Contrary to what you may have heard, Rob Liefeld is a creator of good comics. Looking around the internet and listening to tirades in the comic shop, you might be hard pressed to find evidence of this. In fact, there are some that would would have you believe that the man is nothing but a monster, breezing in on a wave of pouches and dubiously function gun paraphernalia, hell bent on destroying everything he touches. Between frothing rants about proper anatomy and stylistic choices, you’ll hear a lot about how he’s ruined every character he has ever touched, blotting out suns and sucking oxygen from rooms. This is absolutely not the case.

It is fair to say that Liefeld is not everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, I will freely admit that he is not the kind of creator that I gravitate to. As one of the founders of Image and one of the poster boys for a period of comics rife with seriousness and guns, he’s never really appealed to my sensibilities. And that’s perfectly okay. I am capable of seeing one of his books, and accepting that I probably won’t enjoy the story inside, and moving along. But does that mean the work he creates is invalid? Does it mean that his body of work, such as it is, is destructive and harmful? No. Absolutely not.

Rob Liefeld is a man who makes a specific kind of comic book. If you see his name on a book, whether you like his work or not, you are aware of what you will probably find within that book’s pages. More often than not, your assumption will be correct. But you should not get up in arms when he comes into contact with pen and paper. You should not decry the fact that he gets to make comic books. The fact of the matter is, Rob Liefeld is the guy who is the best at making comics by Rob Liefeld - and for a certain set of people out there, nothing compares to what Rob brings to the table.

You can come at me with various arguments, and trust me when I say, I have heard them all. I’ve been to that link that has the itemized list of the 40 worst pictures Liefeld has ever drawn. I’ve heard legit, professional artists decry the fact that he does not know (and refuses to learn) the basics of drawing anatomy. And yet, the man can sell a comic book, and at one point in time, sold them better than almost anyone else on the market.

Even today, his name is a draw. My new comic book shelf will attest to the fact that slapping the guy on a book will move copies for a certain audience - and they love the man voraciously. There is a market for his creations, and in my opinion, that validates his status as a comic book professional. Again, I am not included in that audience, but I would never dream for a second of taking those comics away from the people who enjoy them, due to the simple fact that I don’t. There are people out there who don’t enjoy my favourite comic books. I’ve heard long screeds on why the current Daredevil ongoing by Mark Waid and his bevy of super talented artists is ruining the character. Why Dan Slott is the worst thing to happen to Spider-Man since Ben Rielly (side note: Ben Rielly was my first Spider-Man. My love for him is deep and shameless). Do their opinions invalidate those comics? Shit no. That just means they are comics not everyone enjoys.

It’s all art. It’s all subjective. And believe it or not, that is a fact that Liefeld understands quite well.

Despite the fact that his own style of writing and artwork remains largely unchanged (at least to my admittedly untrained eye), Liefeld recognizes that the comic book market is bursting with potential for new and exciting things. A look through his twitter feed will see him gushing about books that seem to fit well within his wheelhouse, and those that decidedly do not. More to the point, he’s re-created a line of comics using his own characters that spans with width and breadth of What Stories Comics Can Tell.

Things kicked off with a relaunched Prophet. Originally John Prophet was this guy. Or more specifically, the Liefeldian ideal of a Rambo-Conan. In the recent relaunched book, John Prophet is this guy.

A Heavy Metal meets independent American comics Rambo-Conan. In space.

And dammit if I don’t absolutely love this book. The character remains the same but the approach is quite different - and the fact remains, this book wouldn’t even exist if Rob Liefeld believed that his characters could live and thrive outside of his own creative confines. Rob wants there to be comic books out there that don’t feel like a Rob Liefeld comic. More to the point, he knows where his limitations lie, and hands off ideas and projects to other people to run with. He would not be a good fit for this version of Prophet, and so he allows a creative team who can hit all the right notes go crazy and create something special. And he’s not just doing that with Prophet, but a whole slew of Extreme characters. Which means that suddenly and somewhat miraculously enough, some of my favourite new books of the year have sprung forth from the loins of Rob Liefeld - and to me, that’s a stunning thing. To you, it’s probably stunning as well. But the man is not the sum of his own creative output alone. He is not just the guy who draw pouches, who created Youngblood, and who gave Captain America quite an amazing rack.

He’s also the guy who thought Alan Moore would write a good Superman and slapped him on Supreme (a character who will also come back with this relaunch with some yet-to-be-published Alan Moore scripts). He’s the guy who is behind one of the more exciting relaunches in recent history. He’s the guy who, shortly after Chris Evans was cast as Captain America quipped on Twitter that he was a good choice, even if he didn’t have the boobs to pull off the look.

He’s a guy that makes good comics.

Whether you like it or not.