Most overrated artist and why?

[the blob]

Jim Starlin always struck me as a competent artist, but highly overrated. Some of his work on Captain Marvel is just goofy, like the cover to Captain Marvel 32.

 

Wow, this is my only real surprise so far, as Starlin is about the last artist (other than maybe Adams and Byrne) who I would think would make the list.

 

And CA 32 is one of my fave Bronze Covers, and there are far worse Starlin covers.

 

Captain Marvel doesn't look human on this cover:

 

 

Small head, strange arms (looks like he is struggling against his suit to lift them), torso almost as wide as it is tall, and just generally bad proportions. Why is the energy link between his wrists behind his head and not in front of his face? Or is it flowing through his head (in one ear and out the other)?

 

Like I said, a very goofy cover IMHO.

 

criminey, the guy draws one captain marvel horribly out of proportion (i have always thought the same thing too, he's almost a spider on that cover) and we crucify him! the rest of the cover is good and he is generally pretty competent on the run. and he got better with time too.

[pietaster-migration]

Want to talk about a crappy cover? How about this one, I think its Gil Kane. How does punisher stand with his knee like that?

 

 

 

[F For Fake]

I dig Starlin. His anatomy has always been a little wonky (especially in recent years) but he draws with a great deal of energy, and he's a great writer, so I tend to give him a pass more often that not.

[rjpb]

I've always found the hate for JRjr. a little mystifying, his art does little for me either way, but it seems basically like middle of the road Marvel house style to me. But I'm not buying a bunch of Marvel books everyone month, so perhaps I've missed his more egregious crimes

 

Chris Bachalo I loved on Shade twenty years ago, and still think it's great work, but I can see how the development of his style for more mainstream superhero stuff would be found wanting, as it often has a kitschy 90s Image quality to it.

[Robot Man]

Jim Starlin always struck me as a competent artist, but highly overrated. Some of his work on Captain Marvel is just goofy, like the cover to Captain Marvel 32.

 

Wow, this is my only real surprise so far, as Starlin is about the last artist (other than maybe Adams and Byrne) who I would think would make the list.

 

And CA 32 is one of my fave Bronze Covers, and there are far worse Starlin covers.

 

Captain Marvel doesn't look human on this cover:

 

 

Small head, strange arms (looks like he is struggling against his suit to lift them), torso almost as wide as it is tall, and just generally bad proportions. Why is the energy link between his wrists behind his head and not in front of his face? Or is it flowing through his head (in one ear and out the other)?

 

Like I said, a very goofy cover IMHO.

 

criminey, the guy draws one captain marvel horribly out of proportion (i have always thought the same thing too, he's almost a spider on that cover) and we crucify him! the rest of the cover is good and he is generally pretty competent on the run. and he got better with time too.

 

Yeah, that is AWFULL!

 

[Robot Man]

Now, I am a Marvel guy but I vote for Ditko. I loved Spiderman when it first came out and ever since but the Ditko stuff is just "cartooney"? Now, I do have to say some of his pre-code horror covers are killer!

[prez]

Jim Starlin always struck me as a competent artist, but highly overrated. Some of his work on Captain Marvel is just goofy, like the cover to Captain Marvel 32.

 

Wow, this is my only real surprise so far, as Starlin is about the last artist (other than maybe Adams and Byrne) who I would think would make the list.

 

And CA 32 is one of my fave Bronze Covers, and there are far worse Starlin covers.

 

I always think of Starlin as a writer / creator first then an artist. I too like CM 32's cover - it's a classic Bronze Age style cover

[webeloobie]

I think there's certainly an age gap when it comes to Kirby. For those of us with a few more miles on us, Kirby's rendering to this day are still the "classic" takes on so many Marvel characters... that it's hard to ever consider him overrated.

But for those who didn't grow up with the stuff and love it as much as we did, I suppose I could see it.

 

As for JRJR? He's that weird mix of both over and underrated. I think he's better than a lot of people give him credit for, but not nearly as good as his biggest fans think. Personally, I still liked his early work best when he was trying to draw like his father. Those issues of ASM he did in that style looked really great.

 

JRJR's work on ASM issues in the 230s to 240s was very good. I loved Roger stern and JRJR together. Hobgoblin, Juggernaut, Roxxon Oil monsters Tarantula and Will 'O the Wisp, etc. It's one of the few Spidey runs I reread regularly.

[Aweandlorder]

All the imitator that came after Arthur Adams and sculpted the look of 90s drek.

Great article about it here

sad but true

[kav]

All in all it's either Jim Lee or McFarlane

Probably McFarlane

 

Wrong, see below:

 

Looks like fan art to me-the standard 'yelling Wolverine' with absurd claws that don't make sense.

 

Pretty much every artist draws the same faces for everyone with rare exceptions like Sean Phillips.

[roach04]

Most of this thread has me stunned! (Other than the Liefeld call out). Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane are not "great" artists the way P. Craig Russell or BWS are, but their stuff is fun to look at and certainly revolutionary for their time period.

 

Frank Miller's current style works for Sin City...but not Batman.

 

I may be among the few who like Ditko Dr. Strange over Ditko Spider-Man, but I certainly love both. JR Jr isn't for everybody - but who is? I was oblivious to the fact that people didn't enjoy his stuff - he's been drawing a pay cheque to draw comics for 35+ years! (Is there a group of folks who don't like Aparo? Swan? John Buscema??)

 

And Kirby...was Kirby. No superhero artist had or will ever have his influence again. I've always found it amazing how the big artists from every era since - Neal Adams, John Byrne, Jim Lee - spawned dozens of guys who tried to draw just like them. That didn't happen with Kirby -- because nobody could draw like him.

[kav]

yup

[jools&jim]

 

And Kirby...was Kirby. No superhero artist had or will ever have his influence again. I've always found it amazing how the big artists from every era since - Neal Adams, John Byrne, Jim Lee - spawned dozens of guys who tried to draw just like them. That didn't happen with Kirby...

...except that it did: Steranko, Trimpe, Barry Smith, Giffen, and others all began their careers as slavish Kirby imitators, or were HEAVILY influenced by Kirby (e.g., the Buscemas, Buckler, et al. -- and, later, Byrne, Perez, and Walt Simonson, too, for that matter!). And let's not forget that it was a standing policy at Marvel during the height of the Silver Age that Kirby's style (with the notable exception of Ditko) was THE de facto house style for the House of Ideas...

 

 

[kav]

They drew similar to a basic kirby style but not even close to actual kirby as opposed to say the neal adams imitators that often look indistinguishable from adams.

No panel by steranko someone might mistake for kirby.

[jools&jim]

 

They drew similar to a basic kirby style but not even close to actual kirby as opposed to say the neal adams imitators that often look indistinguishable from adams.

No panel by steranko someone might mistake for kirby.

The OP said that there were not significant imitators who "tried to draw like Kirby." But every artist I named--and many others--did precisely that. Whether they achieved it or not is another question entirely.

 

And please show us all a single panel drawn by another artist--and NOT inked by Adams or one of his acolytes--which is "indistinguishable from Adams"...

 

 

[kav]

They drew similar to a basic kirby style but not even close to actual kirby as opposed to say the neal adams imitators that often look indistinguishable from adams.

No panel by steranko someone might mistake for kirby.

The OP said that there were not significant imitators who "tried to draw like Kirby." But every artist I named--and many others--did precisely that. Whether they achieved it or not is another question entirely.

 

And please show us all a single panel drawn by another artist--and NOT inked by Adams or one of his acolytes--which is "indistinguishable from Adams"...

 

 

plenty more where that came from

[oakman29]

Everyone has their favorites,and not so favorite.One thing I'm sure we can all agree on......

 

 

 

 

Frazetta is a GOD!

[kav]

Frazetta is God

No question about it

Absolutely

[pickycollector]

Frank Robbins and Rob Liefeld... It is hard to be worse than that.

 

On the other hand, underrated artists for me are Paul Gulacy and Pablos Marcos.

[FineCollector]

Romita Jr is garbage. He was fine when he imitated Romita Sr because it looked like Romita Sr. When he started copying Miller and putting out that blocky mess, he wasn't fit to see print. If I were a rich man, I'd burn every single copy of his 90's Daredevils. Those were horrendous.

 

Why do people hate him? Watch the interview in the extras of the Daredevil DVD. He says his dad worked too much, so he's only going to do as much as he has to. Translation: he's a lazy turd who thinks he can justify being a lazy turd.