Favorite Artists

Finally got some time to get on here and write a second column. I thought long and hard about what to write and finally settled on my favorite comics artists. My next one will be favorite comics writers. Then I will probably do my favorite comics characters. After that I'm not sure. We'll just have to wait and see. This will in no way be in order or anything. I don't write these out beforehand and retype them for posting. I just write as it comes to me. I may even forget a few and have to add on to this later.

1. George Perez:
This should come as no surprise to anyone that read my first blog as I stated he is my favorite artist of all time. There is simply nothing this man can't draw and make look fantastic. One thing I didn't spend enough time on though was his inking. When he inks himself he is wonderful, when he inks someone else's work he is phenomenal. His inking of Curt Swan in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?  was stunning. Swan has always been one of my favorites but what Perez did for his pencils clearly showed Swan's draftsmanship. Both Perez and Kurt Schaffenberger's inks brought Swan's pencils to life in a way I had never seen before. Perez's inks are lush and slick and amazing.

2. Curt Swan:
 Since I was just talking about him above, I guess I should continue. Some would say that Swan was not dynamic enough but I say he did what he did better than most. What he did was deliver solid drawings month after month after month. He was definitely substance over flashiness. All one has to do is look at his pencils to see how great an artist he truly was. Unfortunately he was never given an inker that brought that out. The best his published art ever looked, to me, was in the aforementioned Superman story.  There are many stellar examples of his pencils in Eddie Zeno's Curt Swan: A Life In Comics. If you can look at that book and not appreciate Swan's art, you are blind.

3. Dick Dillin:
Here is another under-appreciated artist that delivered at month after month after month. His run on Justice League was amazing. The only thing that stopped him was his death. Quite simply, he was the JLA to me. The first comic I ever picked up was a Dillin JLA. His Green Lantern and Batman were particular favorites of mine, but I loved how he drew every character in the JLA. I never passed up a chance to pick up a Dillin drawn comic.

4. Jim Aparo:
Quite simply he is the Batman Artist. When I was a kid I read where he said that because of all that Batman does physically, he would have to have big, strong hands and that was the way her drew them. There was no mistaking that Batman could do what he did the way Aparo Drew him.

5. Don Newton:
The other Batman artist. Newton was so classical and almost poetic in his approach to anatomy. He drew the most graceful superheroes ever. His style was so much his own you could tell it was him a mile off. Another artist taken way too soon.

6. John Byrne:
Byrne flat out knocked me out when I got into his work. I'm sure the first work of his I saw was in The X-Men but it was when he wrote and drew The Fantastic Four that really got an appreciation for him. He made Reed Richards look less like the typical muscular Superhero and more like the stretchy scientist he is. I also loved the way he drew The Thing's face as his brow line made much more since to me. When Byrne took over Superman I was over the moon. He draws sturdy and strong  heroes who look like they could really do the things they do.

7. Alan Davis:
He reminds me of Don Newton in a way. You can definitely tell when Davis is drawing a book and his characters have a grace to them that is almost dance-like. Another one who never disappoints.

8. Mike Allred:
No one draws like Allred and that's a good thing as he is too unique to copy. I love his Madman and really love it when he draws the DC Heroes. His SOLO issue was Heaven.

9. Alex Ross:
There just aren't words to describe the depth of respect I have for Ross' abilities. He is quite simply, to me, the most talented painter in comics today or ever. His work for DC has been superlative in every aspect of the word. His vision is how I've always seen the heroes in my mind's eye even before I saw his work. I'm not into Dynamite Comics but even bought that book to get his art. He is just too good to exist.

10. Jim Lee:
To be honest I never cared for Lee's Marvel work. His X-Men left me cold. It was too busy, too much like Silvestri and Liefeld's. Then he formed Image and I still didn't care for his art. Then he did Heroes Reborn and had a drawing of Namor on his throne and that kind of intrigued me. I thought that was pretty good. Then he did Batman: Black and White and I thought, "Geez he can't draw Batman for crap." So, I didn't think much about him for a while. Then Batman: Hush came out and I was knocked for a loop. Was this the same guy? His Batman ranked up there with Aparo and Newton or Rogers and Adams. The only DC hero work of his I don't have is All-Star Batman and Robin and that because Miller can't write Batman to save his life.

Since I'm running out of room I will list some more favorites and a brief reason why.
Gary Frank: Superman, Christopher Reeve. Need I say more?
Kevin Maguire: JLI: great run
Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez: Classic artist, face of DC merchandising
Jerry Ordway: All-Star Squadron
Kevin Nowlan: Great style
Brian Bolland: Mind-blowing art
Tony Harris: Starman
Keith Giffen: Legion of Superheroes
Neal Adams: Batman and the rest of DC universe
Dick Giordano: Classic Penciller and Inker
Ed McGuinness: Unique style great art
Dave Gibbons: Sturdy great art
Steve Rude: Classic Style
Ethan Van Sciver: Detail crazy, great ink line
Phil Jimenez: Perez Jr.
Nick Cardy: Classic
Carmine Infantino: Batman, best with Anderson inking
Steve Dillon: great quirky style

Well that'll do it for this time. Again, I'm sure I left somebody out and if so I'll just have to add on later. Thanks for reading, if you did.