That's rather harsh, isn't it? I would certainly agree that the number of EXCELLENT writers out there is not very large, but as a bibliophile, comics fan and movie lover, I am CONSTANTLY finding well-written and engaging stuff to read and watch. Is it all great? No. Is it competent and reasonably satisfying? Yes, and that's the point, if you're looking for a casual read. I think 'suck out loud' requires a level of cluelessness and incompetence in a writer that generally doesn't make it past the editor's desk. 'Suck out loud', to me, means something so exasperatingly horrible that you either toss it aside after a few pages or hurl it into a corner with a roar of outrage - both of which I have done, but not very frequently. Basically, what I am saying is this - if most writers were terrible, why would we keep reading? I'm not saying that there aren't a fair amount of bumbling idiots out there who somehow manage to make a living as writers, but that doesn't mean that you should paint all the other writers with the same brush. If you expect every writer to blow you away with his or her brilliance, then you're going to have an awfully tough time of things. (Also, they DO deserve credit for trying, as far as I'm concerned. A failed experiment may be a failure, but at least the guy tried - it's the people who NEVER try that are the really crappy ones. There are such a huge amount of comics that come out every week - what's the point of getting mad about one particular issue that you didn't like? It's different, of course, when the one particular issue is drastically changing continuity or something like that - which, unfortunately, is all too common - but so what if Ennis failed in writing 'The Thousand'? It's a stand-alone story. Did it make any difference to Spider-Man continuity? I think not. It is a story that can be safely ignored, and if Ennis is any good at his job, he'll have noted that 'nope, that didn't work. Next time, I'll do it differently'. And, hopefully, he will, and the experiment will have done some good. Writers may not deserve PRAISE for failing in the attempt, but they do deserve credit for the attempt itself, because it allows them to grow as a writer.)