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This is officially the greatest day in history. Period.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/10/24/rob-liefeld-announces-his-retirement-from-comics/

For those of you unsure of why this is the greatest day in history, here's some proof:

http://www.progressiveboink.com/2012/4/21/2960508/worst-rob-liefeld-drawings

http://www.progressiveboink.com/2012/6/14/3084348/the-second-40-worst-rob-liefeld-drawings

And he's already defused it by saying it's a "sabbatical" on his Twitter feed.

I'm so depressed now.

Yep, I was just about to post the update.

Massive disappointment.

If this guy is so horrible, why do people keep hiring him? I'm not questioning the fact that he apparently can't draw an anatomically possible human body without thigh pouches and guns bigger than most people. I'm just wondering how he keeps getting hired.

North_Ranger said:

If this guy is so horrible, why do people keep hiring him? I'm not questioning the fact that he apparently can't draw an anatomically possible human body without thigh pouches and guns bigger than most people. I'm just wondering how he keeps getting hired.

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It's the biggest secret in comic books for the past 20yrs. Noone knows but everyone speculates.

Despite most sane people hating him, I think it's a simple matter that he does have a following. It's like the Michael Bay thing.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the audiences were the exact same people.

ThatNickGuy said:

Despite most sane people hating him, I think it's a simple matter that he does have a following. It's like the Michael Bay thing.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the audiences were the exact same people.

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It's not a Michael Bay thing. Michael Bay actually makes money while Liefeld books lose so many subscribers he has to move on over and over.

He has affected sales positively in the past, though. I recall he had a brief, 2-issue stint on Teen Titans. And sales went way up for just those two issues.

ThatNickGuy said:

He has affected sales positively in the past, though. I recall he had a brief, 2-issue stint on Teen Titans. And sales went way up for just those two issues.

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I'm very positive he has a higher negative impact than positive one. If I'm wrong, then I'd be surprised.

ThatNickGuy said:

He has affected sales positively in the past, though. I recall he had a brief, 2-issue stint on Teen Titans. And sales went way up for just those two issues.

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Gail Simone wrote those issues. He fucking ruined the story with the art.

Gilgamesh said:

I'm very positive he has a higher negative impact than positive one. If I'm wrong, then I'd be surprised.

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Oh, I'm not arguing whatsoever on that. But I think he has an audience who love the original Image artist style.

ThatNickGuy said:

Oh, I'm not arguing whatsoever on that. But I think he has an audience who love the original Image artist style.

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There's no question he has an audience, it's just a vastly minor % versus his hating audience.

His hating audience probably buys his stuff just to fuel their rage.

This was the first thing that popped into my head when I read the thread title:

ThatNickGuy said:

This is officially the greatest day in history. Period.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/10/24/rob-liefeld-announces-his-retirement-from-comics/

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YEAH!!!! About 20 years too late but YEAH!!!

Rob Liefeld said:

I am NOT retired from comics. Taking some time off and will be back at it soon. Thanks!
No I am not permanently retired from comics. I’m too young! Momentarily, yes. Geez, let a guy enjoy some R and R
My mistake is that I don’t give facebook comments the same weight as I do twitter rants. Lesson learned.

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CRAP!

Actually, it's my understanding is that one of the reasons that he gets so much work is that he's one of the nicest guys in the industry and people love working with him.

Bowielee said:

Actually, it's my understanding is that one of the reasons that he gets so much work is that he's one of the nicest guys in the industry and people love working with him.

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I'd be nice too if all my work was shit yet they kept paying me to do it.

Like it or not, there's no denying that Rob Liefeld had a major impact on the comic book industry. We may look back with shame on the EXTREME shit in the 90s, but we bought the hell out of it back then and he was at the forefront of that movement. He also created one of the characters everyone on these boards consistently creams their jeans over. He also played a major role in the forming of Image comics, which at the time was a zeitgeist in turning the industry on its ear.

Does his writing suck? Absolutely.

Does his art suck? more than words can say.

Does that mean he hasn't been an important player in the comics industry? Nope.

Bowielee said:

Like it or not, there's no denying that Rob Liefeld had a major impact on the comic book industry. We may look back with shame on the EXTREME shit in the 90s, but we bought the hell out of it back then and he was at the forefront of that movement.

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Incorrect, I did NOT buy them as I thought they were shit artwork then as I do now.

Bowielee said:

He also created one of the characters everyone on these boards consistently creams their jeans over. He also played a major role in the forming of Image comics, which at the time was a zeitgeist in turning the industry on its ear.

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Image comics is dead for a reason. He's a large part of that reason. As for Deadpool. Deadpool only became popular AFTER Liefeld so that's also a moot point.

Bowielee said:

Does that mean he hasn't been an important player in the comics industry? Nope.

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As important as Uwe Boll is to the movies industry.

Image comics is dead? Hardly. They're putting out some of the absolute BEST comics in the industry right now. Chew, Elephantmen, Saga, Walking Dead, Invincible. Even some of Rob Liefeld's properties, like Prophet, are amazing. Of course, it helps that he has absolutely no part of the creative output for the title.

Sorry I mistook Image for another publisher.

Penny-Arcade once had a photo contest where people were asked to send a picture of themselves doing their best Rob Liefeld pose.

Rob Liefeld sent in an entry.

That makes him a pretty cool guy in my book. (but still a bad artist)

Yeah, I've never thought Liefeld wasn't a bad guy. From all I've heard, he's a really nice guy, in fact.

That doesn't change the fact that he's a terrible artist.

Ravenpoe said:

Penny-Arcade once had a photo contest where people were asked to send a picture of themselves doing their best Rob Liefeld pose.

Rob Liefeld sent in an entry.

That makes him a pretty cool guy in my book. (but still a bad artist)

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Okay, that IS pretty cool.

This guy is still around making crappy art and making the bling, while my crappy art ain't gettin' nothing! WHERE'S THE JUSTICE?!

Seriously though, I just don't care about him any more. Do I thank him for getting me into comics as a kid and making Deadpool? Yes. Do I give two shits about what he does now? Fu-hu-hu-huck no.

Gilgamesh said:

Incorrect, I did NOT buy them as I thought they were shit artwork then as I do now.


Image comics is dead for a reason. He's a large part of that reason. As for Deadpool. Deadpool only became popular AFTER Liefeld so that's also a moot point.


As important as Uwe Boll is to the movies industry.

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So, you never bought an issue of Spider-man, X-Men, Spawn, Gen 13 etc... in the 90s? Almost EVERY comic in the 90s was following Leifeld's lead. Even if you didn't buy his comics directly, I'm fairly certain you didn't stop buying comics altogether during that period of time.

As already pointed out, Image comics is FAR from dead.

Other than leaving behind some shitty art, Leifeld's contributions have been largely positive, so comparing him to Boll is as pedantic as it is untrue.

As I said in my original post. I'm not defending his work, I'm defending his contribution, which people always dismiss.

As a parallel, he's kind of like Sigmund Freud. He was an extremely important figure in the history of Psychology who made multiple important contributions to the field. However, looking back on his actual theories, they are pretty much horse shit. That doesn't diminish his contributions to the field itself.

While I don't care what he does now(especially with this obvious publicity stunt) I will say with-out him comics wouldn't be what they are today. Plus the fact that he actually created a Marvel universe character who is basically a DC reference is joke pretty cool.

Bowielee said:

He also created one of the characters everyone on these boards consistently creams their jeans over.

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"Created" is kind of a strong word to be used in this situation (and it's Fabian Nicieza that made us like Deadpool btw).

@Li3n said:

"Created" is kind of a strong word to be used in this situation (and it's Fabian Nicieza that made us like Deadpool btw).

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I think it's fair to give Marv Wolfman and George Perez a lot of the credit for creating deadpool.

Ravenpoe said:

Penny-Arcade once had a photo contest where people were asked to send a picture of themselves doing their best Rob Liefeld pose.

Rob Liefeld sent in an entry.

That makes him a pretty cool guy in my book. (but still a bad artist)

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I wonder if he cut his feet out of the picture on purpose.

Also, as someone who wanted to draw for a living and never made the cut, I hate that this talentless hack even has the option to take a sabbatical.

CynicismKills said:

I wonder if he cut his feet out of the picture on purpose.

Also, as someone who wanted to draw for a living and never made the cut, I hate that this talentless hack even has the option to take a sabbatical.

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Well, he did add pouches and a needless gun to his clenched fist.

Covar said:

I think it's fair to give Marv Wolfman and George Perez a lot of the credit for creating deadpool.

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Bad Covar, BAD!!! What did i tell you about explaining the joke...