Warren Ellis is an ideas machine but not much of it is polished or even really quality-controlled. He just spews stuff out all the time, very hit and miss, and when it's hit it's no big hit.
David Mack paints and draws in nice ways. But he thinks he's smarter than he really is. His post-modern approach to storytelling started as an innovation and it has now become a hindrance to his own skill. Not to mention the countless 'let's draw little texts around in our brackets' immitators, who I guess I cannot use against him, but still.
There's good comics outside the american market too. I suggest Andrea Pazienza, Alberto Breccia and José Muñoz.
