Superman #165, I think. (I usually don’t like Superman comics, but I have that one because I got it as a Christmas gift.) It also had a Superman/Flash story with art by Arthur Adams, who is one of my favorite artists.
Great call. I think it’s Mike Sekowsky with a “y” though, not sure. I think he depicted Bats in a similiar manner.
In the thin-Batman dept., I remember in the '80s, Keith Giffen drawing Batman in a cameo in an Ambush Bug story in Action Comics and in an issue of World’s Finest; a verrrry skinny Batman.
See, now, I like Humberto Ramos. On certain titles. He was great on Impulse.
Big Bad Voodoo Lou and CandidGamera. Quitely’s forte is that, like Jack Kirby himself, his artwork sings with a vitality and energy that redefines superhumanity and speaks to his audience in ways that clearly conveys scope, spectacle, power and the horrific-- things that Morrison touches on all the time but few of his collaborators could match. In a medium obsessed with superhumanly perfect physiques with model faces, Quitely draws people that are sometimes short, stunted, with imperfect features and a bit fat… but still muscular and noble. He does shadow, movement and detail very, very well. The best double page spreads in the business. Seriously: pick up VERTIGO’s WE3 and look how he’s able to bring the brutality of the animal weapons right into the reader’s faces even though there’s basically no dialogue in the first half of the first issue. His cropped close-ups, compositions and storytelling are flawless, as are his panel-with-in a panel techniques. There’s just so much more to the guy than his ugly pug faces and sausages fingers! (This description is dead-on accurate as hell, and made me laugh out loud.)
I heartily agree with shy guy he’s the best artistic collaborator Grant Morrison’s ever had, and wish they’d found each other sooner. When I think of how much better Morrison’s JLA run would have been with him at the helm instead of Howard Porter…? GAH.
Yes. Yes he does. The problem is that they’re all the same imperfect, sausage-fingered person.
I find his depictions of humanity revolting and unrealistic. I like artists that either shoot for realism or who appeal to my aesthetic sense. Quitely does neither.
Eeeuuh… My eyeballs feel dirty. I just caught a glimpse of one of the promo posters based on his cover for Books of Magick.
How the hell does a comic artist make Emma Frost UGLY?
He doesn’t do cheesecake particularly well. Still, I can get unrealistically drawn gorgeous woman that from any two-bit artist… I like seeing it from anther perspective married with the other aesthetic qualities I mentioned.
Oh, and speaking of Emma Frost and cheesecake.
He still can’t do perspective
I respect Quitely for some things he does: backgrounds, panel layouts, attention to detail. I see a lot of Geof Darrow’s influence in his art, which I consider a compliment. But I just don’t like the way Quitely draws people. (For years, I didn’t care for the way Kirby drew people either, all thick and boxy, but I got over that.) Hell, when I was in my early teens, buying every crappy Image #1 issue I could, I didn’t care for artists like Mike Allred or Mike Mignola, and I thought Bruce Timm’s character designs on Batman: The Animated Series were HORRIBLE. Needless to say, my artistic tastes changed with time, and I think they are better now. I don’t HATE Quitely’s art (the way I hate the aforementioned Kelley Jones, for example), and I see why others like his stuff, but he just isn’t to my taste.
Right. I feel the same way about the current animated BATMAN series. Much as I love me some Batman, this must be the first time in my life I’m refusing to watch a TV show he’s in. (And I sat through Joel Schumacher’s BATMAN AND ROBIN twice --once in horror, and a second time to make sure I wasn’t imagining things the first time.) It’s mostly the character designs that have turned me off, and if I feel that way about Batman, I can see how Frank Quitely’s X-MEN art can annoy you, too.
This is why story is so important. If competent art is married to a compelling enough story, I can still enjoy it. The reverse is rarely true for me.
Most of my favorite comics have had writing and art that complement each other perfectly: JLI by Giffen/DeMatteis and Maguire (and later Hughes), Sandman Mystery Theatre by Wagner/Seagle and Davis, Starman by Robinson and Harris, Watchmen by Moore and Gibbons, Preacher by Ennis and Dillon, Planetary by Ellis and Cassaday, X-Force by Milligan and Allred, Sleeper by Brubaker and Phillips. They just work perfectly together on those books, IMO. But to save this trouble, I also tend to like writer/artists like Wagner, Allred, Mignola, Howard Chaykin, Kyle Baker, Darwyn Cooke, who do everything themselves (and of course it all “fits.”)
Is the new Batman animated series already airing? I’ve been watching for it and I haven’t seen it yet.
Damn, your list mirrors mine exactly – although I can add the various Morrison/Quitely collaborations, Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons on MARTHA WASHINGTON, and Priest/Joe Bennet of the late THE CREW and CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON, and Ennis/McCrea on HITMAN. My favorite silver age collaborations were Robert Kanigher/Ross Andru on METAL MEN and nearly anytime Bob Haney hooked up with and Bruno Premiani on early TEEN TITANS and Jim Shooter and John Forte on SUPERBOY AND THE LRGION OF SUPER-HEROES.
Then there are writer/artists Paul Chadwick, Los Bros. Hernandez, Ho Che Anderson, Miller again (with Lynn Varley doing paints, not computer coloring) and of course, Will Eisner.
We have offically hijacked the shit out of this thread.
pravnik. Somewhere. I see bittorrent files for it all the time.
“Skinniest” category cannot pass without mention of Lee Moder, who has a drawing style that can only be described as anorexic. I’m pretty sure he did a run on Superman, don’t know if he ever did Batman.
It’s been airing for a while now (it started in September, I think). I think it’s a fun show, but you’re not really missing much.
Frank Teran drew an emaciated and somewhat grotesque Batman for the “Mosaic” episode of the “No Man’s Land” series. It was a macabre story in which the characters were designed to reflect the decay and continuing degeneration of Gotham.
Just out of curiosity, are there any female super hero comic book artists?
Female artists: Jill Thompson, Colleen Doran, Pia Guerra, Christina Z, Laura Martin (best colorist in the business), Laura Allred (another colorist, mostly for her artist husband Mike)
Female writers: Gail Simone (one of the best and funniest, actually), Devin Grayson, Fiona Avery, Ann Nocenti, Barbara Kesel, Louise Simonson, Karen Berger (the editor of Vertigo, perhaps the best imprint of all time)
Just to clarify what I’m sure Lou meant - Gail is one of the best writers currently working in the genre, period, not just one of the best female writers.
Yeah, that’s what I meant. Gail is RAD.