Transformers #33-34- the "Man of Iron" storyline. For whatever reason, the editors decided to slot in a story from the UK in the middle of a storyline. Blaster is arrested by the Protectobots and- the HELL? Optimus Prime is alive and they're all wandering around Stonehenge?

Of course, the irony was the story was better written and more compelling than the entirety of Bob Budiansky's run on the book.

James Owsley's zeal in making sure all the Spider-Books shipped on time during his tenure resulted in a lot of wacky fill-ins.

The Amazing Adventures Mantlo/Giffen fill-in where Killraven went to a theme park and faught fake versions of the Marvel heroes was deliriously weird.

That fill-in story where it was revealed Norman Osborn fathered twins with Gwen Stacy that grew to be adults- not that was REALLY fucked up. Good thing Marvel forgot it existed, right?

Oh, wait.

Miracleman #8, of course.

Neil Gaiman's fill-in Hellblazer story, while excellent,was fairly jarring in context.

There was a fill-in fairly early in the All New! All Different! Uncanny X-Men days of the late 70's that was pretty jarring. Can't remember if that was before or after Byrne replaced Cockrum.

I thought of that X-Men story too. It was issue 106. 105 ended with the X-Men going through a stargate to their first fight with the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, then 106 opened with Professor X, having seen them off, reflecting on that time his evil self manifested as a green doppleganger with a cape who made illusions of the old X-Men to fight the new ones. Then 107 continued right where 105 left off in a real action-packed battle royale that introduced the Starjammers and marked Cockrum's last issue. Considering the book was bi-monthly, it must have driven fans nuts to wait four months for that Shi'ar fight.

The Avengers Serpent Crown saga featuring the Squadron Supreme was interrupted by two issues (145-46) about a villain called the Assassin who's hired to kill Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Vision and Hawkeye for five billion dollars. I remember the editor offered a no-prize to fans who could figure out where the out-of-left-field story fit in continuity.

I have a soft spot for Thor #356, which had Hercules on the cover shoving Thor off to the side and declaring something like "To one side, Thunder God. Walt Simonson is on vacation and so art thou!" One of the few times I impulse-bought based on the cover (I didn't collect Thor at the time). It was a fun, senseless brawling issue with some real lame jokes that I nonetheless enjoyed at the time.

dhole: I loved that Hercules story, even though it was written by one of the worst things ever to happen to Marvel Comics (creatively, anyway- clearly he did his job in making the books sell): Bob Harras.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #238
Out of nowhere a reprint with a beautiful Starlin cover. But still a reprint.

For a more recent example, there's the Simone/Liefeld Hawk-and-Dove fill-in dropped into Teen Titans last summer. And something similar on Outsiders, IIRC...

Lauren beat me to the punch on that one--I bought it when it came out and was disappointed. A few years later, while rereading my run of Legion, I started paging through it and realized it was prime Silver Age Legion fun.

Bill & Ted #8 (I think). The only non-Dorkin issue of the series. Really bad, a clear case of the fill-in creators not really getting the core of what the series was about, and just tossing in some wacky time travel stupidity on the assumption that it was all the same, right?

Jess, I had a similar experience with that issue as you did. When I was a little kid the silver age stuff turned me off. But in my adult years I reread it and realized I just didnt get it when I was a kid. Good stuff.

Jess, I had a similar experience with that issue as you did. When I was a little kid the silver age stuff turned me off. But in my adult years I reread it and realized I just didnt get it when I was a kid. Good stuff.

Yes, me too.

I don't know if "jarring" is the right word but the stream of consciousness mostly text issue that Steve Gerber did of Man-Thing jumps to mind.

Also, though not exactly what you mean by fill in, the number of different artists on Issue 7 of Infinite Crisis was a bit off-putting.

Wasn't Thor #356 during Assistant Editors Month? I loved AEM. I wish they'd bring it back. Even the most serious, "adult" comic could use a month off to get silly.

No, one of Simonson's first issues was during assistant editors' month. They didn't interrupt his story for the gag. There was a one-page backup in the issue drawn by Fred Hembeck explaining why Thor was exempt ... and killing off Simonson in the process.

Isn't every month Assistant Editors Month now?

This didn't seem like a fill-in so much as "a very special episode", but Daredevil #219 was a real fun off-beat one-off by Frank Miller and John Buscema. It came right in the middle of Denny O'Neil and Dave Mazzuchelli's run, and even though I loved what they were doing, there was no denying Miller's brief return felt like something special (and certainly had readers primed for him to come back less than a year later for "Born Again").

There was David Mack's fill-in storyline in the middle of Bendis's Daredevil run. I believe it was #51-57. I wasn't reading the title monthly, but it must have been aggravating to have a big fight that ended with Daredevil declaring himself Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen, then wander off on a vision quest with Echo for 6 issues.