That discussion in DCAU thread, about Countdown being horribly bad, has reunited me with my memories of...
Well... I once went to ask /co/, about what Doctor Doom story should I read.
Someone mentioned Ultimates 3... and since I remember reading Ultimate X-men once upon a time(and lovin' it) I decided to give it a shot.
Oh boy, what a wild ride that was.
I was [tornado fang]ing facepalming through the whole volume, and let me tell you something... it lead to one of the worst things ever created.
ULTI-[tornado fang]ing-MATUM!
They killed off most of the Ultimate X-men and, and... Jesus.
LOOOEEEEEBBBBBBBB!!!
I'm still sometimes raging about this, especially when I see the new "stunts" Loeb pulls off.
Am I alone?
Jeph Loeb. Now there's a tale to tell. Gather around, ye kiddies.
You see, Jeph Loeb used to be good. Heck, he used to be great. He's called "superstar writer Jeph Loeb" exactly for the good stories he wrote back then. Batman: The Long Halloween. Batman: Dark Victory. Superman For All Seasons. His colaborations with Tim Sale was really well done, and they brought a spirit to the DC world which would mold certain Batman mysteries for years AND YEARS to come. Hush was also a great story, no matter how many naysayers might call it nowadays. Without editor interference, it would have been great, and it would have brought back Jason Todd in a much better way. Problem is, Jeph started to get kinda stale. His first arc on Superman/Batman kinda showed us that his stuff wasn't really getting better with time. And then, something happened. His son died.
Now, I got a small theory of mine. All genius comic book writers basically go batshit insane one day. Frank Miller had 9/11 as a catalyst. Jeph Loeb had his son's death. Garth Ennis... [parasitic bomb], I dunno what happened to him, but there's gotta be some explanation from how he went from making the very best arcs of John Constantine, to writing snuff [parasitic bomb] in The Boys.
When the Ultimate books started selling better than the 616 main universe, the editors got a bit upset. So they sent the Ultimate people to 616, and made Loeb do the Ultimates 3 series. Which, after the awesome which was Ultimates 1 and 2, was complete ASS. And Ultimatum might as well be the very worst even in comic book history. It's basically Jeph Loeb [tornado fang]ing everything over. EVERYTHING. Murders, people acting out of character, MORE murders...
So, yeah. Poor Jeph Loeb. Pity him, people. For he was once a great writer.