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I liked a lot of what Austen did, but when it came down to it, he just pissed off everyone, in my eyes. Everyone being us. I try not to bring it up anymore, since I have been dismantled and destroyed multiple times for Austen-like, but since YOU brought it up, I am free to mention it.

I collected his whole Uncanny X-Men run, plus a little past that. While there were some pretty bad things he did, I liked pretty much everything he did. I liked his Exiles, I liked his Ultimate Gambit, etc.

The problem I had with his JLA story was that it had no purpose. After two or three years of Epic stories - Obsideon Age, Fernus the Burning, etc. - we comes to five hashed out stories that have been dealt with before. I was disappointed. I only bought the Superman one, hence it being first, and could stand the rest. But even through all that, I didn't think he was horrible, or the worst ever, or anything. I just hated the turn from the epic story-telling that had been happening earlier.

In my opinion, the only reason there is so much Austen hate is because he pushed the envelope. Now, I'll give you, the whole "Nightcrawler is only a priest so he can assend to the Pope and then be exposed as a mutant" was pretty dumb. But I liked Draco, and the Trials of Juggernaut (I am ready for the hatred spread to me AND for the Skrull-She-Hulk alibi) and pretty much everything else.

I DO hate the editorial happening in Marvel that is making EVERYTHING that happened in Austen and Morrisson runs get retconned away. But that's a different thread.

I've said my peace, bring on the highly literate flaming.

There was a lot I didn't like about Austen. I did hate the Draco, yes. And I wish he'd never even realized that anyone named Guthrie existed in the first place, as he did nothing but ******** up that family. Aside from that, there were a lot of his ideas I didn't like. I don't like Angel having healing blood. I don't like the "mutants can't get AIDS" thing. I hated that he killed off Angelo, and I'd really like to know how a group of priests were able to subdue and crucify Jubilee AND Magma. I did like that he got rid of Angel's blue skin. I hated his Jono.

What else...Oh, yes. The Polaris thing had potential, and I like some of it, but I feel that it largely failed. I never found a single thing about Annie that made me care about her. I can stand the good Cain bit, and I feel that the interaction between Cain and Northstar was wonderful at points. His Alpha Flight appearances annoyed me, though. I'm indifferent to Nocturne entirely.

My biggest problem with Austen, however, stems from the Iceman/Northstar dynamic. Those of you who know me from the CD know how defensive I get about portrayals of homosexuality. I can't stand when it's done horribly. And Austen couldn't write a decent queer if he had a c**k halfway up his a**. His Northstar was nothing short of offensive, his Frat-tastic Bobby had potential to work as a symbol except that it was completely out of character.

Austen brought in characters he had no business writing for plots that didn't need them. Alpha Flight, Northstar, Jono, Paige and Jubilee especially. This in combination with his completely offensive Northstar turned me off his run.

Also, the art sucked more often than not, and the combination of his writing and the art just made for a bad book.

Also fire detectors.