The Top Five Comic Artists Thread

[Andy Turnbull]

With a little bit of a difference rather than pick then overall, we pick a comic series/character each week and pick our top five and see how they change as they go:

Week 1 - Batman

CURRENT STANDINGS
1 - Jack Kirby
2 - John Byrne
3 - Brian Bolland
4 - Neal Adams
5=Norm Breyfogle, Jim Aparo, Steve Epting, Geoff Senior

Week 1 - BATMAN
Week 2 - CAPTAIN AMERICA
Week 3 - JUDGE DREDD
Week 4 - GREEN LANTERN (Hal Jordan)
Week 5 - SILVER SURFER
Week 6 - SPIDER-MAN
Week 7 - SUPERMAN
Week 8 - STAR WARS
Week 9 - TRANSFORMERS
Week 10 - THE HULK
Week 11 - THE AVENGERS

[Andy Turnbull]

My top five Batman artists:
1 - Norm Breyfogle
2 - Alan Davis
3 - Jim Aparo
4 - Neal Adams
5 - Kelley Jones

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Whoever animated the opening credits of the Adam West TV series.

Google has failed to provide me with a name, but I have faith in you, Andy.

Martin

[Andy Turnbull]

No idea who animated them. But they based it on the classic take on Batman and is an amalgam of Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff, Jerry Robinson and Dick Sprang.

Andy

[nick]

GREAT idea for a thread! In no particular order...

Marshall Rogers
Greg Capullo
Simon Bisley
Norm Breyfogle
Frank Miller

A lot of those are for the Batsparks they ignited in me as an artist, Judgement On Gotham being my first Bat-purchase.

I never really got a feel for Aparo, but maybe that's because most of my exposure to him was in his later career. I felt he was a weak choice for the BatBreaking moment in Knightfall, compared to the masterful Jurgens & Breeding artwork on Superman #75. He does crop up a lot in the 'definitive' Batartist lists though.

[Andy Turnbull]

I too was disappointed that Aparo was on the main batbook at that point, just because we'd had the run of Breyfogle and I'd rather he had stayed on the book, but having read so much of his classic stuff in various reprints his version of Batman is excellent.

Judgement on Gotham was great fun, the later crossovers less so.

Andy

[Jim]

I've never been a big DC reader, and struggle to think of 5 artists I've read actual Batman comics by (discounting his appearances in other series), so will just say:

David Mazzucchelli

His Batman looks human and as believable as such a character can be, and he produces overall great comic work.

[nick]

He was so close to getting on the list! His limited contribution pagecount-wise is massively disproportionate the the affect that series has had on the character. Wouldn't argue with you, sir.

Agreed on the Bats/Dredd team-ups, Andy. It was the sheer fun of that first offering that causes Bisley's rendition to stay in my mind. The Batmobile in that book was the business too.

[Philip Ayres]

I'm not a huge Batfan and by vitue of having only two Batman trades on the shelf I have to say Frank Miller & Brian Bolland. But several of the names mentioned I've seen do great work elsewhere.

[The Doctor]

Batman is something I have tended to prefer in media outside of comics, but I do like some of the mad early strips in terms of style and also when Aparo draws him punching things.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

Nobody does a better uppercut than Aparo.

Andy

[Andy Turnbull]

May 22, 2012 14:06:08 GMT nick said:

He was so close to getting on the list! His limited contribution pagecount-wise is massively disproportionate the the affect that series has had on the character. Wouldn't argue with you, sir.

Agreed on the Bats/Dredd team-ups, Andy. It was the sheer fun of that first offering that causes Bisley's rendition to stay in my mind. The Batmobile in that book was the business too.

Mazuchelli, Miller and Bolland were all bubbling under for me as well. If it was writers Miller is a slam dunk though.

Bisley's Batmobile was indeed splendid.

Andy

[Kingoji]

This is tough. A great deal of my faves have already been said.

No order;

Tim Sale
Bruce Timm
Eduardo Risso
Brian Bolland
Jim Fern

[Deleted]

Fantastic thread!

I don't get a chance to check this board all that often (here tonight due to scripting-induced sleep deprivation) but I'll leap in and post my picks for the hell of it. Believe it or not, I only just started reading a few Batman bits, so I haven't sampled a great deal of the work thats's out there.

That said, of the stuff I've seen, I really like Greg Capullo's artwork. Loves me a nice sense of exaggeration in comic art, and the man has lots of great pose and dynamics going on in there as well.

There's a kookiness to Bruce Timm's work that I really like, too - although, to be honest, I don't actually own much of his stuff.

I'm quite fond of Jim Lee on Batman as well. I mangaed to nab both volumes of 'Hush' recently in an Ebay auction, and as much as I think his art is instantly recognisable everywhere as Jim Lee, he has a particular way of rendering those characters.

Neal Adams is another one of those guys who drops my jaw on a regular basis. I don't actually own any Batman books he's done interiors on, but I've seen a few pages of black and white Bat-art... stunning stuff.

Also, gotta give an honourable mention to Katsuhiro Otomo, who rendered a neato short for Batman: Black And White. The guy's work on Akira was responsible for opening my eyes wide to the coolness and certain non-dorkyness of comics as a creative medium. Everything he touches, in my opinion, is gold. So how could I NOT mention him? I sorely wish he was still drawing comics.

[Philip Ayres]

So what is it this week then Andu?

[Andy Turnbull]

Week 2 Captain America

in honour of the crossover fight between them in the 90's.

Andy

[Andy Turnbull]

My pick:
1 - Jack Kirby
2 - Jim Steranko
3 - Ron Garney
4 - John Byrne
5 - Mike Zeck

Andy

[Jim]

That's a hard list to argue with, though I'm unfamiliar with Zeck's work on Cap. Mine:

1. Jim Steranko
2. John Byrne
3. Ron Garney
4. Jack Kirby
5. Steve Epting

[primenova]

Davis & Adams would be in my top 5. With Jack Kirby - you do have to like the technology he drew, which we also got with Dan Reed. The Silver Surfer cartoon was great with stick with Jack's style. But was cancelled after 13 - without dealing with the cliff hanger.

[Philip Ayres]

I've got Zeck's run and it's tops. Never read the Kirby & Steranko issues so can't vote for them. Confining myself to Captain America itself rather than including avengers

1 - John Byrne
2 - Mike Zeck
3 - Paul Neary - drew the superb Death of Red Skull
4 - Steve Epting
5 - Michael Lark

[The Doctor]

Kirby, Kirby, Kirby, Kirby, Kirby.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

May 28, 2012 15:43:27 GMT Philip Ayres said:

I've got Zeck's run and it's tops. Never read the Kirby & Steranko issues so can't vote for them. Confining myself to Captain America itself rather than including avengers

1 - John Byrne
2 - Mike Zeck
3 - Paul Neary - drew the superb Death of Red Skull
4 - Steve Epting
5 - Michael Lark

Good call as we will no doubt tackle The Avengers at a later time.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

Unsurprisingly one of the names from that list would also feature on my Avengers list. But so would one of the names from the week 1 standings....

[Andy Turnbull]

I think I could pretty much get four of your top five Avengers artists.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

he was right too!

But I'm secure that trying to identify the fifth will bug him for ages :-)

[Kingoji]

I haven't read much Captain America solo stuff, and what springs to mind must be no less than five years old.
I shall cogitate.

[Benn]

Dirty bugger.

[Philip Ayres]

What say we do writers alongside the artists in a seperate thread? Same book each week.

[Jim]

I was thinking of suggesting the same. I'm for it.

[Philip Ayres]

Andu is still awol in Ireland somewhere but he'd told me what he'd intended doing this week:

WEEK 3: JUDGE DREDD

We think we know who's going to win this week already......

and don't forget the writers thread either.