DC Comics is set to kick off their next major event called Convergence this April as elements from the old DCU will make a comeback in a conflict that spans the multiverse. With that big event on the horizon, we figured now would be a good time to look back at DC's past events and see how they measure up today.

15 Countdown/Amazons Attack

Event comics and crossovers are just part of the territory when it comes to superhero comics these days. Ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths set the standard for epic, spectacle-driven superhero stories in the DC Universe, DC has been pumping out one event after another. Some of them have been immensely entertaining, while others are better left gathering dust in the quarter bin.In order to keep this list from growing too large, we stuck to events that directly involve the entire DC Universe rather than specific franchises (hence why stories like The Sinestro Corps War, The Death of Superman, and Knightfall are absent). We're also ignoring events still in progress, such as The New 52: Futures End and Earth-2: World's End.Given the success of the weekly series 52, it wasn't surprising to see DC immediately follow that book up with another weekly comic focused on an eclectic cast of heroes and villains. And on paper, Countdown sounded plenty promising. It was overseen by Batman: The Animated Series producer Paul Dini and was intended to set the stage for DC's next big event (hence the series eventually being renamed Countdown to Final Crisis ).Unfortunately, the execution was about as far from 52 quality as you can get. Countdown lacked the superstar talent of writers like Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, and Mark Waid, and it showed. The various plotlines meandered about, resulting in a dull, plodding book that became a chore to read each week. Whereas 52 was a largely self-contained affair, Countdown frequently tied into other concurrent DC titles, essentially punishing readers who didn't choose to add numerous other comics to their pull lists. The low point came when the mini-series Amazons Attack spun out of Countdown. This image pretty much sums up the whole thing:The worst part is that the year's worth of dull storylines and excessive tie-ins didn't pay off. Final Crisis writer Grant Morrison had no real involvement with the development of Countdown, and the series' continuity failed to align with Final Crisis. Readers were much better off ignoring this event all together.

14 Armageddon 2001

Armageddon 2001 is another event that sounded good on paper. Co-written by Denny O'Neil and Archie Goodwin, the story involved a new hero named Waverider who hailed from a dark future where a tyrant named Monarch ruled the world. Waverider discovered that Monarch was a 20th Century superhero who fell to evil, and so he traveled back in time to discover that hero's identity and prevent the Monarch from ever being born. The entire event hinged on that mystery. Which iconic hero was the Monarch?Two fundamental problem arose. The first was structural. Armageddon 2001 unfolded across two bookend issues and various annual issues. However, the latter merely explored the fates of various heroes in the future. Armageddon 2001 became a story more focused on tie-ins than the actual story.The other problem is that, even this pre-Internet, pre-Wizard Magazine era, the identity of the Monarch leaked before the finale. Rather than simply accepting the leak, DC chose to do a last-minute re-write of the story. Monarch's identity was changed from Captain Atom to Hawk. Never mind that the entire event was hinging on the big reveal, or that all the books had been teasing the Captain Atom reveal. Never mind that Hawk becoming the Monarch made no logical sense and forced DC to cancel the ongoing Hawk and Dove series as a result. DC sacrificed the quality of their story and the integrity of their characters for the sake of combating a spoiler.

13 Our Worlds at War

Can you picture Superman uttering the phrase "I'm going to kill him!"? Well, it happened in Our Worlds at War, and that's one reason why this particular event comic finds itself so far down this list.Our Worlds at War pitted the Superman family, Wonder Woman, and various other heroes against a cosmic villain known as Imperiex. Imperiex's goal was to destroy Earth and subsequently remake the universe. Just your average Tuesday in the DC Universe.

Our Worlds at War could have been a perfectly serviceable crossover, but it quickly became too big and bloated for its own good. Readers are assaulted with a nonstop barrage of characters and battle sequences and deaths and plot twists. There's little emotional resonance to any of it. The event became far more convoluted than it needed to be as multiple books tackled events from different perspectives and built up a repetitive, muddled narrative.

12 Zero Hour

Not even 10 years after Crisis on Infinite Earths revamped and streamlined DC's continuity, the need to clean house was already back. Zero Hour was conceived as a sort of mini-Crisis, allowing DC to address some lingering issues while also dealing with new continuity hurdles that had sprung up over the years. As you can imagine, a story as editorially driven as Zero Hour didn't result in the most memorable superhero epic.Zero Hour built heavily from storylines like Armageddon 2001 and Emerald Twilight, featuring both Hawk in his new guise as Extant and the Parallax-corrupted Hal Jordan as central villains. Parallax attempted to use his awesome powers to rewrite the DC Universe. Time became unwound, strange versions of familiar characters began appearing, and the fight to save existence was on. Along the way, just about every ongoing DC book tied into Zero Hour (even Sandman, after a fashion).

Zero Hour isn't an awful read, but it certainly doesn't stand the test of time. It's clunky and heavily mired in 1994-era DC continuity. It didn't do much to streamline the DCU either, and in some cases only managed to make characters more convoluted than ever (Hawkman, we're looking at you).

11 Invasion!

Invasion! is one of DC's earlier attempts at crafting a big, epic event comic. It's pretty straightforward as far as these things go. The plot sees numerous alien empires (The Dominators, Thanagarians, Khunds, Daxamites, etc.) form a coalition with one goal in mind - attack Earth and eliminate those pesky superheroes who have caused so many problems in the past. Think Secret Invasion, but without the "secret" part.Invasion played out across three oversized issues, while dozens of ongoing DC titles tied into the event and explored how various heroes played a role in fending off the giant invasion force. Unfortunately, the main event is a little too straightforward for its own good. Invasion! is at its best in the first issue, as co-writers Keith Giffen and Bill Mantlo explore the formation of the massive intergalactic alliance. From there, Invasion! becomes a more straightforward action fest without any particular focal character. It might have helped if Giffen had actually scripted the series (rather than simply plotted it) and injected some of his trademark wit into the story.

If nothing else, Invasion! boasts some flashy visual spectacle from Bart Sears and a young Todd McFarlane. The event also led to big changes in several DC franchises and paved the way for Grant Morrison to begin his now legendary Doom Patrol run.