Artists and Writers who work very well together

[Mister Mets]

With the announcement of a new title by Dan Slott and Mark Bagley, I start thinking about whether these are two people who I would expect to work well together. Obviously, we'll find out soon enough. And that got me thinking about writers and artists who are a good match for one another in the Spider-Man comics.

Some that come to mind...

JM DeMatteis and Sal Buscema
I think the way Sal Buscema's art evolved in the 1990s was a great fit for JM DeMatteis. He's a good fit for freaks and psychological drama.

Dan Slott and Marcos Martin/ Ramón Pérez/ Ty Templeton
Slott has done excellent work with artists who have a different style, but there's something about his approach that is a great fit for artists who have a classic retro style.

Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley
Bagley can make conversations interesting, so I could see why they wanted him on 100+ issues of Bendis' dialogue-heavy Ultimate Spider-Man.

Howard Mackie and John Romita Jr
Romita's done better work, but he is a great street level artist and it was a good pairing to have him with Mackie on that type of title.

Stan Lee and John Romita Sr.
Stan Lee loves soap opera stuff, and John Romita Sr. was the perfect choice for a different take on Spider-Man, when Peter Parker was in college and got to be a bit more popular than when he was a loner in high school.

How about you guys? Who are the best fits and why? These may be people who would poor choices for Spider-Man under most circumstances, but who work well in a specific context.

[xpyred]

Howard Mackie and Tom Lyle during the mid 90's (Clone Saga period) comes to mind.

[HypnoHustler]

Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo on Sensational Spider-Man and many other books. Dezago was heartbroken when Ringo died as they were very good friends in real life.

[K7P5V]

Definitely, this would be My Top (3) Three choices...

Bill Mantlo & Ed Hannigan






Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz







J.M. DeMatteis & Mike Zeck

[Minerboh]

With the announcement of a new title by Dan Slott and Mark Bagley, I start thinking about whether these are two people who I would expect to work well together. Obviously, we'll find out soon enough. And that got me thinking about writers and artists who are a good match for one another in the Spider-Man comics.

Some that come to mind...

JM DeMatteis and Sal Buscema
I think the way Sal Buscema's art evolved in the 1990s was a great fit for JM DeMatteis. He's a good fit for freaks and psychological drama.

Dan Slott and Marcos Martin/ Ramón Pérez/ Ty Templeton
Slott has done excellent work with artists who have a different style, but there's something about his approach that is a great fit for artists who have a classic retro style.

Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley
Bagley can make conversations interesting, so I could see why they wanted him on 100+ issues of Bendis' dialogue-heavy Ultimate Spider-Man.

Howard Mackie and John Romita Jr
Romita's done better work, but he is a great street level artist and it was a good pairing to have him with Mackie on that type of title.

Stan Lee and John Romita Sr.
Stan Lee loves soap opera stuff, and John Romita Sr. was the perfect choice for a different take on Spider-Man, when Peter Parker was in college and got to be a bit more popular than when he was a loner in high school.

How about you guys? Who are the best fits and why? These may be people who would poor choices for Spider-Man under most circumstances, but who work well in a specific context.

The first arcs of USM were not that dialogue heavy. Instead they were focusing on face close ups and silent scenes

[JTait]

I have to agree with Dan Slott and Marcos Martin. For one reason or another, I find that Slott's writing is so much more enjoyable when they are paired together. Pretty much all of their collaborations are standouts.

Bagley and BMB is an obvious one. USM seemed to lose something after he left.

I also always thought Mark Buckingham's understated style worked really well with Paul Jenkins' scripts.

[K7P5V]

Definitely, this would be My Next Top (3) Three choices...

Gerry Conway & Ross Andru







Chris Claremont & John Byrne







Peter David & Rick Leonardi

[K7P5V]

Definitely, another choice would be...

Fiona Avery & Mark Brooks

[K7P5V]

Definitely, this would be My Next Top (3) Three choices...

Kurt Busiek & Mike Allred







Kurt Busiek & Pat Olliffe







Kurt Busiek & George Pérez

[HypnoHustler]

So… pretty much Kurt Busiek and anyone.

[Mister Mets]

K7P5V, can you talk a bit more about why those people work well together?

I do think those are some good choices. Conway and Andru would go around New York City photographing landmarks to use in their stories. Hannigan was imitating Miller's Daredevil but doing a good job of it, which was a good fit for Mantlo's more street-level later work.

I have to agree with Dan Slott and Marcos Martin. For one reason or another, I find that Slott's writing is so much more enjoyable when they are paired together. Pretty much all of their collaborations are standouts.

Bagley and BMB is an obvious one. USM seemed to lose something after he left.

I also always thought Mark Buckingham's understated style worked really well with Paul Jenkins' scripts.

Good point on Jenkins and Buckingham.

The first arcs of USM were not that dialogue heavy. Instead they were focusing on face close ups and silent scenes

There was still plenty of dialogue, but it is a good point that Bagley is really good at facial expressions.

[K7P5V]

So… pretty much Kurt Busiek and anyone.

Yeah, basically. Let's also not forget...

Kurt Busiek & Alex Ross

[K7P5V]

K7P5V, can you talk a bit more about why those people work well together?

I do think those are some good choices. Conway and Andru would go around New York City photographing landmarks to use in their stories. Hannigan was imitating Miller's Daredevil but doing a good job of it, which was a good fit for Mantlo's more street-level later work.

Thanks for the response, Mister Mets. Apologies for not being more talkative, I didn't think you'd be interested in reading my boring/pseudo-quippy dialogue. But since you've twisted my arm, I'll give it a go with my next choice: J.M. DeMatteis/Kerry Gammill. The reason I was reading Marvel Team-Up was because I enjoyed Spidey's team-ups/interactions with other characters from the 616-Marvel Universe. It wasn't until later when I found out that DeMatteis was working through some issues of a personal nature during his run, that I came to reassess MTU with newfound appreciation.

Also, the artwork of Kerry Gammill is still lovely (IMHO):

Good point on Jenkins and Buckingham.

Yeah! Their run always kept me interested (XD)

There was still plenty of dialogue, but it is a good point that Bagley is really good at facial expressions.

To the utmost, I agree. Definitely, the G.O.A.T. (IMHO):

[KC]

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko is an obvious answer to me. Ditko's art in general fit well for the stories of a teenage Spider-Man. But any drama in Ditko's art was paired well with the light-heartedness of Lee's Dialogue.

Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley on Ultimate Spider-Man. I agree that Bagley's art paired well with how Bendis wrote.

[federicodettofred]

My loved/hated J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr.?