The most useless and moronic assholes in the history of comic books, in order of utter hideous evilness, are:
Tom DeFalco. Former Editor in Cheif of Marvel Comics This is the man who singlehandedly destroyed Marvel as a source of quality product. This peice of canine subhumanoid garbage was responsible for a putrid ****-mountain of utterly inane and pointless editorial decisions. Yes, the same kind of decisions that inspired Chris Claremont and any other Marvel writer with any talent to split like a cheap pair of fat-guy pants. I've actually met this sloe-eyed piglet. An artist friend was showing off his portfolio to DeFalco. Most were straight pencil work but two of them were pencilled and inked and one was pencilled, inked and colored. DeFalco smugly snarled "Oh, so you think you should also ink and color your own work, don't you? Thats not how we work in this industry." Needless to say I decided that if an artist get that kind of ****, obviously a writer will get even less respect. (Mind you, DeFalco's imperious holier than thou horse**** is probably why all of Marvels artists left and formed Image in the first place.) Also, this was the bright bulb that thought selling Marvel to rapacious stockbrokers would somehow lead to a better position in the business. (Now, with that in mind, ask yourself why Marvel got bought out twice, nearly went bankrupt twice and nearly became an imprint of DC at one point. Yep, that Tom DeFalco is a freaking genious, isn't he?)
Barry Blair, the smug creep who created "Elflord" Now, I don't want to sound like a prude...but, is it just me, or does all of Barry Blairs sh*t look like it was written & drawn with the pedophile child rapist market in mind? Look at it. A bunch of little boys in nuthugger leotards with big ears doing a cheap, quasi-smutty knockoff of Wendy Pini's Elfquest. Whats worse than his "art" is the man himself. His ego is huge enough that John Byrne takes "smugness" classes from him. (And mind you, Byrne has just enough talent to almost make up for his ego. Blair does not.) I walked by the mans booth (Blairs, not Byrnes.) and he gleefully snatched up his name plaque and held it about three inches from my nose, as if to say "Look! Look! It's me! Barry Blair!" Like anyone gives a crap. Hey, Spanky, you're not all that. A Super Big Gulp costs you the same amount of money as me. And no, your sh*t doesn't smell like potpourri. It smells almost as bad as your d*mned comic book. Luckily, Wizard no longer lists his books in their price guide for this simple reason: people realized a long time ago that his creepy comics are completely irrelevant and not worthy of being remembered.
Rob Liefeld. What can you say about a guy who has been sued four times, twice for plagarism and (at least) twice for copyright infringement? A guy who gets worshipped for his artwork when a monkey on crack who draw the exact same picture? Well, you would have Rob "crackmonkey" Liefeld. He not only has "Lie" right in his name but "Rob" (as in he steals tired used up ideas off everybody else and then rips you off when you buy the same ideas off him for three times the price.) as well. As a writer, I find his lack of originality to be so agressively obnoxious that I can't speak rationally about it. So I will stick to just his artwork. This baby-faced dungtick managed to get famous by miserably failing to copy Art Adams. Also, Unlike Liefelds Idol, One of Arthur Adams greatest strengths...expressive faces...is Liefelds most glaring weakness (or, I should say, one of his most glaring weaknesses.) Apparently, Liefeld only knows how to draw two facial expressions: 1) Constipated scowl. (Also known as "Before Laxative") 2) Constipated scream. (Also known as "Too much damned laxative!") Art Adams propoportions are off...but not THAT off. One notorious Liefeld cover shows a character with a two left hands and possibly two right feet. Or at least I think they're feet. He specializes in thighs the size of prize winning hogs held up by ankles as thin as broomhandles. And to those who think I'm exaggerating just to get a cheap laugh, I can only assure you that I am being as literal as possible. I have yet to see a page of Liefeld artwork where there was an actual background behind the action. It enough to make you pine for the dreary artwork of Curt Swan and Wayne "Yes That is My Real Last Name" Boring. And there are zombified morons who worship this hack as some kind of innovative genious. Obviously, these same people think that pro wrestling is "real" and politicians are our friends.
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Sunday, 12 October 2003 02:08 (twenty-two years ago)
― Sam J. (samjeff), Sunday, 12 October 2003 05:22 (twenty-two years ago)
two examples:
1. X force & Xmen #1s
2. Superman "dies"
fun things that led to the collapse of the market in 93-94.
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 12 October 2003 05:26 (twenty-two years ago)
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 12 October 2003 05:27 (twenty-two years ago)
Around that time, it seemed (as little as I was following it), everything was following apart. The relaunch of "X-Men," all those "collector's edition #0!"s... absurd. The height of "X-Men'"'s greatness was in the period from "Fall of the Mutants" through "Inferno" (or whatever the sequence), where half of them were "dead" and living in Australia, and there were decades of backstory and character relationships reverberating into the present... everything was so de-centered and awesome. The, suddenly, everybody was back together, as "blue team" and "gold team" supersoldiers. Blech!
Didn't DC (which I stopped following in the '90s) "relaunch" and "streamline" their universe as well, and sort of deny that Crisis on Infinite Earths (and all the attendent awesomeness of the music complex superhero universe ever) had ever happened?
― Sam J. (samjeff), Sunday, 12 October 2003 05:35 (twenty-two years ago)
― Sam J. (samjeff), Sunday, 12 October 2003 05:36 (twenty-two years ago)
― sucka (sucka), Sunday, 12 October 2003 05:40 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dan I. (Dan I.), Sunday, 12 October 2003 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)
― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 12 October 2003 10:48 (twenty-two years ago)
Sam J: The height of "X-Men'"'s greatness was in the period from "Fall of the Mutants" through "Inferno" (or whatever the sequence)No. The height of "X-Men's" Greatness was from the "Dark Phoenix Saga" 'til "The Trial of Magneto" (or possibly "Mutant Massacre" if I'm feeling generous). Everything after that has been a steep downhill slide.I also have other beefs with Lobdell besides the Gold Team/Blue Team crap. Why did he so capriciously cripple Prof Xavier? Prof worked hard to regain his ability to walk...it's the mark of a sadist to cripple him all over again just so's you have him "trundling around in a wheelchair just like the old days." Lobdell == Fucknugget.
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Sunday, 12 October 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)
What about Jim Shooter?
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 12 October 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Sunday, 12 October 2003 15:19 (twenty-two years ago)
my personal fave era for just the art is, of course, Jim Lee.
Still, I got into the book around 1990 or so. I always wished they woulda gone back & cut SICK on the Reavers...
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 12 October 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)
― Leee (Leee), Sunday, 12 October 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 12 October 2003 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Sunday, 12 October 2003 20:43 (twenty-two years ago)
I obviously shouldn't have been posting last night. What I meant was, that era (Fall of the Mutants - Inferno) was tons better than what came afterward - though not necessarily the 'height of greatness.'
I take issue with "steep downhill slide," though, as I think that era holds its own pretty darn well.
― Sam J. (samjeff), Sunday, 12 October 2003 21:38 (twenty-two years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Monday, 13 October 2003 01:01 (twenty-two years ago)
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 13 October 2003 02:07 (twenty-two years ago)
fortunately, it happened right as i moved down to Ann Arbor to begin college life, and starting reading stuff like Instant Piano...
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 13 October 2003 04:43 (twenty-two years ago)
This is no longer true.
Wasn't the sequence of events (in the way I perceived it) -- guys like Liefeld and McFarlane went "indie," with their glistening-boobie splash-page dumb-dialogue no-story "aesthetic," and it was such a hit, that the "majors" had to go that road, too? (A rare case of the "indies" totally transforming the "industry" -- but, in this case, for the infinitely worse.) (That said, I enjoyed the McFarlane/Michelinie "Spider-Man.")
I thought Liefeld/McFarlane/Lee/Silvestri/Larsen made their names working for DC/Marvel (mostly Marvel) then decided that this exploitation of creators on properties they didn't own was WRONG, so they created Image, and set about doing the same thing (but with them on the top). The irony being, in recent years Image actually turned into the worker's paradise it was meant to be (or closer than the Big Two, anyway).
Instant Piano was Dorkin/Baker/some others? It didn't suck.
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 13 October 2003 10:49 (twenty-two years ago)
He is second to only Clive Barker for being a jerk from comic/scifi/horror writers I have met.
― earlnash, Monday, 13 October 2003 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)
― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 13 October 2003 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)
― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Monday, 13 October 2003 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)
The problem was that the hugely exploitative get-their-cash aspects of the industry (which pretty much EVERY publisher was going all-out for) burst the bubble very quickly. I'm all for comics not being just for kids anymore etc etc. but I'm also all for* a load of kids reading comics, in fact I think its essential. The industry had a once-in-a-generation opportunity with Image when a ton of kids were brought into comic-buying and what did it do? Called them all morons at the same time as it picked their pockets.
*OK the microscopic part of me that gives a fuck about the comics industry is.
― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 13 October 2003 17:06 (twenty-two years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Monday, 13 October 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)
― Leee (Leee), Monday, 13 October 2003 22:49 (twenty-two years ago)
― Leee (Leee), Monday, 13 October 2003 22:50 (twenty-two years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Monday, 13 October 2003 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Monday, 13 October 2003 22:57 (twenty-two years ago)
― Leee (Leee), Monday, 13 October 2003 23:06 (twenty-two years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Monday, 13 October 2003 23:08 (twenty-two years ago)
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)
Boy, your perception of comics is narrow, if you think some superhero comic editors/writers/artists are the worst culprits "in the history of comic books". In the bigger picture of quality comics, superheroics are only a minor, albeit lucrative, field of interest. My culprits would be the ones who forced all sunday strips to get smaller and smaller from their full-page glory, and the ones who came up with the idea that "comics are for kids only", though neither of these deeds could be narrowed down to a certain person.
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)
and really, at some time in our lives, don't we all?
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)