Do you collect comics with nudity? 0

[OrangeCrush]

Here are some of the nude covers I purchased way back in the day. It would have been around the early to mid 90's.

 

 

I remember Paul Abrams was definitely one of the best artists during the period for tasteful nude comic art. And most of the nude comics I purchased were really right before or right around the time when artists like Michael Turner, Marc Silvestri, Brian Pulido etc. came on the scene and really raised the quality of female/bad girl comic art to a whole new level. Before that it was really artists like Rob Liefeld and his style of highly exaggerated female proportions that dominated the industry. Liefeld definitely dominated the cover scene for awhile and left his mark on the industry, but artists like Turner and Silvestri really put an end to the highly exaggerated female proportions that really dominated the market prior to the mid to late 90's. From that point forward, the artwork was definitely much higher in quality and much more realistic, although definitely still exaggerated compared to real female anatomy. The mid/late 90's and early 00's definitely raised bad girl comic art to a whole new level quality wise as there really was just an influx of a lot of quality artists into that market during that timeframe.

At least for me, two of the key covers that really perfectly demonstrate that increase in quality and adjustment towards a more realistic female anatomy that we saw during those years was Turner's Witchblade/Tomb Raider #1 bedroom cover and Turner's Witchblade #25 Fathom variant. That Witchblade #25 variant was actually the first Michael Turner lithograph/print that I ever purchased and I still own it to this day. Definitely one of the most memorable covers from that period IMO. 

   

Edited January 29, 2018 by OrangeCrush

[Brock]

11 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

...one of the best artists during the period for tasteful nude comic art.

...the key covers that really perfectly demonstrate that increase in quality and adjustment towards a more realistic female anatomy...

   

Art is subjective, but we obviously have very different definitions of "tasteful"...

And while I agree that the Silvestri look is more "polished" than the Liefeld look, I still wouldn't call it realistic... Look at the feet, or hands or, uh... "vast tracts of land" on the seated figure in your example, and compare them to the size of the character's head... It's as stylized as Liefeld's work is, just in a different way.

[Andthen]

There is something kinda cool about that Witchblade Tomb Raider. I have that issue as well and always thought it was a good replacement for a lot of the 90's work we saw on so many comics. 

[OrangeCrush]

13 hours ago, Brock said:

Art is subjective, but we obviously have very different definitions of "tasteful"...

And while I agree that the Silvestri look is more "polished" than the Liefeld look, I still wouldn't call it realistic... Look at the feet, or hands or, uh... "vast tracts of land" on the seated figure in your example, and compare them to the size of the character's head... It's as stylized as Liefeld's work is, just in a different way.

Couldn't agree more. Art is 100% subjective and that includes what someone deem's tasteful. Of course, I wasn't speaking for your subjective opinion, I was speaking for mine and again, as long as a cover is tastefully done in my opinion, I think nude covers can be great. Your entitled to agree or disagree as much as you want with that statement. And those were nude covers I purchased 20-25 years ago so even comparing those covers to what I deem tasteful today is actually kinda comical. 

And I am not going to compare each individual artist that came on the scene during that period to Liefeld's style. The point I was making is that there was a MAJOR shift in the bad girl market as a whole around that time that moved to a MUCH more realistic style, one that was FAR less exaggerated than Liefeld's style that had dominated for a decent amount of time prior to that period. And I clearly stated and I quote "the artwork was definitely much higher in quality and much more realistic, although definitely still exaggerated compared to real female anatomy". So I was hardly suggesting that the artwork had suddenly become anatomically accurate. Not to mention, the cover you quoted isn't even a Silvestri cover. The last 2 covers I posted are both Michael Turner covers. And no way are any of Turner's covers as exaggerated proportionally speaking as Liefeld's covers. Not even close. 

Just to give a few examples of the hyper exaggerated style Liefeld had with much of his bad girl artwork:

 

 

Edited January 30, 2018 by OrangeCrush

[OrangeCrush]

7 hours ago, Andthen said:

There is something kinda cool about that Witchblade Tomb Raider. I have that issue as well and always thought it was a good replacement for a lot of the 90's work we saw on so many comics. 

Once again, couldn't agree more! IMO, that cover is just a HUGE step up from many of the bad girl covers we were getting for much of the early to mid 90's. 

As for modern nude covers I deem tasteful and downright amazing, I would have to say Jay Anacleto is definitely one of the best artists out there right now currently riding that tasteful/nude line. The nude work he has done with Dejah Thoris has been downright stunning work. Here are Just a few amazing examples that without question fit into the "tastefully" done category for me!!

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a really nice Jungle Girl piece from him as well. 

If Dynamite and Dynamic Forces didn't have such high pricing on many of these nude covers, I would without question add them to my collection. No 2nd thoughts about it. Lucio Parrillo is actually my single favorite female comic artist working today and while he doesn't do many nude covers, he does do some nude commissions and paintings on his own and many of them are downright amazing. I personally consider his Vampirella #19 cover to be not only the best Vampirella rendition I have seen to date, but also the single sexiest comic cover in the entire history of comics. 

I am really bummed I missed out on the chance to buy the original artwork for Vampirella #19 as I think it sold for like $5500 and I definitely would have paid 6k for the original to that cover. I wouldn't have been able to write the check fast enough. 

Edited January 30, 2018 by OrangeCrush