5 Worst Movie and TV Tie-In Comics

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Popular movies and TV shows often get comic book adaptations, but these can be hit or miss. When done well – with a strong creative team and a good story released at the right time – they can enrich the experience by exploring parts of the story the screen version couldn’t. However, if not handled carefully, these comics either don’t add anything worthwhile to the original property or, worse, they simply aren’t very good.

We’ve compiled a list of five of the most disappointing movie and TV show comics ever created. Some didn’t have a clear purpose, others were just poorly executed and failed to capture the spirit of the source material, and one felt less like a tie-in and more like a simple retelling of the story without offering anything fresh for fans.

5) ALF

The TV show ALF was a big hit on NBC from 1986 to 1990, and the character remains well-known today. Over the years, there have been several tries to bring ALF back to television, most recently in 2023, but none of those attempts have worked out. Despite this, many people may not realize that there was also a comic book series based on ALF. Published by Marvel Comics’ Star Comics imprint, the series began in 1988 and lasted for 50 issues plus 3 annuals, running for about four years.

Although the ALF comic book lasted a surprisingly long time, it wasn’t necessarily good. It visually resembled the TV show, which already had a comic book feel, but the stories became odd and sometimes quite bizarre. While the ALF show excelled at its themes of an outsider finding a new family, the comic book didn’t capture that same heartwarming feeling.

4) Batman & Robin: The Official Comic Adaptation

While often considered the weakest of the early Batman films – its box office failure even halted the live-action series until Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins – Batman & Robin did receive a comic book adaptation. However, that adaptation isn’t particularly good. It mostly just retells the movie’s plot, hitting the key scenes while thankfully removing some of the worst lines and moments. That’s about the best thing you can say for it.

The problem is, this adaptation doesn’t add anything new or improve upon the original. It simply retells the story of a movie that wasn’t very successful, making it unnecessary. You’d be better off just watching the movie itself.

3) Mad Max: Fury Road

Many film fans consider Mad Max: Fury Road one of the best movies of the 2010s, and a comic book series expanded on the film’s story. Published by Vertigo in four issues starting in May 2015, the comics each focus on a different character and their backstory. While some of the issues are well-done – the one about Max Rockatansky is particularly strong – the issue focusing on Imperator Furiosa has significant problems.

This particular issue attempts to explain the history of abuse suffered by Furiosa and the Five Wives, leading up to the movie’s events. However, the characters’ personalities and actions in the issue don’t match how they’re shown on screen, and overall, it’s poorly written. The series as a whole feels rushed and doesn’t effectively connect to the film.

2) Ghost Whisperer

The TV show Ghost Whisperer was a big hit for CBS in the mid-2000s. It centered around a woman who could see and talk to ghosts, helping them find peace and move on. Its popularity led to a comic book adaptation from IDW, actually resulting in two separate miniseries: Ghost Whisperer: The Haunted (five issues in 2008) and Ghost Whisperer: The Muse (four issues in 2009).

The tie-in novels featured a strong creative team – writers Becca Smith, Carrie Smith, and Barbara Randall Kessel, alongside artists Elena Casagrande and Adriano Loyola – but the stories themselves didn’t significantly expand on the main series. They offered extra glimpses into Melinda’s powers and provided additional in-universe tales, but didn’t really contribute to the show’s overall mythology.

1) Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp Prelude

The Marvel Cinematic Universe draws inspiration from Marvel Comics, but the movies aren’t direct adaptations of the comics. That’s why it’s common to see tie-in books or stories released alongside new films. While some of these are well-made, most are just okay. However, the comic book that served as a prelude to Ant-Man and the Wasp was particularly strange and poorly executed.

This miniseries is basically a quick replay of the first Ant-Man film—it even uses the exact same lines of dialogue—and doesn’t add anything fresh. That’s all there is to it. If you somehow hadn’t seen the first Ant-Man and weren’t planning to before watching the second, the miniseries might have been helpful. But as a way to build excitement for the new movie, it completely failed.

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2026-03-10 19:16