My least favorite Fan Favorite

[Mighty Hal]

Ever wondered why some sellers use the term “fan favorite” when selling OA? I do.

 

Anyway. In READING COMICS, Douglas Wolk lacks a little admiration for old fan favorite Rob Liefeld. He refers to him as a “god-awful hack”. Me, I love myself some early Liefeld – I was delighted to get a DPS from his X-Force days. (Later Liefeld? Not such a fan.) In THE COMIC BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, Ron Goulart shares the hate for Jim Balent. He says that Balent is awful and Catwoman was only popular because of...well, two things. Me, I love myself some Catwoman-era Balent; I'm still looking for the right splash.

 

The point is. I don’t think I’m an OA snob. But, in the recent post here about the top current artists, I came across my least favorite Fan Favorite: Greg Land. The current, high dollar, painted Land art seems stiff and unnatural to my eyes. His MS MARVEL covers make me cringe but they must sell because Marvel keeps using him as the cover artist.

 

All in all, I realize that the guy's a fan favorite but I just don't get his appeal. It left me wondering if there were other collectors not feeling the love for a certain 'hot' artist.

[Alberto1975]

Ever wondered why some sellers use the term “fan favorite” when selling OA? I do.

 

Anyway. In READING COMICS, Douglas Wolk lacks a little admiration for old fan favorite Rob Liefeld. He refers to him as a “god-awful hack”. Me, I love myself some early Liefeld – I was delighted to get a DPS from his X-Force days. (Later Liefeld? Not such a fan.) In THE COMIC BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, Ron Goulart shares the hate for Jim Balent. He says that Balent is awful and Catwoman was only popular because of...well, two things. Me, I love myself some Catwoman-era Balent; I'm still looking for the right splash.

 

The point is. I don’t think I’m an OA snob. But, in the recent post here about the top current artists, I came across my least favorite Fan Favorite: Greg Land. The current, high dollar, painted Land art seems stiff and unnatural to my eyes. His MS MARVEL covers make me cringe but they must sell because Marvel keeps using him as the cover artist.

 

All in all, I realize that the guy's a fan favorite but I just don't get his appeal. It left me wondering if there were other collectors not feeling the love for a certain 'hot' artist.

 

Hey, I am guessing you're referring to Greg Horn, not Greg Land. Greg Horn's been the cover artist for Ms Marvel for quite some time, and I don't think Greg Land every did covers for Ms Marvel... Greg Horn was also the cover artist for Elektra a while back, as well as Emma Frost.

 

 

 

 

[Pirate]

I don't care for bachelo, mcguiness, or ramos's style. I know they are all super popular but that is my non fan favorite choices.

[mrpunch0]

I love me some Bachalo – but really prefer his early work on Vertigo and Generation X to what he's doing today. (Though I like it too.)

 

Liefeld is an artist who I thought was pretty good back in the day ... but I quickly outgrew his look. That being said, there's still a piece or two he did that I'd love to find.

 

Never really been a fan of Greg's work (Horn or Land) – but it doesn't leave me cold either.

 

For me, my current "meh" list includes David Finch, Joe Quesada, Ed Benes and Jim Lee. While each of those artists have done work I liked, overall they just don't do much for me.

[delekkerste]

All in all, I realize that the guy's a fan favorite but I just don't get his appeal. It left me wondering if there were other collectors not feeling the love for a certain 'hot' artist.

 

Two words: ADAM HUGHES.

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I love the ladies and anyone who has seen my CAF gallery knows that I appreciate someone who can really draw them! When I see a Gil Elvgren pin-up or a Jose Gonzalez Vampirella frontispiece or a Greg Land swipe of a Sports Illustrated cover , I wish that lovely lady could walk out of that drawing into reality. When I see an Adam Hughes cover or pin-up, I just don't get the feeling that I'm staring at a good looking woman. I'm not saying that his technique is poor (well, I do think his anatomical proportions are too exaggerated and his style has a less-realistic look which I don't particularly care for), I'm just saying that his women are not aesthetically beautiful to me in the slightest (with the possible exception of some of his earlier work).

 

It astounds me to see so many people fawning over his art; I really think it must be some sort of mass delusion or something.

[comix4fun]

All in all, I realize that the guy's a fan favorite but I just don't get his appeal. It left me wondering if there were other collectors not feeling the love for a certain 'hot' artist.

 

Two words: ADAM HUGHES.

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I love the ladies and anyone who has seen my CAF gallery knows that I appreciate someone who can really draw them! When I see a Gil Elvgren pin-up or a Jose Gonzalez Vampirella frontispiece or a Greg Land swipe of a Sports Illustrated cover , I wish that lovely lady could walk out of that drawing into reality. When I see an Adam Hughes cover or pin-up, I just don't get the feeling that I'm staring at a good looking woman. I'm not saying that his technique is poor (well, I do think his anatomical proportions are too exaggerated and his style has a less-realistic look which I don't particularly care for), I'm just saying that his women are not aesthetically beautiful to me in the slightest (with the possible exception of some of his earlier work).

 

It astounds me to see so many people fawning over his art; I really think it must be some sort of mass delusion or something.

 

maybe they have had their eyes checked recently...

 

[Lambo]

It astounds me to see so many people fawning over his art; I really think it must be some sort of mass delusion or something.

 

Deliquorstore:

To each his own but I agree with Chris. I think all that ballroom dancin' and skirt wearin' has made you a bit loopy!

 

Lamb

[Lambo]

All in all, I realize that the guy's a fan favorite but I just don't get his appeal. It left me wondering if there were other collectors not feeling the love for a certain 'hot' artist.

 

For me the choice is so obvious, so blatant that I'm stunned no one has mentioned him: Michael Turner. It's just not good. The torsos are all messed up. I realize he has a HUMONGOUS following and is immensely popular. He also seems like a pretty nice guy at shows and seems likeable on that level. But his artwork? I am not a fan.

[comicartfan]

I have to agree with Gene on this one. I never really understood the almost obessive behavior that Hughes art creates. First and foremost, I am not really into the whole "chick art"thing anyway. Maybe because I prefer REAL women rather than a 2 dimensional drawing of a cartoon character......maybe because I actually have girlfriends, don't live with my mother, have never played Dungeons & Dragons, don't have a clue as to who any of the characters in Lord of the Rings are and I don't work at the Quickie Mart.

 

Getting back to what I was saying......McGuiness I don't get either. A couple of his covers are okay, he's done a few great almost iconic images, but mostly I don't get it.....His heroes have these huge chins, blocky-stiff features and anatomy is all

[doom-migration]

I don't like Sean Phillips, his half of the Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness pages look terrible.

 

DOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mighty Hal]

Alberto1975, you're absolutely right. I'm not lovin' me the Greg Horn covers to Ms Marvel. As you said, Greg Land hasn't been working on Ms. Marvel. Pretty embarrassing to post a topic and reveal yourself as an insufficiently_thoughtful_person by paragraph three, eh?

 

Oddly enough, though, I don't enjoy Land's work, either. Thinking about it, I realized that I don't enjoy the comic OA of any artist with the first name of "Greg".

[Mighty Hal]

So...i-d-i-o-t comes across as "*spoon*" here?

[delekkerste]

maybe they have had their eyes checked recently...

 

I'm not saying that he doesn't do any good work - the Black Cat example you posted is much better than 95% of his other stuff and, heck, I thought that Legends of the Stargrazers DPS that was up on Heritage a while back was good enough to be the runner-up bidder on it. However, most of his work leaves me cold - for example, put his Wonder Woman covers next to, say, George Perez's Wonder Woman covers and you tell me who's the real deal and who isn't. And are his pneumatic renditions of Power Girl really that sexy? Well, maybe if you're the kind of live-in-your-mother's-basement kind of guy that Mike Shuley describes in his above post, but not for the well-balanced among us!

 

I'm not saying he's a "bad" artist, but, I just don't get the amount of obsessive attention AH gets, because I really don't think he's that good. It's like one day somebody declared that he's a hot artist who draws hot women and, instead of challenging that statement, everybody decided to pile on the AH bandwagon trying to out-do each other in the OA market - mass hysteria at its finest! Along the way, he somehow became legitimized as the sexy good-girl cover/pin-up artist that it was OK for even long-time OA collectors to own and still be able to turn up their noses at the Michael Turners, Billy Tuccis, Greg Lands, Greg Horns, etc. of the world, while somehow consideration for the actual aesthetic quality of his work was lost along the way.

[Alberto1975]

I don't care for bachelo, mcguiness, or ramos's style. I know they are all super popular but that is my non fan favorite choices.

 

I have to say I totaly agree with these 3. Bachalo and Ramos in particular, I can't understand why they're even drawing comic books, but to each their own

 

I would add to this list Leinil Yu, I still don't understand his appeal and why people think he's so great.

 

 

[Alberto1975]

Alberto1975, you're absolutely right. I'm not lovin' me the Greg Horn covers to Ms Marvel. As you said, Greg Land hasn't been working on Ms. Marvel. Pretty embarrassing to post a topic and reveal yourself as an insufficiently_thoughtful_person by paragraph three, eh?

 

Oddly enough, though, I don't enjoy Land's work, either. Thinking about it, I realized that I don't enjoy the comic OA of any artist with the first name of "Greg".

 

Freudian slip, I am sure!

I enjoy the work of both Gregs, although sometimes I do wish that Greg's lands photo references were not quite so obvious, but I have to say that, in terms of art, I think both look very nice.

 

Alberto

 

 

[mrpunch0]

I never really understood the almost obessive behavior that Hughes art creates. First and foremost, I am not really into the whole "chick art"thing anyway. Maybe because I prefer REAL women rather than a 2 dimensional drawing of a cartoon character......maybe because I actually have girlfriends, don't live with my mother, have never played Dungeons & Dragons, don't have a clue as to who any of the characters in Lord of the Rings are and I don't work at the Quickie Mart.

 

It is quite possible to be a fan, be happily married, have a good career and not be totally socially inept – just so ya know.

 

[SignatureSelect]

It is funny just about all the artist mentioned here I love. With the exception of Rob Liefeld. For those who like early Liefeld. Go back and check who the inker was because it might be the inker you like.

 

I have never nor will I ever understand how Rob Liefeld got a job working in comics. I can draw better than that guy. I just choose not to submit my stuff because I realize that it sucks.

 

Other than Rob Liefeld there are few artist which I do not like. I think everybody needs to be more open minded.

 

I always hear people at my store Bash Sam Keith, or Dave Mckean, or Kent Williams, or Ashley Wood, or Ben Templesmith, or current Howard Chaykin.

 

Then I think to myself those artist are great. They are also successful. Not a single one of them wouldn't have to work ever again if they didn't want to.

 

So the next time you think I don't like that artist or they suck, ask yourself if you could do it better. If the answer is yes then do it better and submit it to the big boys.

[mrpunch0]

I always hear people at my store Bash Sam Keith, or Dave Mckean, or Kent Williams, or Ashley Wood, or Ben Templesmith, or current Howard Chaykin.

 

There isn't an artist on that list (excluding Templesmith, but only because I have a few already.) that I wouldn't love to have a piece by. Especially Sam Kieth - I just can't find anything I like in my price range.

[SignatureSelect]

Kieth stuff is rare Now he works digitally and previous work was sometimes destroyed by keith himself plus he doesn't like to sell his stuff which makes it quite hard to own. With the exception of sam Keith and Ben templesmith I Own originals by everybody on that list.

 

My Dave Mckean is Probably one of my most prized pieces because Mr. Mckean gave it to me himself instead of me purchasing it from some gallery. It is nothing too elaborate just an 11X14 sketch of Morpheus.

[comicartfan]

I never really understood the almost obessive behavior that Hughes art creates. First and foremost, I am not really into the whole "chick art"thing anyway. Maybe because I prefer REAL women rather than a 2 dimensional drawing of a cartoon character......maybe because I actually have girlfriends, don't live with my mother, have never played Dungeons & Dragons, don't have a clue as to who any of the characters in Lord of the Rings are and I don't work at the Quickie Mart.

 

It is quite possible to be a fan, be happily married, have a good career and not be totally socially inept – just so ya know.

 

(thumbs u