Sorry for the thread resurrection (hey, I just got here) but I'm going to have to lay some defence down for Identity Crisis.

I'm not going to defend the whodunit storyline, which was farcical in its logic, nor it's rape storyline, which is indefensible, but there are some wonderful character moments in the series that shows that Meltzer really gets some of the characters of the DCU, and how they interact.

The funeral of Sue Dibny was harrowing, especially the image of Ralph. Throughout you've got Green Arrow's commentary, and he says that Ralph is barely holding it together, but he's not just talking figuratively, he's talking literally as well, as Ralph is literally melting with the emotion of it all. He uses Ralph's powers really well as his emotional state is linked to his physical state, which is a nice touch.

The clash between Oliver and Carter is well worked too. When the decision is made to wipe Batman's memory, Oliver slugs Carter, and Wally says "is that what it's been about all these years? Not politics?" and Oliver replies "You've not been listening Wally. It's always been about politics." It's a great way of showing the opposing viewpoints of the two characters are not just about opinions but about how those opinions from their actions.

There are loads of little character moments that, for me, really worked. The disbelief that Barry could've voted for the mind wipe of Dr Light, then his horror when he realises it was less than six months since Iris had died, and yes, in that moment, Barry probably would've voted for it. The way that Wally stands up to the rest of the Justice League when he realises they have a plan to go after Dr Light. They may have seniority over him, but he's earned his dues and demands their respect, and they defer to him. The procedural aspects of the investigation into Sue's death adds a depth to the universe that this isn't a bunch of random people with powers, but a community that works and pulls together, not just when there's a bad guy to fight.

As a whole, Identity Crisis is a poor story, with some really lousy decisions, and some contrived set pieces. But there are some very nice character moments that I can take out of it and enjoy, and I think those get, understandably, overlooked because of the poor aspects of the series.

I see it more as a movie that's a bit dull, but has some good action scenes, so I just watch them and ignore the rest.

Eeeew. It sounds almost as bad as Identity Crisis.

I don't know if I'd go that far - like Identity Crisis, it certainly isn't something anyone involved with should be proud of, but I can't honestly say that the story or intention behind it is vile or mean spirited.  As foxley says, it's just so weird.  Lieberman obviously came up with the idea of "What if the Joker learned that his wife were murdered", wrote his opening scene where the Joker contemplates this fact, then hit a wall, and rather than say "hm, I don't really have any ideas beyond this, I think I'll just come up with something else" stayed with that idea and just released issue after issue of nothing in the hopes that by the time part four or whatever rolled around, an idea would pop into his head.   This never happened and the result was that "The End" slapped on to some random part of the story.  DC may as well have just written in "RIP OFF" instead.  It still rankles me that DC must have known that their new writer didn't have a completed script for his inaugural story and decided that since the reader wouldn't realise how they had been screwed until it was too late, there'd be no harm in releasing it as is.     

This was a pretty bizarre way for Element Lad to come to terms with his sexuality. 

I think that story technically makes him bisexual, though since Shvaughn technically had sex with Jan under false pretenses as a woman, does that mean Jan was raped?

Well, I missed the boat on this thread the first time around. Most of mine have been covered, though to add:

Loeb - I have not enjoyed anything he has written after Hush. It's tragic as it seemed to coincide with his son passing on, but something happened then. Everything of his I've read from the past 10 years is just godawful. I get what folks are saying about his ability to court and write to great artists, but at the end of the day, I judge a comic as a completed work, and his plotting and dialog are so atrocious as to ruin the book for me. I've found things to be awful not knowing they were Loeb at the time, and then later found out he was involved. He seems like a nice guy, and its horrible what happened to his son, but I can't stand his writing anymore. His death of Sabretooth arc in Wolverine was some of the worst-written tripe I've ever seen.

Austen - not much else to to say. HIs X-Men was impressively terrible. He is capable of writing good things, though. His Marvel MAX US War Machine was quite good as were his fill-ins on Exiles, but that's because those fit the style he happens to be capable of writing.

Morrison - Really enjoyed his X-Men, but as others have said, around the time he became convinced of his own brilliance and was let off his leash it was just too much. He's like George Lucas in that he has great big ideas but he needs someone to reign him in and say "no, that's stupid." Just a filter.

House of M/much of Bendis - as an X-Fan, I hated what House of M did to the mutants. Bendis essentially murdered the franchise in that storyline. Sure, it would take years for them to bleed out and finally die off creatively, but that was the fatal blow. While Morrison's run was certainly hit or miss, it set up fantastic things for the mutants in the X-books, and Marvel reversed it and killed the franchise ever since. So disappointing.

I don't really have a lot more "worst ever." I have a lot more "really boring/bad enough I dropped it" but not really objectively worst ever. I'm typically not a fan of David Lapham from what little I've read.