Top 10 Marvel artists of all time !!!

[BrianR]

sacrilege alert: i'd take Neal Adams off. or at least bump him down to the bottom of the top ten.

 

he did basically five issues of Avengers, nine of X-Men, and a dozen or so 3rd and 4th tier books.

 

this is basically the same concept as leaving Michael Jordon off of "greatest college basketball players of all time" lists, as he wasn't dominant in college, likely due to the constraints of the system in and the coach he played for.

 

longevity has to count for something at the top of this list. this is why Steranko gets near the bottom of my list as well. not because i don't think he's a top artist, but because his body of work - albeit very iconoclastic and visionary - doesn't match those at the top of my list;

 

1. King - Kirby IS SA Marvel. without Jack Kirby, there is no Marvel comics.

2. John Buscema - not a huge fan of his style, but probably the most underrated draughtsman of all time

3. John Byrne - carried practically the entire franchise on his back for 5 years in the mid to late 70s

4. Ditko - duh.

5. Romita Senior - double duh

6. BWS

7. Steranko

8. Neal Adams

9. McFarlane - not because of any great love for his work, but for other obvious reasons.

10. Gil Kane - the man did about ten thousand covers for Marvel in the 70s, each one of them spectacular, even the up-the-nose shots

 

next set of guys includes Brunner, Starlin, Perez, John Severin, Frank Miller, Paul Smith and Art Adams

 

I have to pretty much agree with Sal's opinion as well as the runner ups although I would add in Ayers, and maybe Heck and Colan in the runner up crowd.

[Mister Trent]

My era of nostalgia for Marvel Comics is the 1960s. So, with that in mind . . .

 

Steve Ditko (the first and best Spidey artist)

Jack Kirby

John Severin (especially for his early NICK FURY/S.H.I.E.L.D. work)

Gene Colan

John Buscema

Don Heck (very underrated, but did good work on early IRON MAN and AVENGERS)

Bill Everett

John Romita, Snr

Wally Wood (early DAREDEVIL work is outstanding)

Jim Steranko

[divad]

I`m really surprised I`m the only one who named Frank Miller in his top 10. During the long stretch from the time that Smith left Marvel until McFarlane and Lee became stars, the only artists at Marvel who got broken out in price guides were Byrne and Miller. He had a seriously fanatical following.

 

I'm not - Frank Miller's a hack - doesn't hold a candle to Gene on DD

[*paull*]

On the other hand, John Buscema`s art doesn`t bug me, but it doesn`t excite me either. He`s the vanilla ice cream of Marvel artists.

 

But when you are the one who _created_ vanilla ice cream....

 

In my opinion, Buscema could do almost no wrong. His Silver Surfer was simply the greatest version of the character, and some of the most powerful and graceful work i've seen in comics. His Avengers, Subby, Conan were all great. The majority of comic book artists that followed could take a lesson from Buscema regarding how to draw characters dynamically with poses at the peak of tension. There's a reason that Lee chose him to do "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way".

 

I'm a big Steranko champion, but Buscema is another guy that I just don't get tired of. He always claimed that comics were just a job to him and that he didn't get too excited about the work, but his work betrays those statements he made. Only a man who really cared about his work could have done what he did.

[Hart1000]

Jack Kirby

John Buscema

Don Heck

Bill Everett

John Romita, Sr.

Barry Smith

George Perez

Walt Simonson

Frank Miller

Keith Pollard

 

[Stronguy]

On the other hand, John Buscema`s art doesn`t bug me, but it doesn`t excite me either. He`s the vanilla ice cream of Marvel artists.

 

But when you are the one who _created_ vanilla ice cream....

 

In my opinion, Buscema could do almost no wrong. His Silver Surfer was simply the greatest version of the character, and some of the most powerful and graceful work i've seen in comics. His Avengers, Subby, Conan were all great. The majority of comic book artists that followed could take a lesson from Buscema regarding how to draw characters dynamically with poses at the peak of tension. There's a reason that Lee chose him to do "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way".

 

I'm a big Steranko champion, but Buscema is another guy that I just don't get tired of. He always claimed that comics were just a job to him and that he didn't get too excited about the work, but his work betrays those statements he made. Only a man who really cared about his work could have done what he did.

 

[batman_fan]

Okay, Buscema would definitely be high on my list. Here is a sample of his work with the immortal Tom Palmer providing the inks.

 

[namisgr]

1. Kirby

2. Ditko

3. Steranko

4. B. Smith

5. Romita Sr.

6. N. Adams

7. Byrne

8. J. Buscema

9. Starlin

10. Brunner

 

Comments:

- Adams output was small, but he makes my list for the stupendous Avengers work alone

- Loved Miller's innovative less-is-more style, and would put him at honorable mention

- Byrne's work, along with Miller, Perez, Simonson, and Cockrum, brought me back to Marvel in 1981 after a 5 year absence

- Buscema: Even vanilla ice cream can be fantastically tasty when made with top notch ingredients

- There's a remarkable stylistic variety on the list

[sfilosa]

1. Neal Adams

2. Jim Steranko

3. Barry Smith

4. Jim Starlin

5. Frank Brunner

6. Jack Kirby

7. Gene Colan

8. Mike Ploog

9. John Buscema

10. Steve Ditko

 

 

Bernie Wrightson only did a few covers I believe, so I didn't include him, but he would be in the top 3 if he did more for Marvel.

[*paull*]

The lack of respect that Buscema has gotten and continues to get is just mind-blowing to me. How in the world is he not better than Frank Brunner, Mike Ploog or Jim Starlin? I think he's better than Barry Smith also.

 

My top 5 is:

 

Kirby

Buscema

Steranko

Ditko

Romita

[divad]

The next 5 is where the work is on this quiz . . .

[*paull*]

If the Top 5 is so clear and easy, how do you explain Frank Brunner, Jim Starlin and Barry Smith?

[vodou]

There's a reason that Lee chose him to do "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way".

 

BTW...does anybody else think the very concept of "the Marvel Way" was a mistake? Comics from the 80s-present have enjoyed much greater breadth of artistic expression and experimentation than the boring old 70s. The KINGS of the sixties (Kirby, Colan, Steranko, etc.) brought innovation to comics at Marvel, the 70s was primarily a decade of copying by lesser or at least uninspired artists. My feeling is that "the House style" sucks. We're talking art appreciation here, not nostalgic tug. The tug is why I (sadly) love Sal Buscema Captain America art, but it's not fine draftsmanship or even innovative panel layouts...it's just workmanlike "stuff".

[tth2]

There's a reason that Lee chose him to do "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way".

 

BTW...does anybody else think the very concept of "the Marvel Way" was a mistake? Comics from the 80s-present have enjoyed much greater breadth of artistic expression and experimentation than the boring old 70s. The KINGS of the sixties (Kirby, Colan, Steranko, etc.) brought innovation to comics at Marvel, the 70s was primarily a decade of copying by lesser or at least uninspired artists. My feeling is that "the House style" sucks. We're talking art appreciation here, not nostalgic tug. The tug is why I (sadly) love Sal Buscema Captain America art, but it's not fine draftsmanship or even innovative panel layouts...it's just workmanlike "stuff".

Well said!

[groovyedwin]

My top 10 artists, all of whom have had work published by the subject publisher:

 

Al Jaffee

Alex Schomburg

Basil Wolverton

Bill Everett

Harvey Kurtzman

Jean Giraud

Jon J Muth

Katsuhiro Otomo

Sergio Aragones

Wally Wood

 

Edwin

[bumpjay]

My 10 personal favorites, not in order.....

 

Jack Kirby

Steve Ditko

John Buscema

Jim Steranko

Jim Starlin

Barry Smith

Neal Adams

Frank Miller

John Byrne

Micheal Golden

 

Sorry, I just realized that I could not make a favorite artist list without including these guys also......

John Romita Sr

Mike Ploog

George Perez

Frank Brunner

Paul Gulacy

Todd Mcfarlane

Jim Lee

Walter Simonson

Bill Everett

Art Adams

Alan Weiss...You know what, I better stop because this could go on forever.

 

 

 

Bump

[Weird Paper]

I know it's all subjective, but anyone who left Bill Everett off their list, you need to go back and look over his later issues of Sub-Mariner. Then consider his history--almost 40 years of great work. John Byrne and Todd McFarlane only wish they had his skills.

[tth2]

To quote from CGCWorld's original post starting this thread:

 

If you were to make a list, not in any particular order, who the top 10 Marvel artists of all time, who would be on the list? You don't have to personally agree with anyone you put on the list but who would be generally accepted as the greatest Marvel artists of all time?

 

I don't think this was supposed to be a list of top 10 favorite Marvel artists, but who people feel are the 10 "greatest" Marvel artists, with whatever "greatest" means to each person. I interpreted it to mean a combination of "most popular" and "most influential" and tried to limit my personal bias about any particular artist. I didn't include John Buscema because although he has a huge body of work at Marvel, his work has never been broken out in the Guide and collectors have never paid a premium for his issues in the same way that they did for Adams, Steranko, Smith, Miller, etc.

[*paull*]

Regarding Buscema and the fact that his work wasn't "broken out in guide"...

 

Let's say that the entire Silver Surfer run was done by Larry Lieber and Silver Surfer 4 is as it stands today. You don't think that issue would be broken out in guide? I just don't buy that as an argument. Buscema usually worked on long runs of books (Conan, Silver Surfer, Subby, Avengers).

[blowout]

Regarding Buscema and the fact that his work wasn't "broken out in guide"...

 

Let's say that the entire Silver Surfer run was done by Larry Lieber and Silver Surfer 4 is as it stands today. You don't think that issue would be broken out in guide? I just don't buy that as an argument. Buscema usually worked on long runs of books (Conan, Silver Surfer, Subby, Avengers).

 

Aside from the SS 4 cover, what has Buscema really done that stands out from the crowd?