The Red Hulk is...

Yes he did. It was called Final Crisis.

i am not sure if one title can be called "a phase"(even if i agreed that it was retarded).

to put it bluntly as someone that has read damn near everything of his that i can get my hands on, he is about the most experimental comic writer around. some of his stuff works out better then others(hell very little of Doom Patrol was all that great), but he has never fit any sort of metric for good,bad,sane,or coherent.

i am thankful as all hell that he continues to try and get the thoughts in his head poured out into comic book form though.

I consider the time that he wrote JLA to be good, and he contributed a lot of neat ideas for 52. However, I think Final Crisis was the start of said full-retard period, in which he became full entrenched in the notion that the story was coherent and good, and that the fate he decided for Batman was fitting and necessary. Based on the behind-the-scenes stuff I've read, it was more likely that he was consciously or subconsciously sabotaging his work for DC due to the editorial interference, but the decline if not cliff-drop in writing quality was still apparent, and it remains a much less excusable cause than Loeb's son passing.

There are plenty of great comics coming out these days that aren't published by Marvel or DC. Pretty much anything by Garth Ennis or Robert Kirkman for instance. Mark Waid's doing some excellent stuff right now as well.

Isn't there a writer around here that's coming out with some new work? I think the name was... Mercedes Lackey?

I stopped buying DC comics with Crisis on Infinite Earths.

The problem is that alot of the other studios just do not have heroes that appeal to me. I was never interested in WILDCats or Savage Dragon. I do have the issue where they introduce Love Bunney and Mr. Hell.

I liked some of the DC heroes, and I liked the Marvel Universe. I could not stand the Ultimate Universe. I gave it a fair shot, mind. It just seems a waste of money to actually buy comics now.

Well I guess in the case of Marvel, and it's me standing by my decision that I will not start reading Marvel until they fix the OMD crap. That's not happening soon as we saw. For DC, I am sure there are good stories there, but unlike some people, I just can't through away the decades previous hsitory for the reboot. As someone was pointing out WOnder Womans post Crisis origin. I just thought that was wrong, and yet alot of posters here said they considered that canon. I just can't.

Can anyone tell me how Eiling's found the Shaggy Man as he was pre-Crisis and Eilings was post -Crisis?

But I thought all pre-Crisis stuff was gone, like the red/gold/blue/chartruese kryptonite, as well as the characters origins.

I'm out on the Ultimate line. I haven't enjoyed them since the reboot. Ultimate Spider-Man is still the best, but I'd rather just preclude all involvement with the universe rather than just go for one book. Brubaker's Captain America has a history of excellence, but I just haven't liked it lately. And I don't like that I pay a buck extra for the Nomad back-up story I don't want. I mentioned Thor has seemed slow since Siege, but I'm behind on it. And Invincible Iron Man should have been in there... An oversight if I did miss it. I'm with that title for as long as Fraction is.

In JLU he wanted to take down Metahumans, but he wound up fighting the 'natarul' members of the Justice League and still preached about how bad Metahumans were. This old lady intervenes and pretty much tells him off. He says he's only protecting her from the Metahumans and she tells him that he's the only Metahuman around there. He runs off, saying one day the JLU will betray humanity and then they will WANT him.

The idiot pretty much thinks he's the only 'right' one in the entire planet and everyone else is wrong about the JLU.

Honestly, none of my former great Marvel loves have been very interesting since Siege. The only thing that's kept up its quality thus far is the cosmic stuff.

As mentioned already Final Crisis, and the other incomprehensible mess that was Batman: RIP too.

I only really get licensed stuff like Buffy and Darkwing Duck, and any Darkstalkers stuff from Udon. I was getting Star Wars Legacy and SW:KoToR until Dark Horse's asinine "Must stop at 50 issues!" silliness kicked in, and now I'm not so sure if I'll be getting anymore Star Wars books.

Ennis? Really? Dude has such a mad-on -against- superheroes. Ennis strikes me as Millar's brother with an even blacker sense of humor. And as far as I can tell, The Crossed is the torture porn of comics.

Kirkman's run on Ultimate X-Men were some of the worst superhero comics I've ever read. I got such a bad taste for his work after that, I don't care how good Invincible may be, the basics of the story are taken from freaking Dragonball Z. And all I have to say about Walking Dead is that I don't care about it at all.

Waid's Irredeemable started great but it's slowed down. Supposedly the pace kicks up with issue 17, but we'll see. Incorruptible is hit and miss, but the sub-par art isn't helping that book either.

Eh, I actually -like- the whole X-Men vs Vampires thing. >.>

Thunderbolts have been neat, and I like where Shadowland is going, but I'm only getting the main mini and Daredevil.

But I've dropped every post-Siege Avengers book, haven't touched the Hulk since Red Hulk picked up Thor's hammer, and I haven't touched Spider-Man since OMD.

I really liked RIP myself. It didn't wrap up quite as well as it needed to, but there were several moments that made the whole thing worthwhile. Punctuating Jezebel slipping on the black glove with the Joker's maniacal laugh and "do you get it?" was awesome. Pulling Zur En Ar from ancient Batman history and giving it a powerful meaning was terrific. Overall though, the best issue of the whole thing is Bruce's run as the Purple/Red Batman. Threatening the thug with the "batradia" was just hilarious, as were several bits of the conversation with the gargoyles. It's a shame it sort of got marred by FC, but RIP itself was one of the more interesting and original Batman stories I've read in ages, IMO.

I haven't read the vampire thing personally. I actually don't think its a bad idea, just really poorly timed. The X-Men needed something a little more grounded immediately after Second Coming. The vampires really just feels like it should have been done a little later, under a little lower profile.

I dropped Thunderbolts somewhere in the middle of Secret Invasion. I just knew there was no way anything was going to live up to Caged Angels and figured it was a good time for a change. I haven't touched Hulk since Iron Man's "oh the humanity" bit with the Golden Helicarrier and Spidey's been off the list since OMD became my first comic ever to go through the shredder.

I dropped most of the Avengers stuff during Dark Reign, which was mostly not what I wanted out of the concept, particularly as New Avengers became the biggest batch of do nothings ever. Post-Siege I've been reading Secret Avengers, but thus far it hasn't really done anything to lock me in. I tried Avengers proper, but between the art and premise I didn't last more than an issue or two. Really, outside of cosmic, I read Cap and Iron Man, neither of which have really wowed me in quite a while.

Ennis absolutely hates superheroes. I wasn't aware that comics could only be good if they had superheroes in them. Ennis is the best writer alive as far as I'm concerned. I don't know of anyone else out there right now that can write something as hilarious as The Boys and then turn around and put out something as beautiful and heartbreaking as Dear Billy. And if you thought the point of Crossed was the gore, then you missed the point completely.

I can understand that what you've seen of his work doesn't appeal to you so you've not actually read any of it, as evidenced by the statement "As far as I can tell." He's not Geoff Johns, he's not going to write superhero stories where Captain Perfect Teeth always triumphs over the forces of Bad Guy Mcnasty. If you want to read nothing but superhero stories for ever and ever, then no, don't pick up his work. However, if you like just plain good writing--and yes, alot of it is quite dark, then check him out.

As I'm working through Preacher, I can't help but notice some of the shortcomings in Ennis' writing, however. Specifically, it almost seems like he was grasping for more content to fill out the series and shoe-horned Cassidy's affection for Tulip and history of bastardy.

This would of been a suitable answer as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNgxyL5zEAk

then the immediate commentary would of been everyone's reaction

While Preacher is my favorite comic of all time, the book is ten years old now. I don't see any flaws in it personally, but even if you do, don't you think it's possible that he's had time to hone his skills as a writer over the past decade?

*I had to edit the post due to realizing that I said something that related to a point in Preacher you may not have gotten to yet while making a point about Cassidy. Let me know when you've finished the series and I'll make my point after that.

**Oh, and sorry everyone for derailing the thread so badly.

Well there's a difference between being a d-bag and being outright evil as he apparently was. As I've been keeping up with True Blood, I can't help but be reminded of the recent treatment of Jason and Sam when I think of Cassidy, although their revealed level of douchebaggery wasn't as extensive as Cassidy's. Again, I saw it more as the writers attempting to come up with more content and flesh out the backgrounds in accordance with the Empire Strikes Back nature of this season.

Calm down, man. I was going off the general "pro-superhero" consensus of the thread. I may prefer superhero comics, but I'll give any comic a chance that strikes my interest.

I've read a little of The Boys (not my thing) and none of Crossed. What I know of the latter is from Diamond Previews and tvtropes.

Yeah, I saw the episode. One of my favorites actually. The Knight was cool as he tried to explain the situation and Eilings just did not get it.

well in that vein there's always some non-superhero fare that might be of interest. Or something that pays homage to all the awesome of the spandex set, like Astro City or Planetary.

if you gave some series a shot and found them not to your cup of tea, then yea, i can grok that your not much of a fan anymore. But the idea of not picking up ANY comics because im not pleased with a particular direction a couple of lines have gone would be like never picking up another fantasy novel because i don't like what they did during the fifth age of Dragonlance. or being a bit more specific, never grabbing another Forgotten Realms book because someone ganked Bruenor Battlehammer.

it's not throwing away, it's moving on. the Pre-Crisis stories have ended, and in some cases that was a good thing, other times not so much. but if they bring back characters i like and tell good stories, then im going to give the new stuff a shot. i mean we've gone through 4 different iterations of the Legion of Super-Heroes thus far, and im still reading them regardless that my particular favorite iteration no longer exists in current continuity. (to clarify, the post-Zero Hour Legion tyvm )

i guess i can get behind that you don't want to pick up particular titles because they're no longer something you like. i still won't touch the mainstream Spider-man stuff, but i couldn't toss over the rest of the MU because of it.

It is hard Veritech. I mean, Spider-Girl and the M2 Universe was a fun read, and I am not even buying them anymore. It sucks having to make that stand that you won't support something. It's a guarantee that they will have something you want.

We gave up TV service, and I missed V, the new series, and I am going to miss the new series on ABC No Ordinary Family. There are times you need to man up and stand by a decision though.