That's the era when I got seriously into comics as a kid, loved those titles and still do. 

After that, I looked at my Secret Wars comics and they looked stupid. There was no turning back, this got imprinted into my hard drive.

Then for reasons I can't remember, my brother and I decided to buy the last Superman issue, featuring that Moore/Swan story, which must have been published at basically the same time. Probably the tag line "Last Superman" caught our eye. We kept track of Superman through the Greek reprints, but buying actual American issues was never a priority, as the art wasn't particularly to my liking.

And, amid the pages of that depressing story, I come across the ad for the MOS series! Mind Blown!!

It took some time to convince my brother to start buying the Byrne books, he was mad that Superman was a "weakling" who could no longer push planets and fly faster than light. In any case, we started reading and collecting regularly Superman #3 onwards, and it was actually a few years later that I managed to buy the first couple of Byrne issues of both Superman and Action Comics, as well as MOS and Legends LS issues! That accounts for something like 16-17 Byrne issues, which I devoured in one go!!

I stayed with both FF and Superman for years after JB left, but they were never the same. I have to admit, I still find myself secretely hoping / waiting for JB's return to either title (JB's later Action Comics issues the closest we ever came to that).

At least JB returned to the X-Men twice (Hidden Years and Elsewhen!).

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Why would there be any issues drawing those characters?

Regarding the OHOTMU covers, I didn't read all of them, but I remember wondering if they are ever going to show us what/where all the characters are running to :)

I was afraid that I somehow missed that those weren't considered favorite characters, especially Heather. 

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The FF lost a lot of momentum after JB left. Roger Stern did a good job concluding plots and guiding the title, but it wasn't the same. The next bright spot was Walt Simonson's run.

I think the Superman books kept the level of quality JB (and Wolfman and Ordway) established under Mike Carlin's guidance until he left the books, and with the creative teams he assembled from 1988 - 1996.

I agree! I said in the past, of that era, the Superman titles were the most consistently well-written titles of the period. 

Most people like Perez, Wolfman, Moench, Thomas and Wein had long jumped ship to D.C. The only big two I can think of still being there was Claremont and Simonson (maybe JR, Jr., but I don’t think he was at the superstar level yet).

So until 1989 when McFarlane, Lee and Liefeld came along and raised interest , JB was the last high profile creator they really had. That’s 3 years where D.C. gained a lot of ground.