______ is the absolute best artist for ______.

[K7P5V]

Ed McGuinness = Lois & Clark

[Kirby101]

Oh God! I absolutely hated McGuiness' cartoony, manga inspired style on Superman.

[Riv86672]

It was when he was on JLA, issues 195-197, a JSA teamup against the Secret Society of Supervillains. If I'm not mistaken, that's also where he debuted what became the Ultra-Humanite's iconic albino ape design.

Attachment 135286

^^^Ah, okay!
That was one of my earliest experiences w. George Perez’s work! He made EVERYONE look great!

[The Darknight Detective]

Oh God! I absolutely hated McGuiness' cartoony, manga inspired style on Superman.

Cartoony is fine for lighthearted stories, but I have no love for it when it comes to serious, realistic ones.

[useridgoeshere]

I’ll go modern. Give me Dan Mora’s beautiful clean lines for Superman. Bachalo’s frenetic weirdness for Dr. Strange. Patrick Gleason’s fun cartoon look on Super Sons.
IMG_1479.jpg
IMG_1477.jpg
IMG_1478.jpg

[Jim Kelly]

Cartoony is fine for lighthearted stories, but I have no love for it when it comes to serious, realistic ones.

I think we need another word for "cartoony." I've been struggling to find one for years, but I've failed. Cartoony doesn't work because everything in comics is cartoony--or should be. Even Neal Adams is cartoony. Alex Ross paintings aren't--but that's not really comic book art in my book, it's more like a cross between comic art progressions and fumetti photo progressions--too static and not dynamic story telling.

All good comic book art is figurative in nature--not literal. It's on a two-dimensional page. It's minimalist--drawing with as few lines and blobs as needed something that opens up our imagination. We see in those squiggles and the black negative space something else in our mind's eye. It's not trying to render every single molecule of reality on a piece of paper (or a screen). It's making us see what isn't there. To do that, the artist has to have a cartoony sense of reality.

Some very serious comics have what people call a cartoony style. The dissonance between the image and the subject creates a wonderful feeling in the reader. Something like MAUS for example. It's like how some sad Beatles songs were sung to an upbeat tempo.

Also, as I get older, I realize that the so-called realistic art isn't what reality actually looks like. Reality is weird and the people in it have funny faces, even when they're in the depths of despair.

[The Darknight Detective]

I think we need another word for "cartoony." I've been struggling to find one for years, but I've failed. Cartoony doesn't work because everything in comics is cartoony--or should be. Even Neal Adams is cartoony. Alex Ross paintings aren't--but that's not really comic book art in my book, it's more like a cross between comic art progressions and fumetti photo progressions--too static and not dynamic story telling.

All good comic book art is figurative in nature--not literal. It's on a two-dimensional page. It's minimalist--drawing with as few lines and blobs as needed something that opens up our imagination. We see in those squiggles and the black negative space something else in our mind's eye. It's not trying to render every single molecule of reality on a piece of paper (or a screen). It's making us see what isn't there. To do that, the artist has to have a cartoony sense of reality.

Some very serious comics have what people call a cartoony style. The dissonance between the image and the subject creates a wonderful feeling in the reader. Something like MAUS for example. It's like how some sad Beatles songs were sung to an upbeat tempo.

Also, as I get older, I realize that the so-called realistic art isn't what reality actually looks like. Reality is weird and the people in it have funny faces, even when they're in the depths of despair.

Jim, you know what I mean. Kurt Schaffenberger was great drawing the silly (I'm not using that pejoratively, BTW) stories of the Marvel or Superman families, but he lost me doing anything remotely dark or gritty. The latter just doesn't mesh together properly.

[Jim Kelly]

Jim, you know what I mean. Kurt Schaffenberger was great drawing the silly (I'm not using that pejoratively, BTW) stories of the Marvel or Superman families, but he lost me doing anything remotely dark or gritty. The latter just doesn't mesh together properly.

I know what you mean. And I'm not trying to give you a hard time on this question, but it's something I've thought a lot about. I can't convince you I'm right, but I do believe the "lighthearted" style is just as good as the dark and gritty for telling serious stories. It seems to me that many artists like John Byrne, Alan Davis and Marshall Rogers could draw in this style and yet tell serious stories. And in Europe, it's much more common for comic book artists to have this style, even though the adventures stories are grounded. Likewise with Manga.

I think it was in Kurt Schaffenberger's wheelhouse to draw pages that had more gravitas. And it's actually to Schaffenberger that I compare McGuinness. I get that Big Ed was going for a big foot style and I was okay with that, but I thought he needed to work on it a bit more. His Superman's anatomy is just too clumsy for his own good. Whereas, Schaffenberger could animate figures with ease on the page. Or look at someone like Frank Quitely, who started out drawing Superman as kind of oafish in appearance yet by the time of ALL-STAR SUPERMAN had arrived at a more elegant approach to the character.

[DrNewGod]

Gene Colan = Doctor Strange

Very striking. Colan was always good at Dark and Moody, although I always preferred the Doc's more classic togs. Byrne was good with him too.

[Riv86672]

Very striking. Colan was always good at Dark and Moody, although I always preferred the Doc's more classic togs. Byrne was good with him too.

^^^Agreed.

Speaking of Byrne, w. only two issues to his credit, his version is who I picture when I think of Indiana Jones in comics form.

[K7P5V]

Speaking of Dan Mora, the most recent version of Dick Grayson/Robin from World's Finest has become a personal fave (XD)

[Riv86672]

Speaking of Dan Mora, the most recent version of Dick Grayson/Robin from World's Finest has become a personal fave (XD)

^^^Very true!

He does a nice Nightwing, too…:


Reminds me of how Mark Bagley draws Spider-Man as both an adult and a teenager…:

[K7P5V]

José Luis García-López = Barry Allen

[Spike-X]

[center]José Luis García-López = Barry Allen

Heck, the entire pre-Crisis DC Universe for that matter!

[K7P5V]

Ivan Reis = Aquaman