I wonder if a lot of ageism is involved there by the industry in general? On the other hand some writers became less of a draw for me. Thomas’s All Star Squadron was enjoyable to me but Infity Inc. not as much even though I really liked Power Girl and Star Spangled Kid. Paul Levitz last run on the Legion was really disappointing also. On the other hand I can’t think of to many new writers back when I was actively reading new titles that really enthralled me.
I really enjoyed ALL STAR SQUADRON, especially the Buckler issues (1-5) and the Adrian Gonzales/Ordway issues (roughly 6-20). And the ALL SWTAR SQUADRON ANNUAL 1 that ties together the origins of the Golden Age Atom, the Guardian (from Newsboy Legion), and Wildcat was a terrific story, that showed off what Roy Thomas does best with refining existing continuity into something even better.
I also enjoyed Thomas' YOUNG ALL STARS run. Like you, I was not as fond of the INFINITY INC run. To me the INFINITY INC run was more trendy 1980's and not enough Golden Age, like the other two runs were.
I also enjoyed Thomas' 50-issue ARAK run.
And Thomas over many single issues of SECRET ORIGINS (1986-1990) also did individual origins for most of the JSA characters, most of them by Michael Bair, so nicely illustrated. In a few issues of DC COMICS PRESENTS, Thomas also did some nice stuff with the Shazam family characters, that also loosely relates to the Golden Age DC characters.
I see what you're saying about the age-discrimination with older creators, and that's probably what plays into it. They wrote with a voice that resonated for readers in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's, and arguably that era has passed, and isn't as relatable to the new generation of readers. I pretty much feel the same way about the new writers, they don't write material that relates to me as a reader, and I've largely stopped buying new material. Stuff by creators like HELLBOY, GROO, various new work by Craig Russell, Walt Simonson, Paul Smith and a few others are the only new books I buy, and only occasionally. I mostly buy back issues and collected editions. One time while talking to John Morrow of Two Morrows publishing, another guy joined our conversation and said of reading Morrow's line of magazines and books: "I find I read more
about comics than actual comics these days." I can relate to that.
The last new story I read by Roy Thomas was an Elseworlds, JLA: ISLAND OF DR MOREAU, withg art by Steve Pugh that I really enjoyed.
