He really doesn't have the temper for this sort of back and forth. You criticize Byrne and it's not long before this guy is retreating behind the white flag of personal insults.

Here's some preemptive defensiveness from Byrne regarding an upcoming Next Men cover:

"-- now if we can just keep the minibrains from declaring this minimalist approach to be "cheap looking" and "unfinished". Perhaps even their perennial favorite, "rushed"!

(BTW -- you WILL see ALL of those a few times, from the parrots.)"

How about "drab?"

Again we see him using "minibrains" (That one and "exploding head" appear to be his favorite sayings.) thus implying that anyone of average intelligence or above HAS to like his cover.

Good. Closed-mindedness is one of my pet peeves. One less individual with such a bent to interact with.

Really? You take things personally while communicating with virtual strangers on message boards? That's...pathetic.

LOL! Is the word minibrains REALLY a word that requires an implication? Sounds pretty straightforward to me & very accurate when describing certain detractors.

By the way...I do think that your terminology (re: preemptive defensiveness) is spot on. Unfortunately for you, you just proved why JB does this sometimes. I imagine you're quite proud of yourself, too.

I don't know where you got that idea. It's not what I said at all. There are those poor comprehension skills again.

There's a vast difference between an elegant well-told story widely regarded as a classic high point of the entire medium and the forgettable origin of Dr. McCoy's 70's beard.

Plus, there were many people who called for Jean Grey's death. After Byrne brought her back.

So you didn't mean to imply I was making personal insults? If you meant to use another word, like impersonal, then try not to be so hasty in responding. Think things through first. I realize that you & most detractors find such a concept foreign, but perhaps you can lead the way?