Cover Contest 5/27-6/2 That's my favorite!

[CaptCleghorn]

Congratulations to Greg Hatcher for a Phantom cover which is great in its style and artistic feeling. The mist and the pieces of Americana as backdrop promise a story which is historic and somehow apply to the Phantom. It reaches out, grabs me, and demands tp be opened. In my younger days, we used to mock artists with large signatures which took up s[pace on the page as egomaniacs. But an artist who puts his signature at the bottom of the Declaration of independence is someone I respect for that action. Way freaking cool, Mr. Newton.

As to what the captain has learned in this week's peak of the week, the captain has a much better idea of where people's likes lie. His suspicion that he is somewhat different from even comic fans here has been reaffirmed by the Chaykin derived goose egg (it's what us old guys call a zero). But that is fine. It takes all kinds and all interests to keep this addict... err, hobby, alive. The few new names as well as some artists who seldom come up when discussing favorites were pleasant surprises.

Great contest idea, MRP. It's nice to be able to open up a little bit about our particular favorites.

[CaptCleghorn]

And screw you all for not giving my Barry Smith any love.

I do accept your admonishment. But the frog head in my bed next to me when I woke up this morning seemed a little extreme.

[Shalla Bal]

And screw you all for not giving my Barry Smith any love.

That was one of my contenders for the winning cover....until that classic Buscema Avengers masterpiece showed up. Sorry!

I was equally surprised that no one voted for my Maurice Whitman cover--I thought for sure his work was a great favorite with this crowd

[Ravin' Ray]

Congratulations to Greg!

A couple of artists that could have been represented:

Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, whose work defined a lot of DC's look. Ron Marz wrote about how he felt teaming up with Garcia Lopez on Doctor Strangefate (I have a copy of that) and how he got stage fright, in his own words.

Mike Mignola. Best known for Hellboy, but he did a beautifully rendered Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment by Roger Stern.

NB: Adding a hyphen between Jose Luis' last two names caused "Garcia" to be blanked-out with asterisks. Had to remove it. Strange.

[Nschornhorst]

Congratulations, Greg Hatcher! ^_^

[Iron Maiden]

Congratulations Greg Hatcher

That was one of my contenders for the winning cover....until that classic Buscema Avengers masterpiece showed up. Sorry!

I was equally surprised that no one voted for my Maurice Whitman cover--I thought for sure his work was a great favorite with this crowd

Well, Jack Kirby got no love this week either

[Scott Taylor]

Great cover, Greg, and very worthy of your well-deserved win!

Thanks for the vote babyblob!

[Greg Hatcher]

Wow! I'm very pleasantly surprised! I was sure that would be a geezer entry. I'm at work right now but I'll have a new contest up tonight.

[Shalla Bal]

...

Well, Jack Kirby got no love this week either

LOL, that's true!

I like that cover (FF #39) a lot; not for the reasons one might think, such as the heroic figures or the looming Doom. No, I get a kick out of that background figure of Ben Grimm with a walkie-talkie (for his Thing robot). I don't know exactly why, but it just cracks me up (and yes, I have read the story so I know it's part of the action).

[MRP]

Ill admit I am a bit of an art junkie (not just comic art by fantasy/sci-fi illustration as well), and there are a lot of comic artists whose stuff I will buy whether it is covers, portfolios, prints, what have you without blinking. And that is where this topic sprung from, There are a fair number of writers in the same position in my estimation too. (Though not many characters remain who I will buy no matter what as I long ago decided I would rather not read stories about those characters than read bad stories about them, and buying bad comics only incentivizes publishers ot make more bad comics because they will sell so there's no financial incentive to make better comics).

My pantheon of artists is quite large, and how they rank in my estimation can vary depending on my current mood and what I am "in" to at the moment. However, there are a couple of tiers that remain consistent.

My top tier will always make up my top 4 in some order-Frank Frazetta, Joe Kubert, Darwyn Cooke and Jean "Moebius" Giraud.

The second tier usually round out my top 10-20 in some order-Philippe Druillett, Gray Morrow, Jim Steranko, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, M.W. Kaluta, P. Craig Russell, Charles Vess, Bernie Wrightson, Jim Starlin, Bill Sienkewicz, Milton Caniff, Gil Kane, Wally Wood

And tier 3 round out whatever space is left in the top 20-Kevin Nowlan. Barry Windsor-Smith, Walt Simonson, Frank Brunner, Mike Mignola, George Perez, Michael Golden, Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Mike Grell, Kevin Maguire, Stan Sakai, Jeff Smith, Don Newton, Don Rosa, Carl Barks, Michael Lark, Sean Phillips, Gene Colan...

and I am sure a bunch more I will regret not including off the top of my head. So it was cool to see everyone else put their favorites out there.


-M

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In case anyone wondered, I PM’d Greg this morning to let him know he won. I’ll try again.

[Kirby101]

In case anyone wondered, I PM’d Greg this morning to let him know he won. I’ll try again.

He posted earlier about the win, (3 up from your post).said he would post contest tonight. Probably just delayed.

[MRP]

In case anyone wondered, I PM’d Greg this morning to let him know he won. I’ll try again.

I PM'd him when I did the tally as well. But he said it would be later when he got home from work when he got the contest up, so I'm sure it will go up sooner or later.

-M