In comics specifically.
In some comic artist representations Superman has a hulking bodybuilder, brick like physique, and in others is relatively svelte. Same for Batman. He goes from being a slab of beef to an almost balletic physique.
What have been the extreme ends of this continuum? Who had the beefiest Batman and Superman representations, and who drew the slenderest?
I’d say Ed McGuinness draws them (and everyone else) beefed up like Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons, but Kelley Jones, Sam Kieth, and Simon Bisley get on my nerves for drawing everyone with ridiculous, caricaturish, disproportionate muscles. Kelley Jones’ Batman may be my least favorite representation of him ever.
George Perez is someone who draws everyone more slender–still muscular, but much more humanly-proportioned. Bryan Hitch, who drew JLA when Mark Waid was writing, would probably be a good example of this as well, with very “fluid” human forms.
Thanks to partial multiversal collapse, you can see both extremes of the beefy/skinny Batman in the same comic: PLANETARY/BATMAN: NIGHT ON EARTH drawn by the awesome John Cassady. His interpretation of Frank Miller’s Batman’s about the beefiest ever done. Just contrast Snow and Batman.
I’d say Wayne Boring’s 50s Superman was one of the thickest, next to Big Bad Voodoo Lou’s cite, Ed Hannigan.
Ed McGuiness. Ed Hannigan worked on Marvel. Oops.
I think Lou made some fine comments.
As far as the slenderest, I’ll also nominate the original artists: Kane on Batman and Shuster on Superman. Maybe it’s cheating, but it was a different time then and they didn’t have to be drawn “bigger” to be intimidating. I recall one panel where Bruce Wayne was bare-chested (when Batman was fighting the Monk) and he looked kinda like Sean Connery did as James Bond in “Dr. No.”
On the other end of the spectrum, the Jack Kirby drawn Superman (in Jimmy Olsen in the '70s and the Super Powers mini series in the '80s) sorta impressed me as a thick, bulky Superman. I’d have to give a bulky Batman artist some thought. Sheldon Moldoff always had him pretty square-jawed and broad-shouldered. I know Michael T. Gilbert (known for the brawny Mr. Monster comics) did an issue of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight where he drew Bats in various incarnations (like Kane, Sprang, Adams, et al). I’d have to maybe go thru the first 100 issues of Batman: Legends of Dark Knight. There were some pretty interesting, distorted, and extreme depicitons of Batman there.
Bob Kane’s earliest images of Batman shows him as pretty slim, including the first.
For that matter, Joe Shuster didn’t overpump Superman, either.
Wayne Boring has drawn both characters as quite barrel-chested, while John Byrne went for the muscle-beach look. For the most cartoonishly extreme portrayal of Superman, I’d nominate Ed McGuinness & Cam Smith.
Of course, if you want Superman and Batman to look like your grandfather dressed up in storebought Superman and Batman Halloween costumes, there’s always the painted art of fan favorite (but not mine) Alex Ross!
Oh, I cannot wait to see Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison do Superman. Their synergy together is fantastic. Quitely draws both Superman and Batman on the wide side… consider the artwork in JLA: EARTH 2.
I still think the guy’s a major gonad, but I gotta admit that John Byrne’s Superman fits the archetypical “barrel-chested muscular guy” to a tee.
Simon Bisley’s a hack who should stick to heavy-metal album covers. He ruined Slaine by turning him into a trapezoid steroidal Conan cartoon, after Mike McMahon had drawn him on the skinny, wiry side and Glenn Fabry had given him a muscular but realistic human physique. Pah! I speet on your Simon Bisley!
Please tell me Rob Liefield’s never drawn either of them.
I don’t remember Bisley doing Slaine that big when he was doing the Horned God.
And now i’ve gone and checked, theres about as much consistency in his portrayals of him. Call him a hack if you want, but he changed the game in British comic art after doing that. Everyone and his Uncle was ripping off his painting style.
Slight hijack
The most hulking drawing of Superman was Mike Sekowski’s version for Justice League of America. It really looked nothing like any other version, and, toward the end, when Sekowski was losing his skills, it was downright grotesque.
Oh, dear sweet lord, no. Not Quitely. Not Quitely on Superman.
Superman is not a heroin addict; therefore Quitely cannot draw him accurately.
I don’t care for Frank Quitely’s art either. Everyone has scrunched-up monkey-pug faces, giant sausage fingers, and they look like they’re retaining water. Somehow he became one of the hottest artists of the day, but I’m as confused as people must have been when Rob Liefeld was at the top of the heap in the early '90s (although I liked Rob back then).
He did manage to step away from his usual pattern a little bit when he did JLA : Earth 2 - but all his characters were still ugly, ugly, ugly.
I read Mark Millar’s Authority run, but his art spoiled it for me even before strong editorial interference spoiled it for everyone else. Then I tried the first issue of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, but with his art, I couldn’t take any more. Plus I hear Quitely is very slow, which led to late books. Some of my favorite artists are known for being slow (Art Adams, Kevin Maguire, Adam Hughes, J. Scott Campbell), but at least their final products look like the time was well-spent.
Yeah, Quitely’s Art on the X-Men was what finally made me cancel my subscription, which had run for ten years or so prior to that point.
So, you’d recommend him for the “Speedy” miniseries then? 
Ouch! Zing!
And, yes!
I’m a big fan of Quitely’s work and am really looking forward to All-Star Superman. He’s one of the few artists I think works well with Morrison (in fact, he’s the only one I can think of right now).
I don’t know if he’s ever done Batman, but he’s done Superman. There was a Superman Christmas issue a few years back where he pencilled a Superman/Aquaman story. I think it looked fine, but then I don’t get why people have such a problem with Liefeld in the first place, so I’m probably not the best judge.
IIRC, that issue also had Humberto Ramos (probably my least favorite comic artist working today) pencilling a Supes/Martian Manhunter/Plastic Man story where Supes was at least as poofy as Ed McGuiness makes him look.