Worst comic artists ever?

[Joanna]

He said this kind of thing happens constantly, and is especially prevelant with cover art. Cover art sells big numbers -- but it has to look good on a wall (from a distance, in B/W), so many covers are done with that specifically in mind.

 

I'm sure what you are saying is true.

But don't you think the VERY recent shift to 'posed' comic covers rather than action scenes is a little too co-incidental to have nothing to do with the inception of CGC?

Also, I have read that at Marvel, the directive to produce the posed covers came from Joe Q himself and is not the personal decision of the artists involved.

 

Is there an actual increase in the number? Posed covers have been around for a long time. Some artists do them more than others. I know that the series I know about, WW, there were periods where all covers were action, then a new artist came in and there were a lot of poses, then another artist and there was a mix, then another and so on... For example, Adam Hughes did a ton of covers and there was a high number of posed covers among them. George Perez and John Byrne were much more story-oriented. Maybe you're just not used to seeing it with Spider-Man.

 

I guess I'm not seeing the advantage for the people producing the comic of having it look nice in a CGC holder. Does that increase sales? Do a significant number of people buy comics they have no interest in (other than a cover pose) just so they can pay all that money to get it slabbed so that they can have a cover they like in a slab (not talking value, just "look, it's a pose in plastic, how pretty")? If this is common, then that would be an advantage. It just sounds idiotic to me, but then, that was the opposite of my comic-buying mindset, so it's difficult for me to grasp.

 

-- Joanna

 

[awe4one]

OK...time to do some defending from some of the Sal haters out there....

 

Here's an example of truly awful Trimpe art taken from FF Unlimited #2:

 

 

This is a great example of a formerly adequate artist trying to compete with the new crowd, most notably Image artists. Call it nostagia but I liked Trimpe on the 70s Hulk. His style fit the crazy monsters that graced the title during that time. This art though is dismal and gets even worse as his Unlimited run went on (a Black Panther story comes to mind that is all pose and no background). The thing is Trimpe can still draw in his old style as illustrated in one of those Heroes and Legends specials from around the same timeframe. This attempt to compete with the current crop of fad artists failed miserably. Pretty sad if you think about it....

 

But this is a Sal lovers post so...taken from Defenders #16:

 

 

This is classic Sal. Art is clean, dynamic, and typical of the Marvel style of the 70s. You Bronze Marvel afficionados out there probably have more Sal art in your boxes than you realize. I'd bet he has drawn most every Marvel character at one time or another. You can't think of 70s Marvel and not picture at least some of the characters without visualizing one as drawn by Sal.

 

Now some of you may be getting this Sal is the worst artist impression from his later work from the 90s. Taken from Spectacular Spider-Man #181:

 

 

His line may have gotten a little shaky but his style is still powerful. And, in my opinion, his run during this time was still the best of all the Spidey books out there at the time. Better than Saviak's Web (though I will admit that shoddy production values on the comic may have hurt him). Better than Larsen's and early Bagley's ASM. And yes, better than McFarlane's Spider-Man (though this a personal opinion, I can see how people like his Spidey art but it wasn't for me).

 

So give a little love up for 'ol Sal. To lump him into a worst artists category seems wrong considering all his consistently great output over the years. The man's not getting any younger and I'd hate to see people finally recognize him for his truly wonderful work after he's gone.

 

My opinion of course.....

 

 

Jim

[supapimp]

awe4one,

 

have you realised that your member #666? great post BTW, i thought the first one by trimpe was drawn by liefeld.

 

pimpy

[Darthdiesel]

Check the Trimpe's boobs on Sue and Medusa in that FF unlimited 2...falls way short of the new Image/Top Cow standards...

 

I liked ssm181 and think that Buscema's facial detail is more evident here than in the Defenders?

[awe4one]

have you realised that your member #666

 

Ummm...No. Would explain some of my previous posts though....

 

 

Jim

[chrisco37]

Never liked Liefeld (the small feet and ankles thing really bugged me). Larsen was pretty bad on ASM. Don't like Romita Jr. on ASM right now (I've picked up and put down many an issues). Sal was descent in the 70's (when he drew in the traditional Marvel Style), but his 2nd run on Peter Parker has to be the worst art I've ever seen. Awful, awful stuff.......

 

Chris

[underthebigw]

Great post. Nice to see someone taking the time to actually look back at some books. I agree with you regarding Sal Buscema--while his work is somewhat uneven, there is no way he can lumped in with some of these other names. Just too much great work on just about every Marvel character. On occasion, there's a unimpressive run, but there are far and away more great ones.

 

As for Trimpe--he went down the toilet way before your example. In fact, I'd say the page you chose is better than his average work. I used to cringe when he took over a book in the late 70's early 80's. I think he did some issues of Marvel Team-Up during the last few years of the title and I couldn't stand them, despite the fact that it was my favorite title as a kid.

[joe_collector]

I really like Sal's art in Avengers 127-134 and think it's some of the best he produced.

[awe4one]

Really? I was out of comics for a decade or so......so I must have missed the decline. That's what was so jarring seeing Trimpe's work on FF Unlimited. I remembered his Hulk and Ant-Man (Marvel Feature) run and couldn't quite understand this "new" Trimpe. Do you have any examples of his decline I can find? Even though I was out of comics for awhile, I probably acquired his later runs and put them in the boxes but never really looked for his name. I'd be curious to pull some and check it out....

 

 

Jim

[awe4one]

I really like Sal's art in Avengers 127-134 and think it's some of the best he produced.

 

I agree....But I liked all his 70s work. Defenders, Captain America, and Marvel Team-Up included. And, he probably drew the definitive Incredible Hulk....

 

 

Jim

[buena_vista]

I can't believe everyone forgot about two of the all time worst artists. First up, Larry Leiber - Stan Lee's little brother drew comics more like an artist from the 12th century. As crass as you'll even see faces and backgrounds. Let's not forget Irv Novrik. This poor shmoe had to follow Neal Adams in Detective & Batman. Unbelieveably bad. But I have to admit - Tuska is probably the all time worst. His Marvel work on Iron Man, Champions, Planet of the Apes etc was just a disgrace.

 

[joe_collector]

Yeah, and those Iron Man issues in the Midas storyline (early 100's) had me wishing Jack Kirby was the artist.

[Zonker]

This poor shmoe had to follow Neal Adams in Detective & Batman. Unbelieveably bad.

 

 

Sal Buscema and Irv Novick are both getting a bum raps here. Each had the misfortune to preceed or follow Neal Adams on Avengers and the Batman. Not a fair comparison IMHO, and certainly neither of these guys merit getting this kind of abuse. Unlike the latter-day Image prima-donnas, each of these chaps can at least tell a story.

 

Regards,

Z.

[Smokinghawk]

http://www.theartistschoice.com/milgromcom.htm - for those of you who want to biuy me or JC a gift.

 

 

[chrisco37]

I'll admit, I'm a little tough on Sal. I really did like his Bronze age stuff, and even liked his first couple issues on his 2nd run of Peter Parker (the art on the "Sin-Eater" storyline was very good).

 

We've had this discussion before, and I think I noted that his style changed right about the time that Mcfarlane's run on ASM began to get really hot. I never could get into his art after he changed up.

 

Chris

[lighthouse]

Wow... I can't believe a thread has stayed on topic this long...

 

My vote for worst artist goes to Al Hartley... I don't care if it was a fill-in issue... You'd be very hard pressed to find worse art in a major title than Journey Into Mystery 90...

 

If we're going with differences based on the time in their career, my vote goes to Linsner (yes, the Linsner of sexy redheads everywhere)... His art on Continuum is some of the crappiest in the history of comics... Just goes to show that if you keep practicing, anyone will get better. Whenever I have prospective artists ask me for advice and show me art that sucks, I think back to Continuum, and tell them it's all in whether they can produce on a deadline...

 

As far as worst artist in terms of impact on sales right now, it has to be Ramos. I don't even order any shelf copies of Peter Parker any more, not one single copy. Because just by putting them on the rack I scare away casual fans looking for something with Spider-Man in it. I had a dozen customers come in after the Spider-Man DVD came out with the exact same experience. They came in looking for new Spidey comics so they could see what was going on with the old webhead. They picked up Peter Parker, looked through about 4 pages, decided there just weren't any good comics anymore, and left. Not only did they not buy any copies of Peter Parker, they didn't buy anything, and probably told their friends there was no point in looking for good comic books because there weren't any... It's fine to put hyper-stylized art in an indy book, or on a lesser-known character. But doing it on an icon is just plain dumb.

 

My vote among artists with long careers on well-known titles: Herb Trimpe. To this day, I am amazed at the success of Wolverine given who drew him first...

[Crackandpresstoan11]

No mention of Joe Staton? Man, did he suck....

[fiendish]

My beef with Sal Buscema (which I've held since the 70s) is that he really only drew six facial expressions. He too-often used the animator's trick of recycling poses and facial expressions. How many times did we see the Hulk with his teeth gnashing and eyes squinting during Sal's Hulk run? On almost every page...

 

I know, I know, most artists do this. But the skillful ones hide the technique well.

[sckao]

 

The fill-in artist for Frank Quitely who did some recent New X-men issues was pretty bad. I understand he was the regular artist on Cable or some other comic I don't read.

 

Otherwise, I'd have to say that Al Milgrom inking himself is tops for worst artist. I wasn't a big fan of Keith Giffen during his "Alex Toth-homage" phase either...

 

Oon another note, I noticed that someone named Travis Charest on his worst artists list. How this happened I'm not sure, but I think Mr. Charest is a pretty gifted penciler...

 

 

[greggy]

Oon another note, I noticed that someone named Travis Charest on his worst artists list. How this happened I'm not sure, but I think Mr. Charest is a pretty gifted penciler...

 

They are probably referring to his mediocre days while he was drawing the Flash.

 

His art now is top notch!