Artists, Writers, ETC Whose Work Has Gotten BETTER Over Time

[Timothy Hunter]

It's a known fact that when a great artistic mind has been around for awhile their work is usually bound to go downhill. The Stones aren't making albums as great as Exile on Main Street and Francis Ford Coppola isn't making movies worthy of the Godfather.

But today I want to talk about the exception to the rule. Artistic talents who have been around for decades and keep on getting better as the years go by.

[Riv86672]

Off the top of my head

Matt Wagner...


...and Sergio Aragonés...


Looking at their seminal characters, you can see how much more polished each has become over the decades.
The left hand pics are Mage and Groo when they debuted in the eighties.
Right hand pics are from the last few years.
That’s particularly impressive for Sergio, who’s work is incredibly detailed. The guy is 82.

[DrNewGod]

I won't say he's better, but George Perez has been steady as a rock, every step of the way.

[godisawesome]

Dustin Nguyen got more comfortable with playing to his strengths and embracing his own unique style, both just as an artists and as a storyteller.

[PaulBullion]

Mignola, obviously.

And F4 Kirby was better than Golden Age Kirby.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

In comics:

Jack Kirby definitely did great work in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. Astonishingly productive, no matter what happened at Stan Lee's and Martin Goodman's end, Kirby didn't get creatively burned out by that.

Alan Moore is another one. Great stuff in the 80s, in the 90s he did From Hell, Top 10, Supreme, in the 2000s he did the League Books which continued from strength to strength over the next 2 decades, and he also did stuff like Neonomicon. In the 2010s he did Nemo Heart of Ice, Crossed +100, finished League, and he did Cinema Purgatorio. Never did an outright bad comic.

John Romita Jr. as an artist certainly has done great consistent work across time. Great work in the '80s on Spider-Man, Daredevil and others. Continued in the 90s, in the 2000s, he did maybe the most beautiful run on ASM with JMS.


In other art forms:
-- Bob Dylan.
-- Martin Scorsese.
-- Steven Spielberg.
-- Spike Lee.
-- Philip Roth.
-- Beyonce (defining artist for three decades -- Destiny's Child in the 90s, solo in the 2000s, goddess in the 2010s, even Eminem's star has dipped by comparison).
-- Meryl Streep.

[Timothy Hunter]

In comics:

Jack Kirby definitely did great work in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. Astonishingly productive, no matter what happened at Stan Lee's and Martin Goodman's end, Kirby didn't get creatively burned out by that.

Alan Moore is another one. Great stuff in the 80s, in the 90s he did From Hell, Top 10, Supreme, in the 2000s he did the League Books which continued from strength to strength over the next 2 decades, and he also did stuff like Neonomicon. In the 2010s he did Nemo Heart of Ice, Crossed +100, finished League, and he did Cinema Purgatorio. Never did an outright bad comic.

John Romita Jr. as an artist certainly has done great consistent work across time. Great work in the '80s on Spider-Man, Daredevil and others. Continued in the 90s, in the 2000s, he did maybe the most beautiful run on ASM with JMS.


In other art forms:
-- Bob Dylan.
-- Martin Scorsese.
-- Steven Spielberg.
-- Spike Lee.
-- Philip Roth.
-- Beyonce (defining artist for three decades -- Destiny's Child in the 90s, solo in the 2000s, goddess in the 2010s, even Eminem's star has dipped by comparison).
-- Meryl Streep.

I disagree about Alan Moore not writing a bad comic. The majority of his work at Image was incredibly dull It was difficult for even the best of writers to write something worthwhile on the core 90s Image titles.

[Kirby101]

I disagree about Alan Moore not writing a bad comic. The majority of his work at Image was incredibly dull It was difficult for even the best of writers to write something worthwhile on the core 90s Image titles.

I loved his work on Supreme and especially 1963.

[DrNewGod]

Gaiman, IMO, has gone nowhere but up from day one.

[K7P5V]

My choice would be...

Barry Windsor-Smith

Avengers #66
(July, 1969)





Avengers: The Ultron Imperative
(November, 2001)

[Kirby101]

Well, with Smith that is more his maturing as an artist earlier in his career. While he continued to improve throughout, the big jump was from his early work on X-Men, Daredevil, Avengers (above) and his run on Conan. On Conan he went from this in Conan #1


To this a few years later in Conan #24

[Chubistian]

Off the top of my head: Tom King, Jean “Moebius” Giraud, Liam Sharp, Mike Deodato Jr, Ivan Reis, Jorge Fornés, Jack Kirby, Andy Kubert, Kentaro Miura (though I’m not an special fan of his change towards digital)

[Joker]

For not comics: The Beatles.

It was difficult for even the best of writers to write something worthwhile on the core 90s Image titles.

I disagree. Those core books never had good writers. Hell, they barely even had writers. But when that **** started to founder and they went and got actual writers and let them have control, some great books happened. Also that's when the comics star shifted from artist to writer.

There are no bad characters.

[PaulBullion]

There are no bad characters.

Not even DC's SNOWFLAME?

[CSTowle]

If Warren Ellis was writing his book I'd buy it.