Mount Rushmore of Comic Book Artists, who you got? 1 1

[eschnit]

A topic worthy of a thread? The opinions and taste of boardies, along with their reasoning would be worth noting.  I know I’m interested in opinions out there.

Top 4 All-Time might be more difficult, or at least there would be more potential choices to choose from.

Here’s mine...

Personal Taste (subjective):

Schomburg, Baker, Fine, Frazetta 

Overall:

Schomburg, Fine

...and then it gets really difficult.  Baker is a personal favorite.  But, he was not nearly as acclaimed until much later.  His star is on the rise, green arrow, bullish on his future regarding sentiment within the hobby, but could he crack the top 4?

Frazetta, perhaps the singular master craftsman of them all, but was he really a comic book artist?  Was it not tertiary in his scheme of things, the painter, who also did magazines, and at some point did a few comic books too.

Will Eisner, perhaps he’s the GOAT.  But was it his comic book art that made him so, or was it more his Stan Lee-ness of the Golden Age, ie Stan wasn’t really the greatest writer or artist, as much as he was a great comic guy.

Zolnerowich?  Probably, yeah.  Dude made some seriously stellar drawings.  He cracks the Top 4 in my opinion.  Prolific and prodigious.

Flessel, Whitman, Renee?  Anyone over at DC drawing the Bat-man or the guy with the red cape?

I suppose my thought on the 4 for the Golden Age, not my taste alone, but what my perception is, is Schomburg, Fine, Zolnerowich, and probably Eisner, simply because he’s Eisner.  Gets the nod over Frazetta because when people think of Eisner, comics come to mind.  With Frazetta, it’s likely paintings.

 

 

 

[Funnybooks]

Ah...the Mount Rushmore thread...it may be "better" to break up the artists by era...Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Modern, etc. However, if you're only allowing the top four most important artists as opposed to favorite artist, then subjectivity must be set aside? Are we strictly speaking American comic books? Would an artist/writer carry more weight than just an artist alone?

 

My personal favorites:

 

Baker

Everett

FIne

Schomburg

*Frazetta if we consider him to be a comic book artist rather than paperback/magazines paintings/drawings

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Funnybooks

[Bird]

I am not a GA art expert, but I like to play art games so my own favorites and being loose with genre...

Mac Raboy, Winsor McCay, HG Peter, Alex Raymond

I've done Rushmore on other threads...likely went with Kirby, Moebius, Frazetta and Eisner. Eisner never hits me like he must have hit people at the time though.

 

[eschnit]

On 8/10/2021 at 7:08 PM, Funnybooks said:

Ah...the Mount Rushmore thread...it may be "better" to break up the artists by era...Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Modern, etc. However, if you're only allowing the top four most important artists as opposed to favorite artist, then subjectivity must be set aside? Are we strictly speaking American comic books? Would an artist/writer carry more weight than just an artist alone?

 

 

 

Ditko squeezes in if it’s not pure Golden Age.  Since this is Gold, I figured that’s the best place to start.  For multiple reasons, probably makes less sense to tangent off into the merits of a Neal Adams, Barry Windsor Smith, or whomever else.  That’s not why most of us are here  .  Does being a writer matter for this question?  Hmm.  Not much.  Probably not really at all, except perhaps this.  If a Stan Lee could draw as well as Alex Schomburg, he’d get a tie-breaker.  Of course, he couldn’t :).  Frank Miller, well, you get the point.  I don’t need to own the direction of where this goes.  It’s all opinions of what matters.  Miller and Lee are vastly more important comic guys because of a lot of things, the least of which is their artwork. So they wouldn’t make it, if it were all-time.  All-Time, not just gold, I don’t know.  I’d probably be interested in others opinions more than my own, as I’m not sure I really know.  Maybe something like Ditko, Schomburg, Eisner, and 1 of like Fine, Adams, Flessel, or that guy that did a lot of work of Spider-man, Daredevil, and Punisher, can’t remember the name, Romita maybe? 

[eschnit]

On 8/10/2021 at 7:13 PM, Bird said:

I am not a GA art expert, but I like to play art games so my own favorites and being loose with genre...

Mac Raboy, Winsor McCay, HG Peter, Alex Raymond

I've done Rushmore on other threads...likely went with Kirby, Moebius, Frazetta and Eisner. Eisner never hits me like he must have hit people at the time though.

 

Haha, for some odd reason Jack Kirby is someone I forget when thinking of the greats.  Ironically, he might be the single most important thread in comic books all-time.  Full stop.  Like the most consequential, the artist who more people know his work than any of the others.  He’s probably the single most deserving.  😭

[Funnybooks]

On 8/10/2021 at 8:25 PM, eschnit said:

Ditko squeezes in if it’s not pure Golden Age.  Since this is Gold, I figured that’s the best place to start.  For multiple reasons, probably makes less sense to tangent off into the merits of a Neal Adams, Barry Windsor Smith, or whomever else.  That’s not why most of us are here  .  Does being a writer matter for this question?  Hmm.  Not much.  Probably not really at all, except perhaps this.  If a Stan Lee could draw as well as Alex Schomburg, he’d get a tie-breaker.  Of course, he couldn’t :).  Frank Miller, well, you get the point.  I don’t need to own the direction of where this goes.  It’s all opinions of what matters.  Miller and Lee are vastly more important comic guys because of a lot of things, the least of which is their artwork. So they wouldn’t make it, if it were all-time.  All-Time, not just gold, I don’t know.  I’d probably be interested in others opinions more than my own, as I’m not sure I really know.  Maybe something like Ditko, Schomburg, Eisner, and 1 of like Fine, Adams, Flessel, or that guy that did a lot of work of Spider-man, Daredevil, and Punisher, can’t remember the name, Romita maybe? 

If Mount Rushmore represents the most important figures in the history of comic books, that would preclude any of the strip and pulp artists. If keeping to GA then:

Shuster

Kane

Simon/Kirby

H.G. Peter

 

 

[eschnit]

On 8/10/2021 at 7:34 PM, Funnybooks said:

If Mount Rushmore represents the most important figures in the history of comic books, that would preclude any of the strip and pulp artists. If keeping to GA then:

Shuster

Kane

Simon/Kirby

H.G. Peter

 

 

So you named the artists that drew Superman, Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman.  I assume thought being, superheroes are the reason we care about comic books today.  By we, I mean, collectively. Also, we’re looking at pulp now, and saying most of the great art from like Fiction House or Fox could very well have been more copies than originals?

[Funnybooks]

On 8/10/2021 at 8:43 PM, eschnit said:

So you named the artists that drew Superman, Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman.  I assume thought being, superheroes are the reason we care about comic books today.  By we, I mean, collectively. Also, we’re looking at pulp now, and saying most of the great art from like Fiction House or Fox could very well have been more copies than originals?

Exactly . The most important GA artists in comic book history

I don't consider pulps, as beautiful as they are, comic books. I would be fine with including any pulp derivatives/swipes fair game as long as the book was published in comic book format. Strips would not be considered despite the greatness of Raymond, Foster, Herriman and Caniff.

[Primetime]

Sticking with gold and this thread, it’s all Schomburg, Bill Everett, Simon & Kirby for me. 

[Readcomix]

I’ll answer the same way I did last time we did this thread. (Based on importance to the medium): Kirby gets the Washington bust; the rest is just chit chat over beers.

 

That said, we can have a lotta great chit chat, of course….Tough to narrow the rest to just three. Bodies of work and important fundamental contributions get a lot more comparable among the other greats as compared to Kirby’s influence. A couple odd ideas: Charles Biro may have pushed more envelopes than anyone else, and many an artist credited Burne Hogarth as as an influence. Just a couple different ideas for the mix.

[eschnit]

On 8/10/2021 at 8:48 PM, Readcomix said:

I’ll answer the same way I did last time we did this thread. (Based on importance to the medium): Kirby gets the Washington bust; the rest is just chit chat over beers.

 

That said, we can have a lotta great chit chat, of course….Tough to narrow the rest to just three. Bodies of work and important fundamental contributions get a lot more comparable among the other greats as compared to Kirby’s influence. A couple odd ideas: Charles Biro may have pushed more envelopes than anyone else, and many an artist credited Burne Hogarth as as an influence. Just a couple different ideas for the mix.

Enlighten me, Burne Hogarth isn’t a name I’m familiar with.

[Funnybooks]

Father of Anatomy

Known for his work on the Tarzan Strip

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Funnybooks

[Bird]

On 8/10/2021 at 9:40 PM, Primetime said:

Sticking with gold and this thread, it’s all Schomburg, Bill Everett, Simon & Kirby for me. 

Bill Everett 

[Terry JSA]

On 8/10/2021 at 8:34 PM, Funnybooks said:

If Mount Rushmore represents the most important figures in the history of comic books, that would preclude any of the strip and pulp artists. If keeping to GA then:

Shuster

Kane

Simon/Kirby

H.G. Peter

 

 

When it comes to Bob Kane, it’s one of those hit or miss situations. His work as an artist is hard to judge due to his extensive use of ghost artists over the years. There’s hundreds of stories that are credited under his name but bear no relation to the person that gave us fantastic art in the earlier issues of Detective Comics.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Terry_JSA

[Primetime]

On 8/10/2021 at 7:14 PM, Terry_JSA said:

When it comes to Bob Kane, it’s one of those hit or miss situations. His work as an artist is hard to judge due to his extensive use of ghost artists over the years. There’s hundreds of stories that are credited under his name but bear no relation to the person that gave us great art in the earlier issues of Detective Comics.

All hail Shelley Moldoff 👌🏽👋🏽✅❣️😀

[Bird]

Kane even swiped the cover to Detective 27 from Alex Raymond!

[Primetime]

On 8/10/2021 at 7:17 PM, Bird said:

Kane even swiped the cover to Detective 27 from Alex Raymond!

Kane was a decent “cartoonist” 👍🏽

[Terry JSA]

On 8/10/2021 at 10:17 PM, Bird said:

Kane even swiped the cover to Detective 27 from Alex Raymond!

I like the cover to TEC #31, I favor that one over TEC #27. 

[Funnybooks]

I can't argue Bob Kane's dubious history...a bit sleezy but his name is synonymous with Batman and thus has to be on the Mount

Edited August 11, 2021 by Funnybooks

[Readcomix]

On 8/10/2021 at 9:56 PM, eschnit said:

Enlighten me, Burne Hogarth isn’t a name I’m familiar with.

@Funnybooks thanks for the info on Hogarth in response to OP; I was tied up. He also founded the School of Visual Arts; students included Al Williamson, Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott. I wish I could remember the other names Sinnott told me he attended with; the conversation was years ago but I recall he named an all-star team of comics artists. Frazetta and Wood also cited Hogarth’s influence. To hear Joe Sinnott speak reverently and enthusiastically of Hogarth and his experience learning under him was powerful. Here was a comics legend describing the inspiration he looked up to. The tone of voice and look on Joe’s face sticks with me.