It's true that Bilal's artwork is a large part of the attraction his stuff from that period has for me, but "esoteric mess of references" doesn't strike me as necessarily an entirely negative thing. But then again, I tend to like Morrison's stuff more than I think you do - at least what I consider the best of it (e.g. Invisibles, Filth), though I haven't read Arkham Asylum as I usually avoid his DCU-based work.

I've had a hard time finding Paul Pope's stuff at what I consider reasonable prices, for some reason, but will keep looking.

For me, the combination of his outstanding artwork with the evocative choice of imagery (e.g. Egyptian gods juxtaposed with decrepit cityscapes of a future dystopia) is strong enough in itself that the lack of a compelling narrative doesn't really bother me too much, or at least that's what I remember feeling when I read Nikopol 15 or 20 years ago.

I love a good story as much as anyone, but not everything has to be centred around a strong plot-structure. I just finished reading JG Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition, which works its effect via a presentation of concepts and images and very little plot to speak of. I'm not saying that Bilal was deliberately trying to do the same kind of thing Ballard did in his novel (Ballard's book is certainly built upon a coherent, though strange, set of core ideas, which I'm not sure can be said of Nikopol), but I did find it was able to compel my interest just through its style and imagery.

Also, I'd disagree that he's a bad storyteller per se - he can set  scene and create short vignettes that move from panel to panel nicely, so the basic skills are there. But I think you're talking more about the overall plot, which I agree wasn't necessarily thought out so well. Interestingly, he changed the story quite a bit for his self-directed movie version, IIRC, so maybe he agreed with you. 

Like I said, I tend to stay away from Morrison's work-for-hire stuff, partly because he works with characters that don't interest me much (Superman, Batman, etc), but also partly because I think he allows his love for those characters to overrule his good judgement at times, and ends up producing the worst kind of fan-service stories where Batman can do no wrong, Superman is the only real superhero, etc,etc.

Couldn't get the Paul Pope link to work, but I was looking for the three I believe have been recommended here - THB, 100%, and Heavy Liquid: the first seems to be out of print, the 2nd & 3rd seem to be priced in the $30-$40+ range (yes, I am cheap). Wait, I do see a used copy of 100% for about $15 including shipping, might go for that one.

Yes, I can see how that would be a turn-off. Perhaps it's due to similar feelings that I've stayed away from Spiegleman's Maus all these years.

No need to apologise for disagreeing. I know we don't see eye to eye on some other artists as well, like Druillet, whom I think you also find little more a purveyor of pretty pictures. But no disagreement, no discussion!