Mike Mignola (Superman #23, November 1988):
In recent years Pat Gleason, Jorge Jiminez, and Ivan Reis.
From previous Superman artists:
Curt Swan
Dan Jurgens
Jerry Ordway
John Byrne
José Luis García-López
Whenever people bump up really really old threads that I posted to back then, I look at what I had to say before and I usually see I said everything I needed to say on the topic. When I posted the above quote, I was on a binge of BONES, my mother was alive, my father was alive, Barack Obama was POTUS, there was no COVID-19.
I can see that, as I said back then, whatever we're experiencing at the time influences how we express ourselves.
I dunno about greatest but, i like joe shuster, darwyn cooke, doc shaner and jack kirby superman.
Last edited by manwhohaseverything; 03-24-2020 at 11:37 PM.
I can imagine Swan winning with Garcia Lopez not far behind. Aside from them I'm a huge Ordway fan. Jon Bogdanove is such a big fan and we're immensely blessed that his incredible range is so largely dedicated to Superman.
Definitely need to bring back the AoS artist hardcovers
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Lopez, Swan, and Byrne for me, with Swan and Lopez switching positions depending on the year and my mood.
I go with Curt Swan too, and right now I am thinking of those old "Adult Legion of Superheroes" stories from around the time of The Death of Ferro Lad. Garcia Lopez for sure as well. Superman vs. Solomon Grundy from the Bronze Age especially!
Swan reminds me of the old Art Institution commercials that used to run. He's basically from the first generation of comic artists but has an older style, going back to his own dad in observational sketchings of remote nature. His forms are dedicated to the natural to a fault. To where his aliens look like regular people in cheap paint and costumes. Kirby was about the same age but by the 60s developed his extremely elaborate and unique style, where Swan just kept tweaking the old style. He went from the cover guy to having more dynamic artists on the covers for his stories (though he drew at least two stories a month to be fair, so it was probably hard enough). BUT, I can't say anyone was more technically sound and his storytelling was so perfect. His Superman did become better looking with the times and he made great advances in drawing action when that became more important to the books. The most important thing was that he was a total juggernaut and drew practically everything for Superman stories for decades. With DC infamously even having him redraw the Kirby face.
It's sad that so much devotion to a corporate character didn't earn him much and that many are understandably like you in finding his work a little boring, but in some ways his Superman will never be topped.
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The truly crazy thing to me about Curt Swan is that back in the day when I was on the DCforums was just how much the guy was talked up. Guy was practically legendary and his name was tossed around so much I practically thought the guy created Superman or at least was in some respect the grandfather of Superman. I'm sure he sit somewhere in my top ten but I think I was always kind of more taken with Ross Adru, ********Lopez, Gibbons, and Ordway. The way those guys presented things jut clicked with me more.
On the other hand I would look at something like the scene where he meets Kara again and shows her around the FOS. He expresses such a range of nuanced inflections in Supes in the art, shock, horror, a sense of compassionate inner strength in the face of it all. You could look at his Superman and get a feel that without the tights he could be just another face in the crowd. It's some I think is part of the key to kind of nailing the feel of the character. If only there was someway to take Swan and combine him with one of the guys above.
Rules are for lesser men, Charlie - Grand Pa Joe ~ Willy Wonka & Chocolate Factory
I'm sure it is in no small part because it was when I got into Superman, but Tom Grummett is more or less the "default" image I see of Superman when I think of him. His issues in the Death/Reign/Return of Superman remain my favorite.
Beyond him, Ed McGuinness, Ivan Reis, Doc Shaner, and Darwyn Cooke are probably my favorites.