Could John Byrne make a comeback with the right inker?

[jjonahjameson1]

I don't recall where I read it, but as I recall, Byrne once mentioned that part of his focus as he matured as an illustrator was developing ways to get the same effect with less ink on the page. This connects perfectly to why most of us see his work looks looser and quicker as the years go by. The difference in tightness between the commissions he does compared to the printed comics pages probably means he doesn't hold himself to the same drawing speed that he's accustomed to when drawing comics stories.

 

I'm intrigued daily by Walt Simonson's Facebook feed, where he posts numerous sketches and preliminary drawings for his current work, in addition to finished pieces for Hero Initiative, which are beautiful. He's an old-schooler who's still turning out great work on modern jobs.

 

When was the last time Simonson did a monthly book?

If you're going to use his pinup and cover work as comparison, then you'd have to use JB's commission work to go by. What do you think?

 

 

 

What do I think? Quite honestly, I think the inks are very heavy handed, with a much thiker line that doesn't really suit John's work.

[Logan510]

I don't recall where I read it, but as I recall, Byrne once mentioned that part of his focus as he matured as an illustrator was developing ways to get the same effect with less ink on the page. This connects perfectly to why most of us see his work looks looser and quicker as the years go by. The difference in tightness between the commissions he does compared to the printed comics pages probably means he doesn't hold himself to the same drawing speed that he's accustomed to when drawing comics stories.

 

I'm intrigued daily by Walt Simonson's Facebook feed, where he posts numerous sketches and preliminary drawings for his current work, in addition to finished pieces for Hero Initiative, which are beautiful. He's an old-schooler who's still turning out great work on modern jobs.

 

When was the last time Simonson did a monthly book?

If you're going to use his pinup and cover work as comparison, then you'd have to use JB's commission work to go by. What do you think?

 

 

 

What do I think? Quite honestly, I think the inks are very heavy handed, with a much thiker line that doesn't really suit John's work.

 

[Koa]

 

What do I think? Quite honestly, I think the inks are very heavy handed, with a much thiker line that doesn't really suit John's work.

 

I was just reading the letters column in an old FF issue where readers were complaining about how thick Byrne's inking was on some of his early issues and complimenting him for thinning his line out. Those commissions look good, i don't mind the thickness but i miss the nice thin/thick look his work had prior to marker brushes and such

[Hibou]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

[Koa]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

 

Good read and it included a cover inked by Tim Townsend. granted many years ago. John definitely would not be open to any inking that would modernize his look, not that any of us thought he would but a fan can dream...

[Logan510]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

 

Good read and it included a cover inked by Tim Townsend. granted many years ago. John definitely would not be open to any inking that would modernize his look, not that any of us thought he would but a fan can dream...

 

 

Did you ever read the first few issues of the Atom book he did a few years back? Trevor Scott inked those and I would hardly call his inking old school.

[Hibou]

I have not but I'll check those out!

[Hibou]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

 

Good read and it included a cover inked by Tim Townsend. granted many years ago. John definitely would not be open to any inking that would modernize his look, not that any of us thought he would but a fan can dream...

 

And for the record, Joe Rubinstein actually makes a post!

[Koa]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

 

Good read and it included a cover inked by Tim Townsend. granted many years ago. John definitely would not be open to any inking that would modernize his look, not that any of us thought he would but a fan can dream...

 

And for the record, Joe Rubinstein actually makes a post!

 

John wasn't happy about his Captain america art returns being filler pages. Joe's a good inker who can jump from style to style. His work over Dale Keown looked freakin great.

 

Never saw trevor scott's inks over Byrne. I guess the topic really should have been called, could Danny miki make John Byrne's art bass @$$ again.

[vaillant]

I don’t think it‘s ever an inking problem.

 

I think it has more to do with the involvement of an artist with the current work (even if, of course, this is not a general rule).

When he started, Byrne was probably enthusiastic about what he was doing – I just love his Champions, his early FFs, his early Avengers, and the X-Men up to some point.

 

On the Fantastic Four he had quite an evolution, but I think he was still strongly motivated.

 

I think that Byrne, or Simonson, or any other artist currently not working on an ongoing title for what matters, could be really great if they were drawing stories in which the writers actually cared about the characters, dumping all the $#)@! that has been done in the last years and getting back to what the characters are about.

[jjonahjameson1]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

 

Good read and it included a cover inked by Tim Townsend. granted many years ago. John definitely would not be open to any inking that would modernize his look, not that any of us thought he would but a fan can dream...

 

And for the record, Joe Rubinstein actually makes a post!

 

John wasn't happy about his Captain america art returns being filler pages. Joe's a good inker who can jump from style to style. His work over Dale Keown looked freakin great.Never saw trevor scott's inks over Byrne. I guess the topic really should have been called, could Danny miki make John Byrne's art bass @$$ again.

 

Uh, no, it wasn't good at all. Dale's are is best when he inks himself. Mark Farmer and Bob McLeod are both better over Dale's pencils than Joe.

[DeliBebek]

I think that Byrne, or Simonson, or any other artist currently not working on an ongoing title for what matters, could be really great if they were drawing stories in which the writers actually cared about the characters, dumping all the $#)@! that has been done in the last years and getting back to what the characters are about.

So you don't think Waid is breathing some fresh air into the Hulk (on which Simonson is currently the artist, at least during the Thor story arc)?

 

Were Byrne's pencils tighter when he drew Captain America, with more for Rubinstein to follow and therefore more of a problem when he didn't follow the pencils? Did Byrne's pencils get generally looser at some point, giving the inker's style more room to be apparent?

[Logan510]

I don’t think it‘s ever an inking problem.

 

I think it has more to do with the involvement of an artist with the current work (even if, of course, this is not a general rule).

When he started, Byrne was probably enthusiastic about what he was doing – I just love his Champions, his early FFs, his early Avengers, and the X-Men up to some point.

 

On the Fantastic Four he had quite an evolution, but I think he was still strongly motivated.

 

I think that Byrne, or Simonson, or any other artist currently not working on an ongoing title for what matters, could be really great if they were drawing stories in which the writers actually cared about the characters, dumping all the $#)@! that has been done in the last years and getting back to what the characters are about.

 

The implication being that he's no longer enthusiastic about what he's doing. Too much mind reading IMHO and if his message board is any indication, totally wrong. Unless he's flat out lying about how much he enjoys what he does

[Badlands]

That is sad, as his work on Uncanny X-Men, Avengers and Fantastic Four were some of my favorite books. To see him make a comeback to either company would have been wonderful news for the industry.

 

100% in agreement! Thanks for the comment!

[Koa]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

 

Good read and it included a cover inked by Tim Townsend. granted many years ago. John definitely would not be open to any inking that would modernize his look, not that any of us thought he would but a fan can dream...

 

And for the record, Joe Rubinstein actually makes a post!

 

John wasn't happy about his Captain america art returns being filler pages. Joe's a good inker who can jump from style to style. His work over Dale Keown looked freakin great.Never saw trevor scott's inks over Byrne. I guess the topic really should have been called, could Danny miki make John Byrne's art bass @$$ again.

 

Uh, no, it wasn't good at all. Dale's are is best when he inks himself. Mark Farmer and Bob McLeod are both better over Dale's pencils than Joe.

 

I prefer Dale's inks as well especially early in the Pitt run and recently in Pitt/Darkness he returned to form, so yeah by far his own best inker. However I thought Pitt 2 and 3 by Rubinstein looked great. Bob and Mark did great work over Dale during his hulk run but at least in farmers case he suppressed Dale's evolving style during the last year of their run. Dale was already doing more detailed rougher work as evidenced by his hulk pin up in the anniversary book and if you own any original art, you can still see Dale's blue pencil work and how much detail Farmer omitted. When farmer inked his work on half an issue of Pitt 9 Dale's style had changed too much for Mark to work his magic. I suspect Macleod also took liberties with Dale's pencils. I didn't care for a lot of his pencil only and tonal pencils stuff. I'm glad he's doing inks again.

[Koa]

An inker who managed to keep his work evolving and timeless was Al Williamson. While I loved his Alex Raymond influenced art it was really his inks over JR/JR and Leonardi among others that were amazing. A complete departure and reinvention. . He was one of the few guys who knew how to ink JR/JR, even people who dislike John's work can enjoy the stuff they did on daredevil together. I don't think I've ever seen a bad job with Williamson inks on it from '88 on. he could make anyone look great. Bill Sienkeiwicz is another guy that thrives on plain to bad pencils. As long as the storytelling is there, The worse the artist the better the final product.

[jjonahjameson1]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

 

Good read and it included a cover inked by Tim Townsend. granted many years ago. John definitely would not be open to any inking that would modernize his look, not that any of us thought he would but a fan can dream...

 

And for the record, Joe Rubinstein actually makes a post!

 

John wasn't happy about his Captain america art returns being filler pages. Joe's a good inker who can jump from style to style. His work over Dale Keown looked freakin great.Never saw trevor scott's inks over Byrne. I guess the topic really should have been called, could Danny miki make John Byrne's art bass @$$ again.

 

Uh, no, it wasn't good at all. Dale's are is best when he inks himself. Mark Farmer and Bob McLeod are both better over Dale's pencils than Joe.

 

I prefer Dale's inks as well especially early in the Pitt run and recently in Pitt/Darkness he returned to form, so yeah by far his own best inker. However I thought Pitt 2 and 3 by Rubinstein looked great. Bob and Mark did great work over Dale during his hulk run but at least in farmers case he suppressed Dale's evolving style during the last year of their run. Dale was already doing more detailed rougher work as evidenced by his hulk pin up in the anniversary book and if you own any original art, you can still see Dale's blue pencil work and how much detail Farmer omitted. When farmer inked his work on half an issue of Pitt 9 Dale's style had changed too much for Mark to work his magic. I suspect Macleod also took liberties with Dale's pencils. I didn't care for a lot of his pencil only and tonal pencils stuff. I'm glad he's doing inks again.

 

Farmer had several rushed inking jobs over Dale 'cause Dale was so late in getting the pencils done on the Hulk. As a result of Dale's tardiness, a few issues were fill-ins, illustrated by other artists.

 

And don't even get me started on Dale's tardiness on The PITT. Yeesh!

[jjonahjameson1]

An inker who managed to keep his work evolving and timeless was Al Williamson. While I loved his Alex Raymond influenced art it was really his inks over JR/JR and Leonardi among others that were amazing. A complete departure and reinvention. . He was one of the few guys who knew how to ink JR/JR, even people who dislike John's work can enjoy the stuff they did on daredevil together. I don't think I've ever seen a bad job with Williamson inks on it from '88 on. he could make anyone look great. Bill Sienkeiwicz is another guy that thrives on plain to bad pencils. As long as the storytelling is there, The worse the artist the better the final product.

 

Williamson was the best of the best amongst inkers. He could make any penciller look professional.

[Koa]

Here's an interesting discussion on Byrne inkers from his forum...

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10507&PN=0&TPN=1

 

Good read and it included a cover inked by Tim Townsend. granted many years ago. John definitely would not be open to any inking that would modernize his look, not that any of us thought he would but a fan can dream...

 

And for the record, Joe Rubinstein actually makes a post!

 

John wasn't happy about his Captain america art returns being filler pages. Joe's a good inker who can jump from style to style. His work over Dale Keown looked freakin great.Never saw trevor scott's inks over Byrne. I guess the topic really should have been called, could Danny miki make John Byrne's art bass @$$ again.

 

Uh, no, it wasn't good at all. Dale's are is best when he inks himself. Mark Farmer and Bob McLeod are both better over Dale's pencils than Joe.

 

I prefer Dale's inks as well especially early in the Pitt run and recently in Pitt/Darkness he returned to form, so yeah by far his own best inker. However I thought Pitt 2 and 3 by Rubinstein looked great. Bob and Mark did great work over Dale during his hulk run but at least in farmers case he suppressed Dale's evolving style during the last year of their run. Dale was already doing more detailed rougher work as evidenced by his hulk pin up in the anniversary book and if you own any original art, you can still see Dale's blue pencil work and how much detail Farmer omitted. When farmer inked his work on half an issue of Pitt 9 Dale's style had changed too much for Mark to work his magic. I suspect Macleod also took liberties with Dale's pencils. I didn't care for a lot of his pencil only and tonal pencils stuff. I'm glad he's doing inks again.

 

Farmer had several rushed inking jobs over Dale 'cause Dale was so late in getting the pencils done on the Hulk. As a result of Dale's tardiness, a few issues were fill-ins, illustrated by other artists.

 

And don't even get me started on Dale's tardiness on The PITT. Yeesh!

 

I'm sure, on a monthly book those things happen but i meant the general look of the work. At least from hulk 392 on Dale was already doing that "pitt" look when he inked himself as the pinup of Huulk and pantheon in that issue show, but Farmers inks were ultra smooth and he ommited alot of line work and rounded off sharper edges Dale began using then as he pulled away from the byrne influence, in favor of a cleaner look. It worked brilliantly. I think Mark Farmer is one of the greats and would love to see him reteam with Dale, as keowns work today would benefit from Farmer's style again. I would love to See mark ink Paul Smith, Bryan Hitch or neal adams.

 

Todd Mcfarlane said he thought Pitt could have been the biggest success of the 90's If Dale buckled down and got the book out on time. I think Todd was right, If dale hired a co-writer to refine the concept Pitt could have had lasting appeal and Dale would have been on a level of popularity rivaling Jim Lee and Mcfarlane. I don't care for most of his modern pencils only work although Darkness/Pitt looked as good as anything he'd ever done, If he could just do 6-8 books a year in that quality he could revive his career and be one of the most popular guys out there.