# The most god-awful comic artists of all time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860 "2005-04-11T22:29:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/61 "2005-04-12T19:05:28Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > But saying he’s a bad artist because you’re not wired to accept what he broadcasts? That’s wrong. > > –Cliffy I’m absolutely right, in a way you’re not wired to appreciate 😉 ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/62 "2005-04-12T19:09:35Z")
As much as I love Jim Aparo’s Batman, I agree about the two faces thing. If Superman and Batman sans mask were placed next to each other, they were utterly indistinguishable. Aquaman looked like a blonde version, etc. Still love his art, though. Tom Grummet used to have a similar problem; I’m not sure if he still does. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/63 "2005-04-12T20:27:54Z")
I have to disagree with the OP; the Hall of God-Awful Comic Artists needs no entries other than Rob Liefeld. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/64 "2005-04-12T21:00:09Z")
I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but Frank Quitely nearly ruined “New X-Men” for me. Why does everyone he draws look like [a chinese baby](http://images.art.com/images/PRODUCTS/large/10093000/10093283.jpg)? _The Invisibles_, while one of my favorite works of writing of all time, has some of the [worst](http://www.zerogweb.net/img/invisibles.jpg) comic art I’ve ever seen - and that’s one of the better panels. Especially toward the end, when single issues feature something upwards of 5 or 6 different pencillers, all weak, with no coherence or continuity between their differeing pages, it’s a real nightmare. I remember the first time I noticed awful comic art was when the new creative team took over X-Factor on issue #71 - since the page is in another language, I can’t figure out who the artist was, but [these](http://nitro1.fw.hu/gallery/kepregeny/X-Faktor/X-Faktor%20071/X-Factor%2071_01_m.jpg) absolutely [horrible](http://nitro1.fw.hu/gallery/kepregeny/X-Faktor/X-Faktor%20071/X-Factor%2071_07_m.jpg) panels should do the job. It seems like this guy ended up doing the next YEAR’s worth of issues, too, and they were all just as bad or worse. I can’t seem to find a single example online, but there was a guy who did a lot of “Uncanny X-men” (and some other X-books, maybe) in the mid-nineties - I’d guess '93 or '94 - who drew every character looking like E.T. with Down Syndrome - large eyes too far apart, and strangely heart-shaped faces with elongated chins. What the hell was wrong with that guy? I’ll keep trying to find some example of him online… Also, Chris Bachalo’s pick-up work on New X-men made me [throw up](http://www.thefourthrail.com/images/reviews/080403/newxmen144.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/65 "2005-04-12T22:04:02Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > No, it isn’t. There’s no rulebook about what constitutes art, **Levi**. There’s only the art itself. > > And anyway, I didn’t say Sienkiewicz couldn’t tell a story. I said he’s not interested in _sequential_ storytelling, where something happens on the left of the page and then something else happens later on the right of the page. He tells great stories, although he does it in a way you cannot appreciate. I disagree. I tend to stay out of the “it’s good art, you just don’t get it” arguments in general, but Sienkiewicz is the first one I thought of when I saw the thread title, and sums up the argument perfectly. I never read _New Mutants_, but I did read Andy Helfer’s _The Shadow_ series for DC, and Sienkiewicz’s work on that was just awful. The question of the thread isn’t whether he’s a good artist, it’s specifically whether he’s a good comic artist. And he’s not, because his stuff just doesn’t work for the story. If you put up just his artwork on display in a gallery, you could look at it and say “that’s interesting.” (I wouldn’t, because his stuff isn’t my _taste_, either, but that’s a different thing.) And it’s not even a case of defending experimental comics and saying that they don’t necessarily have to be bound by traditional storytelling. That’s entirely valid. Look at Dave McKean’s collaborations with Neil Gaimain – they’re both working together, and whether you personally like it or not, you still have to acknowledge that they’re doing what they set out to do. _The Shadow_ wasn’t even a purely traditional title, Helfer was trying to do different things with it – dry, dark humor, and presenting _all_ of the characters as basically nothing more than functional but insane. It could’ve been a perfect match with Sienkiewicz’s style, but that style just got in the way. Because Sienkiewicz just didn’t “get it,” either wouldn’t change it because of arrogance, or couldn’t change it because he didn’t understand the medium. He wasn’t even in full-on art snob mode; he just drew characters that were weird for the sake of being weird, and the action got lost. Then compare those first issues to the ones after Kyle Baker took over. He understood what the comic was about, adopted his style to work within the constraints without giving up his style completely or being completely conventional, and then went on to make some brilliant stuff. That’s a case of a comic firing on all cylinders – there are some panels where the story, dialogue, all build up to one moment, and the expression on a character’s face is just perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/66 "2005-04-12T22:08:24Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > I’m gonna have to go with the great Kevin Maguire on that one. But I only know Fabry’s art from those much-ballyhooed Preacher covers (which I found to be grotesque eyesores every single month) and Authority: Kev, which left me cold. For some good examples of Fabry’s balck and white **Slaine** artwork, go to [www.glennfabry.co.uk](http://www.glennfabry.co.uk) and click on Gallery 1. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/67 "2005-04-12T22:16:57Z")
That’s Larry Stoman on the X-Factor pages, **Freejooky**. I’m not a big fan either, but I think his stuff is interesting. He also was one of the first people at Marvel to do something other than variations on the basically realistic house style of the time. I guess some folks in this thread would lament that, but I think the opening up the market for more idosyncratic pencilling styles was on balance a very good thing. I agree that the jam issues at the end of Invisibles were a tragic mistake. It actually seemed to work really well in the first issue of the arc, which was all set-up, but then broke down completely during the action and payoff scenes in the next issues. Although I love Invisibles more than I can say, one thing that book in particular did not need was incomprehensible art. For the TPB, some of the most illegible pages (by Ashley Wood) were redrawn by, uh, Guardian’s Cameron Stewart IIRC. (That abstract page of King Mob in the phone booth was aces, though.) –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/68 "2005-04-13T02:56:44Z")
I can’t believe no one has mentioned either [Al Milgrom](http://www.theartistschoice.com/milgromcomsamples.htm) or [Don Perlin](http://www.lambiek.net/perlin_don.htm) or [Keith Giffen](http://www.mikejozic.com/giffrespage/trencher_gallery.html) There are many who should never have been allowed to take pen to paper, but these along with Herb Trimpe and George Tuska are among the worst. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/69 "2005-04-13T04:01:48Z")
> [@LordVor](#): > > Bill’s only sin, in my eyes, was creating a character (Warlock) that really only fit his abstract style and then not killing him when he left the book. His original run of New Mutants is one of my favorites. [I always felt that Art Adams drew Warlock the best.](http://www.geocities.com/marvel80s/images/nmut_s01a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/70 "2005-04-13T04:10:33Z")
I second the motions of the Herb Trimpe, Sal Buscuma and Don Perlin. These are cases of people who (at least later in their careers) just phoned it in. Now, I realize that Kyle Baker is a “great” artist, but his tone and manner seemed really out of character with [The Truth](http://www.comicon.com/pulse/images/truth_18.jpg) (though nicely suited for Plastic Man). ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/71 "2005-04-13T05:44:07Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Ugh!! Take a look at this > [piece of crap Elektra sketch by Klaus Janson.](http://www.xs4all.nl/~friends/images/tekening/electra.jpg) Now now, that’s actually a pretty _good_ sketch—considering it was made by a blind autistic child working only from a textbook description of the human face. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/72 "2005-04-13T07:00:26Z")
> [@Hey you!](#): > > Now, I realize that Kyle Baker is a “great” artist, but his tone and manner seemed really out of character with [The Truth](http://www.comicon.com/pulse/images/truth_18.jpg) (though nicely suited for Plastic Man). But had he employed the style he used for his VIBE or THE SOURCE magazine illustrations, or his stint on Helfer’s THE SHADOW, I think THE TRUTH would have been much better received. I don’t know who signed off on okaying that style but there were times it really pissed me off. But Bennett is professional enough and experienced enough to know that cartooning style was NOT appropiate for that mini-series. I soooOOoooo wish Joe Bennett had done THE TRUTH instead of Baker. Or maybe stepped outside ths comics realm entirely and gotten somebody like Leo Dillon or Tom Feelings. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860/73 "2005-04-13T07:01:36Z")
Oops. That should be “_Baker_ is professional enough…” obviously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-god-awful-comic-artists-of-all-time/298860.md?page=3)