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Not really all that hard to figure out. Look around the internet, even on this site, and one of the recurrent myths you will find, time and again, is something along the lines of "Byrne has no respect for other artists! All he does is dis other artists!" Frequently this will take the form of "If this isn't true, name some artists you think are as good as you!" I then rattle off a list of people I consider to be vastly better than me -- Adam Hughes, John Romita Jr, George Perez, Kevin Nowlan, Garcia-Lopez, etc, etc -- and those demanding will pounce on any name not on the list -- "So you think you're better than Neal Adams?!?" No, of course I don't. Just didn't feel like typing out 305 names. Somebody has to get left off. And I have sung the praises of Neal, and Joe Kubert, and Jack Kirby, and Gil Kane, and Dick Sprang, and Steve Ditko and so many others, so many times, I would think somebody would have to be either very, very new or very, very obtuse not to know the esteme in which I hold those gentlemen.

But that doesn't fit the myth, so better to get all huffy if I say something even remotely negative about another artist. Blow that up all out of proportion, so maybe it will cast a big, black shadow on the legion of names on the other list.

In the end -- I don't like Layton's work. I never have. I am mystified that people who seem to have some comprehension of what makes good art will look at the pieces posted above and say "Great!" The same word they will use for Neal, or Jack, or Joe. Makes no sense to me.

And, just as I will never, ever, hesitate to sing the praises of a fellow artist, I will never, ever hesitate to do the reverse. To do so would be the worst kind of hypocrisy.