things Rob Liefeld did right

Unlike some of the other Image founders, I didn't keep up with Liefeld for very long, so I'm not sure what aspects of his game peaked during the Marvel years and what developed over time. With that said, I liked the direction New Mutants took when he grabbed the reigns. I think every Image artist other than Larsen was given too much free reign with plotting the books they were on, but Liefeld had Fabian Nicieza, Mr. Indefatigable himself, scripting with him. New Mutants had no real direction when he came aboard with Cable, and X-Force was a theme worth exploring; instead of being reactionary dolts who just sit around wallowing in persecution until their mansion gets blown up (again), take the fight to the enemy thats causing all the hate. Cable as a character caught a lot of flak for being a one note macho vending machine of manliness with tiny feet, but I think people hate him more for the shoulder pad/dual pouch garter trend that he created more than anything Cable did or said; I always thought Cable was a pretty intriguing character that got mushed up by editorial planning. I was also a fan of Shatterstar. Yeah he was kind of generic and whatnot, but every team needs a laconic brawler, and Shatterstar brought the goods. I actually liked Liefeld's asexual monk concept much more than Peter David's fan service device, but I digress. I'm never going to be a huge fan of his art or writing, but I'm thankful to Rob for creating X-Force (I think the Nicieza/Capullo run of the book was the best thing about 90's X books), and for forming Image comics. Youngblood might not be particularly good in any sense of the word, but Rob helped a lot establishing a third party to help creator's negotiate contracts with the Big Two and a sandbox for them to place creations they want to hold onto.

I'm not defending anything Liefeld said about Shatterstar, but I also didn't create a character that I can't legally own. That in itself has to be highly frustrating, and probably the biggest reason to form Image. Characters like Cable, Deadpool and Venom brought a ton of cash and new marketing revenue to Marvel, and guys like Rob and Todd didn't see a dime of it, and couldn't even say they owned it (Not they weren't getting rich off of royalties tied to specific issues). Even the alternative, creator-owned publishing line at the time, Epic, was a Marvel subsidiary.  He probably should have been more respectful with how he worded it, but I think he has a right to feel how he feels, to an extent. If Shatterstar was intended to be 'X', and I created him, I'd be a little annoyed when a certain writer made him 'Y'.

Liefeld is a skid mark on the underwear of the Marvel universe.