Random Thoughts

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Artists and their PERFECT run

All of the artists below have had great runs on many titles... some guys like George Perez and John Byrne have been at it for 25 years and are still going strong.

But some artists are almost defined by a particular run on a titles (Simonson's Thor), much like the characters become defined by the artists (Batman by Adams).

Neal Adams - Batman, X-Men, Spectre & Green Lantern
Adams is the ultimate artist. His stuff revolutionized the comics medium and he took Batman from camp to cool. He put the dark in the Dark Knight. His socially relevant stories with Denny O'Neil in Green Lantern-Green Arrow still hold up today.

John Byrne - Fantastic Four & X-Men
Byrne's Fantastic Four run is second only to Stan Lee and Jack kirby's for both length and originality. You never knew what you were going to get each month and the art was just beautiful. His X-Men with Claremont is legendary. 'Nuff said.

Jim Aparo - Batman, Aquaman
Aparo is the artist I most equate with Batman. He drew it for so long and so well that I have a hard time picturing anyone else's Batman.

Walt Simonson - Thor
Simonson made Thor both interesting and cool. his Thunder god is still the pinnacle of the original series and that's including Kirby's stuff.

Frank Miller - Daredevil
Without Miller the gritty noir style book Bendis writes would not exist. Miller drew the book to suit his stories resulting in the quinticential Daredevil.

Norm Breyfogle - Batman (Detective Comics)
Along with Aparo Breyfogle defined Batman in the 1990's. His dynamic art wow'd you each and every month.

George Perez - Avengers, Teen Titans
Perez was one of the first artists I intentionally bought comics because of. Even ones I didn't collect that he drew I would buy because of his ultra detail and action. Each character had a different face, expressions and Perez was consistent. He always delivered.

Mike Kaluta - The Shadow
Who doesn't think of Kaluta when you mention the Shadow? He defined the character and though there were many artists before Kaluta that drew him none captured the mood.

Mike Grell - Warlord & Green Arrow
Grell IS Warlord. Grell IS Green Arrow. Grell's Green Arrow was and is the picture perfect way to draw (and in his case write) the character. Grell drew Ollie at street level, dark and moody. It was a perfect blend of art and story.

Jack Kirby - Everything!
He's not called the King for nuthin!
New Gods, FF, Avengers, Captain America, Demon etc. Everything he drew was gold.

2 Comments:

  • I agree with every choice you made - 100%. I would also nominate Ditko's start on Amazing Spider Man.

    By Blogger Donovan Yaciuk, at 10:05 AM  

  • DAMN! Good one!

    I admit to forgetting a lot... like Kubert's Sgt Rock and so on.

    Thanks for the comment!

    By Blogger He Said... She Said, at 12:44 PM  

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