Who was the greatest overall Golden Age comic book artist? 4 4

[Sarg]

Greatest in terms of ability, draftsmanship, originality, versatility, etc.

[Funnybooks]

Baker

Poll is now closed

[PopKulture]

On 8/7/2023 at 4:58 PM, Funnybooks said:

Baker

Poll is now closed

Great ability and style, sure, but he worked chiefly from reference. It's Barks or Kirby by a mile for their ability to conjure worlds. 

[Sarg]

I meant to include Frazetta. Oops. 

[Funnybooks]

On 8/7/2023 at 6:02 PM, PopKulture said:

Great ability and style, sure, but he worked chiefly from reference. It's Barks or Kirby by a mile for their ability to conjure worlds. 

Culture is spelled with a "c" < angry at keyboard> 

[zzutak]

On 8/7/2023 at 3:07 PM, Sarg said:

I meant to include Frazetta. Oops. 

And Everett, and Heath, and ......

 

[PopKulture]

On 8/7/2023 at 5:07 PM, Sarg said:

I meant to include Frazetta. Oops. 

Frazetta was fantastic at tableau, but Eisner was better at storytelling. Cole's covers are fantastic, but point me to his most highly regarded interiors. Crandall was an immaculate draftsman, but Kurtzman understood sequential storytelling - a key to the artform - seemingly innately, or so it seems. Wally Wood... well, Wally was Wood, and he produced some of the best covers and some of the best interiors ever. Wolverton was probably the most original on your list, which doesn't even feature comics' number one artist by a mile - Jack Kirby. Not only did Kirby invent so many of the visual techniques used widely in comics, he invented whole genres. I will give you, however, that he hit his zenith some time after the peak golden age, so his absence is probably due to the list being overpopulated with cover artists. 

There's only one artist on the list who did it all so well and that was Barks! If comics are capes to somebody, or rockets and ray guns, they're just not going to get it. 

[Ryan.]

In terms of overall volume, panel to panel storytelling, creativity and general artistry, Barks is far, far ahead of everyone in the Golden Age, and also the Silver through Modern Ages.

McCay probably takes it for the Platinum Age.

[Funnybooks]

On 8/7/2023 at 6:21 PM, PopKulture said:

Frazetta was fantastic at tableau, but Eisner was better at storytelling. Cole's covers are fantastic, but point me to his most highly regarded interiors. Crandall was an immaculate draftsman, but Kurtzman understood sequential storytelling - a key to the artform - seemingly innately, or so it seems. Wally Wood... well, Wally was Wood, and he produced some of the best covers and some of the best interiors ever. Wolverton was probably the most original on your list, which doesn't even feature comics' number one artist by a mile - Jack Kirby. Not only did Kirby invent so many of the visual techniques used widely in comics, he invented whole genres. I will give you, however, that he hit his zenith some time after the peak golden age, so his absence is probably due to the list being overpopulated with cover artists. 

There's only one artist on the list who did it all so well and that was Barks! If comics are capes to somebody, or rockets and ray guns, they're just not going to get it. 

My criteria would be heavily weighted in an artist that was the best at what he did at the time he did it...

Barks...would definitely be towards the top of the list.
Frazetta...not enough comic book work
Eisner...innovative but bland
Cole...not the best in any genre...good overall
Crandall...very good...does not separate himself from his peers...Craig, Feldstein, Davis, etc
Kurtzman...amazing but not even the best artist iamong his peer...that goes to Wood imho
Wood...makes for a strong argument with his body of work
Wolverton...too stylized for the general masses
Kirby...too attached to Simon...better with age
Schomburg...my #2
Fine...on mount rushmore
Everett...I believe he was the master of all trades

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Funnybooks

[goldust40]

Frazetta's best work was definitely post-GA.

[The Black Hand ®]

Barks. Every panel a masterpiece. Every story still reads like new. His work is ageless.

[sfcityduck]

Realistically, I think you have to have Bill Everett very high on the list. He was there very early. He was prominent and significant early. And he evolved his style in a way very few did such that he was still top tier while doing PCH in the 50s. He didn't fall off until the SA.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

For me, Schomburg has a strong argument for greatest cover artist.  But you are going to have to show me some strong interiors to get my vote in this poll.

[bronze johnny]

On 8/7/2023 at 5:55 PM, Sarg said:

Greatest in terms of ability, draftsmanship, originality, versatility, etc.

What’s the Golden Age? 1938 - ?

The Golden Age starts with Action Comics 1 and ends with the end of World War 2 and the decline of the Superhero genre. The rise of the Crime, Romance, and Horror genres start their progression with the postwar era. Baker and his contemporaries make their mark during this period. 

EC Comics is not Golden Age so let’s make sure greats like Wally Wood and Frazetta are placed in their respective eras when they were at the apex of their craft. 

The Golden Age greats include Fine, Kirby, Beck, Jack Cole, Schomberg, Eisner, Crandall, Binder, Simon, Everett, and Raboy. Comes down to which of the batch is your favorite. My suggestion is that you rewrite the heading of this thread to “Who’s your favorite Golden Age Artist.” Then add Raboy and remove the ones who aren’t Golden Age greats.

[sfcityduck]

On 8/7/2023 at 5:35 PM, bronze johnny said:

What’s the Golden Age? 1938 - ?

The Golden Age starts with Action Comics 1 and ends with the end of World War 2 and the decline of the Superhero genre. The rise of the Crime, Romance, and Horror genres start their progression with the postwar era. Baker and his contemporaries make their mark during this period. 

EC Comics is not Golden Age so let’s make sure greats like Wally Wood and Frazetta are placed in their respective eras when they were at the apex of their craft. 

The Golden Age greats include Fine, Kirby, Beck, Jack Cole, Schomberg, Eisner, Crandall, Binder, Simon, Everett, and Raboy. Comes down to which of the batch is your favorite. My suggestion is that you rewrite the heading of this thread to “Who’s your favorite Golden Age Artist.” Then add Raboy and remove the ones who aren’t Golden Age greats.

Yeah ... no. I gotta disagree.

GA was used by Lupoff in 1960. It quickly was adopted to refer to the first heroic age of, really, DC Comics and extends until the start of the second heroic age of DC Comics when we get the first reboot of a GA DC hero.  That's the way the term was originally used in fandom and it is the way most of us understand it today. Michael Uslan explained how Silver Age started: "Fans immediately glommed onto this, refining it more directly into a Silver Age version of the Golden Age. Very soon, it was in our vernacular, replacing such expressions as ... 'Second Heroic Age of Comics' or 'The Modern Age' of comics. It wasn't long before dealers were ... specifying it was a Golden Age comic for sale or a Silver Age comic for sale."

Obviously, the GA of strip reprints started much earlier and the GA of PCH much later.  So we could certainly have a lot of GA definitions, but I'd suggest we go with the traditional one.

P.S.  Here's the first usage of the term Golden Age by a comic fan writing about comics that I've ever seen.  He used it to refer to 1938-1942. From his perspective of 1948 the WWII years weren't the GA: 

However, this fan loved EC Comics and from today's perspective I'm sure he'd say they were GA. 

Edited August 8, 2023 by sfcityduck

[MrBedrock]

NERD FIGHT!!!!

[MrBedrock]

Bill Everett

[bronze johnny]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:51 PM, sfcityduck said:

Yeah ... no. I gotta disagree.

GA was used by Lupoff in 1960. It quickly was adopted to refer to the first heroic age of, really, DC Comics and extends until the start of the second heroic age of DC Comics when we get the first reboot of a GA DC hero.  That's the way the term was originally used in fandom and it is the way most of us understand it today. Michael Uslan explained how Silver Age started: "Fans immediately glommed onto this, refining it more directly into a Silver Age version of the Golden Age. Very soon, it was in our vernacular, replacing such expressions as ... 'Second Heroic Age of Comics' or 'The Modern Age' of comics. It wasn't long before dealers were ... specifying it was a Golden Age comic for sale or a Silver Age comic for sale."

Obviously, the GA of strip reprints started much earlier and the GA of PCH much later.  So we could certainly have a lot of GA definitions, but I'd suggest we go with the traditional one.

P.S.  Here's the first usage of the term Golden Age by a comic fan writing about comics that I've ever seen.  He used it to refer to 1938-1942. From his perspective of 1948 the WWII years weren't the GA: 

However, this fan loved EC Comics and from today's perspective I'm sure he'd say they were GA. 

Respectfully…agree…to disagree and I stand by my position. 

[bronze johnny]

On 8/7/2023 at 9:09 PM, MrBedrock said:

Bill Everett

Your favorite!

[bronze johnny]

On 8/7/2023 at 9:09 PM, MrBedrock said:

NERD FIGHT!!!!

You ❤️nerds!