Worst comic artists ever?

[ArAich]

Right on Smoky....could not agree with you more...especailly the part about Chan and Buscema...

I was ecstatic when the newest issue of Savage Sword would hit the stands just to see their newest effort on Conan...

[ArAich]

Frank Robbins takes the cake in the 70s. Guess that is why Marvel had G Kane draw most of the Invaders covers: swastika, Hitler, Nazis, etc.

 

Funny how Gil Kane could almost be classified in the "worst" catagory for one title while also being classified as the "best" on another title...His Green Lantern work was stunning...

[BronzeBruce13]

I HATE John Byrne's art, anytime someone other than himself or TERRY AUSTIN inks it. I think DAN GREEN is the worst inker ever.......

 

That's funny you should mention that. I absolutely loved Byrne and Austin together. The X-men run was among my favorite illustrated runs ever... BUT I think Austin deserves more credit. "Tracers" contribute more in some instances. I never really considered Byrne's work all that special when Austin wasn't inking it. It was good of course, nothing to get repulsed by, but it was never as good (assuming I saw it all) IMHO after he left the X-men. For that reason, I feel his entire body of work is a bit overrated. Just looking at the X-men (with Austin)... he's a Comic God, after that... mortal for the most part.

 

I particularly disliked it when Byrne inked his own work. The bar was set too high by Austin. Like Byrne, Gil Kane's work was also drastically reduced when he inked it himself with those thicker black felt tip pens instead of the finer ink pens. It seems when you're both the penciler and inker, you have no qualms about taking liberty with your pencils (who's gonna get offended?) and much of the potential detail is "reconsidered" it seems... perhaps to finish quicker. Doing both must make some artists feel somewhat rushed I'd imagine. Now, the inker on the other hand (at least a talented and inspired one) sees beautiful pencil art, is moved/inspired by it and wants to bring it to life further, not just get it done. I think Austin was so psyched to ink Byrne's detailed pencils that he not only captured all that Byrne intended, but enhanced it also. I bet most pencilers that ink their own art just can't be as moved. Its hard to appreciate your own work like others can. The artists that can pencil and ink (and still maintain the same level of intensity) were probably adept at, and enjoyed doing both early on.

 

Does anyone like Arthur Sudyam's (sp?) work?

 

 

[Bonds25]

Todd McFarlane overrated???

 

My vote for worst artist ever is Erik Larsen!

[blowout]

My vote for worst artist ever is Erik Larsen!

 

Eric Larsen sure was bad when he followed Todd on ASM. He made the huge mistake of trying to ape TM's style and ended off coming out as a second rate Mcfarlane (and the real deal was nothing special).

Having said that, when he settles into his own style, as in his work on Savage Dragon, he is not too bad. There are certainly far worst artists around IMO.

[Zonker]

 

Funny how could almost be classified in the "worst" catagory for one title while also being classified as the "best" on another title...

 

That sums it up... I'm none too comfortable with this particular game, because context is everything. Yeah, I took a swipe at Vince Colletta in an earlier thread on worst pencil/ink combinations, but the volume of work Colletta was trying to crank out as DC's Art Director was insane! The man no doubt worked himself into an early grave.

 

Frank Robbins? Yeah, he was ill-suited to Invaders or 1970s Cap (don't recall the inker). But he has the classic Milt Caniff style-- check out his great retro-style Shadow and Batman stories (Detective Comics in the 410s-420s).

 

Frank Springer? Impossible act to follow Steranko on Nick Fury. But his Secret Six? Great stuff!

 

Kirby great in 60s, poor in the 70s? Maybe that has more to do with the scripting magic by Stan the Man in the Marvel Age books.

 

I'm sure we can all think of counter-examples to most of the "worst ever" listed above. Well, except for Liefeld of course...oops... so much for being nice

 

Z.

 

 

[joe_collector]

Frank Springer was pretty lame, but are you confusing him with Frank Robbins (Invaders) like I used to?

 

You may be right, and Robbin's Invaders and Captain America art was some of the absolute worst crud I've ever seen. And he always liked to show his characters spitting or sweating bullets, something I never liked as a kid.

[garthgantu]

Yes, now we're getting somewhere - it's Frank Robbins that you're thinking of, not Frank Springer - I'd bet $ on it.

 

I like to think that when they finally laid ol' Frank Robbins in his grave, his body was splayed out like one of his awful Captain America poses, with both legs looking broken at the knees, arms akimbo, etc.

 

Robbins definitely tops the list - how he maintained any standing in the comic art biz for 35+ years is a mystery to me.

 

Beyond him, the other top suspects in my list would be:

- Don Heck

- Wayne Boring (...yawn...)

- Tuska

- Matt Feazel (...kidding!)

 

 

[dam60]

I have to come to Jim Aparo's defense! Par none the BEST batman artist ever!!!!

 

If anyone has any of his pages for sale, please PM me!

 

DAM

[ubiquiti]

John Romita Jr.

I hate his work...seriously.

[blowout]

John Romita Jr.

 

While I will say that his work is below par on ASM currently, his work on ASM & Iron Man in the 80's was great. Check it out.

[ubiquiti]

His work on the X-Men in the 80s is what I am judging him on - I think he is just waaay overrated.

[joe_collector]

John Romita Jr.

I hate his work...seriously.

 

You sir need to sit down with a stack of Al Milgrom and Frank Robbins books, and be forced to finish them all.

[blowout]

His work on the X-Men in the 80s is what I am judging him on - I think he is just waaay overrated.

 

Overated he may be (slightly) but he is a VERY long way from being a bad artist.

 

And even further away from being the worst artist ever.

[fiendish]

Travis Charest?

 

Or when we list Leifeld, are all of his [!@#%^&^] progeny automatically included?

[joe_collector]

I don't know why people harp on Liefeld so much, at least in his pre-X-Force #1 days. I liked his work on New Mutants, or back when he still had editors over his shoulder critiquing his pages.

 

Once he was let loose on X-Force 1 and subsequent Image comics, his art went downhiill fast.

[ubiquiti]

Either way - I just don't like him - and since joe collector pointed out the other artist I hate - Al Milgrom - those are my two picks.

Honestly - I think my 12 your old cousin could draw super heroes better than Romita, Jr from the 80's - and have way more detail.

Makes you wonder how a marginal at best artist like JR, JR can still be employed but the likes of Paul Smith and Michael Golden are sort of uhh...gone.

[BachelorOfComix]

Alan Kupperburg

[Comicdave]

I'll have to put in another vote for Frank Robbins as one of the worst artists. I actually stopped buying Captain America in the 70s because he was drawing it.

 

I also wasn't a fan of Jack Kirby(70s), Steve Ditko (70s-80s), Don Heck, Ric Estrada, Herb Trimpe ( mid to late 70s) his early Hulk art inked by John Severin wasn't too bad. I realize Vince Colletta pumped out a lot of work and could finish 20 pages of art in one night, but I have never seen anything that he inked, that I liked. What's worst, is he made good artists look bad.

 

Jack Abel was another inker who ruined everything he touched.

 

While I wouldn't call Sal Buscema a great artist, I believe he was a very adequate artist. He didn't have a lot of quality inkers inking him most of the time. But check out the issues of Hulk in the low 200s where he was inked by Ernie Chan. Some really nice stuff.

 

I also have to defend Jim Aparo. I agree most of his later work was nothing to write home about, but check out his issues of Brave & Bold ( low 100s) for some fantastic artwork.

 

As for todays artists, check out the current covers of Peter Parker, Spider-man. There's stylized and then there's just plain [!@#%^&^]. The artist Herreras ( can't remember his first name) makes Frank Robbins look like Neal Adams.

[joe_collector]

I'll have to put in another vote for Frank Robbins as one of the worst artists. I actually stopped buying Captain America in the 70s because he was drawing it.

 

I can remember being all wired up on the Nomad storyline, and thought Sal Buscema was doing some excellent work on that title. Then I picked up Captain America #182 and saw that whacked-out Robbins art, mocking me from the front page.

 

Check attachment for a sneak peek...