Marvel Comic's Art Quality

[pandesal]

I've been really disappointed with the quality of art the Marvel has been churning out. They also do not have superstar artists comparable to DC's roster like Jim Lee, Mikel Janin, Clay Mann etc. Certainly, nowhere near their level. What's up with that? In your opinion, are there any current Marvel books with good art?

[cc008]

Captain America and Daredevil are two books that immediately come to mind when thinking about exceptional art. Yu and Garney/Henderson/Noto respectively.

Old Man Hawkeye, in my opinion, is the gold standard for Marvel and comics story-telling right now in writing and art. Marco Checchetto is fantastic.

[Ken Ashcroft]

He’s not to everyone’s taste but I’ve always like Mike Deodato’s work.

[Vishop]

Well Marvel do have some cool artists , who were given the backseat for a while now like Marco Checchetto(only OMH which are monthly ) , Steve Mcniven (only 2 issues of Return of Wolverine ) , Yu with Captain America(but it's montlhy and he was given to draw 5 to 6 issues) .
I think that there are really good Marvel cover artists like Sorrentino , Mark Brooks , Esad Ribic , Alex Ross from Extermination , Thor , Captain America , Immortal Hulk and OML but they weren't given chances to draw interiors this year.

Joe Bernnett's art is also a good on Immortal Hulk

But compare to DC , overall they are really inferior , with not only numbers but quality as well . There have really good artists like Clay Mann(as OP mentioned) , Jason Fabok , Gary Frank , Jim Lee's quality has decreed over the last few years , Stjepan Sejic , Tony S Daniel and more

[Personamanx]

Kris Anka does some of the best expressions work in mainstream superhero comics with Runaways. Marcus To, and Mahmud Asrar have been killing in on X-Men Blue/Red lately. The rotating team of Nico Leon, and Takeshi Miyzawa on Ms. Marvel is fantastic. Sean Izaakse has been amazing on Champions recently, Steve Cummings who will be replacing him in the new relaunch is even better.

It's art, no matter how you break it down it's going to still be overwhelmingly subjective. For example, I don't think Jim Lee deserves to be held up as being anywhere near as talented as Clay Mann and I haven't even heard of Mikel Janin.

[cc008]

He’s not to everyone’s taste but I’ve always like Mike Deodato’s work.

I like Deodato as well.

There's also Pepe Larraz doing incredible work on X-books.

Marvel took a huge hit when Stuart Immonen "retired" though. That guy is a treasure.

[Prof. Warren]

I actually prefer Marvel's artists overall to DC's. DC tends to have a generic style, while Marvel is more open to variety.

Sometimes variety isn't to everyone's taste, of course. I love Del Mundo's art, for example. But he doesn't do it for some people.

One guy I wish Marvel had would be Jason Fabok. And Daniel is real good, too. But Ryan Ottley, Humberto Ramos, Del Mundo, Ryan Stegman, Aaron Kuder, Adam Kubert, Yu, Sara Pichelli, Pepe Larraz, Valerio Schiti, Geoff Shaw, Sorrentino, and Checchetto and a few others are holding up the art end at Marvel just fine as far as I'm concerned.

[Marvell2100]

I like the artwork on the new Punisher series. Fits the tone perfectly.

[Vishop]

Kris Anka does some of the best expressions work in mainstream superhero comics with Runaways. Marcus To, and Mahmud Asrar have been killing in on X-Men Blue/Red lately. The rotating team of Nico Leon, and Takeshi Miyzawa on Ms. Marvel is fantastic. Sean Izaakse has been amazing on Champions recently, Steve Cummings who will be replacing him in the new relaunch is even better.

It's art, no matter how you break it down it's going to still be overwhelmingly subjective. For example, I don't think Jim Lee deserves to be held up as being anywhere near as talented as Clay Mann and I haven't even heard of Mikel Janin.

Well i do agree that Jim Lee's current art work is inferior to majority of Marvel/DC artists but in his prime , most possibly he is simply one of the best there is in DC comics ,during those times . '
Right now Clay Mann has several competitors with so many artists on DC and Jim Lee has become the co-publisher of DC entertainment , so certainly he is not the main DC artist anymore

[Personamanx]

Well i do agree that Jim Lee's current art work is inferior to majority of Marvel/DC artists but in his prime , most possibly he is simply one of the best there is in DC comics ,during those times . '
Right now Clay Mann has several competitors with so many artists on DC and Jim Lee has become the co-publisher of DC entertainment , so certainly he is not the main DC artist anymore

I feel that he's always been fairly overrated. His structure, and composition have always been fine but his panels have always worked better as illustrations rather than as a series of images to convey action. He can draw a nice splash, but he loses all energy and cohesion between panels. That might not always be true, but it's what I found in much of his work that I have read and it isn't something I regularly seek out.

[Mike_Murdock]

I'd also add Daniel Acuna as someone whose art is absolutely great. Of course, Marquez does pretty work as well.

[Vishop]

I feel that he's always been fairly overrated. His structure, and composition have always been fine but his panels have always worked better as illustrations rather than as a series of images to convey action. He can draw a nice splash, but he loses all energy and cohesion between panels. That might not always be true, but it's what I found in much of his work that I have read and it isn't something I regularly seek out.

Well Lee liked to show some vivid details of anatomy with according to his free art style in comics during those times(2000's) . And honestly there were very few artists who could really compare their quality to Lee's Superman: For Tommorow and and Batman: Hush in 2000's
Nowadays their are plenty of artists with much better quality of art than Lee like Fabok(Batman) , Mann(HIC) , Gary Frank(Doomsday) who have cited their artwork with Lee's art imo .

[leo619]

Well Lee liked to show some vivid details of anatomy with according to his free art style in comics during those times(2000's) . And honestly there were very few artists who could really compare their quality to Lee's Superman: For Tommorow and and Batman: Hush in 2000's
Nowadays their are plenty of artists with much better quality of art than Lee like Fabok(Batman) , Mann(HIC) , Gary Frank(Doomsday) who have cited their artwork with Lee's art imo .

Agreed, I feel like Lee was a pioneer in bringing better anatomy when it comes to comic books (something is often very lacking the idea of telling a story.) but there's definitely better artist out there that has surpassed him in that department.


But I do agree, I feel like DC DEFINITELY has the edge when it comes to artwork I enjoy. Marvel's stuff often remains to cartoony, stylized with cookie cutter faces. They often do things to the human body that to a trained artist eye throws you for a loop, and gets away with it because "it's comics."

I feel like DC has more artists that are more fundamentally sound. Better grasp of anatomy, rendering, lighting and more. But you do have artists that breaks delivers that level of quality like Sara Picheli and Esad Ribic, But after the greats before like Alex Ross, Marko Djurdjevic, and Gabriele Dell'Otto, Marvel has definitely been on the declined.

[Personamanx]

I can't believe I didn't mention Gurihiru. They are above, and beyond the best artist duo in Western comics. Appealing designs, fantastic energy, creative, clear, and cohesive panels/page layouts. They're the whole package. There's nothing about them "exclusive" to Marvel, but as far as I know they haven't done much work for Warner Bros or DC comics.

[comicscollector]

I actually prefer Marvel's artists overall to DC's. DC tends to have a generic style, while Marvel is more open to variety.

Sometimes variety isn't to everyone's taste, of course. I love Del Mundo's art, for example. But he doesn't do it for some people.

One guy I wish Marvel had would be Jason Fabok. And Daniel is real good, too. But Ryan Ottley, Humberto Ramos, Del Mundo, Ryan Stegman, Aaron Kuder, Adam Kubert, Yu, Sara Pichelli, Pepe Larraz, Valerio Schiti, Geoff Shaw, Sorrentino, and Checchetto and a few others are holding up the art end at Marvel just fine as far as I'm concerned.

Very much agreed.
While i miss the art of Jon Romita Jr or Paul Pelletier in Marvel comics i think there are more that enough great artist´s at Marvel.
Besides the ones you mentioned i would add as well:
Joe Bennet:Immortal Hulk.
Jesus Saiz: Doctor Strange.
Mike Deodato:Infinity Wars.