Underrated comic book artists?

[PaulBullion]

Alan Weiss

[PaulBullion]

James "Jim" Sherman

[Kirby101]

Sherman looks like a good journeyman artist, but not exceptional. I can't see him as under rated.

I am seeing quite a few of the same type of artist posted. How is that under rated. To me under rated is an artist that is a notch above the field, but not given their due.

[Jim Kelly]

"Underrated" is such a bad term. It suggests that there's some group of experts who are giving out ratings for comic book artists and this group has given these artists a poor rating. Just like with "overrated," these words are nonsense most of the time.

Maybe what the O.P. means is that these artists are not talked about or appreciated enough. But experiences will vary. One person might encounter a lot of positive discussion about an artist, while another person might only discover the negative commentary. Or some people might have never heard of these artists, by pure bad luck, so they have no opinion.

I certainly appreciate Mike Parobeck. I think he's one of the best comic book artists of all time. And I've only seen positive comments from others about his art. However, it's a sad fact that Mike died much too soon, so it's quite likely that a lot of people don't see his art or know about and therefore he's not appreciated by enough lovers of the medium.

Jim Sherman and Alan Weiss are mostly known for their work in the 1970s--although they have done some comics work since then. I think that Sherman was well appreciated by Legion fans at the time. With Weiss, I'd say that he was a better inker than a penciller in those days. But both these artists were still newbies in the 1970s--so like most comic artists, their work back then was more notable for its originality than its competency--and with more experience they improved.

The same is true for Trevor von Eeden, who started out as a teenager and wasn't that good in his first work. But he quickly improved and by the early 1980s, I'd say he was a great artist. If he's not appreciated now, it's only because too much time has passed.

Don Heck might be an artist that I'd say deserves a second look. He is the kind of artist who does get a low score from most fans I've read. And I can see why. He was often handed assignments that were low priority. If he got stuck on a book, it was often because the publisher wasn't willing to pay the higher demand artists to work on the book. So if Heck was on a title, you knew it was doomed.

But Heck is only bad in the sense that his art didn't conform to the expected style that was popular. He had his own style and he was a professional. Just because you don't like a piece of art, that doesn't always mean it's bad. For super-heroes, he was the antithesis of a Neal Adams or a George Perez. However, for war and horror, his work had the right look.

And since his day, there have been many comic book artists working on super-heroes that have marched to their own drummer. So if we can appreciate a Jon Bogdanove or a Wade Von Grawbadger, maybe it's time we gave Don Heck his due.

[Kirby101]

Good post Jim. Maybe the thread should be less aclaimed artists I like.

I am not a fan of Heck. But I think it is because he did not fit Marvel books for me. Not that he was a bad draftsman, but his work felt like a let down when he was on a book after Kirby or Buscema or Colan. But I have seen other work he did that was quite good.

[K7P5V]

Angel Medina




Phil Winslade





Ryan Sook

[Kirby101]

I like those three too.

[extra skater]

David Aja


Mitch Gerads

[Zero Hunter]

One that I always have loved that I never thought got the credit he was due is Pat Broderick. The man had a style that as soon as you saw it you knew it was him.

[K7P5V]

Eduardo Risso. Whatever praise he gets, it's not enough dammit! While his style isn't for every comic book character, his ability to illustrate stark contrast is amazing, IMO.

In agreement with you about Eduardo Risso.

The artwork he displayed in Knight of Vengeance definitely grabbed my attention:

[Jack Dracula]

Dan Brereton

[K7P5V]

Stephen Platt

[Kirby101]

Stephen Platt looks like a weak imitation of Rob Leifeld. I can't see how he is under rated. Over rated maybe.

[Attila Kiss]

Stephen Platt looks like a weak imitation of Rob Leifeld. I can't see how he is under rated. Over rated maybe.

Stephen Platt is a very underrated artist. Unfortunately, you are right, he did start as a Liefield imitator but he advanced by leaps and bounds. Many know him by his Marvel work, which I too am not very fond of, but his last book SOUL SAGA was a true masterpiece in art. Too bad it was canceled (and as far as I know #6 was only released in Poland). Here is what his art looked like in SOUL SAGA:





I'm very glad someone mentioned ANGEL MEDINA. Quite possibly the prime example for this thread.

[MRP]

A lot of artists get pigeon-holed because of their 90s Marvel output where they was an editorial mandate to ape the Image style. but whose work evolved after they were removed from that mandate, but that initial impresssion has affected how they are perceived in a lot of fandom. A prime example of that is Tom Grindberg-this is an example of his work in the 90s...




and then his work from circa 2013 doing the Sunday Tarzan strips...



and a page he did for a Detective Comics Annual....



His later work is absolutely gorgeous stuff, but he doesn't get the acclaim he should, and I believe a lot of it stems from first impressions of his work when it got its widest exposure at Marvel inthe 90s, when he was aping an Image house style because you ha to do so to get work from some of the editors working at Marvel at the time.

Even veteran artists like Herb Trimpe adopted that Image House style for a time when working at Marvel at the time (examples in my next post)...

-M