Thinking about my favorite writers and I think the most essential thing for me is always the idea of 'Can I see the creator's face in the work?', which I don't mean literally, but do I get a sense of who they are, what they're into, beyond this thing they're writing about?

The writers I care about the least can do solid/fun or even great dialogue or nail all the character voices or know the material very well, but end up being ones I could never pick out from a pile. I know they can write a spot on, say, Booster Gold, but I know nothing beyond that

What are your obsessions? What are you into? What horrifies you? What fascinates you? What are your interests? And I mean that in the context beyond this F4 comic or Superman comic you're writing.

I wanna see you, the personality and heart all over this book. Who are you?

My favorites are folks whose interests, usually, lie massively beyond superheroes and their work just brings all of their interests beyond the broad stuff, like say Star Wars/Trek/LoTR/DC/Marvel etc and they have wide influences, they've never homogenized. They bring new things.

Having that wide, varied net of influences, beyond just the broad, generic field of stuff you're writing about and knowing those things' continuity, is really helpful.

Helps broaden perspective and you're then able to bring a whole slew of fresh stuff you otherwise may not have

All of which is to say, I care more about a deeply personal vision, no matter who it's from, than the actual property and its lore/mythos/canon or what have you.

I want to see the most you-take on the material, something that's nothing like any prior (or likely after).

There are legions who *get* these characters, can nail their voices or do fun stuff with them. And that's neat.

But not as many who can take a thing and break free to do something deeply intimate and personal that can never be replicated, unbound to the influences of the past.