If Rob's so bad - how did he get hired by Marvel or DC (where ever he satrted) ?

Surely their talent scouts have eye for "shit" and eye for "potential" ?

Personally, I can't read a Leifeld book -- I hate the art.  On that same note, I can't read a Larson book, either (sorry, Eric) -- but the art just doesn't work for ME -- a personal choice.  However, I know a lot of people who love Rob and Eric -- that's the wonderful thing about "art" -- it's all subjective.  Most people don't like Byrne's style anymore --me, that's the style I enjoy.

My big thing is -- how do the swipes get past editors?

Like it or not--a decent-sized portion of our audience consists of people
that do not have the ability to understand the difference between good
art and bad.

Definitely true.

QUOTE: Like it or not--a decent-sized portion of our audience consists of people that do not have the ability to understand the difference between good art and bad. They can react to the superficial sheen of a drawing and admire that but they don't get why Kirby is revered at all. A lot of people- -including creators--just don't get it.

Most (or many, at least) of these people are young, though, so I hold out hope that they'll learn.  I once disliked what I saw of Kirby and Ditko but I eventually grew out of that.

The one thing I never got is Liefeld and how he was able to become so popular.  I've despised his work since I saw it in a fill-in issue of X-FACTOR.  His popularity boom seriously puzzled the crap out of me and I often asked "what am I missing?" because I wasn't hearing a lot of criticism of Liefeld at the time.  Just one of life's great mysteries, I guess.  I think it was Liefeld's work that helped raise my appreciation for Jim Lee's work at the time, especially during the "X-Tinction Agenda" crossover.

The same could be said for a young Neal Adams -- I was flicking through his Batman hardcovers recently and there are a lot of panels where he's trying to do something new and show persepctive shots of the action -- what a lot of it looks like is bad art - a fist that's too big, etc.   Neal reigned a lot of this in, though, and will always be considered one of the best.  It's too bad Rob Lefeld didn't actively try and fix his shortcomings.

QUOTE: Now, like it or not, Liefeld sells. And sells well.

I don't think anyone is in denial of this.

There logically must be a fanbase for his art.

******************

I agree with that logic but I've heard stories of certain companies, back in the 90's, that would buy their own books, through comic shop "fronts", to boost sales and then just warehouse the things.  I always wondered if that was true.

It's brand recognition. "Rob Liefeld" just rolls off the lips.

It's also generational attitude: Rob Liefeld, the noncomformist iconoclast who chose to piss on established stuffy old rules rules of illustration, the rebel who imposed his vision on the arthritic establishment and forced them to notice his work and legitimize it through millions of printed comics..

I think a lot of young guys identified with Rob: why should a young guy be kept out of the inner circles of power and influence simply because they lacked talent? The hell with that!

Nihilism rules!