Oh, and Ultimate X-men is seriously flawed at this point. Lets not forget that Xavier 'died' and the Beast is and has been alive. Ultimate X-men has gone off the rails. The book was flawed since the beginning and the current stories seem to be making it more convoluted and... well... not good.

But since Kirkman wrote it, nah, it’s unintentionally sucky.

When has Kirkman ever shown interest in something like that?
He's done straight homages and satires, but he makes it clear that that's what they are.

And if you must know, Morrison already did a Doom Patrol annual taking the piss out of 90's X-Men - it was called 'Doom Force'. It is amusing. And eerily accurate.
Oh, he also has a sequence in The Invisibles where King Mob tells of a previous adventure, but makes himself out to be a tougher guy than he is, and it's drawn in the Liefield manner.
Neither moments are raved about, so I guess that kills your little point about Grant getting praised if he did that - because he already did, and none of us were too excited by it...

People who don't 'get' Morrison should check out Doom Force though. It's pretty obvious humour, so for once you'll be able to able to understand the commentary, and not have to attack us for understanding something you didn't.

I read this comment, and suddenly that it occurred to me that if the exact same issue had appeared as published, with the sole change being that Grant Morrison was credited as writer, people would automatically be assuming it was intended as a brilliant example of irony and would be praising him for creating a metatextual commentary on bad 1990s X-Men stories. But since Kirkman wrote it, nah, it’s unintentionally sucky.

PERHAPS, and I stress PERHAPS, if Morrison (or any other writer) had the X-Men transported to another reality for an issue or two, and in that reality, had the X-Men act like crappy 90s versions of the X-Men, then I could see Morrison (or any other writer) being praised for it.

Writing, what, 20 issues now of crappy X-Men comics? No one would praise Morrison (or any other writer) for such a thing.

I read this comment, and suddenly that it occurred to me that if the exact same issue had appeared as published, with the sole change being that Grant Morrison was credited as writer, people would automatically be assuming it was intended as a brilliant example of irony and would be praising him for creating a metatextual commentary on bad 1990s X-Men stories. But since Kirkman wrote it, nah, it's unintentionally sucky.

There's a trade coming within the next month called 'Alan Moore's Wild Worlds'. It is supposed to reprint the Voodoo limited series (which is available in trade already, but probably OOP), 'Spawn/WildC.A.T.S.', the great one-off story from 'Wildstorm Spotlight' (previously collected in a trade called "Mr. Majestic"), and the limited series 'Deathblow by Blows'.

There are trades of 'Spawn: Blood Feud' (without the prequel story) and at least one of his 'Violator' minis, but they're old and not readily available. Anything else which hasn't been collected from his Image days is either incomplete ('1963', 'Glory') or just a really short story ('Shadowhawks of Legend', 'Spawn').

Alan Moore was sort of slumming it in the 90s, but that was half the fun. Sort of like hearing a concert pianist playing a Britney Spears song.

And then I wondered: Is it possible that he’s enough of a genius to be purposefully writing the comics to be as bad as the nineties comics he’s trying to emulate?

It's possible.
Even Alan Moore sucked in the 90's when he set out to write comics as bad as 90's comics, so it's possible Kirkman is trying that.*
I just think he's gone 'The Ultimate line was created to get people into comics, and the 90's x-men got me into comics, so I'll write the book using those stories'.
Throw in some ideas about how he'll be able to write the 'right' this time, and you've got what he's trying to do.

*When will they release some of that Moore "gold" in trade?
I'd love to sit and read the Voodoo mini, or the Violator mini's and especially Spawn:Blood Feud which I thought was sweet when I was a teen.

Funny, that’s the only reason I’m buying the book. Allred’s never been much of a writer and the dialogue in this series has been really awkward and forced.

We're on the same page here, Apodaca. At least the older Madman stuff was zany fun, making the clunky dialogue part of the charm. This seems overly serious and really highlights the weaknesses of the writing. The art is gorgeous- some of the best of his career - but the story negatives have me thinking about saving my three bucks in hopes of an oversized hardcover I can buy later just for the art.

It's really frustrating, because I've been reading the title since the first issue. I was always a big fan of the X-Men but couldn't get into the comics because of the byzantine continuity, so naturally when they started the Ultimate imprint I was tremendously excited. And for a while it was good, even if Millar's take on the book was totally not where I would have gone with it.

Still, it worked okay, and it was something the 616 X-Men could never be: one team, no alternate timelines, situated in the mansion, led by Professor X with all the best characters. And Bendis' run was fun and Vaughan's, despite some stuff that didn't really work, was hugely under appreciated.

But man, this Kirkman stuff has been a mess. Just bad idea after bad idea after bad idea, illustrated by an ever-changing lineup of artists, which really shoots any hope visual consistency in the foot. It's not worth even talking about length. Just... God.

I think the book is still salvageable, but only barely. They really need to get him off as fast as possible. And I like the guy, I really do -- his Image stuff is a blast. I want to see him succeed on this book. But he's had more then his fair shot and utterly botched it.

You have to remember that Kirkman does love his 90’s comics, and that’s what the x-men were like in the 90’s.

I was just about to write something along the lines of agreeing with you and noting that this should've been obvious from the start.

And then I wondered: Is it possible that he's enough of a genius to be purposefully writing the comics to be as bad as the nineties comics he's trying to emulate?

Nah, couldn't be.

It is really staggering how bad Kirkman is on Ultimate X-Men.

It’s like there was absolutely no advance warning - just out of nowhere - BAMMO - AWFULNESS!

You have to remember that Kirkman does love his 90's comics, and that's what the x-men were like in the 90's.

Hence, every time I see things like Nightcrawler going insane, Cable turning out to be Wolverine from the future, or Cyclops disbanding the X-Men in favor of a pacifist approach, it just seems to me like Kirkman's having a lot of fun making an already strange reinterpretation of the X-Mythos even more bizarre. So why can't we have fun with him?

I like Geoff Johns. He's one of my favorite writers currently working in comics. That said, it's obvious he has a man-crush of unprecedented proportions on Hal Jordan. He loves the guy so much he can't help but gush over and over and over about how freaking awesome he is (while conveniently overlooking things like the fact that Hal is insanely boring when not in GL mode or the fact that Kyle Rayner, in spite of not being Hal, is actually competent).