Regis did rock.
The second trade which collects the end of the Ellis/Hitch run and the first four of the Millar/Quitely run is my favourite. Consistently exciting and unbelievably fresh (in the TPB intro, Grant Morrison says, "Hold The Authority up to any other superhero comic. The other comic feels stale and old in comparison doesn't it? Be honest." and he's absolutely right, even today it's fresh as hell, wish I knew what made it so).
Millar's run was crazy indeed, especially when you realise his first four-part arc was The Authority fighting Jack Kirby and all of the Marvel Universe (no... really). When you read what happens to Captain America, you'll understand why Millar was so confused when Marvel asked him to do the Ultimates.
As Proj says though, Millar's run does get screwy. Quitely couldn't keep up with a monthly schedule, and while he did all four-issues to Nativity, the first arc, he did only the last two issues to Earth Inferno, the second arc. That said, the last two issues are AWESOME. The fight at the end of Earth Inferno is a worthy rival to Hulk Does Manhattan. Really. After Earth Inferno was a bull**** one-off written by somebody else which was actually just a tie-in to The Monarchy, a blatant attempt to milk Authority's success. The next issue was the first part of Millar's final arc, "Brave New World". The first issue is OUTSTANDING. Really, really is.
Sadly, Quitely was poached by Marvel to do New X-Men and this left The Authority without an artist. So, the next four-issues were a fill-in arc by a completely different writer and artist and was absolute balls. After that, Millar concluded the last three issues of Brave New World, sadly with a different artist on each issue. Regardless, the Brave New World story is very good indeed.
After Brave New World ended, Authority was cancelled and relaunched with different teams and I didn't pick it up. Apparently, it's good now, but I don't know at all.
But Millar's stuff is worth getting. Just so you got a checklist:
#1-4 Ellis/Hitch "The Circle" (Kaizen Gamorrah)
#5-8 Ellis/Hitch "Shifting Albion (Regis)
#9-12 Ellis/Hitch "Outer Dark" (???)
#13-16 Millar/Quitely "Nativity" (Jack Kirby)
#17-20 Millar/Quitely "Earth Inferno" (???)
#21 AVOID IT IS BOLLOCKS
#22 Millar/Quitely "Brave New World" part 1 (???)
#23-26 AVOID IT IS BOLLOCKS
#27-29 Millar/Various "Brave New World" (???)
And not all the main characters get out alive, so you know.
