Who are your "acquired taste" artist? 1 1

[Caltex98]

In the 1970's when I sporadically bought the swedish James Bond comic book I always felt let down if the adventure had Yaroslav Horak as the artist instead of John McLusky which I considered THE James Bond artist. But when Titan Books started their reprint series of the James Bond comic strip in the early 2000's (with considerably better reproduction quality) I found that I had to reconsider. Horak was a master of the action sequence and and I can't think of another artist which has the same use of bold contrasts between black and white. So even if  don't own any OA by him (yet) I can definitely say that I now enjoy reading his stuff.

[Rick2you2]

8 hours ago, Math Teacher said:

Well, to a 6-year old boy, reading JLA issues always made me feel like I was getting much more than my $0.12 would normally buy. I could buy a JLA, and see a variety of super-heroes, or I could buy a Superman comic and only read Superman stories.

I think Sekowsky suffered from trying to fit all those heroes onto a page. Not many artists can be known for their team artwork, but George Perez, for one, is an excellent team artist.

Sekowsky liked to “pose” his characters, I think, instead of having them in natural positions. Almost any of his pages has at least one questionable image in it, like a character floating after a punch who shouldn’t be floating, or arms and a leg twisted to get it out of the way, that sort of thing. But for a child, it also made for a better image when reading the book. By the way, I’m told he liked to blame his inkers (not sure how that matters).

[Rick2you2]

10 hours ago, batman_fan said:

There was a time when I didn't like Gil Kane but now I really like his stuff.  I also never cared for Ross Andru on Spiderman but now I like a lot of his stuff.

I still don’t care for Kane. There is a coldness to his work, even if technically superior. Regarding Andru, I considered him a solid journeyman artist; that’s all.

[rjpb]

7 hours ago, Caltex98 said:

In the 1970's when I sporadically bought the swedish James Bond comic book I always felt let down if the adventure had Yaroslav Horak as the artist instead of John McLusky which I considered THE James Bond artist. But when Titan Books started their reprint series of the James Bond comic strip in the early 2000's (with considerably better reproduction quality) I found that I had to reconsider. Horak was a master of the action sequence and and I can't think of another artist which has the same use of bold contrasts between black and white. So even if  don't own any OA by him (yet) I can definitely say that I now enjoy reading his stuff.

I wasn't familiar with either of these artists, I can see why you'd like them both. I also didn't know that Connery looked a lot like McLusky's depiction of Bond  which may have contributed to his casting in the role.

[rjpb]

1 hour ago, Rick2you2 said:

I still don’t care for Kane. There is a coldness to his work, even if technically superior. Regarding Andru, I considered him a solid journeyman artist; that’s all.

I kind of see what you mean about Kane, but he had an eye for composition. His GL and Atom covers are among the best of DC's SA output. I do prefer Anderson inks to his own though.

 

 

[timguerrero]

I have grown fond of Don Heck's work.

[lobrac]

Frank Robbins:

 

[JadeGiant]

I didn't "get" Kirby at first, I was stupid

[batman_fan]

4 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

I still don’t care for Kane. There is a coldness to his work, even if technically superior. Regarding Andru, I considered him a solid journeyman artist; that’s all.

The piece on the far right is the one that turned me around on Ross Andru.  I love the detail in the piece and the cool Submariner pose.

[GreatEscape]

Sam Keith’s stylized exaggerated work took a few years to grow into but MCP 118 story with Venom and Wolverine got me to fully appreciate his unique talent. 
 

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by GreatEscape

[GreatEscape]

2 hours ago, batman_fan said:

The piece on the far right is the one that turned me around on Ross Andru.  I love the detail in the piece and the cool Submariner pose.

Regret selling that Subby splash (love the NYC background!) but I knew you’d cherish it...still looks amazing together with your other Subby splashes!

[batman_fan]

Just now, GreatEscape said:

Regret selling that Subby splash (love the NYC background!) but I knew you’d cherish it...still looks amazing together with your other Subby splashes!

It is an amazing piece.  Really glad you parted with it.  After losing out on it twice, glad it came to its forever home.  You will be happy to know it is framed and hanging on my wall.

[MagnusX]

28 minutes ago, GreatEscape said:

Sam Keith’s stylized exaggerated work took a few years to grow into but MCP 118 story with Venom and Wolverine allowed me to fully appreciate his unique talent. 

Funny a few people mention Kieth.
My introduction to his art was Hulk # 368
And was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

[vodou]

3 hours ago, lobrac said:

Frank Robbins:

 

Ugly tape stains. Trash. It wasn't art then and it isn't now.

[s-man]

Sienkiewicz - when he originally took over New Mutants, a book I loved, I hated it and actually quit buying them because of his art work.  Now that I'm older I've come to appreciate his different approach to the art form.

[Rick2you2]

5 hours ago, batman_fan said:

The piece on the far right is the one that turned me around on Ross Andru.  I love the detail in the piece and the cool Submariner pose.

Honestly, that is an easy piece to draw nicely. Full splash, flying over the City; he’d have to be borderline incompetent to do a bad job on it (and he certainly isn’t that). The real test is whether he is good at tough subjects: pages filled with dialog, designed as 6 panels, and overstuffed with characters. See my point? At least the second one in your picture has somewhat unusual subject-matter. So, he couldn’t fall back on stale tropes. And yes, it is nicely done. By the way, I do recognize that splashes have more dollar value than most panel pages, but that isn’t the question.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Rick2you2

[MagnusX]

nice

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by MagnusX

[stinkininkin]

9 hours ago, lobrac said:

Frank Robbins:

 

Frank Robbins was my first thought. But even though I think more highly of his body of work as a whole (his early strip art in particular), I still despise his 70's Marvel work.

No, my choice is Alex Nino. I had always thought his stuff was just...odd. I knew there was talent there, but it was all just very weird and barely tolerated. Now I think he's an absolute artistic genius. Totally unique, incredible craft (I've tried stealing some of his brush technique as I consider him a brush virtuoso) and an impeccable designer and story teller.

I need to add more of his stuff to my collection now that I think of it!

Edited February 15, 2021 by stinkininkin

[Brian Peck]

3 hours ago, stinkininkin said:

Frank Robbins was my first thought. But even though I think more highly of his body of work as a whole (his early strip art in particular), I still despise his 70's Marvel work.

No, my choice is Alex Nino. I had always thought his stuff was just...odd. I knew there was talent there, but it was all just very weird and barely tolerated. Now I think he's an absolute artistic genius. Totally unique, incredible craft (I've tried stealing some of his brush technique as I consider him a brush virtuoso) and an impeccable designer and story teller.

I need to add more of his stuff to my collection now that I think of it!

I loved Nino's work in 1984/1994 my first exposure to his work. Ya it was weird but still loved it. Years later when I met him at a fellow collector's place before a con I asked him about his work for 1984/1994 at Warren Publications. He told me they would send him a -script but he would change parts that he didn't like, draw whatever he wanted. They would then rewrite the -script around his artwork.

 

[gumbydarnit]

I was slow to appreciate Dave Cockrum, but I think, like many of my vintage, I fell so hard for Byrne’s artwork that Dave’s first and second run of X-Men seemed pale by comparison. Then slowly I started to appreciate all he brought to the table. Dave created so many powerful and dynamic pieces, covers and interiors, I see that now, but hey sometimes a 10 year old might not the best judge of art : ) 

I meet Dave at a Mid Ohio Con and became a immediate member of his fan club. What a warm and friendly guy!