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Post by brutalis on Jul 21, 2021 10:03:40 GMT -5
My introduction to comic books was an evolutionary growth beginning with the black and white newspaper comics and the colorful spectacular that is the Sunday comics pages. What a great learning base to build up from back in the old days. Then I found a used aging paperback reprinting in black/white a few early Batman stories. My next finding was 2 new comic book issues bought off the spinner rack: an Underdog and a Thor. Thor by Big John Buscema with guest star the Silver Surfer featuring the glory and grandeur of Asgard and outer space action as the teamed to fight a baddie (think he was called the Demolisher) to save us all.
Gradually I began picking up occasional issues, focusing on team books so my hard saved nickels and dimes bought me the most in heroic action. Avengers, Justice League of America, Fantastic Four and X-Men were my guaranteed go to at the time. Best of all Avengers and FF had their currently running issues and reprint series so I was seeing modern and classic side by side. It was mind blowing being a kid seeing such amazing artistry on the printed page.
Not a bad way to begin my 70's comic book addiction with the likes of Kirby, Heck, the Buscema brothers, Dillin and others. I found more legendary artists as well like Forte, Sprang, Boring, Swan, Infantino, Colan, Tuska, Wood, Sekowsky and others. From there it only got better as hungry upstarts came along like Adams, Starlin, BWS, Wrightson, Kaluta, Cockrum, Perez, Byrne and more.
The list is endless and my appreciation and adoration still continues today. Let us sing the praises and glorious skills (no trashing or negativity here please) as we discuss our favorites and how they "drew" us into the wondrous world of comic books.
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Post by impulse on Jul 21, 2021 10:16:45 GMT -5
The exact timeline is kind of blurry for me because I was so young, but I think I became aware of comics in the late 80s or early 90s. One of my friends' parents took me along to the LCS with them a few times. I couldn't tell you what exactly sparked my interest, but I started around the end of the Claremont era on X-Men. Since the marketing push for that was huge at that time, I guess that is what stuck out to me.
My first prized possession comic I can remember getting was Adjectiveless X_Men # 1 deluxe edition with the foldout cover and all the posters and computer coloring. I thought it was stunning, and it made the next easily accessible comics I got look like crap by comparison to my eyes.
I have a much more experienced eye now than I did then, and I am not saying the art was objectively bad, but as a kid the Jim Lee X-Men stuff made quite an impression.
I've widened my tastes considerably since then, of course, and while I don't currently buy any comics, I am still a fan of the medium.
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dave
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Post by dave on Jul 21, 2021 10:41:16 GMT -5
Fun!  I was drawn into comics by the '89 Batman flick, so my path was a little different. I didn't know from comic books at the time, but the LCS, in a savvy bit of business, bought space on the big letterboard sign next to the grocery store to send me a message that would transform my life in a profound way from that day forward: "BATMAN THINGS AT COMICS & THINGS". From that point, Bat-mania took hold of me--Jim Aparo's Batman will always be the first image my mind's eye brings up whenever I think of the character--but it wasn't too terribly long before my mania became one for comics in general. So that was the era I came into. The artists from the time who I was most drawn to, though, weren't necessarily the big names. I wasn't much of an Image guy; sure, I'd seen all those guys on Marvel books over the years, but I've never been able to stomach trading good storytelling for pretty pictures. My go-to artists at the time were also popular, but not the mega-stars: Dale Keown, Gary Frank, Mark Bagley, Norm Breyfogle, Paul Ryan, Darick Robertson, Patrick Zircher, Ron Lim, like that. Really solid artists just starting to cut their teeth on mainstream Marvel. As I got older, as do we all, I hit a crossroads where superhero comics just weren't doing much for me anymore. Now solidly in the '90s, where else to turn? A Chris Bachalo image was pulled for an ad for Shade the Changing Man #50 in the latest Comic Shop News, something that looked weird and distorted and a bit dangerous. I sought out the issue and started getting heavily into Vertigo and DC fringe characters, as well as a few scattered indies. From then, I couldn't get enough of comics drawn by Bachalo, Steve Pugh, Steve Dillon, Duncan Fegredo, John McCrea, Terry Moore, Glenn Fabry, Sean Phillips, Mark Buckingham, Guy Davis, etc. I'd say those two lists of artists are as responsible as anyone for why I'm a lifelong comics reader.  |
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dave
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Post by dave on Jul 21, 2021 11:22:39 GMT -5
And Brian Bolland! Can't believe I slept on Bolland, my all-time favorite cover artist.
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Post by impulse on Jul 21, 2021 12:52:12 GMT -5
Bachalo is an odd one because he is constantly evolving his style. There is stuff by him that is breathtaking, and stuff that is an incomprehensible mess, sometimes both at the same time. His stuff has gone in and out of my taste over time, and last I checked he landed squarely without, but the man is very talented.
Travis Charest's work is just stunning. More art than comic a lot. Interesting that I first became aware of him as a Jim Lee clone for Wildstorm, but man, once I saw more of his work after he got to do his own thing, just wow.
I generally appreciate art in a variety of styles as long as it fits the project. Sean Phillips gritty noir stuff or Marvel Zombies? Great! Would I want to see him do ASM? NOPE.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jul 21, 2021 13:40:12 GMT -5
I got into comics from the comic cards of the 90's. In particular tthe 1994 Marvel Masterpiece set that was all art of the Hildebrant Brothers, which are perfect pair to comic card art. I agree with impulse on Travis Charest. One of my early comic purchases was WildCATS #17 with a Charest cover. And I was impressed with his art so much I started looking for it everywhere. I think one of the most impressive comics of his art I have seen is Wildcats/X-Men: The Golden Age. It's insane how detailed his art is. Every bit as impressive as Bernie Wrightson. Bachalo did Generation Next, a part of the Age of Apocalypse, so I was exposed to him early on. And really liked his chaotic style, which complimented the story well in those four issues in 1995. Fast forward 10 years for when Marvel did the follow up to AoA, and those six issues he did were much more of a mess to me. It was way different than 10 years earlier, and not for the better in my opinion.   |
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dave
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Post by dave on Jul 21, 2021 13:45:33 GMT -5
Bachalo is an odd one because he is constantly evolving his style. There is stuff by him that is breathtaking, and stuff that is an incomprehensible mess, sometimes both at the same time. His stuff has gone in and out of my taste over the time, and last I checked he landed squarely within out, but the man is very talented. Travis Charest's work is just stunning. More art than comic a lot. Interesting that I first became aware of him as a Jim Lee clone for Wildstorm, but man, once I saw more of his work after he got to do his own thing, just wow. I generally appreciate art in a variety of styles as long as it fits the project. Sean Phillips gritty noir stuff or Marvel Zombies? Great! Would I want to see him do ASM? NOPE. Yeah, fair point on Bachalo, I guess I have to specify which Bachalo I mean. I first got into his work big on the latter half of his Shade the Changing Man run and that first Death miniseries, especially whenever he was being inked by Mark Buckingham. (I'm sure everyone looks better when they're inked by Bucky!) I also loved what he did on Ghost Rider 2099 and Generation X, which (I think?) is where he started to slowly change his style more into what it looks like today. By the time I got to his Cap run, I had cooled on his style considerably, and thought his storytelling abilities had suffered over the years. Charest, ha, I was just thinking of him the other day when I saw a cover for Darkstars. Remember that old series? I missed it the first go-round, but I'm definitely going to check it out one of these days, maybe sooner than later. But yeah, back to the point, what I've seen from Charest on a couple Humanoids projects since then (not much) may as well be a different guy. Amen, let the artist fit the project, and let it also be a project about which they're truly interested. I don't know that Sean Phillips would want to draw ASM... maybe a handful of issues for the novelty of it, sure, but an extended run? Seems an odd match, but what do I know. I was also pretty high on Tom Mandrake's work on the Spectre when it was coming out. He's more hit or miss for me on other titles, but on Spectre his style complemented Ostrander's scripts perfectly. Ooh, and Tony Harris on Starman, that was great, and.... |
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Jul 21, 2021 14:48:27 GMT -5
I got into comics around 1980/81, a combination of my interest in reruns of the Spider Man cartoon, the Hulk TV show, and my dad bringing comics home after work (he was a fan, but not of superheroes. I remember him reading Jonah Hex and occasionally DC war comics). By 1982 I was reading a ton of Marvel and DC comics, but also Archie and Garfield strip collections. I definitely have always been an art/artist guy. Early faves would've been Bryne, Perez, Ditko (Marvel Tales reprints of the original Spidey issues), Infantino (his return to Flash run), Romita Jr, Ordway--all guys I still love today. A lot of my current fandom is based around reading old runs by artists I really appreciate
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Post by brutalis on Jul 21, 2021 14:54:49 GMT -5
Lots of the fun of comics is watching the growth of a new artist as they learn their skills. Seeing the evolution of the likes of Barry Smith or George Perez or Bill Sienkewicz or Dave Sim to name a few. That rapid change as an artist truly finds his individual style and flair. Watching as the rough edges are finely tuned into slick and creative artwork is amazing to view.
The creativity and imagination in giving us readers eye candy is incredible. Seeing the different styles of newspaper artists to American, British, French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Canadian Dutch and myriad other countries is awe inspiring. So much majestic artistry to behold. All the more wondrous that at age 58 I still cannot wait to see what the next generation of artists will deliver.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jul 21, 2021 14:57:02 GMT -5
I started reading Marvel and DC comics in 1963-64. My earliest comics were drawn by Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, Wally Wood and Bob Powell.
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Post by impulse on Jul 21, 2021 15:18:57 GMT -5
I got into comics from the comic cards of the 90's. In particular tthe 1994 Marvel Masterpiece set that was all art of the Hildebrant Brothers, which are perfect pair to comic card art. I agree with impulse on Travis Charest. One of my early comic purchases was WildCATS #17 with a Charest cover. And I was impressed with his art so much I started looking for it everywhere. I think one of the most impressive comics of his art I have seen is Wildcats/X-Men: The Golden Age. It's insane how detailed his art is. Every bit as impressive as Bernie Wrightson. Bachalo did Generation Next, a part of the Age of Apocalypse, so I was exposed to him early on. And really liked his chaotic style, which complimented the story well in those four issues in 1995. Fast forward 10 years for when Marvel did the follow up to AoA, and those six issues he did were much more of a mess to me. It was way different than 10 years earlier, and not for the better in my opinion. It sounds like you and I had a lot of overlap in comics exposure and tastes. I had a friend who was into the cards, too, which got me into them. I have a few sets still, including that first Marvel Masterpieces. They were so nice to look at. WildCATS # 17 was also one of my favorites, too. The cover and art were SO GOOD and it was delightfully violent which was a big deal at the time. Image comics seemed more "grown up" to me at the time, foolish kid that I was. But yeah, that exact issue, Wildcats/X-Men: The Golden Age, was just freaking stunning. It's another one that sticks out in my mind. He is so good, but he is SO SLOW. He basically can't do a monthly book which is fine. His stuff is worth waiting for. His work on WildCATS with Alan Moore writing was very good though I didn't much appreciate it at the time. I also have similar memories of Bachalo. Gen-X/Gen Next in AoA was great. I also liked his work with Mike Carey on Adjectiveless X-Men about ten years ago. I am not too impressed with his work between or after. The AoA sequel was atrocious in every possible way. Yeah, fair point on Bachalo, I guess I have to specify which Bachalo I mean. I first got into his work big on the latter half of his Shade the Changing Man run and that first Death miniseries, especially whenever he was being inked by Mark Buckingham. (I'm sure everyone looks better when they're inked by Bucky!) I also loved what he did on Ghost Rider 2099 and Generation X, which (I think?) is where he started to slowly change his style more into what it looks like today. By the time I got to his Cap run, I had cooled on his style considerably, and thought his storytelling abilities had suffered over the years. Charest, ha, I was just thinking of him the other day when I saw a cover for Darkstars. Remember that old series? I missed it the first go-round, but I'm definitely going to check it out one of these days, maybe sooner than later. But yeah, back to the point, what I've seen from Charest on a couple Humanoids projects since then (not much) may as well be a different guy. Amen, let the artist fit the project, and let it also be a project about which they're truly interested. I don't know that Sean Phillips would want to draw ASM... maybe a handful of issues for the novelty of it, sure, but an extended run? Seems an odd match, but what do I know. I was also pretty high on Tom Mandrake's work on the Spectre when it was coming out. He's more hit or miss for me on other titles, but on Spectre his style complemented Ostrander's scripts perfectly. Ooh, and Tony Harris on Starman, that was great, and.... Yeah, I pulled Phillips and ASM out of my butt for a quick example. I would say the same of say, Charlie Adlard and ASM, etc. There are so many great artists out there. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 21, 2021 17:08:09 GMT -5
I was introduced to comics at around the age of 6, when I got my hands on Marvel Tales #59. Instantly became a fan of Spider-man and superheroes and comic books in general. It was only a few years later, though, that I started paying attention to the creator credits - in late 1978/early 1979. That's when I started to recognize that the art I really liked in a lot of books was being done by the same guy so I zeroed in on his name, John Byrne.
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dave
Junior Member
Posts: 44
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Post by dave on Jul 22, 2021 6:48:13 GMT -5
Lots of the fun of comics is watching the growth of a new artist as they learn their skills. Seeing the evolution of the likes of Barry Smith or George Perez or Bill Sienkewicz or Dave Sim to name a few. That rapid change as an artist truly finds his individual style and flair. Watching as the rough edges are finely tuned into slick and creative artwork is amazing to view. I've been reading the '80s Outsiders comics from DC and watching this happen with Alan Davis. It's sort of fascinating... certain panels or characters, you can see him developing his style into the one we all know and love. It's actually refreshing to have evidence that the guy's mortal!  Edit: And to see what his work looked like when he was inking it himself as opposed to Paul Neary or, of course, Mark Farmer. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 22, 2021 9:32:05 GMT -5
I got started at the dawn of the 70s and Neal Adams was probably the first artist I really noticed. I read more DC than Marvel, at the start and anything that wasn't Adams was usually someone with a similar style, like Irv Novick, Dick Giordano, Dick Dillin or Mike Grell. Of that bunch, Grell became probably my first favorite "star" artist, since Adams scaled back his work in comics. I got started on Legion during Grell's tenure and also read some of his Green Arrow stories in Action Comics, as well as Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Then, when Warlord came along, I was in hog heaven and even moreso with Jon Sable and Longbow Hunters. Grell became the one artist I went out of my way to collect and desired to meet, eventually doing so in the 00s. I got him to sign my copy of the Warlord trade (first 10 issues), the 'MIA" issues of Jon Sable, and my copy of the Donning/Starblaze edition of Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of robin Hood, with Grell's illustrations. I also bought a sketch of Robin Hood, which adorns the wall in my computer room, alongside NC Wyeth's cover to the Scribner's Edition of treasure Island, movie posters for The Three Musketeers, The Mark of Zorro and the Adventures of Robin Hood (sense a pattern?), and sketches of Captain Marvel (Joe Staton), Manhunter (Doug Rice), Sgt Strike (Tom Lyle) and the Black Terror (Gray Morrow).
During the 70s, I got introduced to a lot of great artists, like Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Jim Starlin, P Craig Russell, George Perez, John Byrne, Don Newton, Gene Colan, Dave Cockrum, John Buscema, Howard Chaykin, Walt Simonson and the work of Kirby and Ditko. I wasn't fond of Ditko's 70s work, though some of it grew on me, later. When I encountered it, I found I preferred his stuff from the 60s and 50s. With Kirby, I preferred the older stuff than the blockier later; but, taht would change, over time, as I came to appreciate and understand what he was doing in those books.
The 80s brought the indies and some new names, as I was introduced to Dave Gibbons, Frank Miller, Matt Wagner, Jerry Ordway, Los Bros Hernandez, Tim Truman, Tom Yeates, Scott & Bo Hampton, Gene Day (discovered him late in his life and then backwards) Michael T Gilbert, Eddie Campbell, Brian Bolland, Steve Yeowell, Kevin O'Neil, Bill Sienkiewicz, Kevin Maguire, Dean Motter. The 90s brought Alex Ross, Martin Wagner, Greg Hyland, Ben Edlund, Tony Harris, Jeff Smith, Jill Thompson, Dan Brereton, Mike Parobeck, Christopher Moeller and the European work of Andreas, Frnacois Schuiten, Mathias Schulteiss, Jean-Claude Mezieres, Enki Bilal, Moebius, Druillet, Daniel Torres, Libertore, Vittorio Giardino, Jacques Tardi; while the 80s had brought Hugo Pratt and my first manga, in the form of Goseki Kojima, on Lone Wolf and Cub. That was followed by Katsuhiro Otomo, Masamune Shirow, Kaoru Shintani, Leiji Matsumoto, Rumiko Takahashi, Takao Saito, Monkey Punch, and Ryoichi Ikegami.
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Post by brutalis on Jul 24, 2021 20:41:30 GMT -5
Talk about the best time learning to love comic books. My finding them in the mid 70's was a phenomenal experience helping to influence my taste in writers and artists. Having access to both modern and reprints at the same time every month was truly exciting and blowing my mind.
Marvel provided me with their earliest endeavors in reprints of Marvel's Greatest Comics, Marvel Triple Action, Marvel Super Action, Marvel Tales and occasional thrift store findings of Marvel Superheroes and Fantasy Masterpieces. Such wondrously fun beginnings creating the earliest Marvel Universe. To have the likes of Kirby, Ditko, Heck, Wood, Sinnott, Stone, Ayers and others paving my way to addiction.
Then the modern MU with the slickness from the Buscema brothers, Colan, Kane, Romita, Palmer, Klein, Giacoia, Colletta and others showing even more incredible worlds of wonder. I was quickly learning names and discerning artistic styles formulating my buy lists as to what to get 1st and what would have to wait until I scrounged up more money.
DC was less interesting for my money but I would grab occasional 80 and 100 page giant issues. Those gave me new stories alongside reprints of classics before my time. Soon I knew Sekowsky, Fradon, Infantino, Boring, Premiani, Andru, Dillin, Swan, Forte, Kubert and Anderson by sight as well.
Such splendid memories to hold onto as my budding comic book obsession was growing into uncontrollable proportions. But dang it all, I was enjoying and loving it and my hunger for more comics gave me drive and ambition in learning to save up while also finding ways to earn more money. I quickly worked up lists of series to follow which soon lead to choosing favored artists to buy before others.
Who says comics are dumb and don't teach anything worthwhile? Not me!
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