Favourite current Marvel artist

[Shiryu]

Trying to rejuvenate the forum a bit ^^

Who's/are your favourite current Marvel artist(s)?
With current I mean someone who's drawing for Marvel at present, or who has just done so within the past year or so.

For example, I like Lee Weeks, on the last two ASM issues (written by good old Roger Stern by the way), Coipel on Siege, Greg Land on Uncanny X-Men X-Nation arc and especially Billy Tan on Thor's last arc.

[freedomfighter]

You really put me on the spot with this one. I can't really think of anyone currently who is lighting my fire with their work. Either they don't stay on their book very long, or they're just ruddy inconsistent.
The last artist who really wowed me was the person who worked with Jason Aaron on Black Panther during Skrull Invasion- Jefte Palo. His work sort of looks like if Denys Cowan and Mike Mignola teamed up on a book...
www.comiclist.com/media/blogs/news/BlackPanther_39_VariantCover.jpg

[spiderwasp]

I'd actually have to say Mighty Avengers. It has it's flaws but I look forward to it every month. Unfortunately, that's all ending. Otherwise, I enjoy the appearances of the Young Avengers even though there is no regular monthly title. I wish that would change in the near future.

[Shiryu]

Either they don't stay on their book very long, or they're just ruddy inconsistent.

So true, most artists hardly last more than a story arc in these days. In fact, since Perez left years ago, no one has pencilled Avengers for the same period of time I think.

Anyway, it's a good idea to add a couple of pictures since we are talking about art.
Coipel on Siege


Tan on Thor

[humanbelly]

You took the pictures right out of my fingertips, Shiryu (to coin a paraphrase, as it were-). In fact, as I was scrolling down your post there, my son- sitting at the next desk- commented "Best. Panel. Ever." in reference to that splash page of Thor coming down to have a- er- heated exchange with Dr. Doom.

Although I too am not purchasing much these days (and the Marvel Subscription Dept that I so loudly promoted has since failed me miserably, so I'm not receiving some of my sub. titles at the moment), Tan on Thor would be my vote for #1. I feel very much like he still has a handle on pictorial story-telling that supports his obvious artistic gifts. He seems to have retained that old axiom about being able to follow the book w/out reading the script.

And Coipel's a good artist, too. Hitch as well. I think there's a lot of tremendous talent out there, although it seems to be weighted heavily towards artistic virtuosity and can really fall short in clarity of visual story-telling. Often over the last few years I've found myself in the odd position of strongly disliking what I was reading while being all-out enchanted by the caliber of the art.

The art on Hank's Mighty Avengers has been. . . okay for me, at best. Kinda inconsistent, sometimes a little too stylized or even rushed-looking.

There also seems to be a pretty wide gulf in popular artistic tastes, right now. There are a lot of solid, realistic (maybe Neal Adams or Gene Colan-inspired?) folks out there. And then there are a LOT of more minimalist, quirky, cartoony or gritty artists (Like JRjr still is, or the artist on Image's Invincible, say). But I'm not sure if there's a Sal Buscema or Bob Layton type of niche anymore--- guys who draw well and create a nice, clean, entertaining look that supports the story without overwhelming it.

HB

[Shiryu]

I wonder if it's because they have different... role models, shall we say? I remember reading a Romita Sr interview where he explains that the silver age generation of artists grew up inspired by Milton Caniff and the likes. This includes the Kirbys and Romitas, Adams and so on. Then there has been a wave of artists inspired by Alan Davis (who incidentally is one of my favourite artists ever) and John Buscema, and another inspired by the hyperkinetic works of McFarlane and so on.
Now I wonder if most of the minimalists have been inspired by the Image artists like Liefeld, combined with some manga works...

Anyway, talking of Alan Davis, someone who's obviously been inspired by him is the current Fantastic Four artist, Dale Eaglesham. His art looks really clean and expressive, but sadly the stories are so so.
Here is a sample

[sharkar]

Good topic, Shiryu. Coincidentally, I just mentioned Alan Davis--along with one of the reasons I like his art ;D--in another thread.

I liked Coipel on House of M, though I found his storytelling confusing in parts. I actually like his uninked pencils (seen on the internet and in the House of M trade) better than the inked version. Sorry to post art that's well over a year old, but HoM is what I'm most familiar with in terms of Coipel's work.



David Finch is another modern artist I like. Also, Billy Tan, as has been mentioned above. He did a great Havok and Vulcan in the Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire, and his Polaris wasn't bad. In general I like Tan's bodies better than his faces, which are a bit too cartoony for my taste. Again, the example of the art (below) is from a few years ago.

[humanbelly]

FINCH--- that's who I was thinking of in my above post, not Hitch. Thanks, Shar.
Hitch, Hitch--- an Ultimate Universe guy? Writer or Artist?

HB

[bobc]

I sort of knew David Finch back in, I guess, 2005 or 6. We worked on a video game together (if you want to see some of his character concepts springing to life in a movie, rent "Grandma's Boy"--the video game being "worked on" in the movie was made by my old company, and we hired Dave to do character concepts). David is exceptionally talented, and the stuff he did for us was really, really good. He has a great imagination in regards to creating brand new demons, monsters, etc. Additionally he is a very nice guy--zero artistic attitude. I think his work for Marvel was really great, but IMO seeing him get free reign on dreaming up original stuff showed his real talent.

I am not familiar with Coipel or Tan (I'm sure I've seen their work before but didn't take note of their names) but based on the pages you all posted, I think they are both very good. I think, just based on those pages, that Coipel is very good at rendering human anatomy--outstanding, in fact--which is evidenced by the great first drawing of Iron Man. Tan, on the other hand, gets the nod on having a stellar sense of drama. He really knows which panels to make large to show off a dramatic moment. Very nice. Wish they both had better colorists, however. The fully saturated colors in every panel is really, to me, competent but kinda generic.

IMO Alan Davis' human anatomy could use a little work. All of his heads look like they are pasted onto the bodies--very clumsy-looking to me. I like how he makes the guys looks muscular and powerful, though. I think if he sticks with it, he will be great.

Shir--you are so right. Manga style has fully infiltrated most comic companies these days. I see it everywhere. I personally don't care for it, but you know it's a distinctive style that is just a matter of personal taste. I'm old school!

HB--Bryan hitch is my current favorite Marvel artist. In my view NOBODY comes even close. His ability to draw architecture and man-made contraptions like planes, tanks, etc. is second to NO ONE. His human anatomy is also excellent.

Like you, however, I always get his name confused with David Finch's. One of the two of them oughtta add a middle name to their signature so that those of us in our Twilight Years can more easily differentiate.

[Shiryu]

Apr 28, 2010 12:47:16 GMT -5 bobc said:

Shir--you are so right. Manga style has fully infiltrated most comic companies these days. I see it everywhere. I personally don't care for it, but you know it's a distinctive style that is just a matter of personal taste. I'm old school!

The funny thing is, manga art is minimalist out of necessity. An average manga-ka has to produce 20 pages a week, and does both story and art, as well as editorial and production meetings. They have assistants who help out with backgrounds and some special effects, but that's about it. So seeing it applied to comics, especially out of preference rather than necessity, is more than a bit strange. I like manga art... on manga, but it doesn't quite fit on colored comics, looks out of place.

@ Sharkar: on House of M, Coipel was inked by Tim Townsend, whereas on Siege the inker is Mark Morales, whom I think suits him much better.

[humanbelly]

Apr 28, 2010 12:47:16 GMT -5 bobc said:

HB--Bryan hitch is my current favorite Marvel artist. In my view NOBODY comes even close. His ability to draw architecture and man-made contraptions like planes, tanks, etc. is second to NO ONE. His human anatomy is also excellent.

Like you, however, I always get his name confused with David Finch's. One of the two of them oughtta add a middle name to their signature so that those of us in our Twilight Years can more easily differentiate.

Twi- . . . Twilight years?!?
*sputter sput sput*
You're puttin' pins in my doll, man! (That's a Northern Exposure quote-- which may actually be helping to make your case)

The pain is not eased by the fact that the AARP is now sending me regular solicitations. I must say that the benefits don't seem to be all-that by a long stretch. Man.

Say, Alan Davis has, of course been around for years & years & years (worked on the early Captain Britain series in England--- I've got a really good, thick TPB collection of it-- well over 20 years ago). I seem to recall that he hardly ever, ever works w/out Paul Neary's inks, though. Have they done any notable work independent of each other? Is that what Davis is doing now? I've always liked his style-- seems to combine some of the better elements of John Byrne and Gene Colan, and yet remains distinctively his own.

HB