Maus is simply a phenomenal work. Anyone that reads comics or is interested in the Holocaust at all should read it. Period.
1986 was really a banner year for comics:
Watchmen
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Maus (originally serialized in 1980 so it's kind of a cheat to include it here, but not compiled in GN form until 1986)
Three of the most important works in the history of the medium, all in the same year. Wow.
Thoughts on Loeb as a writer (not an attack):
I just finished up Spider-Man: Blue and have to say that I really enjoyed it. Between this and The Hulk: Gray, I think I've finally figured out what it is I like and dislike about Jeph Loeb as a comics writer.
I think Loeb really has a good handle on the basic core concept of the character he's writing:
Hulk=tormented monster, hunted by a world that doesn't understand him, prone to fits of rage, loves Betty Ross but is mortal enemies with her father. Banner versus the Hulk for the right to choose who gets to exist.
The Hulk originally started out as a Jekyll and Hyde type of character. The original incarnation of the Hulk was so much the anti-hero, he was practically a villain. But obviously, due to the evolution of the character throughout the years and, I'm sure, marketing directives, the perception that defines him is that of the misunderstood misanthrope.
Loeb pretty much nails all of this with Hulk: Gray. I don't like his treatment of Iron Man in that book (I thought he could have handled that encounter in a way that didn't compromise Iron Man or his fans and still had the same outcome), and I think his portrayal of Betty is a bit too strong willed and independent for what the character was at the time, but despite these things it's still a very good read.
Likewise, with Spider-Man: Blue, Loeb seems to get the character:
Peter Parker is the classic nerd with an amazing gift: isn't accepted by his less intelligent peers, lacks confidence, doesn't know how to connect with girls, has no friends and has massive guilt over events that have transpired due to his own inaction. But when he puts on the mask, he gets to be the person he wants to be. The hero and the savior who frustrates the bullies because they can't contain him or control him (Jameson.) He has everything as Spidey that he never can as Peter....except a life.
Loeb also recognizes that, over the years, Peter has fallen into some incredibly bad luck with women that should have all been sure things for him: Betty Brant hooked up with Ned Leeds, Gwen Stacey died, Mary Jane Watson sacrificed her individuality to be with him only to understand that he can never give her that same degree of priority, Felicia Hardy's insane and so on.
Loeb always manages to break the character down to its essential and write from that base.
Where Loeb frustrates me is in his inability to respect the universe the character exists in. More specifically, he will compromise anything and everything that he has to in order to tell the story he wants to tell. Sometimes, this means writing the other characters that sometimes cross paths with the protgonist in a method that I don't consider honest to those other characters' roots or essence at all.
One only need read the 'red Hulk' arc to know what I mean by this. While emminently enjoyable to me and a blast to read, it would not be an exaggeration to say he's disrespecting some of the other characters and the fans by his sometimes shoddy treatment of those characters.
I've never believed that the integrity of the other characters needs to be compromised in order to make your protagonist compelling.
In Amazing Spider-Man 600, you have Spidey being talked down to by Daredevil...in his own book! And yet, nowhere during that conversation do I feel that Spidey is put in a position of weakness, nor do I feel Daredevil is written out of character at any point. Both characters' integrity is preserved.
I remember reading somewhere that Loeb once said (paraphrasing here): I'm just trying to write the best story I can.
But I don't think that's really true. I think he's trying to remake the characters in the way that he feels they should be portrayed. In his head, the Hulk should be the most powerful, so he writes the Hulk that way. But the Hulk doesn't exist in his own separate version of the MU, and sometimes I think Loeb just doesn't care, and I also thnk that his name has enough marquee value that the editors let him slide on stuff that, say, Fred Van Lente might not be able to get away with at this point in his career.
Loeb has written some stunning work that is nearly flawless, no question. The Long Halloween is a great Batman story arc, Dark Victory is nearly as good, the Marvel 'color' books have been good so far and there are some others that I'm missing.
I think the best thing for Loeb to do, personally, is for him to get back to writing stories about the character whose book he's working on and stop trying to make every issue he writes a crossover extravaganza. It just feels gimmicky and he tends to lose a handle on things when he does that.
Speaking of crossover extravaganas, peeps should take a look at Alan Davis' "Fantastic Four: The End.' Very well handled book that deals with the Marvel Universee as a whole in excellent fashion.
My .02 on Loeb.
