Marvel Comic's Art Quality

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I agree with the OP.

I've seen a lot of cartoony-looking art at Marvel over the last several years -- started in earnest during Axel Alonso's tenure as EIC. In general, the glib writing and simplistic art style is really the exact opposite of what Marvel's founding fathers produced and Marvel has been the poorer for it.

The current writing/art style in Marvel Comics somewhat mirrors what's going on in their current lackluster animated series.

[Personamanx]

Well that's ridiculous. Just look at Jack Kirby. His entire style was just a simplified version of Hal Foster's work. Kirby's attempt at mimicking his Tarzan, and Prince Valiant musculature considerably influenced the highly stylized superhero art of basically ever.

[kilderkin]

I have quite a few current favourites working at Marvel right now...Asrar, Yu, Garney, Pichelli, Pepe Larraz to name a few, so...I have no issues with the quality of art. However, I do have a MAJOR issue with my favourite artists doing a book for only 4-6 issues before they are removed to do another book and being replaced by someone not as aesthetically pleasing.

I like art consistency when it comes to my comic books so if you insist on shuffling and reshuffling your artists on and off books after only a few issues then I will just have to stop buying said books.

Agreed

I like consistent art, short runs and changes and I usually drop the book

[kilderkin]

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.

I do rate the art in hulk and Infinity

Both very nice

[leo619]

I agree with the OP.

I've seen a lot of cartoony-looking art at Marvel over the last several years -- started in earnest during Axel Alonso's tenure as EIC. In general, the glib writing and simplistic art style is really the exact opposite of what Marvel's founding fathers produced and Marvel has been the poorer for it.

The current writing/art style in Marvel Comics somewhat mirrors what's going on in their current lackluster animated series.

Disagree with the "founding fathers" part but I do agree with the sentiment. Marvel's comics have been heavily leaning towards the simplistic, cartoony fashion which isn't my taste. I mean of Marko, Alex, and Gabrielle was still around at least there would be a balance. But outside of maybe Esad (and to a lesser extent Mike Deodato) they're really lacking in that department. For those that say DC has more of a uniformed style, I'd argued that's only among their mainstream books. Because factoring everything in, I'd say they cover the full spectrum actually better than DC.

[kilderkin]

Disagree with the "founding fathers" part but I do agree with the sentiment. Marvel's comics have been heavily leaning towards the simplistic, cartoony fashion which isn't my taste. I mean of Marko, Alex, and Gabrielle was still around at least there would be a balance. But outside of maybe Esad (and to a lesser extent Mike Deodato) they're really lacking in that department. For those that say DC has more of a uniformed style, I'd argued that's only among their mainstream books. Because factoring everything in, I'd say they cover the full spectrum actually better than DC.

That's a fair point about dc, some of the vertigo style books, sandman books and things like doom patrol are very different

[Prof. Warren]

Some other current faves, who I don't think have been mentioned yet:

Declan Shavley (Ennis' Moon Knight, Duggan's Deadpool, currently on Return of Wolverine)

Russell Dauterman (The Mighty Thor)

Mahmud Asrar (ANAD Avengers, X-Men Red, upcoming Conan the Barbarian)

Greg Smallwood (Lemire's Moon Knight)

Jacen Burrows (Max Bemis' Moon Knight)

Mike Allred (Silver Surfer)

Rod Reis (Secret Empire, Doctor Strange: Damnation, upcoming Winter Soldier mini)

Javier Rodriguez (Spider-Woman, Exiles)

[Iron Maiden]

I really find a lot of the artists working at Marvel today to be lacking. They've definitely had an exodus of talent either to DC or other companies. The most annoying one to me was how we were lead to believe that Jim Cheung would be the regular artist on MTIO then quite suddenly he was gone and was working on Justice League instead. IMO that was very suspicious.

We just had the Fantastic Four relaunch and already lost artist Sara Pichelli for unexplained reasons. She was replaced on issue #4 onward and someone else is providing pages for issue #3. It used to be they tried to keep an artist for at least 6 consecutive issues for the future TPBs. But lately they have trouble keeping artists for that long. At least not the top drawer ones. A lot of the work for these lesser known artists looks rushed and lacks a lot of detail.

[Username taken]

Art is entirely subjective. It’s entirely down to one’s opinion.

That being said, I do have a problem with a lot of art on Marvel comics. The cartoony style of art doesn’t do it for me at all and I honestly can’t get through a book with an art style I don’t like.

All in all, I much prefer the art on DCs books. I generally read more Marvel than DC but the few DC books I read has a style I appreciate more. Marvel has a ton of great artists but a good chunk of Marvel’s artists have moved over to DC.

[keeen]

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?

I echo the above post's sentiment that art is subjective. I personally don't rate the three artists you've mentioned as superstars, and prefer a lot of the overtly "cartoony," but stylistically diverse art offered in Marvel books. On a side-note, I would add that pretty much all superhero comics have "cartoony" art, so that's a weird qualifier.

[leo619]

I echo the above post's sentiment that art is subjective. I personally don't rate the three artists you've mentioned as superstars, and prefer a lot of the overtly "cartoony," but stylistically diverse art offered in Marvel books. On a side-note, I would add that pretty much all superhero comics have "cartoony" art, so that's a weird qualifier.

Definitely not true. It's perfectly fine to prefer cartoony art, but to try and minimize realistic comic book rendering as cartoony is where things break.
Cartoony as a label is normally synonymous with simplistic due to cartoons normally having a simpler style. This is due to the difficulty of performing realistic art in a animation format. Comic books doesn't have that same level of difficulty due to not having to draw the same thing exactly with just a slight adjustment for movement.


So while Marvel does lean towards the cartoony format currently, it's incorrect to say that comic books have "cartoony art."

Because when you compare this:



It definitely leans closer to this, which is fine art and realistic:




then this which is cartoony and simplistic:

[Johnrevenge]

I disagree. I think that with very few exceptions from DC (like Dale Eaglesham, Ivan Reis or Jorge Jimenez), Marvel has much better artists than DC (Pepe Larraz, Mahmud Asrar, Russell Dauterman, Sean Izaakse, Sarah Pichelli, Jorge Molina or Javier Rodriguez)

[Personamanx]

The vast majority of superhero comics artists regardless of anatomical strength in their illustrations stylize rather than adhere to realism. Most while capable of pushing into realism simply don't have the time. "Cartoony" is largely just a bullshit word, at best it's only a useful qualifier when doing comparisons of simplification and/or level of exaggeration.

Jim Lee simplifies, and exaggerates the human body more so than Alex Ross. Call Jim Lee a cartoony artist in this situation if you have nothing useful to say. Neither are particularly good storytellers.

[JKtheMac]

Cartoonish or cartoony as qualifiers seem to fall into at least three distinct meanings and as such they are not very good as descriptive terms without more context. Some mean the style is like a tv cartoon, and therefore has an emphasis on very defined lines and flat colour with distinct characterisation. Some mean like cartoon newspaper strips, meaning simplified but highly emotive linework with emphasis on facial expressions and exaggerated body language. Some use it as a pejorative term to mean the figures are less anatomical or with an emphasis on stylisation.

For me I immediately think of newspaper strip comparisons which is definitely not a negative quality, given how skilled the best cartoonists are. Eisner was cartoonish and he is one of the most respected artists in the medium.

[leo619]

Cartoonish or cartoony as qualifiers seem to fall into at least three distinct meanings and as such they are not very good as descriptive terms without more context. Some mean the style is like a tv cartoon, and therefore has an emphasis on very defined lines and flat colour with distinct characterisation. Some mean like cartoon newspaper strips, meaning simplified but highly emotive linework with emphasis on facial expressions and exaggerated body language. Some use it as a pejorative term to mean the figures are less anatomical or with an emphasis on stylisation.

For me I immediately think of newspaper strip comparisons which is definitely not a negative quality, given how skilled the best cartoonists are. Eisner was cartoonish and he is one of the most respected artists in the medium.

I disagree with this, as cartoony isn't normally a one out of three a la carte but usually contain all three elements you described. Of course certain areas maybe stronger than others, but essentially your three description is the description of cartoony. So it's a good descriptive, I just think people assume cartoony means something when it's not the case. People just need to accept that cartoony art isn't for everyone, and that there are others like myself who prefer much more realism in their artwork.


With that said, just because someone draws more realistic than another doesn't mean the other person's artwork is completely cartoony. Alex Ross is one of the most realistic artist in comics, but that doesn't mean Jim Lee is cartoony.

With that said, Art is definitely subjective, so what maybe considered cartoony to one may not be considered cartoony to another.