It's time to talk about my main man...


2. Hugo Pratt

In addition to being an absolute master of comic book page cinematography and pacing



and the creator of one of fiction's most lovable cads years before anyone knew the name Han Solo, the first Corto Maltese volume, produced by Pratt as a stand alone story arc, reads as one of the finest pieces of literature I've ever absorbed. And Pratt does most of it through the visuals. There are deep story arcs in play, great struggles, tremendous mysteries to uncover, and at least one profound tragedy, but amidst all of this, Pratt knows when to just shut up for a panel and let nature talk.



And that, in a sense, becomes the core theme of Beyond the Salt Sea. In spite of all of humanity's politics, wars, and struggles, it's all just fleeting noise. Whenever those seagulls are invoked, they always serve as a reminder that they are attached to something greater and more permanent than anything playing out on the page. Corto Maltese understands this and is both captivated and frustrated by it, which is why, even though he enjoys playing the game of adventurer at times, what he wants most profoundly is to escape civilization in all its forms, lie out on a beach, and be a part of the Salt Sea.



A powerful expatriate sentiment conveyed more eloquently than in any of the great literature coming out of the Paris expatriate scene a generation earlier, in my opinion.


The rest of the Corto Maltese volumes retain the high art and are probably worthy of inclusion on my list for that alone, but that first volume truly conveys something deep and profound in its art, characterization, and plotting that could never be conveyed adequately with conventional literature.

Bill Finger is not eligible under the event rules, Mech, sorry. Unlike the aforementioned Jim Shooter, who provided layouts for many of his scripts, Finger was strictly a writer.

Cei-U!
I put my foot down!

#2. Alan Davis

Arguably the most straightforward cartoonist of the British Invasion of the 80's, Alan Davis didn't really shine until the 90's, ironically when he was his sensibilities and style were the most opposed to the state of comics at the time. He was the Marvel equivalent of Dan Jurgens, keeping this simple and by the books in superhero comics, yet strangely aiming for something more with the books he worked on, namely the X-Men spinoff book, Excalibur. Though Davis initially launched the book with Chris Claremont, Davis didn't take complete control over the book until issue #41. The book took on a strange sense of humor, offbeat British satire combined with heavy pop culture parodying. The best way I can describe it would be National Lampoon through the lens of the comic book. Davis also developed characters that had largely been relegated to the background in the past, such as Nightcrawler and Rachel Summer, proving them to be competent leaders and more powerful than we thought.



Alan Davis' art really helps the subtext come forward because of how simple his art is. His characters are warm and lithe, without excessive lines to muddy the image. It was house style superhero art, but in an era where that paradigm had largely shifted in an ugly direction.



He also wrote and drew the amazing Superboy's Legion so I'll take any chance I can get to sneak in another Legion creator.

Alan Davis missed my list. I really enjoyed his Nail miniseries. Glad Pharazonk included it.

When time permits, I will also be naming Watterson as my Day 11 choice, and for all of the reasons you have described so well, Kurt.

#2 Dave Sim



I came late to Cerebus, just at the start of Jaka's story. I quickly went through the three phonebooks collecting High Society and Church & State as well as reading the start of the series in the Cerebus bi-weekly. For a while in 1989, I was very much into Cerebus, much to my delight.

Dave Sim is an amazing storyteller. His sense of pacing, either for dramatic or comedic purposes, is remarkable; furthermore, far from being a one-trick pony, the author likes to try different approaches. He taught me a lot about how a comic-book story can be told.

Sim is also something of a patron saint to independent creators. Right from the start he encouraged cartoonists to retain the rights to their creation, never to give up what they created. One of the Cerebus arcs, Reads, is very much a warning against the lure of lucrative contracts that make one a willing slave to someone else's interests. Each time I hear about the way a Jack Kirby or a Joe Schuster has been treated by major publishers, I must agree with Sim: creators should always remain the owners of what they created.

Sim is a remarkably generous man. Using the visibility of his comic-book (which sold a lot of copies for a while) he helped countless creators get some public exposure. It's in Cerebus that I first heard of Bone, of Finder, of Strangehaven, of Brat Pack and so many other independent comics. In the few exchanges we had, he neve failed to send a sketch (completely unasked). I'm sure that if we were to have a conversation face to face we'd disagree about a great many things, but I have a ton of respect for the man.

As a writer, Sim gave us an intricate and surprising saga in Cerebus. As an artist he grew by leaps and bounds until he became one of the best in the field. His recent experiments with photoreferencing is pretty interesting, and I hope he gets to finish his project (I believe his comic Glamourpuss has ended). His short graphic novel Judenhass is also well worth hunting down. From cartoony funny animals to real-looking characters, Sim can draw it all.



Another of his great skills (one for which he received several prizes, if I'm not mistaken) is as a letterer! Not only because he can write elegantly, but because the artist in him could masterfully blend words and images. Is there any better representation of a migraine that this image?



The Cerebus saga, 300 issues long, was an astonishing example of strict work ethics. Month after month, Cerebus was there. It is something of an odd duck, I'll agree: one well worthy of an academic discussion. Sometimes grand epic dealing with power and politics, sometimes intimate drama, sometimes outright comedy, Cerebus could be many things; one thing it never was was boring. (Infuriating at times, perhaps, but never boring).

When people talk of artists who do it all, Sim is the first person who comes to mind.