SOME REALLY GOOD COMIC BOOK ARTISTS
In first year high school, I used to talk about comic book artists with JB Santos and Patrick Uy-Tioco, our classmates in 1K. Back then, the choices were rather limited: JB, Patrick and I compared Art Adams to Todd McFarlane (the two of them preferred the former while I, a certified Spiderphile preferred the latter). In second year, Patrick and JB left our noble (snort!) section, the former having repeated first year while the latter moved sections and then countries. Consequently, I discussed my preferences with TC, AA and Allan F., and artists like Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri and Whilce Portacio then entered the discussions, especially when Jim Lee’s “X-men” #1 broke sales records. Oddly enough, I found myself taking up the cudgels for Art Adams, even though no one else cared much for him. I had already found myself disillusioned with McFarlane who in a prelude to his “Spawn” years starting drawing my favorite comic book character with complete disregard for dimension, anatomy, and even aesthetics.
Two years ago I bought a trade paperback containing all of Art Adams’ early X-Men work and was surprisingly disappointed. His art, in terms of storytelling and pure aesthetic value, was sadly flat, and it seemed to me as if he had actually benefited from the way newsprint and pre-digital age color separation sometimes caused his art to look faded and murky. You were right, TC, AA, and Allan.
Fortunately, there are a number of new artists (and even a few resurgent old ones) that have more than compensated for my adulthood disenchantment with two of my old favorites. I realize those of you actually collecting out there may be more into writers, but I’ve noticed that there seems to be a greater variety these days among mainstream artists than writers, and I feel it’s something worth celebrating in this blog. Rather than name artists and their body of work, I feel it would be a better indication of their talent to name what I feel are skills crucial to comic book artists and then name those who excel at this particular facet.
STORYTELLING
Former Spider-Man editor Jim Salicrup once said: twenty-two pages of words without art is a script. Twenty-two pages of art without words is a portfolio. Only when you put them together do you have a story. This is not entirely true. An artist can actually tell a story without words, but it takes a very specific kind of talent to give the reader a sense of fluidity in the action from panel to panel, which not every artist has. To my mind the medium’s top storyteller is veteran artist JOHN ROMITA JR. (Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, Black Panther). In the limited series Daredevil: The Man without Fear, one really gets a sense of dynamism from his art, especially in chase or fight sequences. Another master storyteller is definitely BRYAN HITCH (Ultimates). It’s amazing how paces his stories and at the same manages to put out such incredibly detailed work. Finally, FRANK QUITELY (New X-Men, We3) is remarkably creative with his technique, as can be seen from the recent We3 Vertigo limited series which had minimal dialogue and an experimental but striking use of panels.
ANATOMY
To be perfectly honest, next to nobody gets this right. It’s actually part of the way comics are marketed that impels artists to perennially depict impossibly perfect bodies, whether it’s women with D-cup breasts or men with 28-inch waistlines and 45-inch chests. There are a few guys, however, who still manage think outside the box, and give us more believable (and varied) human shapes, with results that are still amazing to look at. QUITELY can also draw both lanky and bulky characters on superhero teams and isn’t afraid to give women thick waistlines when the story calls for it (see the aforementioned We3). HITCH also fits in this category, even though some of his lead characters are still godlike. I hesitate to add ROMITA JR. to this list because although he is not afraid draw his characters lean, sometimes they look a little too lean. He makes it to the list because for the most part his characters, skinny or big, look good and more importantly believable.
RENDERING
This is one of the harder things to do in comics; it requires a lot of painstaking attention to detail, and yet a surprisingly large number of artists are quite adept at it. The king of rendering, to my mind is TRAVIS CHAREST (Wildcats). He has not worked on a book for awhile, but the ones he has done are still a joy to behold. The detail this guy packs into each panel is mind-blowing. HITCH, with his aforementioned photo-realistic style, makes this list as well. Perennial favorite JIM LEE (Superman, Batman, X-Men) is another rendering champ in my opinion, but his eternal problems are that 1) his characters all look the same and 2) they always look like they’re posing for the camera. Although artist JOHN CASSADAY (Astonishing X-Men, Planetary) doesn’t fill his art with cross-hatchings or other similar devices, he imbues his work with a photo-realism that is striking to look at. QUITELY also invests his art with considerable detail, which shows in the delays between his books. MARC SILVESTRI (X-Men) also renders well, although he seems to run out of gas towards the end of a storyline or even a single issue; by the last few pages his artwork can start to look scratchy and rushed. By contrast, DAVID FINCH (New Avengers) whose style is best described as Silvestri meets Lee can draw consistently detailed work, although he seems a bit deficient in the storytelling department. BRANDON PETERSON (Strange, Ultimate X-Men) has been something of a revelation of late; the guy can do pretty impressive detailing in his work, although his style is not all that distinctive. Relative newcomer STEVE McNIVEN (Marvel Knights 4) seems influenced slightly by Charest but has a somewhat better command of anatomy and dynamics. JIM CHEUNG (Young Avengers) also shows a lot of as-yet-unrealized potential. Another promising newcomer is BILLY TAN (X-23), who I’m sure is a Filipino. Of all the Top Cow artists who have made a living cloning Silvestri, he is one of the few who seems to actually be developing a style of his own. Of course, the name GEORGE PEREZ (JLA/Avengers, Crisis) is practically synonymous with ultra-detailed art.
AESTHETICS
Obviously, everybody that’s on the first three lists makes it here, because if their stuff didn’t look good I wouldn’t even bother checking it out long enough to notice other pleasant little nuances. Still, there are some artists who, to my mind don’t really excel in storytelling, anatomy or rendering but who still produce pretty pictures. One of them is ED McGUINNESS (JLA: Classified). His art, while occasionally a little too minimalist and anachronistic for my liking, is still pleasant to look at. TERRY DODSON (Marvel Knights Spider-Man), whose stuff can also look dated with his Betty Page-inspired cheesecake designs, draws well nonetheless and is particularly remarkable because in a relatively short span of time, his style has really evolved. From the rather bland artwork he did for Kevin Smith’s Spider-Man/Black Cat, he has, less than two years later, turned in some really eye-popping stuff for Mark Millar’s Spider-Man. An artist with a style similar to Dodson is FRANK CHO (Spider-Man, Shanna the She-Devil), who appears to be the new Jim Lee. On a radically different note, PHIL HESTER (Green Arrow) draws in a dark but fetching style reminiscent of Batman: the Animated Series. It’s got its own appeal, simple though it may be. Relative veteran JOE QUESADA (Daredevil) truly hit his stride drawing Daredevil; his stuff was brilliant to look at. Another long-time fan-fave, KEVIN MAGUIRE (Formerly Known as the Justice League, JLA: Classified) has the distinction of being able to draw some of the most expressive characters ever to appear on a comic book page. Finally, ADI GRANOV (Iron Man), yet another newcomer, impresses with his computer art and demonstrates how much that particular medium has evolved since it first appeared several years ago.
SPEED
Of all the artists I have named here, there is only one who has been able to put out TWO quality books a month, and that’s ROMITA JR. He has been doing it for over three decades now with books like Spider-Man and X-men and Iron Man and Daredevil. He is at it again right now with Black Panther and Wolverine, drawing both books with striking quality. The only other artist notable for speed is PEREZ owing to the highly-detailed nature of his art which came out on a monthly basis.
This is a good time for comics. Gone are the days of merely comparing Adams to McFarlane. Odd as it may sound after all a whole discourse extolling artists, it’s a good thing that the days of the artist-driven comic book are gone. It’s welcome news because it also means that the egos of pricks like Rob Liefeld (who sucked then and sucks now) are a thing of the past, and therefore instead of focusing on making a mint off their own derivative (e.g. Spawn = Ghost Rider + Prowler + Venom’s symbiote) and/or forgettable (e.g. Monkeyman and O’ Brien, Youngblood) characters, artists can just focus on drawing great stories. Creating new characters is something only writers can really do well, but that’s another post altogether.
Two years ago I bought a trade paperback containing all of Art Adams’ early X-Men work and was surprisingly disappointed. His art, in terms of storytelling and pure aesthetic value, was sadly flat, and it seemed to me as if he had actually benefited from the way newsprint and pre-digital age color separation sometimes caused his art to look faded and murky. You were right, TC, AA, and Allan.
Fortunately, there are a number of new artists (and even a few resurgent old ones) that have more than compensated for my adulthood disenchantment with two of my old favorites. I realize those of you actually collecting out there may be more into writers, but I’ve noticed that there seems to be a greater variety these days among mainstream artists than writers, and I feel it’s something worth celebrating in this blog. Rather than name artists and their body of work, I feel it would be a better indication of their talent to name what I feel are skills crucial to comic book artists and then name those who excel at this particular facet.
STORYTELLING
Former Spider-Man editor Jim Salicrup once said: twenty-two pages of words without art is a script. Twenty-two pages of art without words is a portfolio. Only when you put them together do you have a story. This is not entirely true. An artist can actually tell a story without words, but it takes a very specific kind of talent to give the reader a sense of fluidity in the action from panel to panel, which not every artist has. To my mind the medium’s top storyteller is veteran artist JOHN ROMITA JR. (Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, Black Panther). In the limited series Daredevil: The Man without Fear, one really gets a sense of dynamism from his art, especially in chase or fight sequences. Another master storyteller is definitely BRYAN HITCH (Ultimates). It’s amazing how paces his stories and at the same manages to put out such incredibly detailed work. Finally, FRANK QUITELY (New X-Men, We3) is remarkably creative with his technique, as can be seen from the recent We3 Vertigo limited series which had minimal dialogue and an experimental but striking use of panels.
ANATOMY
To be perfectly honest, next to nobody gets this right. It’s actually part of the way comics are marketed that impels artists to perennially depict impossibly perfect bodies, whether it’s women with D-cup breasts or men with 28-inch waistlines and 45-inch chests. There are a few guys, however, who still manage think outside the box, and give us more believable (and varied) human shapes, with results that are still amazing to look at. QUITELY can also draw both lanky and bulky characters on superhero teams and isn’t afraid to give women thick waistlines when the story calls for it (see the aforementioned We3). HITCH also fits in this category, even though some of his lead characters are still godlike. I hesitate to add ROMITA JR. to this list because although he is not afraid draw his characters lean, sometimes they look a little too lean. He makes it to the list because for the most part his characters, skinny or big, look good and more importantly believable.
RENDERING
This is one of the harder things to do in comics; it requires a lot of painstaking attention to detail, and yet a surprisingly large number of artists are quite adept at it. The king of rendering, to my mind is TRAVIS CHAREST (Wildcats). He has not worked on a book for awhile, but the ones he has done are still a joy to behold. The detail this guy packs into each panel is mind-blowing. HITCH, with his aforementioned photo-realistic style, makes this list as well. Perennial favorite JIM LEE (Superman, Batman, X-Men) is another rendering champ in my opinion, but his eternal problems are that 1) his characters all look the same and 2) they always look like they’re posing for the camera. Although artist JOHN CASSADAY (Astonishing X-Men, Planetary) doesn’t fill his art with cross-hatchings or other similar devices, he imbues his work with a photo-realism that is striking to look at. QUITELY also invests his art with considerable detail, which shows in the delays between his books. MARC SILVESTRI (X-Men) also renders well, although he seems to run out of gas towards the end of a storyline or even a single issue; by the last few pages his artwork can start to look scratchy and rushed. By contrast, DAVID FINCH (New Avengers) whose style is best described as Silvestri meets Lee can draw consistently detailed work, although he seems a bit deficient in the storytelling department. BRANDON PETERSON (Strange, Ultimate X-Men) has been something of a revelation of late; the guy can do pretty impressive detailing in his work, although his style is not all that distinctive. Relative newcomer STEVE McNIVEN (Marvel Knights 4) seems influenced slightly by Charest but has a somewhat better command of anatomy and dynamics. JIM CHEUNG (Young Avengers) also shows a lot of as-yet-unrealized potential. Another promising newcomer is BILLY TAN (X-23), who I’m sure is a Filipino. Of all the Top Cow artists who have made a living cloning Silvestri, he is one of the few who seems to actually be developing a style of his own. Of course, the name GEORGE PEREZ (JLA/Avengers, Crisis) is practically synonymous with ultra-detailed art.
AESTHETICS
Obviously, everybody that’s on the first three lists makes it here, because if their stuff didn’t look good I wouldn’t even bother checking it out long enough to notice other pleasant little nuances. Still, there are some artists who, to my mind don’t really excel in storytelling, anatomy or rendering but who still produce pretty pictures. One of them is ED McGUINNESS (JLA: Classified). His art, while occasionally a little too minimalist and anachronistic for my liking, is still pleasant to look at. TERRY DODSON (Marvel Knights Spider-Man), whose stuff can also look dated with his Betty Page-inspired cheesecake designs, draws well nonetheless and is particularly remarkable because in a relatively short span of time, his style has really evolved. From the rather bland artwork he did for Kevin Smith’s Spider-Man/Black Cat, he has, less than two years later, turned in some really eye-popping stuff for Mark Millar’s Spider-Man. An artist with a style similar to Dodson is FRANK CHO (Spider-Man, Shanna the She-Devil), who appears to be the new Jim Lee. On a radically different note, PHIL HESTER (Green Arrow) draws in a dark but fetching style reminiscent of Batman: the Animated Series. It’s got its own appeal, simple though it may be. Relative veteran JOE QUESADA (Daredevil) truly hit his stride drawing Daredevil; his stuff was brilliant to look at. Another long-time fan-fave, KEVIN MAGUIRE (Formerly Known as the Justice League, JLA: Classified) has the distinction of being able to draw some of the most expressive characters ever to appear on a comic book page. Finally, ADI GRANOV (Iron Man), yet another newcomer, impresses with his computer art and demonstrates how much that particular medium has evolved since it first appeared several years ago.
SPEED
Of all the artists I have named here, there is only one who has been able to put out TWO quality books a month, and that’s ROMITA JR. He has been doing it for over three decades now with books like Spider-Man and X-men and Iron Man and Daredevil. He is at it again right now with Black Panther and Wolverine, drawing both books with striking quality. The only other artist notable for speed is PEREZ owing to the highly-detailed nature of his art which came out on a monthly basis.
This is a good time for comics. Gone are the days of merely comparing Adams to McFarlane. Odd as it may sound after all a whole discourse extolling artists, it’s a good thing that the days of the artist-driven comic book are gone. It’s welcome news because it also means that the egos of pricks like Rob Liefeld (who sucked then and sucks now) are a thing of the past, and therefore instead of focusing on making a mint off their own derivative (e.g. Spawn = Ghost Rider + Prowler + Venom’s symbiote) and/or forgettable (e.g. Monkeyman and O’ Brien, Youngblood) characters, artists can just focus on drawing great stories. Creating new characters is something only writers can really do well, but that’s another post altogether.
posted by Jim Arroyo at 4:36 PM
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