Rank the (U)XM artists 0

[exitmusicblue]

You knew it was coming...

 

[eewwnuk]

1. Jim lee

[vodou]

2 minutes ago, eewwnuk said:

1. Jim lee

Bad start.

[Ted_L]

1. John Byrne
2. Dave Cockrum
3. Jim Lee
4. Paul Smith
5. Mark Silvestri
6. John Romita Jr. 

Cockrum is my personal favorite, but I have to credit Byrne as he probably had more to do with the X-Men's success than any other artist.  I'm not ranking the #1-93 artists, otherwise Jack Kirby and Neal Adams would have to be up there too.  I've also omitted the last 15 or so years as I'm not overly familiar.   

Whoops - I forgot Paul Smith, who had a great run after Cockrum's second time around.  I went back and added him above Silvestri.

Edited December 11, 2019 by tlatner
Forgot about Paul Smith

[Unstoppablejayd]

WOW- lots to think about here.. as Pretty much every big artist had a turn. 

1) John Byrne

2) Jim Lee

3)Paul Smith

4) Dave Cockrum

5) I am going to Go with Marc Silvestri here over JRJR simply because I hated his later run.

Feel terrible leaving Jack Kirby off the list but he so better known for other things and only really did a handful of issues. . Neal Adams and Jim Steranko for similar reasoning...

Later artists that came to mind.. Portacio, Madueria , Bachalo, Kuberts,. so many...

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Unstoppablejayd

[nickwire]

1 .john  byrne

2  neal . adams

3. paul smith

4. dave cockrum

5. art adams

6. jim lee

 

[Brian Peck]

Best UXM pencilers

1. Dave Cockrum

2. John Byrne

3. Paul Smith

4. JRJR

5. Jack Kirby

6. Neal Adams

 

[MyNameIsLegion]

Th Correct answer is:

Neal Adams

Dave Cockrum

John Byrne

Jim Lee

Kirby

Silvestri

--------------------

Paul Smith was good, but his run was less than a year. I know that same applies to Neal Adams, but Neal Adams is Neal Adams. JRJr was deliberately left off this list.  His run was utterly forgettable from 176-210.  also, if you listed JRjr in your ranking, you really mean Dan Green.  JR did "breakdowns" for the whole run and Dan the finished art. This was not the case with his stint as Silvestri's inker.

 

[jjonahjameson11]

1. Paul Smith

2. Paul Smith

3. Paul Smith

4. Paul Smith

5. Paul Smith

[jjonahjameson11]

9 hours ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

Th Correct answer is:

Neal Adams

Dave Cockrum

John Byrne

Jim Lee

Kirby

Silvestri

--------------------

Paul Smith was good, but his run was less than a year. I know that same applies to Neal Adams, but Neal Adams is Neal Adams. JRJr was deliberately left off this list.  His run was utterly forgettable from 176-210.  also, if you listed JRjr in your ranking, you really mean Dan Green.  JR did "breakdowns" for the whole run and Dan the finished art. This was not the case with his stint as Silvestri's inker.

 

I’m always interested to read your posts because 99% of the time, I disagree with your opinion.  Perhaps it’s a generational gap (I assume you’re a Boomer).

in this instance, Paul Smith wasn’t just good, he was great, and Wiacek was the perfect inker for him.  So what if his run on the title was short?  It was a great body of work, much like Rogers/Austin on ‘Tec.

[delekkerste]

1 hour ago, jjonahjameson11 said:

I’m always interested to read your posts because 99% of the time, I disagree with your opinion.  Perhaps it’s a generational gap (I assume you’re a Boomer).

I'm pretty sure you guys are about the same age and that he's just got better taste than you.  

 

[PhilipB2k17]

You left out Barry Windsor Smith’s limited, yet phenomenal contribution to X-Men. 

[J.Sid]

My personal favorite:

1. Byrne 

2. Paul Smith (this list is my favorite, not most impactful)

3. Cockrum (I even loved his 2nd run)

4. Frank Quitely (never been so disappointed at guest pencillers than the ones who filled in for Quitely. Quickly made me realize just how great he was)

5. Jim Lee (really exciting when he hit his stride)

 

The rest:

--------------

BWS: nice, but only drew one X-Men comic book I actually liked (205)

JR Jr: Big letdown from Paul Smith. I've enjoyed his work elsewhere, but not on UXM. Responsible for several of the worst covers in X-Men's history.

Neal Adams: Amazing in places. But ultimately too short a run and too many 'meh' pages for me.

Bachalo: Love his covers, but his interiors can be really tough to follow at times.

Art Adams: If his other annuals had been as good as XMAnnual9, he'd make the list, but X-Babies? Mojo? Horrible stories.

Kirby: Oh what I would pay for a Kirby story with Colossus vs. Juggernaut. 

Silvestri: Grown to like him over the years. Wasn't a fan while they were coming out. Too loose.

 

 

 

[Carlo M]

I will go with personal taste as opposed to impact / value / broad popularity:

1. Byrne / Austin (no need to comment...perfection for that title)

2. Paul Smith (less is more)

3. Cockrum 1st run (those blacks....)

4. Silvestri / Green (the issues inked  by Lehiaoa and Rubinstein were definitely not at the same level as with Green).  Agreed his art on UXM was quite loose, but maybe because of this it continues to feel very fresh to me even today

5. BWS (186 and 205 are absolute pinnacles of modern comic book art, IMHO)

6.  Neal Adams (would deserve top three just for the Havok costume design)

6. Jim  Lee / Williams (when those issues came out ....wow did they make a big impression). BTW I really liked the issues inked by Green (248) and Rubinstein (257) too

[MyNameIsLegion]

15 hours ago, jjonahjameson11 said:

I’m always interested to read your posts because 99% of the time, I disagree with your opinion.  Perhaps it’s a generational gap (I assume you’re a Boomer).

in this instance, Paul Smith wasn’t just good, he was great, and Wiacek was the perfect inker for him.  So what if his run on the title was short?  It was a great body of work, much like Rogers/Austin on ‘Tec.

  I'm as Gen X as Gen X gets, but I probably have a couple years on you and Gene.  #146 was the first issue I bought off the stands, though I had read #137-up. I didn't stumble on Neal Adams until late teens when I got ahold of X-Men #56, and realized Neal Adams was GOD (and he will most certainly agree with that !)

 For me, Claremont's meandering writing overshadowed his ideas and it really started to show beginning towards the end of the Paul Smith era.  The JRjr era was perhaps the single most lackluster era in X-Men history since Werner Roth's SA run.  It's telling that there's isn't a single HC or trade of any of those storylines until Mutant Massacre, and JR bailed in the middle of it. The ONLY memorable issue in that run are the 3 essentially fill-ins by BWS. Even those aren't really that good, except #205.

Paul Smith earns an honorable mention because he closed out perhaps the last best Claremont run with the first Brood Saga. Then it was diminishing returns with brief flashes of brilliance inspired mostly by the shot in the arm the artist gave the title (i.e. Jim Lee, UXM #268)

[gumbydarnit]

Byrne

Paul Smith

BWS

Arthur Adams

[gumbydarnit]

Terry Austin was such an impact on the title that I feel he should be listed. He's a talent amplifier takes ok artists and makes them look good, makes good artists look great... and makes Byrne art oh so sweet! If inkers count as X-Men artists he would land on the #2 spot on my list.

[jjonahjameson11]

4 minutes ago, gumbydarnit said:

Terry Austin was such an impact on the title that I feel he should be listed. He's a talent amplifier takes ok artists and makes them look good, makes good artists look great... and makes Byrne art oh so sweet! If inkers count as X-Men artists he would land on the #2 spot on my list.

Agreed.  He’s my 2nd favourite inker of all time.

[vodou]

6 hours ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

Paul Smith earns an honorable mention because he closed out perhaps the last best Claremont run with the first Brood Saga. Then it was diminishing returns...

Agree 100%.

[delekkerste]

6 hours ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

  I'm as Gen X as Gen X gets, but I probably have a couple years on you and Gene.  

We graduated college the same year, so, unless you started later or took longer than 4 years, we should be about the same age.  

There is nothing more nostalgic in the hobby to me than Paul Smith's X-Men run, followed by the first year or so of JRJR's first run.  Though, the latter is purely due to the time it entered my life, as none of the stories are going to rank among the best (and 2nd run JRJR on UXM is painful to look at).  I've always loved Neal Adams' brief X-Men run as well, having discovered those via the first X-Men Classics reprint mini from 1983 or 1984.  

Love the Lee/Williams art from their run with Claremont, but, the lack of memorable stories holds it back for me.  First-run Cockrum and of course Byrne/Austin are both great in terms of both art and stories.  I'm not a fan of 2nd run Cockrum at all, though - not sure what changed so much in those intervening years.  I like Silvestri's art, but, I am generally not a fan of the stories so the pages don't really do much for me. 

In sum, Byrne/Austin = GOAT, P. Smith/Wiacek = personal favorite.