I actually really liked John Byrne's run on Superman. And I absolutely LOVED Mark Waid's Birthright. LOL!
I think my main issue is not so much with Morrison, but with DC's editorial management and lack of over all vision. I think the Nu52 took everyone by surprise, it was clearly a left field impromptu decision. Clearly, under Geoff Johns guidance with BRIGHTEST DAY, DC was moving in a very different direction before the Nu52 was announced. And you know I don't have a problem with relaunches. I understand comics is about making money first, and story come second, and a quick easy way to spark new interest is to slap a new shiny NUMBER ONE on a title. I mean I have been reading DC comics since I was 6 years old, almost 40 years... (uhg... when I say it like that I feel very, very, very OLD) and have survived all the various Crisis, Zero Hour, and other reboots. But in every instance, DC always gets cold feet at the last second and only does things half way. When the original CRISIS OF INFINITE EARTHS was planned, the ENTIRE DCverse was supposed to be relaunched from scratch. But because in the end it is all about money, they did not want it to effect their better selling titles. So Wolfman and Perez had to expand the series with another couple of issues and alter the final ending. So you get characters like SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN who get complete day one reboots, while BATMAN and GREEN LANTERN are left seemingly unchanged, and the FLASH became a legacy character. Does any of this sound familiar? The Nu52 did the exact same thing. So in the universe that is only 5 years old, Batman now has something like 5 Robins? And a teenage son. I know this is not the real world, but as a long time comic reader I do enjoy a sense of history and continuity.
As for Superman, I admit there are elements of Morrison's work I like. I do enjoy his reverence for over the top Silver Age style stories. But I feel the tone of Superman's character was all over the place depending on title, writer and editor. Superman as written by Morrison was not the same as Perez or Johns. As for Superman being the "Peoples Hero", I really don't understand what this means? Hasn't he always been the people's hero? Superman, to me, is a hero to ALL people. He is here as a symbol and inspiration to all of Humankind. At least that is the Superman I prefer. I mean, I am not against modernizing elements of Superman, I know print and newspapers are almost sadly dead. I really loved JMS SUPERMAN EARTH ONE volumes one and two, and wish the current reboot was closer to this in tone and character.
I dunno... maybe I am just out of touch...LOL.