The following are 5 artists who never did it for me. Usually when any of these people show up doing work, the fan reaction is powerful and agreeable. People love their art, but for reasons listed below, I just never did. A lot of this will have to do with my personal taste in art. If you’ve listened to me on the shows we’ve done, you’ll know that the artists I love are guys like Terry Moore, Tony Moore, Sean Phillips, Michael Avon Oeming, and Ryan Ottley. There are more realistic artists I like, but it’s more rare, such as Steve Epting’s Captain America.
It’s not a hate fest, so don’t get your panties in a twist. I am not saying, in any way, that these folks aren’t good artists, or lack talent. I’m saying that, to me, I’ve just never connected to their work, as much as I often feel like I should. I’m coming clean.
1) Glenn Fabry
You probably know Fabry’s work from his Preacher covers. Or Hellblazer covers, or some other covers. I’ve actually seen some interiors, such as in Mike Carey’s adaptation of Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and I like the interiors much better than the covers. We did a whole show on Preacher, and didn’t bring up the covers at all. To some, those were an integral part of the famed series, but to me, I just never liked them. That was partly because the characters on the covers ended up looking a lot different and uglier than the Dillon renditions of the same characters. The two Jessie Custers were very different, and I just preferred the way Dillon drew him. There’s no doubt that there was a great deal of skill in those cover paintings, but for the most part, they’ve always left me cold. This is not the case for all, because Vertigo released a hardcover collection of the covers, and I’m sure there are people out there who loved it, but to me, it reminded me of Garbage Pail Kids for older people, and it just wasn’t for me. I noticed the same thing when I was reading an old Hellblazer trade, and the John Constantine on the cover, painted by Fabry, just didn’t look right to me.
2) Michael Turner
Turner, primarily a cover artist these days, feels mostly like a relic from an earlier, and worse time. Clearly, a lot of people go nuts when he does an alternate cover for something, but I don’t understand why. Turner’s figures are like a mid-90’s rendition of whatever book he’s putting the cover on. It’s just a bunch of super muscles, lady wedgies, angular faces, and standing poses I’ve seen a million times. There are too many lines, and not enough humanity and expression for my taste. I understand that Turner had some absolutely horrible health problems a few years back, and doing a monthly book isn’t really a possibility, and I am thrilled that he can make a good living doing covers once in a while, but I just don’t get it. They’re boring and anachronistic images to my eyes. But there seem to be a lot of people out there who think one of his covers makes the whole thing better, and who am I to take that away from them?
3) Alex Ross
I was thoroughly impressed by Kingdom Come, but what else do you have for me? I can see the work on the page. I can see the effort, talent, and skill right there. It’s clear as day. The thing is, I don’t connect with the work, and it’s looked the same or worse since Kingdom Come. The pages in Kingdom Come, and Marvels before it, were dynamic and exciting. It was new and novel then. But since that time, I guess it just doesn’t impress me any longer. The hyper reality of Ross’ figures, also kind of creeps me out. It’s almost too real, and it depends on who the model is, but some of them creep me out. Neither Ron nor myself can look at Ross’ famous Flash painting. Usually when I see Alex Ross work these days, it makes me appreciate the simpler, more expressive work of the artists I like. If David Mazzucelli is on one side of the spectrum, and Alex Ross is on the other, I know which end I’m going for, so it’s a personal taste thing.
4) Bill Sienkiewicz
This is a big one. It’s not that I don’t like Sienkiewicz. It’s that I don’t get Sienkiewicz. I never have. I wasn’t reading comics at the time he broke out, and therefore the context of the time is somewhat lost on me, just like I know that All in the Family was a groundbreaking series that I don’t laugh at. I’m going to make an effort to re-read Elektra: Assassin (look for more on this book in an upcoming episode), but so far it just eludes me. It’s weird, and I don’t understand. Where with Ross, I don’t like how realistic it is, Sienkiewicz is too far up the other side of the spectrum. And the thing is, I feel like I’m missing out on something that’s right in front of my face. But, if you don’t like the way something tastes, you don’t want it in your mouth.
5) Jim Lee
It’s easy, incredibly easy, to pick on Jim Lee for his continual lateness, but I have never liked his artwork. Again, I can see the work on the page, with all the tiny lines and crosshatching, but it just doesn’t connect with me in any way. For one thing, Lee’s work always seems stiff to me. It’s got some of that posing from the mid 90’s which I tend to find a turn off. I was reading Uncanny X-Men when he came on, and from what I hear from others, this was a big deal, but I just didn’t notice it. I was like 12 at the time, so maybe that’s just not what I was paying attention to. And then, I left comics and came back, and apparently, Jim Lee had become a god of some sort. Fans love Jim Lee’s work, and I just don’t see it. Other than a lot more tiny lines than other artists, I don’t see what is so special about Lee’s work, and I never have. Unlike Sienkiewicz, where I think I’m missing something, with Lee, I’m firmly convinced that they put some sort of addictive material in the ink so people think they’re getting much more amazing art than they are.
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Two words:
Howard. Chaykin.
Homeboy gets way too much work.
MisterS hit it perfect cause Chaykin blows. I think Alex Ross is the most overrated man in comics too (well maybe Loeb but they are close ). Really not a big fan of Freddie Williams 3 either.
thank god someone finally (mostly) agrees with me about jim lee. he’s not a bad artist, but i think he’s standard. average. run of the mill. do i think that because of when i started reading x-men and i just got used to him? i don’t know, maybe.
but, just to play devil’s advocate, i do know that just about every image of the x-men from the 90’s, all the images used for the video game art, action figure backing cards, and pizza hut promotions were predominantly his. he’s responsible for some of the most iconic x-men images around, and he deserves some credit for that, but i still don’t understand when people crap their pants when he’s announced on a book. i’d much rather have someone like frank quitely or howard chaykin who put out work that has its own distinctive style that hasnt been aped for the past twenty years by every up and coming artist in the business.
i also agree with you about turner, probably even more so, being an artist myself who knows what a human body effing looks like. but the other three i couldnt disagree more. i see your point with alex ross, but i met him one time and he’s a really cool dude, so he’s got my dollar.
I can agree with most of these picks – except Bill Sienkiewicz. The Sienkiewicz work of the past still holds up very well and amazes me to no end. I admit, I cannot recall anything he’s done lately…
Glenn Fabry is not very significant for me, his covers seem OK.
Alex Ross just pains me to no end… I do no see what people see his painfully bland and over-modeled illustration. Lee (and to somewhat a lesser degree Turner) seems to personify everything bad in comics for me artwise and that feeling is what drove me from comics years ago.
I do enjoy Chaykin though 🙂
You might be right about something in Jim Lee’s ink, because despite myself, I’ve grown kinda fond of his work on All-Star Batman & Robin. I’m with you on Turner and Ross – haven’t seen enough Sienkiewicz, but will be getting to some soon in the second Miller Daredevil Omnibus.
And I feel compelled rebut with a positive note on Chaykin, because I really enjoy his work – for example, the standalone New Avengers (#21) Civil War issue with Cap was the stuff.
Alex Ross is way too over hyped. Most of his work of late, looks more like middle age office managers that are in decent shape not the world’s greatest heroes.
One I would add to this list in Simone Bianchi. Everytime I see his work it just painfully distracting and unnerving. It really takes away from my enjoyment of the comic because I just can’t get past the artwork. Am I alone in this or should I consult a doctor?
@scseelig- I don’t think you need to make any calls yet. I liked Bianchi’s covers for Detective but his interiors left me cold. Because of this, I’m not really looking forward to Astonishing X-Men as much as I should be.
I almost had Bianchi, but I don’t think he’s big enough really, although I feel like they’re trying to convince me that he is.
But I’m reading some Seven Soldiers stuff he did and it’s pretty good.
I think people tend to get attached to artists that hit it big during their formative years as a comics reader – I would guess the once popular artists of the 70’s and 80’s biggest fans are those that were actively collecting during those eras. Lee, Turner and Ross rose to prominence (deservedly or not) at times of increased readership in the 90’s and as such, developed pretty large followings that are still reading comics today. And fanboys are nothing if not loyal/completists/sheep – hell, Liefield has become shorthand for "hack" but still sells books when he does interiors. Mind you, I like a lot of stuff that Lee and Ross do, but agree that the amount of hype/sales they continue to generate is a bit baffling.
And as far as Sienkiewicz is concerned, you’re just crazy.
BONUS! I can certainly understand people not being thrilled with Chaykin’s current output (I think it’s hit or miss), but I implore you to go back and read American Flagg – the art is simply stunning with inventive page layouts for days. That’s the reason the man still has the cache he does today and it’s well deserved.
Scotty Young, i rarely understand whats going on when he is on a book.
First, I am pretty amazed that Bachalo and Liefeld on this list for as much as I have heard their names mentioned on the podcast.
Second, agree with Dante about liking the artists you grew up with. For me I LOVE Sam Kieth (as well as Sienkiewicz) because his Wolverine and The Maxx got me into comics. But for the life of my I can stand almost any art prior to the mid to late 80s. Specifically, I just don’t get what the big deal is about Jack Kirby. I understand he is a legend in comics and I have read so many time about how he put so much expression and action in what he drew and how big of a difference he made in comics but I just don’t see it. Somebody explain it to me because I am just not seeing it.
Finally, I know he isn’t a big name but I can’t stand Jim Lawson who currently draws Tales of the TMNT and there TMNT books in the past. Too much cross-hatching, too many squared off edges, too manly looking women. Alas, I still buy the books because I love the Turtles, I just pray for a fill-in artist as much as possible.
Sorry for the double post, it always takes forever for these comments to load and makes me want to hit submit again. Also, the first line of my post should read, "First, I am pretty amazed that Bachalo and Liefeld AREN’T on this list…"
When I hear the phrase overrated artist, Frank Miller immediately comes to mind…he can be an outstanding writer, but he’s a horrendous artist.
I love Jim Lee’s art, it is stiff in certain aspects, but he just gives characters a badass feel. His detail in expression and composition. The guy’s backgrounds are incredible and everyone knows, top 3 Batman artist. Bob Kane, Neal Adams.. and yeah, Jim effin’ Lee.
One person, who I guess is a B list artist I suppose, maybe not so much.. but, Howard Porter. Ugly stuff, I know Josh loved his stuff on Trial of Shazams, but what a relief when he was off and his old stuff was horrendous from the JLA days.
You never saw the term overrated in the above article.
I totally disagree with this post. Yeah sure there are artists I like more and some I like less, but all of the above artists they all have the one key ingredient that is essential in comic books, they can tell a good story, and that is what counts. Sure not every artist is good for every project, I for one wouldn’t want to see Jim Lee or Alex Ross on the pages of Criminal, but then again Sean Phillips probably wouldn’t have fitted so well on Justice or All Star Batman. I used to be like you guys and have artists I loved and some I couldn’t stand, but I have recently come to realize that most comic book artists bring something unique to the table, if you look for it. What matters is the ability to tell the story, and that the artist is well matched to the book.
For example one of the biggest let-downs with ‘Ultimates 3’ (apart from the lack of plot!) is Joe Madureiras art, not that it is bad (I love some of his x-men stuff from the 90’s) it is just impossible to link his character to the Bryan Hitch originals, hence he is a bad choice for the book.
Oh yeah and if you want a good example of a project suited to Bill Sienkiewicz try to check out: Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix this is a fantastic book any fan of graphic story telling or 6fan of rock music should have.
@mikeland82 – How can you disagree with someone’s opinion on art?
The only one I’m surprised to see here is Sienkiewicz. I have friends that don’t like his work. In fact, I know lots of people that don’t like his work, but without trying to sound elitist, they do tend toward the lowbrow tastes. It makes me curious what you think of Mack, who I see as picking up where Sienkiewicz left off.
I really like the Elektra series, but there is other stuff going on there (like a pretty crazy story by Miller). To give Sienkiewicz a fairer shot, you might try his run on the New Mutants. I don’t know if this has been reprinted, but it it should be. The Daredevil Graphic novel by Miller/Sienkiewicz is also good.
Conor, obviously, all opinions on art or otherwise are subjective (as are my own opinions). What I disagree with is the attitude, that seems to be across comic fandom, that because a certain artist is on a book it is automatically going to suck. From the podcasts I know that you guys try to be fair, and we all have different tastes, but I know folk who wont pick up certain books because of the artist, and as a result miss out on good stories, and the whole comic industry suffers from this.
An easy example is 52, some of the artists In that series I enjoyed more than others (reading it in trades I really noticed the change in artist from issue to issue). But I still loved the whole series because all of the art was able to carry the story, and I understood that a weekly book would need to have multiple artworkers. What I am saying is it is the easiest thing to write off a particular artist or writer (for that matter), but it is far better to try to see the good instead. What I love about the comic book world today is the massive variation in art styles, and writing styles compared to the comics I grew up reading in the mid 80’s, this diversity is something I feel we should celebrate. Hence my disagreement was not with the opinions expressed, but with the slightly negative tone of the article.
Here’s my problem with Alex Ross art. Now, there is no denying he is really talented. The man has a great attention to detail and his character designs are really top notch. When he does a pin up of something, I love it. However, when he does actual storytelling in the interior of a book, I feel like his work has no energy to it. The characters don’t look like they are captured in mid-motion, they look like they are posing in that position. Which is fine for fine art. but this is COMIC art. it’s supposed to have some POP. Artwork post-Kirby is supposed to be kinetic, right?
I’m a big fan of Seinkiewicz and Chaykin. Less so of Ross. I’m kind of over Jim Lee but it’s not his fault. Imitators kind of ruined his stuff for me.
Artists I don’t care for:
Bachalo and Ramos. I’m over Frank Miller too. Don’t like Eaglesham or Rags Morales. As for older artists, I never cared for Jim Aparo, Carmine Infantino, Joe Staton, Curt Swan, or Bret Blevins.
Google an image search for Sienkiewicz’s cover for Batman 400. Also for The Shadow #1. Spectacular!
@mikeland – I really don’t understand your point. Does everyone have to love every creator? Josh isn’t ripping on these artists, he’s saying taht these popular artists are not for him. Art is personal and subjective. Comics are also personal and subjective. I literally cannot enjoy a comic – no matter how good the writing – if I don’t get at least something out of the art. But that’s me. Everyone is different. There’s no value in opinion if you say everything is good. Everything is not good. If everything was good, "good" would lose all its meaning.
I don’t understand the dislike for Jim Lee, but the others I can understand.
There are only two artists I can think of that I simply cannot read their work. Chris Bachalo and Sam Keith. I really abhor their style. It bad for story telling and its just plain bad visually.
The ‘hot’ artist I just can’t get into is Scott McDaniel. His characters are incredibly ugly, and at times his splash pages are indecipherable, as in my eye just doesn’t know where to go to make sense of it. And Ross’s work, at times, brings to mind the Nazi-sanctioned art of wartime Germany, with his use of low angles and muscular aryans. I’m not implying any sinister themes in Ross’s work, it just strikes me as the type of stuff Hitler would have just loved.
@mikeland82 – I think I was pretty far from negative. I didn’t say any of them were without talent. In fact, I frequently said the opposite.
I mean, the article was artists I don’t love, so I guess that is, in essence negative, but I don’t know if you’ve been on the web much, but I didn’t say anything mean, or that anything "sucked."
What sort of a critic isn’t allowed to dislike something respectfully? Unless you can point out something disrespectful, then I disagree with the negative tone of your post.
A HA!
Conor
Ok to put it in simple terms, no everyone doesn’t have to like every creator, I’m not saying I do myself, I’m not suggesting for a moment that this should be the case, as you rightly pointed out, that would make all criticism invalid. But what I am saying is I dislike articles that are just negative criticism.
If in the context of reviewing a particular book a creators work is criticized, fine but ‘top 5 creators I don’t like’ type lists leave me cold. I would have been much happier to find a list of say ‘5 lesser known/under-hyped artists worth checking out’. That would have given readers something to look into and a bit of positive limelight for some lesser know artists perhaps. I feel that this kind of thing is a bit tired, you very rarely come across a movie critic who would just right of a particular actor or director, no they review each piece of work in it’s own merit, ‘lists’ like this are the kind of dumbing down that give comic fans a bad name in the wider world.
I have come to expect more balanced and reasoned output from you guys, this article just didn’t do it for me, thats all.
If I’ve learned nothing over the past couple weeks, it’s that I can’t make everyone happy all the time.
Josh, Conor, Ok ok, I didn’t mean to be all negative, and you are right you didn’t go overboard in you comments, to be honest that I why ifanboy is the only comic book site i visit regularly, because there generally is a lack of the ‘such a person sucks’ type comments. But what I was saying was that the ‘negative’ is in the aspect of devoting an article to stuff you don’t like, rather than why you do like the stuff you do, but hey obviously you just had to get it off you chest. I really respect and enjoy your show, and your opinions generally spot on, (and you guys have doubled my credit card bill with all the good stuff you have pointed out that I otherwise might have missed!) I suppose it is just this style of article doesn’t appeal to me, i much prefer that the criticism is in context, e.g. when reviewing a particular book, because some time artists I don’t rate personally do great work and surprise me, and sometimes creators I love can have an off issue, or even a poor run.
I don’t agree with the Jim Lee criticism. Of all the old Image guys, I find his work to be by far the best. Yeah, he does draw some, shall we say, idealized human beings but that’s actually a good fit for superhero comics and he has a strong storytelling sense and his artwork is bold and immediately eye-catching.
Sienkiewicz, on the other hand, I couldn’t agree more with. I can see the skill, I can see that if you like really abstract art, you’d probably really like his stuff but personally I just find it ugly and confusing.
Hmmmm. I mostly agree with those. Not so sure about Fabry, though. I think he does do a great cover. But yeah, his interiors are not so strong. I didn’t like his Neverwhere art – but more so because the characters looked too far remodelled from the TV series.
Very much with you on Lee.
My own personal list of Artists I don’t get would have to include Scott Kollins. I just don’t get the appeal of his sketchy style. It always lacks personality, in my opinion, in too often leaves the colourist trying to breath more life into it.
Another acquired taste would be Michael Ryan. I swing between loving and hating the guy, so often. His work on the Bob Weinberg period of Cable was promising – I love the way he seems to draw these kind of art deco-esque long haired women. I suited some of the future timelines he was drawing there. But too often his faces tend to look very similar – male and female. Sometimes the only way you can tell them apart is the hair.
I recall an arc of New Excalibur he drew, with the Black Knight guesting in that odd Frank Tieri Camelot story. There we had Dane Whitman and Pete Wisdom looking identical, and Dane’s ancestor Sir Percy looking identical to Captain Britain (With the mask off obviously). It just got WAY too confusing!
Chaykin, Turner, Benes, and Bagley are four of my least favorite artists. It pains me that Benes is on JLA and Bagley is on Trinity.
In my opinion Alex Ross is amazing. When I got into comics Justice was one of the first books that blew me away art wise. The hyper reality and majesty of every character is what drew me to his work. It’s only been a year and a half but I haven’t gotten tired of him and I look forward to every JSA cover.
Totally agree with all your picks, Josh. Except, Sienkiewicz. The man is brilliant beyond words.
Sienkiewicz is one of the few artists that bring that capital "A", Art to this lowly medium of comics. Next level shit.
Allow me to be clearer on Sienkiewicz (which is pronounced sin-KEV-itch for those curious). He’s not bad. I accept and realize that he’s a genius. I just don’t get it, and therefore I can’t enjoy it. As I said, I am going to try again.
i get a mountain of shit for really diggin skottie young and charlie adlard.
I don’t think I’ve read anything with Sienkiewicz did art for, but I really like the pic you offered. I wouldn’t like Alex Ross’ art if it was merely a gimmick, but he has more to offer than just photo realism. Michael Turner isn’t too interesting to me, because he lacks varitey in his character models. I love Glen Fabry’s work on Preacher. It feels so disgustingly real that I dreaded brining it out on my train rides. Jim Lee’s style is something I really appreciate. Extra pockets for everyone! 🙂
I know there are artists who aren’t for me, but if pressed I’m not sure I could list them. Maybe I accentuate the positive after all….
wait: does "almost everyone hired to do X-Factor since Ryan Sook" count as an artist? Just emphatically not what I’m looking for.
That guy on the new X-Force. Please don’t make me look anymore!
I guess Greg Land and that Mayhew guy who did those She-Hulk covers should go here too.
Maybe I can come up with a list. Rats.
Oh, Josh… can open, worms everywhere (totally stole that from Friends).
I think you make a really good point. All art is subjective, and not just literal art. You can have a friend scream at you why you should like a certain band, and you may see they’ve got talent, but at the end of the day if you ain’t diggin’ it you ain’t diggin’ it. A brave post indeed!
For my two cents I agree about Jim Lee. Talented dude, just don’t dig his stuff (I’m saying ‘dig’ far too much in this). Disagree about Bill Sienkiewicz (you should see the original sketch of Venom I have that he did… just beautiful, and that’s a character I don’t even like), but different strokes and all that. I really don’t like the guy doing Batman at the moment (is it Ryan Benjamin, I don’t have any copies with me to check), but I couldn’t do any better and lots of folks like him so good on him.
Can’t we all just get along?
Benes, Ramos, Churchill, Bachalo and Bagley are all dudes i do not dig at all. I have such distaste for those artists that I always think long & hard if I will buy a book with their name on it.
Aesthetically speaking, their work is profoundly garish and ugly. Can’t stand it.
great subject to bring up. taste in art is always subjective, and interesting to debate.
gotta say i’m with you on michael turner. he can stop any time and i wouldn’t shed any tears.
jim lee i can stand. he’s got some chops. out of all the original image guys he and larsen are the only artists i can still stand to look at.
right now, i’m having a hard time reading book by ian churchill and joe benitez. dunno, they just don’t do it for me at all. in fact i’m not going to read titans past number 1 because of the art.
i can see what you mean about alex ross. i’ll only read his stuff if the story’s good. your examples of marvels and kingdom come where good ones.
but bill sienkewicz? i’ll read anything he does. i want him on batman.
Benes, Kolins… and… gulp… Sean Phillips. Please don’t throw garbage (or feces)!
Turner never really did anything for me and I was never into Witchblade/Fathom until I picked up issues #12? (tomb raider crossover) and that opening splash page of Aspen snowboarding blew me away!!! I eventually picked up some early issues of Witchblade/Fathom to see if this could be recreated since I didn’t think all the art was top notch like that page throughout the crossover. And I found that one or two pages in a issue would stand out and the rest looked almost different. I don’t know if this had to do with his health problems or not. Still not the biggest fan of his he made me look twice at his art.
@Lriversiii
"Alex Ross is way too over hyped. Most of his work of late, looks more like middle age office managers that are in decent shape not the world’s greatest heroes."
Lriversiii, that made my day
i really pooped the bed with that post, eh?
so can we put html in these bubbles?
<a href="http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b282/minithin/?action=view¤t=crotch.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b282/minithin/crotch.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Josh you’re entitled to your opinion and while I think you knew this would become a sensative thread, you did a good job of not being too bias or negative, just expressing your taste.
Bagley is a name that has come up various times in this thread and I just have to say that bagley is personally my favorite artist. I started reading comics as a kid and the two books that I loved were amazing Spider-man and New Warriors, both drawn by Bagley. I think bagley has such a classic and light hearted style, in my opinion his art is perfectly suited for superhero comics.
Sienkiewicz? Genius? I don’t agree. His New Mutans back in the 80’s caused me o drop the title. I do like David Mack’s work though and when people try and validate their own opinion by calling one who disagrees "lowbrow" is a punk move. Not everyone likes everything, just because some of dislike his art doesn’t make us lowbrow, just differing positions. And Humberto Ramos is the worst by far!
@Josh: This was a very interesting post and brought up a lot of debate. I think to make it even more interesting, you should post about the 5 artists who DO do it for you. I think it would be interesting to compare the artists you just don’t get to the ones that you do.
It’s very possible that a companion piece was planned even before publication of this piece. Possible…
Can someone explain why Sienkiewicz is "brilliant" and "a genius?" Of course, quality of art is subjective, so I am more in the "I don’t get it" camp than the "So and so’s a bad artist" camp. But with Sienkiewicz, one thing I don’t get is the absolute reverence. Is it that comic fans are prone to hyperbole? Is it that he’s different and that somehow equals genius? Is it that he hit the scene with new styles at the right time (grim and gritty) and that Frnak Miller used him?
His stuff reminds me of the scene in The Big Lebowski when Julianne Moore is in here harness contraption and just flings paint on a board.
I like Alex Ross, but I don’t love Alex Ross. Same with Jim Lee.
I pretty much agree with you on the everyone else, though.
Interesting topic! Sienkiewicz has always been a struggle for me. I love abstract art, but in comics i struggle with it. My first exposure to him was in New Mutants. It was quite jarring to go from ‘standard’ comics art to his more ‘artisitc’ style. His work on Stray Toasters and The Shadow though were a perfect fit. I somehow see him as a better fit for covers or more Vertigo-type stuff. I just cant picture him on a ‘regular’ book anymore like say, Justice League.
It’s interesting to see artists throughout their careers. I love Chaykin art during American Flagg but his stuff is sloppier now. The same goes for Byrne. I loved him in the 80s, but i just don’t like it now…it’s just not as tight. The same goes for Perez. I guess it’s just aging! sigh I guess we all must grow old sometime. BUT on the otherhand, I appreciate Kirby more now!? I used to hate his blocky almost coarse figures back in the day, but as i have matured, I love and appreciate him more now and enjoy the tribute-type art as seen in Godland. Weird.
Chris Bachalo. Can’t stand his artwork. It doesn’t effectively tell the story, which I think is the worst offense any artist can commit.
JRJR. I know most people love him, but his stuff has always bored me to tears. His women have weird lines on their faces, and basically everything just looks strange. Certainly he’s not terrible, but his presence doesn’t make me enjoy a book any more.
One artist that I have never gotten was David Mack. The only exposure I’ve had of him is from his two arcs on Daredevil. I’m just not a huge fan of the collage style that he brings to the table. I can understand that it is artistic, but I just don’t get it.
And I agree with Josh about Michael Turner. He’s someone that I don’t understand in terms of their overwhelming popularity. I mean, he’s fine and can draw well, but his characters are just too muscly for my tastes.
I enjoy Jim Lee’s art, but that picture looks like both Batman and Nightwing are amputees.
All these artists make great covers but as art goes its an aquired taste. Except Jim Lee I love his art on Hush, his Superman run, and All Star Batman and Robin.
Maybe I scrolled too quickly but I’m very happy not to have seen Erik Larsen’s name on anyone’s list.
That said, Josh is wrong about All in the Family. I mean really.
I want to hear your archie bunker on the next episode.
I’ll jump on the Chaykin-hating train. Although there are few artists that will completely prevent me from buying a book if it is written by a someone I enjoy, or is about a character I particularly like. Having Chaykin on Hawkman was giving me hives, though.
I know its blasphemy but I really don’t like Quitely’s art all that much either. Perhaps if he was drawing some original characters I’d like it better, but his depictions of Superman and Prof. X, to me, just don’t look like the character should look. I can’t really put my finger on it.
I also was not a fan of Jim Aparo — to me all his faces look the same with that rectangular head and square jaw.
Then of course theres: http://progressiveboink.com/archive/robliefeld.html
I agree with your assessment of Alex Ross. It obviosly is awe inspiring to some people, but I prefer my comics to look less ‘real life’. Josh is right, they often times look creepy. His interpretations aren’t what I picture when I think of a superhero. It throws you off.
And I wholeheartedly agree with the first couple of posts. Howard Chaykin doesn’t do anything for me. He is probably my least favorite artist in the biz today. I am suprised every time the guys mention how much they like his work. I actively avoid any book he is on.
oh and I don’t get Quitely either. I must be missing something.
I downright despise Quitely’s art. I really can’t stand it. Even though I enjoy some of the artists on this list I can totally see why they’re on here, like Lee and Ross. I know just as many people that aren’t fans that are.
I also just don’t get Frank Quitely. The only thing I liked about his art on X-Men is that he actually drew Wolverine as being 5’3" tall. Every time I see that dopey homo-erotic look on Superman’s face in his artwork, I throw up a little in my mouth.
NJBaritone, that link is AWESOME.
Jim Lee is hit or miss with me. He has a formulaic way of constructing his figures. He still, after all these years, doesn’t draw a torso correctly. I’ve also noticed that when faces are drawn in profile, they have block jaws that run horizontally. While, when he draws faces straight-on, the jawlines angle downward as they should.
Still, I can’t help but like the cinematic way he draws superheroes. His style is becoming a bit too cliche’ for my taste. I wish he would give his Deathblow style another try (And someone tell Frank Miller to lay off him this time. No, you didn’t invent that style, Frank!).