Narmy part comes when you realize that two of them have been placed so it looks like one of them is giving the other a blowjob.
** Also from ComicBook/XMen, there's the [[ReligionOfEvil Church Of Humanity]], which convinces Nightcrawler that he's a priest; it plans to install him as Pope and then fake a Rapture ([[ArtisticLicenseReligion which is not part of Catholicism]]) by having people eat Communion wafers that contain a disintegrator. Then Kurt's holoprojector was to fail at a convenient time to convince the world that an openly mutant Pope is the Antichrist. [[GambitRoulette This will bring down the Catholic Church, and so people will be forced to join the Church of Humanity and hate mutants]]; clearly, there are only two religions, and atheism isn't an option, and the destruction of the Church and mutants will bring down Western civilization. All this because the main villain... was a nun who was raped by a priest. The plan failed because poor Kurt couldn't control his [[AllMenArePerverts sexual urges]], which is remarked upon [[FanDisservice several times]]. Oh, and there are [[AsTheGoodBookSays Bible quotes]][[note]]out of context, of course[[/note]] scattered throughout the book along with dialogue like "[[BuffySpeak healing thingie]]".

* ''Comicbook/OneMoreDay'' is loathed by many comic book fans, but as much as there is to get pissed about if you're a fan of Peter and MJ as a couple, there's one gloriously narmy line as well that you can laugh at. To really appreciate this, you have to remember that the person speaking these words is ComicBook/{{Mephisto}}, the ruler of Hell. Among all of the villains in the Marvel Universe, he's among the most powerful. Whenever he shows up, people think OhCrap. What kind of horrible, unspeakable act is he trying to commit this time? What does he want?

* {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} has a rather notorious (and memetic) tendency to [[http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab348/reigun/darkseid_couch.jpg chill on]][[https://readrant.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/couch-got-an-empty-spot-with-your-name-on-it-girl.jpg couches]] whenever he comes to Earth. Try imagining an ancient EldritchAbomination said to be the living embodiment of evil relaxing on your couch and try not to burst out laughing.

* The infamous 9/11 VerySpecialEpisode of ''Franchise/SpiderMan''. While one understands the noble intentions writers had, the entire issue becomes utterly ridiculous the moment one recalls that events of 9/11's scale happen ''all the time'' in the Marvel Universe, plus it takes a ''lot'' of WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to excuse the idea that not one of the Avengers, X-Men and who have you could have prevented the attack. But by far the most absurd scene is a universally hated one depicting ''Doctor Doom'' in tears over the attack, when he (and many of the other villains depicted as saddened by it) have routinely been shown to do as bad if not worse.

* The infamous 9/11 VerySpecialEpisode of ''Franchise/SpiderMan''. While one understands the noble intentions writers had, the entire issue becomes utterly ridiculous the moment one recalls that events of 9/11's scale happen ''all the time'' in the Marvel Universe, plus it takes a ''lot'' of WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to excuse the idea that not one of the Avengers, X-Men and who have you could have prevented the attack. But by far the most ridiculous scene is a universally hated one depicting ''Doctor Doom'' in tears over the attack, when he (and many of the other villains depicted as saddened by it) have routinely been shown to do as bad if not worse.

* Rulah is just a little ''too'' glib about [[http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=26899 killing]] a BalefulPolymorph:

** The White Lanterns draw their power from something called a "[[UnfortunateImplications White Power]] Battery". Probably an example of something that looked okay written down but really should have been sounded out verbally.

** Nightwing's death is probably the most infamous moment of the comic: he gets hit with a stick in the head by Damian and stumbles dazed over a rock, breaking his neck in the process. Its [[DroppedABridgeOnHim anti-climatic as it sounds]] and more funny than it has any right to be.

* Starfire from ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' has always walked the line of looking ridiculous, since she's an alien princess with really, [[RapunzelHair really]] long hair that's sometimes drawn in a very 80s style and wears a pretty {{Stripperiffic}} costume that walks the boundaries of both good taste and plausibility. ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'' then proceeded to fall off that tightrope by featuring Starfire dressed in such an ''absurdly'' revealing outfit that made it hard to take seriously.

** Rorschach ambushing Moloch by popping out of his fridge was so ridiculous it crossed from hilarious back over into CrazyAwesome. Especially {{narm}}y if you think about the time it must have taken for Rorschach to move all the stuff inside the fridge and hide them in Moloch's kitchen and how many things could have gone wrong in the plan. Or how long he must've been just sitting there inside the fridge.

** On a similar note: [[http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/9232/ragekittydemotivatorow1.jpg Dex-Starr]] is CrazyAwesome!

* Starfire from ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' has always walked the line of looking ridiculous, since she's an alien princess with really, [[RapunzelHair really]] long hair that's sometimes drawn in a very 80s style and wears a pretty {{Stripperiffic}} costume that walks the boundaries of both good taste and plausibility. ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'' then proceeded to fall the tightrope by featuring Starfire dressed in such an ''absurdly'' revealing outfit that made it hard to take seriously.

--> "You... ''emosogynist''."

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' seems to assign artists regardless of whether or not their art style is compatible with the general tone of the story, so it's not uncommon to see a dark storyline with light-hearted artwork or vice versa. Probably the most outstanding example comes in an issue in which Sally confronts Sonic over whether showing up Robotnik is more important than their relationship — any drama the scene may have had is mitigated by Sally's mouth taking up literally half her face.

* Starfire from ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'' has always walked the line of looking ridiculous, since she's an alien princess with really, [[RapunzelHair really]] long hair that's sometimes drawn in a very 80s style and wears a pretty {{Stripperiffic}} costume that walks the boundaries of both good taste and plausibility. ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'' made the unfortunate (or possibly ingenious, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity given how much publicity it wound up giving the book]]) decision to start out the book with Starfire dressed like [[http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/6/5/3/113653.jpg?v=1 this]], which is only possible if it's taped or glued to her nipples. Thankfully, the fanservice was greatly toned down after a few issues.
** The nearly-naked thing was actually spoofed in a Superhero Short on Cartoon Network's WesternAnimation/DCNation, where Mad Mod takes the Teen Titans (all from the cartoon) back in time by decades, changing their costumes to match. Starfire gets extremely upset when they get to the 80s, and covers her shame with her ridiculously long hair (which was also pretty goofy, when you think about it).

%% * ''ComicBook/AmazonsAttack'': [[BeeBeeGun Bees. My God.]]

* In an attempt to make an excuse for ComicBook/PowerGirl's fanservicey costume, [[Creator/GeoffJohns]] had her claim to Superman, in a melodramatic ramble, that it was the result of waiting for whether she should put his S-shield symbol there or something else. (Never minding that there was nothing stopping her from just filling it with ''cloth''.)

* In the original printing of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' and its earlier collected editions, Mandrakk ended his monologue while confronting Superman in the final issue of the series proper with "Come closer, I need to eat you raw! SLLUUBBBRR." Considering the Essential Edition collection modified the monologue to have Mandrakk say "Where Mandrakk waits for you," which originally appeared in the panel right before it, it's clear even DC came around to finding the original ending bit silly.

* Volume 2 of ''Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' includes an enormously disturbing scene in which [[Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde Mr. Hyde]] [[spoiler: violently tortures and kills the treacherous Griffin (The Invisible Man)]]. As gruesome as this scene is, when Nemo discovers [[spoiler: Griffin]]'s remains, his dialogue may well make it kind of narmy.

* In an attempt to make an excuse for ComicBook/PowerGirl's fanservicey costume, one writer had her claim to Superman, in a melodramatic ramble, that it was the result of waiting for whether she should put his S-shield symbol there or something else. (Never minding that there was nothing stopping her from just filling it with ''cloth''.)

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' seems to assign artists regardless of whether or not their art style is compatible with the general tone of the story, so it's not uncommon to see a dark storyline with light-hearted artwork or vice versa. Probably the most outstanding example comes in an issue in which Sally confronts Sonic over whether showing up Robotnik is more important than their relationship — any drama the scene may have had is mitigated by Sally's mouth taking up literally half her face.