"It's fun and it's cool, so that's all that matters. It's what comics are for, Duh."
Words to live by.
I think that also prejudiced some people against Venditti since they thought he would write more of the same crap in the new book. HJ&GLC still has its flaws but it was a lot more enjoyable than whatever he was trying to do before that. The double shipping helped matters too since that book was often such a quick read. lol
While Venditti's HJ&GLC was much better than his earlier GL work, his X-O Manowar is still better than either, imho.
I'm gonna say that may be because his X-O was my introduction to the character; I didn't have 25 yrs history with him like I did with Hal to compare it to.