That’s nowhere near true. Many bad writers are also popular writers, and many unpopular bad writers still manage to sell a lot of books.

I agree 100%, of course.

I have to say that I am one of those who doesn’t see why it’s crude to bring an artist’s personal life into a look at their work especially if said artist has been open about said events.

Yeah, but with no proof to back up the claim, and no thematic relationship, it’s quite weak.

Cormac McCarthy’s feelings about becoming a father late in life gave us The Road and that fact is certainly informative of the work. James Ellroy’s discovery of his mother’s body as a boy and the fact the murder was never solved informs much of his work especially The Black Dahlia. Joss Whedon’s relationship with his father is certainly a touchstone of why Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Cordelia, Anya, Angel, Tara, and Wesley all have some major paternal issues.

Etc. and so forth.

Ultimate Marvel..make like Wizard Magazine and go 6 feet UNDER

R.I.P. Ultimate SPIDEY(GARBANZO)

Is drum’n'bass still a popular genre?

No, really, how could they? I’ve tried all options, and I really would like to.

The first I really remember him tanking was on Hush.

Most people hated Our Worlds At War but I really liked it.

I haven’t kept up with the Ultimate line, but I’m going to catch up and keep reading it. Bigger things happen there and I kind of think of it as an Earth-2 Marvel….kinda.

Also, the internet might have helped burst his bubble a little – publications like Wizard, and even articles on the CBR main page always seem quite flattering to him, it’s fans and actual critics where his work gets called out.

You can’t call someone ‘underrated’ when they sold so many records, are still played on the radio, and are the musical basis for a best-selling musical that was made into a best-selling movie.

They’re clearly well-liked.

Just watch the rather embarrassing footage of Abba in Australia.
You’d think they were the Beatles.

So yeah, they are rated well by many people.
Doesn’t mean it isn’t horrible shit.

With Bendis, he hasn’t always written amazing stories either. I must admit that although he helped bring back Spider-Woman, he also lied to die-hard fans by not actually having her back until recently. After spending money for years on a character that wasn’t actually *the* character I was upset to say the least but I will admit that it did make a good storyline, and he currently is about the only one to handle Jessica, so I continue to read his stuff. The last issue of Secret Invasion seemed rushed at best, and seemed simply another vehicle to start something “bigger.” However, I can admit that the over all storyline was well done, but it doesn’t mean he’s infalliable.

You know his best stuff was before he was ever at Marvel right?

Also, it is utterly, utterly bizarre to see you say you’re upset that you ‘wasted’ money on a story – that you apparently enjoyed – about a character because it wasn’t THE character, but someone pretending to be them.
Just bizarre.

I just think that it’s unfair to single Jeph Loeb out as a terrible writer.

We’re not!
There are plenty of terrible writers, he is just one of them.

It can be argued, yes, that he may not be as good as some but so can Shakespeare, so I really think that people should show a little more respect to Mr. Loeb

You can argue Shakespeare isn’t as good as some – I mean it’s been four hundred years since he last released anything and you know his name, so he had a slight impact – argue it all you want, I’d love to read that argument… BUT, that doesn’t mean Loeb deserves respect.
You can argue that Bush wasn’t as bad as Nero, but that doesn’t make him good.

Oh, I give up.

Dude! That’s what I’ve been saying this WHOLE TIME!

You said the statement was not bad, Ted (and Paul, to a certain extent) said it was.

How do the editor meetings go? Somethin like this: ‘It’s going great! Let’s ruin it!’

Jeph Loeb’s writing, along with the artwork of respective artists, has me reading Hulk when I haven’t touched it in years, and he helped me enjoy picking up Superman/ Batman when it first came out, and I have enjoyed other work from him as well. I can’t say I enjoyed Our Worlds At War, and I wasn’t interested in Ultimatum, but the latter is more because I can’t afford to pick up more titles.

Of course, I’m also biased. Among my favorite heroes is Supergirl, and at nine I lost Kara Zor-El to which he helped reestablish the character, so I’m going to love those stories even if someone could argue that they weren’t that amazing.

With Bendis, he hasn’t always written amazing stories either. I must admit that although he helped bring back Spider-Woman, he also lied to die-hard fans by not actually having her back until recently. After spending money for years on a character that wasn’t actually *the* character I was upset to say the least but I will admit that it did make a good storyline, and he currently is about the only one to handle Jessica, so I continue to read his stuff. The last issue of Secret Invasion seemed rushed at best, and seemed simply another vehicle to start something “bigger.” However, I can admit that the over all storyline was well done, but it doesn’t mean he’s infalliable.

The same with every writer out there. Each will make a bomb at some point. Yes, some more than others perhaps, but I think it really is wrong to single out Loeb. If he was soo bad as many commenters state here, he wouldn’t continue to be employed..

Last October, a friend of mine spoke with Kurt Busiek who told him that he doesn’t always like to write big ongoing story arcs and/ or he may not agree with how a story may be unfolding and so forth but he is told what to write, and so he does. This should also be considered when putting down a writer. Loeb may not have wanted to have Peter Parker “die” in his book, but he could simply have been told that Ultimate Crisis, I mean Ultimatum, needed to attract a wider audience so please have Spider-Man in it, and make it “shocking.”

Perhaps Bendis didn’t like how things were, but I can’t imagine that if he was sooo distressed by it he wouldn’t have any say in the situation. He’s Marvel’s biggest gun and if he said he was pissed off because it was all Jeph Loeb’s fault his book would suffer, I can’t see that Marvel wouldn’t listen.

Ultimately, pun not intended … ok, maybe a little, I just think that it’s unfair to single Jeph Loeb out as a terrible writer. It can be argued, yes, that he may not be as good as some but so can Shakespeare, so I really think that people should show a little more respect to Mr. Loeb (at the very least not be so quick to blame him for the “last” issue of Ultimate Spider-Man not being up to par!)

I would agree with that version of the position.”

Dude! That’s what I’ve been saying this WHOLE TIME!

You can’t call someone ‘underrated’ when they sold so many records, are still played on the radio, and are the musical basis for a best-selling musical that was made into a best-selling movie.

They’re clearly well-liked.

I’m hating Ultimatum, not just for screwing up and trashing the Ultimate universe — probably an editorial dictate, not just for excessively shocking (and generally pointless) deaths and destruction that seem to be there solely for, well, shock value, not for bringing the mostly sunny-seeming Ultimate universe down to the dire sturm of the “regular” Marvel Universe, and not just for muddy and ugly artwork. I’m hatin it because it’s a crossover event that makes the regular books become anticlimactic, because the important events have to happen over in the crossover book, instead of the regular title.

I have all of Ultimate Spider-Man in hardcovers. I hope that the “ultimatum” tiein issues don’t appear in one.