Favorite Comic Book Artists

With the recent threads about Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, I thought it is time to ask: Who are some of your favorite artists/art teams? To start:

• Keith Giffen (early work on Bronze Age Legion Of Super-Heroes)
• Mike Grell (Silver Age Legion Of Super-Heroes)
  
• Ben Dunn (Ninja High School)
  
• Kevin Maguire (Post-Crisis Justice League)
  
• Dick Dillon/Frank McLaughlin (Silver Age Justice League Of America)
• Paul Smith (X-Men)

 

Curt Swan/Murphy Anderson (Superman)
John and Sal Buscema (Silver Surfer)
John Buscema and Joe Sinnott (Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four)

 

To me, this team were THE Superman artists before Crisis On Infinite Earths, and I think that the story "Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?" was their farewell to the character in addition to being the last appearance of the Pre-Crisis Earth-One Superman.

 

I collected comics only briefly during the 1980s. The ones the stood out for me were:

Bill Sienkiewicz (New Mutants, Moon Knight, Elektra, assorted covers)

Walt Simonson (Thor, X-Factor, Fantastic Four)

I also liked the team of Mark D. Bright and Bob Layton (Iron Man); they really complemented each other very well.

 

When I was young it was Kirby, Ditko and Colan, with my guilty pleasure being Gil Kane on his DC titles (I was about 8 when Marvel came out with FF and Spidey and Thor etc. and I was a Marvel guy).

Then came Steranko and Barry Windsor Smith. . . and after Smith's run of Conan I was pretty much done with comics, though I did appreciate Frank Miller's Daredevil work.

Later I revisited The Spirit through the classy reprint comix and magazine and became a huge Eisner fan and realized how much he had influenced Ditko and Miller et al.

 

Juanjo Guarnido: animator (formally of Disney) and illustrator known for the witch-filled Sorcelleries and the anthro crime drama, Blacksad. Furries have worshiped him ever since.

Mœbius: one of the masters of comic sci-fi set pieces, who's style can range from realistic like in Blueberry or cartoon-influenced like in Arzach.

Katsuhiro Otomo: creator of Akira who likes to put in a lot of detail in his cartoony-looking characters, backgrounds, and machines. His film adaptation of the comic was also a marvel.

 

To be slightly pedantic, Only Curt Swan worked on the last Superman story. His pencils were inked by George Perez and Kurt Schaffenberger.

 

My apologies. It's been a long time since I read the story. It was a great, though sad, story. George Perez and Kurt Schaffenberger are great artists too.

 

Some of my own choices:

Matt Baker (1940s)
Will Eisner (1940s-1960s)
Neal Adams (1960s-1970s)
Russ Heath (1960s-1970s)
Alex Toth (1950s-1980s)
Mike Kaluta (1970s)
Jim Aparo (1970s-1990s)
Garry Leach (1980s)
Hiroaki Samura (1990s-2010s)
Kenji Tsuruta (1980s-2000s)

 

Since we're including manga, let me also mention Yoshihisa Tagami, the creator of GREY – an impressive piece of work, especially for its time (mid 80s).

 

John Romita Jr. -his work on the X-Men during the classic 1980s run in particular- inspired me to draw more. I simply love how he renders everything.

john romita jr - Google Search »

 

Darwin Cooke
Steve Rude
Gil Kane
Howard Chaykin
Cary Nord
Jim Starlin
Ryan Ottley
Tim Dale
Geof Darrow
Bart Sears
Carmine Infantino
Michael Kaluta
Bernie Wrightson
Michael Golden
Rags Morales
Marshall Rogers
Russ Heath
Joe Kubert Sr.
Craig Russell
Greg Capullo
David Finch
...and so many more! My list is primarily artists from the last century. There's a lot of great work being done currently but I'm not reading many modern- day comix these days.

 

How much time ya got?

Jack Kirby
Steve Ditko
Will Eisner
John Buscema
Sal Buscema
Neil Adams
Gene Colan
Bob Brown
Dick Sprang
John Byrne
Frank Miller
Klaus Janson
John Romita
John Romita, Jr.
John Stanley
Carl Barks
Bill Griffith
Robert Crumb
Chris Ware
Daniel Clowes
Evan Dorkin
Dan DeCarlo
Harry Lucey
Walt Simonson
Irv Novick
Mike Ploog
Wallace Wood
Marie Severin
Ron Frenz
Floyd Gottfredson
Gil Kane
Jim Aparo
Howard Chaykin
Dave Cockrum
José Luis García-López
Joe Kubert
Jack Davis
Will Elder
Jaime Hernandez
Kim Deitch
Charles Burns
Paris Cullins

 

I can only point to artists and also their peak work Walt Simonson's Manhunter
Neal Adams anything
Mike Kaluta's Tarzan and Shadow
Jeffrey Jones Idyl and other work of that time
Will Eisner's Spirit
Bernie Wrightson's 70s work
Milo Manara anything
And the MAD Comic artists Jazef K mention. They are gods!
And a shoutout to Rupert Neverton, a new web artist

 

I've been out of the comic book loop for a long time but during my collecting days (roughly 1980 to 1995) I would buy anything with art by (to name just a few) Jack Kirby, George Perez, John Byrne, John Romita Jr., Jim Aparo, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Crumb, Marc Hansen, Walt Simonson, Dave Cockrum, and Carl Barks....

 

Well, Kirby, Ditko, Colan and John Buscema, Barry Windsor-Smith, Walt Simonson, John and Marie Severin, Robert Crumb, Jim Starlin, Ron Embleton, Chris Ware, Gil Kane, Paul Grist, Bill Sienkiewicz, Herge, Moebius, Will Eisner, Jim Steranko and Berni Wrightson. There are many others I like for certain work they did, such as Bob Brown's run on Daredevil, earlier Frank Miller, Sal Buscema on Captain America, Frank Hampson on Dan Dare and so on...

 

John Buscema, particularly his Conan the Barbarian work with Ernie Chua/Chan as inker.

 

Peter Bagge.

 

I don't follow artists closely, but when I was into comics I did love George Perez' Teen Titans and Wonder Woman.

 

Jack Kirby
Neal Adams
Gil Kane
Rich Buckler
John Buscema
Jim Aparo - Loved his work in the 70's, something seemed to happen to it later
Jim Steranko
Barry Windsor Smith
Berni Wrightson

 

You have an ability I do not have. I can remember staring, intently, at Sal Buscema's work, on both Captain America and The Avengers, and just not "getting it"

 

Since you mentioned Walt Simonson, I'll will add his work on Metal Men (issues #45 to #49). To me, he is the best artist ever to work on The Metal Men. While the characters were true to their classic design (later artists have moved away from their classic look), his art just worked so well for the group.

 

I loved Jack Kirby back in the 70's (Sandman etc.) and Barry Smith's Conan The Barbarian/Savage Tales.