From: albert@chain.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu (Rick Jones)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics,rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: Liefield Throws Tantrum
Date: 20 Aug 1992 17:36:46 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.comics
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tx

In article <1992Aug20.140145.16334@ryn.mro4.dec.com> midnight@mdnite.enet.dec.com writes:
>I'm fairly baffled by the constant (CONSTANT) barrage of
>insults/commentary/etc. thrown this man's way.  It seems like its a requirement
>in these parts to utterly bash Liefield to death.  Do you all know him?  Did
>he, like, leave you all stranded in Tijuana without your driver's licenses so
>you couldn't get back across the border?  :)  What?

	Actually, I used to like Liefield's art.  The Hawk and Dove 
miniseries, an issue of Secret Origins (Nightshade), and an issue 
of Uncanny X-men (the Invasion parody) were all competant works.
THe problem is that he became a 'hot artist' and wanted to write 
(something he's not good at).  His art has become sloppy: all
the panels seem to be pinup shots and his backgrounds are vanishing.
When Youngblood came out, I was already turned off by his work
on New Mutants/X-force, so I passed on it.  However, someone who did
buy it pointed out on the net all sorts of artistic flaws.  (bobbing
hairlines, mirror swapping scars, height problems)
	However, that's his 'style' and if the fanboys want to look
at it, that's cool. 
	It's his writing that I can't STAND.  He (following in the 
footsteps of [Doom doom] Todd [Doom] McFarlaine [Doom Doom]) claimed
"writers, we don't need to steenkin' writers," and promptly proved 
that he does.  He massacred the New Mutants (argueably Chris Claremont's
best work), and turned them into gun-toting terrorists.  The Cannonball
of CC would never have hung out with Cable.  The other characters 
I really couldn't care about (with the possible exception of Warpath,
who had some good moments in X-men and New Mutants), but what he did 
to the New Mutants borders on criminal.  [#include a plug for 
Kid Dynamo, Connie Hirsh's excellent New Mutants/Magneto novella]
	Now, if RL had created an all new team of outlaw mutants 
called X-force, and done exactly the same thing with them, I really
wouldn't have minded.  I think the Punnisher and Ghost Rider are 
one dimensional charaters and don't deserve nearly as much exposure as
they get, but that's just MHO.  That's why I have no big problems with
Youngblood.  It's his sandbox, so he can piss in it if he wants.  But,
when he rides roughshod through the Marvel Universe, that's when I 
get annoyed.

	Now, what depresses me about RL is what he's doing for comics
as an industry.  Image comics is all about 'image.'  There doesn't seem
to be too much substance to it.  But he's getting boatloads of publicity
for it (Dennis Miller, the jeans commercial, the attention in the fan press,
making the newspapaers).  So, Joe Mundane who hasn't read a comic book 
since Richie Rich says to himself, "Hey, it's getting all this press.  It 
must be good."  He buys it, and sees the kids buying 10 copies and so
on, and it's a total waste of paper, as a story.  (this is based on
reviews by people I respect, I have not read it)  So, Joe thinks,
"Geez, this bites.  The perspective's off.  There's no explanation of
who these folks are, and it's more violent than Lethal Weapon 5.  
And this is the best?"  Comics remain in the intelectual gutter for
another 50 years.
-- 
Rick Jones				Systems Support Center
albert@bcm.tmc.edu			Baylor College of Medicine
Voice: 713-798-7352			standard disclaimers apply
	"Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball."-Saturday Night Live
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics,rec.arts.comics.misc