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Post by tarkintino on Oct 31, 2017 20:49:39 GMT -5
I never have read any of Todd McFarlane's comics but have of course seen lots of samples of it online (though apparently not enough to have an idea of what his Mary Jane looked like). I think his stuff is far, far from the worst of that era of superhero comics art but still a part of the whole aesthetic that prevailed at the time, and as such not my kind of thing at all. Here's what I mean... ![](https://s6.postimg.org/fur77wegh/Mary_Jane.jpg) Three of these artists can draw a distinctive face. You are not kidding. Romita could illustrate anything with spectacular results, and with Mary Jane, he created one of the most distinctive female images in comics history. Kane (inked by Romita in those ASM #122 panels) continued the Romita tradition, although Andru's was a bit plain. Still, Andru's was head and shoulders over the distorted scribblings of McFarlane, whether the character was Mary Jane, or Spider-Man.
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Oct 31, 2017 21:15:10 GMT -5
Can you really compare any artist from the 90s to those from the 60s through the 70s? The silver and bronze he for me will always be the height of comic book artwork in my opinion
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Post by chadwilliam on Oct 31, 2017 21:50:35 GMT -5
I also want Mary Jane to look like Mary Jane, not just "generic buxom comic-book girl #23, only with red hair". McFarlane also simply wasn’t in the same league as Ditko or Romita (or Andru for that matter) as a draftsman or a visual storyteller. Still, as I say, I thought his art was kinda interesting, but yeah...let’s not compare him to the all-time great Spider-Man artists. Though Roquefort's images make the case nicely for why one shouldn't compare McFarlane with Romita when discussing MJ (I'd almost certainly say "Romita and Ditko" had the latter ever drawn her) I will compare him (and favorably, too) with Ditko, Romita, Kane, Andru, and whoever else you want to add to the list when it comes to Spider-Man and his foes. ![](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/c1/2e/a8/c12ea8fb10707fdbd954d4707ac9d903--the-lizard-lizards.jpg) ![](http://media.comicbook.com/uploads1/2015/02/amazing-spider-man-313-cover-121151.jpg) ![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/41/fc/d9/41fcd9f64aba28c5812545c4f070f0fb.jpg) ![]() ![](http://www.chasingamazingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ASM40_04.jpg) ![](http://s.ecrater.com/stores/80676/4c02f9b39e14d_80676n.jpg) ![](http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/images/spiderman_amazing/318.jpg) ![](http://www.crazyeli.com/images/amazing_spiderman_29_vg.jpg) ![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/29/5c/df/295cdfaaae69819cdb07b91bfbb005af.jpg) Three different artists working on the same characters and while I'd maintain that Ditko and Romita are better than McFarlane, he does an admirable job of holding his own against them.
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Post by Confessor on Nov 1, 2017 0:53:54 GMT -5
I did quite like McFarlane’s Spidey atvthe time — especially how he rendered the webbing — but what he did to MJ really was the worst aspect of his art. Under his pencil she really did just become genetic T&A. ...and not even T&A that looked very much like Mary Jane, other than she had red hair, of course. McFarlane also simply wasn’t in the same league as Ditko or Romita (or Andru for that matter) as a draftsman or a visual storyteller. Still, as I say, I thought his art was kinda interesting, but yeah...let’s not compare him to the all-time great Spider-Man artists. McFarlane's art = gene therapy? LOL...serves me right for typing in a hurry. Make that generic T&A, will ya? ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png)
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Post by Confessor on Nov 1, 2017 0:58:18 GMT -5
Can you really compare any artist from the 90s to those from the 60s through the 70s? Yeah, sure. I do it with popular music all the time, so I can damn sure do it with comic book artists. The silver and bronze he for me will always be the height of comic book artwork in my opinion Likewise, but I think comparisons between then and now are still valid.
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 1, 2017 3:50:22 GMT -5
I think I posted it before that I thought that the artists of today are really polished and in some ways superior to the artists of the past. People like Bryan Hitch, Alan Davis, Deodato and some others can compare with anyone we've seen.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Nov 1, 2017 4:04:27 GMT -5
I did quite like McFarlane’s Spidey atvthe time — especially how he rendered the webbing — but what he did to MJ really was the worst aspect of his art. Under his pencil she really did just become genetic T&A. ...and not even T&A that looked very much like Mary Jane, other than she had red hair, of course. McFarlane also simply wasn’t in the same league as Ditko or Romita (or Andru for that matter) as a draftsman or a visual storyteller. Still, as I say, I thought his art was kinda interesting, but yeah...let’s not compare him to the all-time great Spider-Man artists. McFarlane's art = gene therapy? I liked McFarlane's Batman in the issues he did of Year Two in 'Tec, and I liked the kinetic feel of McFarlane's Spidey and Micheliene's stories early on in the run, (I am less concerned with realistic anatomy than some as I actually like art a little more towards the abstract/cartoony end than the photo-realistic end on Scott McCloud's pyramid (though I do like some of the more photorealistic stuff too) but I was pretty much done after a year (mostly because of the poor visual storytelling others have mentioned already) of them on ASM and haven't had a desire to really revisit it since (though I did acquire the omnibus in a trade at some point). By the time he got to doing the new adjectiveless Spider-Man book I had zero interest in anything he did. I did pick up the Spawn issues by Sim, Gaiman and Moore at some point to check them out but they were the only Spawn I ever got (and that was out of dollar bins long after they came out). I think part of the attraction early on for me was that McFarlane wasn't just aping the same house style based on Romita model sheets that just about everyone working on the book since Romita had done, and it felt like a breath of fresh air when it hit, but then it just fizzled for me because, although it was different, it wasn't that good in the ways it needed to be to fuel interest in the stories being told. -M Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a huge thing for me. In fact, I think he was the only artist since Ditko to inject Spider-Man with a bit of a horror vibe - Romita makes every one of his characters GQ handsome (even when masked!) but Ditko's Spidey was designed to look creepy and unsettling. McFarlane was the first dude in decades to bring back some of that weirdness. (Although Spawn never worked for me, even the art. I think McFarlane's stuff was too cartoony for straight horror, maybe?) And say what you want about the faces (I like 'em fine) but he really was the first artist in a while to dress Mary Jane in then-contemporary fashions. She basically dressed like a 68 year old senator through the '80s, and Todd M. was the first guy to actually think about what a young woman would wear.
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 1, 2017 5:57:36 GMT -5
More Mcfarlane MJ ![](https://buyingdrinksforthepoetsupstate.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pete-mj-married.jpg) Erik Larsen MJ ![](http://art.cafimg.com/images/Category_2884/subcat_83915/1Ahp4ZKh_1310141248491.JPG)
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 1, 2017 5:59:32 GMT -5
Romita JR MJ ![](https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/13/138994/4100696-tumblr_maktb1ls2v1rnrw85.png)
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Post by Confessor on Nov 1, 2017 8:02:28 GMT -5
Romita JR MJ ![](https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/13/138994/4100696-tumblr_maktb1ls2v1rnrw85.png) I really loved Romita Jr's MJ...and, in fact, the way he drew the whole of his whole run on ASM. The J. Micheal Strazyinski/John Romita Jr./Mike Deodato period was the last great run of Amazing Spider-Man IMHO.
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Post by MDG on Nov 1, 2017 8:16:20 GMT -5
More Mcfarlane MJ ![](https://buyingdrinksforthepoetsupstate.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pete-mj-married.jpg) I won't comment about how MJ is drawn (except, what's the deal with that belt?) but what strikes me is how clumsy and cramped the panels seem for a 5-panel page. The way Peter's cut off in the first panel and MJ in the second. That Peter should probably be a little smaller in the third panel to reflect what he's feeling. The way MJ is standing and Peter is sitting on the bottom border so the perspective doesn't make sense.
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 1, 2017 8:54:33 GMT -5
McFarlane's art = gene therapy? LOL...serves me right for typing in a hurry. Make that generic T&A, will ya? ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) I thought you meant gene therapy, as in Mary Jane Watson's appearance being altered, and loved your cleverness!
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 1, 2017 9:20:46 GMT -5
Women are usually attempting to alter their appearance for the better...
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 1, 2017 9:45:49 GMT -5
I liked the horror aspect of McFarlane's Spidey, especially in the self title. His Venom was good in ASM, but I think a lot of people have surpassed McFarlane with Venom. But his Lizard, Ghost Rider, Wendigo, Hobogoblin; all look scary and even demonic to a degree. Even managed with Calypso and Kraven. His villains looked like villains. It's like taking Caesar Romero and Jack Nicholson; yeah old Spidey villains were "campy", sometimes visually, though I hate to you that word, and McFarlane's were downright scary looking. I agree with Reptisaurus! that the change was different. (Even for me as I had started reading Spidey during the Clone Saga, and had not seen McFarlane's Spidey.) Even after McFarlane, Spidey kind of went back to "camp" even if the content of the stories were not "light-hearted". Also, I would have been happier to see MJ dress as a 68 year old senator; god women's fashion in the 80's and early 90's ... Mike Zeck had that knack too. I read part of Kraven's Last Hunt back when it came out. It was a friend of mine's that I read a copy of long before I started buying comics in the 90's. But the images of this battle always stuck in my head some almost 10 years later, that I had to ask the LCS what I was remember so I could buy it and read it again.
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Post by Confessor on Nov 1, 2017 16:30:52 GMT -5
LOL...serves me right for typing in a hurry. Make that generic T&A, will ya? ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) I thought you meant gene therapy, as in Mary Jane Watson's appearance being altered, and loved your cleverness! Errr...yeah. Sure. That's what I meant. Obviously.
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