Neal Adams versus Bernie Wrightson

[VintageComics]

Before you fixate on the next shiny object, try to drill this in: "Your" connotes ownership of a thing. If you are just shortening "You are" it becomes "you're." Proper usage will make people less likely to want to groin punch you.

 

"fixate on the next shiny object" ....

 

 

... Not too shabby for an anal , grumpy lawyer.

 

If you have simply called him a grumpy, anal lawyer you could have accused him of defending anuses grumpily, but no...you had to mess that up too.

 

 

 

R.

 

[bhhooks22]

Before you fixate on the next shiny object, try to drill this in: "Your" connotes ownership of a thing. If you are just shortening "You are" it becomes "you're." Proper usage will make people less likely to want to groin punch you.

 

"fixate on the next shiny object" ....

 

 

... Not too shabby for an anal , grumpy lawyer.

 

If you have simply called him a grumpy, anal lawyer you could have accused him of defending anuses grumpily, but no...you had to mess that up too.

 

 

 

R.

 

 

"Rats" !

[Old Fashion PB and J]

Before you fixate on the next shiny object, try to drill this in: "Your" connotes ownership of a thing. If you are just shortening "You are" it becomes "you're." Proper usage will make people less likely to want to groin punch you.

Groin Punching hooks

 

You , especially are getting nowhere near my groin.

 

Why, just because some person_too_unaware_of_social_graces voted Pat the boardie that was "Most Likely to Have Gotten {insert venereal disease} from a Skanky Death-Metal Groupie?

 

PS: Pat the plaque took longer to inscribe than they thought. CGC says it should be shipped in the next couple of weeks.

 

Never caught a VD

 

And Death Metal chicks are just annoying.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

Before you fixate on the next shiny object, try to drill this in: "Your" connotes ownership of a thing. If you are just shortening "You are" it becomes "you're." Proper usage will make people less likely to want to groin punch you.

Groin Punching hooks

 

You , especially , are getting nowhere near my groin.

Why dont wanna get puched in your ovaries lady

[TheAvenger80]

 

 

 

[TheAvenger80]

[TheAvenger80]

Wrightson's stuff just drips with atmosphere

[shiverbones]

 

Jaw dropping piece! Not in the book if I remember correctly though.

 

For me Wrightson is the artist I prefer, and if it came down to owning a prime original between the two Adams wouldn't even register I'd go for a Wrightson so fast. That being said, Adams impact on comics is undeniably greater. Two different styles, both very talented folk.

 

As an aside, I was talking to Berni at a con back in 1993 or so & I asked why he stopped inking with a brush, and he told me he had developed an allergy to the Nickel used in the ferrule of the brush from being in constant contact with it, and that is one of the main reasons for his stylistc change in newer work.

[TheAvenger80]

That first one I just posted is Wrightson right? It kinda looks like it could be Frazetta but the site I got it from said Wrightson.

 

One more:

 

[Cimm]

Adams is huge for two reasons: he's ridiculously good at male anatomy, and he was prominent during a key era for both of the main comic book superheroes: Superman & Batman. Also, his influence can't be overstated; a whole generation of comic artists bit his style to one extent or another. Check out Bill Sienkiewicz. It's fun to watch the progress of his style from Adams knock off to doing his own thing. I think maybe only Jack Kirby is more influential in the long run.

 

So Adams has superheroes, and more specifically Superman & Batman, going for him. O, and Denny O'Neil too. They were a great team.

 

Bernie Wrightson doesn't really have any characters closely associated with him except for Swamp Thing. And I think that makes all the difference. IMO, he's the better artist, with many more strengths than Neal. He can work equally well in many media (check out his work for that Frankenstein book, so beautiful), and no one does mood better. He's the superior painter by a long shot I'd say. But being mostly horror will always make him the less popular of the two.

 

While I 'd say that neither artist at the top of their game these days, Adams has fallen off a lot more than Wrightson. The thing I loved most about Neal Adams was how loose and dynamic his work was. Now it's so tight I can barely zip the zipper! Bernie's still got it though, there were parts of Dead, She Said that were gorgeous.

 

Anyway, I'm quite pleased they both do what they do, thank you very much, but if I had to choose I'd go with Bernie.

 

I completely agree...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Davenport]

That first one I just posted is Wrightson right? It kinda looks like it could be Frazetta but the site I got it from said Wrightson.

 

One more:

 

Maybe some art-academic here can say where the dividing line between "commercial artist" and "Illustrator" lies. Wherever it is, Wrightson made the crossover along with Frazetta.

 

Neal Adams reached the pinnacle of comic book/commercial artist. Whatever that next step is into the 'fine art', I'm guessing Adams made a personal choice not to.

 

They both reached the 'Masters' level, in any case.

[Dale Roberts]

Neal Adams had a unique style. Wrightson very much copied/copies the style of Graham Ingels of EC fame. In fact, he does it better than Ingels. And his style pretty much restricts his art to fantasy or horror. Adams' style works/worked across the genres, and certainly works best with the super-hero genre which highlighted the bronze age.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love Wrightson's art. I just don't think it had the same effect on comics as Neal Adams.

 

Just my two cents...

[Boozad]

Bernie's still got it though, there were parts of Dead, She Said that were gorgeous.

 

(thumbs u

[jordanscott]

Before you fixate on the next shiny object, try to drill this in: "Your" connotes ownership of a thing. If you are just shortening "You are" it becomes "you're." Proper usage will make people less likely to want to groin punch you.

 

"fixate on the next shiny object" ....

 

 

... Not too shabby for an anal , grumpy lawyer.

 

I don't need to know these kinda things and I don't want to know how you know what he's into.

[jordanscott]

 

No, I think fans of the ART, whether Wrightson's or Adams', probably buy raw. (thumbs u

 

(thumbs u

[Bronty]

Honestly, I wonder the same thing. I collect Adams covers but next will be Wrightson, I even have a few already.

 

It seems as though they each chose to draw different projects and that makes all the difference. What level of control each had in chosing is the better question. How did Neal get on Green Lantern? Did Bernie have a shot at it? Was Neal harder working or more persistant in getting better characters? Did Bernie push or was he more laid back?

 

In any career we have times when we can go forward, take a plunge or risk and try something new. Is that what happened here? Neal got GL/GA and Bernie got Swamp THing? One was a huge step forward, the other was just cool. Did someone at DC have a preference for one of them?

 

They are both great,, the pages of GL/GA that Neal drew and Bernie inked are some of the best I have ever seen. I think the better question is how one ended up doing "main stream characters" and one did horror one off stories.

 

 

There's more to it than that IMO.

 

- Bernie has a small body of work to start with - limiting his # of fans

- On top of that, Bernie did not do many covers.. he tended to do complete books or interior stories although he did a few covers here and there

- yes he worked largely in the one genre

 

meanwhile Neal

 

- has a very large body of work

- did an ENORMOUS amount of covers during his peak years. He was basically DC's unofficial house cover artist for 5 or 8 years. Name a DC title out in the early 70s and hey there's probably at least a few adams covers on that title.

- he worked in every genre imaginable, so every comic fan out there remembers/can appreciate his work

 

...so there's just a way more widespread appeal to Neal's work for all those reasons, not just because he drew superheroes.

 

Really just the body of work factor will mean that neal will always have the upperhand in this respect. Its no different than Jack Kirby. If Jack had a small body of work along the lines of Wrightson's output, he'd be long forgotten by now.

[MR.COMICBOOK]

Honestly, I wonder the same thing. I collect Adams covers but next will be Wrightson, I even have a few already.

 

It seems as though they each chose to draw different projects and that makes all the difference. What level of control each had in chosing is the better question. How did Neal get on Green Lantern? Did Bernie have a shot at it? Was Neal harder working or more persistant in getting better characters? Did Bernie push or was he more laid back?

 

In any career we have times when we can go forward, take a plunge or risk and try something new. Is that what happened here? Neal got GL/GA and Bernie got Swamp THing? One was a huge step forward, the other was just cool. Did someone at DC have a preference for one of them?

 

They are both great,, the pages of GL/GA that Neal drew and Bernie inked are some of the best I have ever seen. I think the better question is how one ended up doing "main stream characters" and one did horror one off stories.

 

 

There's more to it than that IMO.

 

- Bernie has a small body of work to start with - limiting his # of fans

- On top of that, Bernie did not do many covers.. he tended to do complete books or interior stories although he did a few covers here and there

- yes he worked largely in the one genre

 

meanwhile Neal

 

- has a very large body of work

- did an ENORMOUS amount of covers during his peak years. He was basically DC's unofficial house cover artist for 5 or 8 years. Name a DC title out in the early 70s and hey there's probably at least a few adams covers on that title.

- he worked in every genre imaginable, so every comic fan out there remembers/can appreciate his work

 

...so there's just a way more widespread appeal to Neal's work for all those reasons, not just because he drew superheroes.

 

Really just the body of work factor will mean that neal will always have the upperhand in this respect. Its no different than Jack Kirby. If Jack had a small body of work along the lines of Wrightson's output, he'd be long forgotten by now.

If your talking small body of work then put Barry Smith,Jim Steranko and Mike Kaluta in there.

[jordanscott]

If your talking small body of work then put Barry Smith,Jim Steranko and Mike Kaluta in there.

 

I love those trippy Nick Fury/SHIELD covers!

 

[bhhooks22]

If your talking small body of work then put Barry Smith,Jim Steranko and Mike Kaluta in there.

 

I love those trippy Nick Fury/SHIELD covers!

 

 

#4 is my all time favorite. (thumbs u

[Bronty]

Honestly, I wonder the same thing. I collect Adams covers but next will be Wrightson, I even have a few already.

 

It seems as though they each chose to draw different projects and that makes all the difference. What level of control each had in chosing is the better question. How did Neal get on Green Lantern? Did Bernie have a shot at it? Was Neal harder working or more persistant in getting better characters? Did Bernie push or was he more laid back?

 

In any career we have times when we can go forward, take a plunge or risk and try something new. Is that what happened here? Neal got GL/GA and Bernie got Swamp THing? One was a huge step forward, the other was just cool. Did someone at DC have a preference for one of them?

 

They are both great,, the pages of GL/GA that Neal drew and Bernie inked are some of the best I have ever seen. I think the better question is how one ended up doing "main stream characters" and one did horror one off stories.

 

 

There's more to it than that IMO.

 

- Bernie has a small body of work to start with - limiting his # of fans

- On top of that, Bernie did not do many covers.. he tended to do complete books or interior stories although he did a few covers here and there

- yes he worked largely in the one genre

 

meanwhile Neal

 

- has a very large body of work

- did an ENORMOUS amount of covers during his peak years. He was basically DC's unofficial house cover artist for 5 or 8 years. Name a DC title out in the early 70s and hey there's probably at least a few adams covers on that title.

- he worked in every genre imaginable, so every comic fan out there remembers/can appreciate his work

 

...so there's just a way more widespread appeal to Neal's work for all those reasons, not just because he drew superheroes.

 

Really just the body of work factor will mean that neal will always have the upperhand in this respect. Its no different than Jack Kirby. If Jack had a small body of work along the lines of Wrightson's output, he'd be long forgotten by now.

If your talking small body of work then put Barry Smith,Jim Steranko and Mike Kaluta in there.

 

What's that got to do with anything? I don't follow. Obviously you can still be well admired with a small body of work (Frazetta), what I'm saying is that a large body of work helps get you recognition (Kirby).