The worst Spider-man artists

[Goldenbane]

I was on the "Spidey kicks butt" website, when I started to check out the year in review stuff for 2003.

Now I've never been a big fan of John Romita Jr's work, and sometimes Sal Bescuma's stuff has made me cringe...but I have never seen ANYONE draw as horribly as Humberto Ramos. This guy has to be the absolute worst artist I've ever seen in my life.

I suck at drawing...I can maybe eek out a somewhat good picture of a super hero every once in a while...but for the most part my own art sucks the big one. But I look like Leonardo Devinci compared to Ramos. Just out of curiousity...who did he know to actually get Marvel to hire him, and even let him come within 300 feet of one of their flagship characters?

[jj9126]

You obviously missed the Erik Larsen years...

[torippu]

You obviously missed the Erik Larsen years...

I loved Larsen's run on the book! I'd have to agree that the Ramos run was pretty wretched. I also didn't care for Deodato's run. Also, I'd have to say that I didn't care for any of the artists that were on ASM after Steve Skroce just before it was rebooted in the late-90s.

[jj9126]

I loved Larsen's run on the book! I'd have to agree that the Ramos run was pretty wretched. I also didn't care for Deodato's run. Also, I'd have to say that I didn't care for any of the artists that were on ASM after Steve Skroce just before it was rebooted in the late-90s.

Ouch, I was never a fan. His work really suffered (far more) when they were on that bi-weekly schedule in the early 90's. We're talking Igor Kordey/New X-Men level sloppy.

[Venom]

Humberto is quite a complex artist in my opinion. Sometimes he drew great. His best work was "A Death In The Family". And sometimes he drew crap like the "Spectacular Spider-Man" stories such as the Queen story. He made Venom look like a giant ape and he drew some really weird facial expressions at times.

[GreatLakesAvengers]

I actually dig Ramos' exaggerated style.

Don't like Romita, Jr. at all

Also, didn't like the art during the Clone Saga in Spectacular Spider-Man (I believe it was Buscema with inks by Sienkiewicz)

Probably my favorite three came in rapid succession on Amazing: McFarlane, Larsen, & Bagley

[Billy Parker]

You obviously missed the Erik Larsen years...

Poor Larsen. He was the most criticized artist on Amazing Spider-Man in all the years up until the time he penciled.

For several reasons. 1. He followed McFarlane. 'Nuff Said! 2. Readers in 1990-91 started getting to the point where they were OVERLY critical, as they still are today. But this was the start. 3. His style was just different.

Other than that, the people right before McFarlane on Amazing look bad in contrast to what McFarlane did for the comic.

[Cody H]

With respect to my own taste, I really, really hated Ramos art on PP: Spider-Man, I'm just not a fan of that kind of style at all. Additionally, I never really enjoyed Sal Bescuma's art, it was far too dark and grainy for my taste. He did an alright Spidey, but I couldn't stand the constant scowel on virtually all his people. For me, Larsen's work was kind of incosistent; some his stuff I really enjoyed while other stuff, not so much, and this was within a particular issue to boot. I'll probably get flack for this, but what the hey: I don't like JRJR's artwork on Spider-Man. It's got a blocky line style that I could just never get used to.

[thetube]

Humberto Ramos... Hands down...

[Keehar]

You obviously missed the Erik Larsen years...

I really liked Larsen's art.


Humberto Ramos... Hands down...

Now there was a bad artist.

[streator]

i liked ramos, but i didn't really care for the more exaggerated style of francisco herrera.

i didn't really care for andrew wildman.

nor would i say that sam kieth or darick robertson were particularly suited to draw spidey.

[Web_Spinner]

Likes

Love JRJR!

Really liked Larsen, even moreso than MacFarlane!

I'm really digging Garney's work on ASM as well. It seems to fit the humour and seriousness very well, at the same time!

Bagely was and still is excellent!

Buckingham had some very good moments as well!

Deodato is really talented, I loved the way he drew Spidey, but the non superhero scenes were too realistic for the book!

Weiringo had some shining moments!

I liked Billy Tan in MKnights SM!



Dislikes

Ramos and Herrera were OK, a little too busy, somehwat enjoyable, but I respected the new take on the art. It was something different!

Didn't like Byrne much at all.

Worst Ever

Pat Lee. Regardless of the story, which was mediocre at best, why the hell was he part of the huge crossover that was The Other? That is a good way to scare off potential readers! Damn! His stuff looked 2 Dimensional and too anime! It looked rushed and lacked detail. Not to mention, his style does not mesh with Deodato or Ringo, and was just awkward as part of that crossover. By far, the worst issues of the series and some of the fugliest spidey art EVER!!!!

[StoneGold]

Honestly, the worst ever is probably going to be some no-name I don't know who did a fill-in or two somewhere.

[Ravenheart]

Pat Lee and Humberto Ramos are the worst to me.I didn't care for either of them on the books.

[Chris N]

I'm not really an art critic, but I can tell you what didn't quite flow for me.

I'll agree with everybody on Ramos. I also hate Steve Skroce's Spider-Man.

Also don't care for Deodato

I like Larsen fine. He's comparable to Sal Buscema for me. There are many I'd prefer.

I'm not a big McFarlane fan. His Spidey was good, I hated his Peter and MJ; in the end, I'm indifferent to it.

Romita, Jr. is another that only works for me sometimes. His recent stuff has been fine and I like his old stuff before he "found himself". But his stuff around the clone saga and just after I did not like at all.

[666andahalf]

He made Venom look like a giant ape and he drew some really weird facial expressions at times.

Humberto Ramos made EVERYONE look like a giant ape. I remember trying to read a storyline in PPSM with Hydroman and Shocker and well, I couldn't even make out what was happening in the story it was so bad...

I liked Erik Larsen's work on Revenge of the Sinister Six but...dang that guy cannot draw Venom to save his life... I cringe whenever I see his or Ramos' interpretation of my favorite villain.

[TROUBLEZ]

I liked Erik Larsens art at the time. Return of the Sinister Six was a good story. He was a good replacement for McFarlane. The only artists i can think of that I didn't like were Bagley when he was doing Amazing.

[Venom65437]

I loathe Ramos so much... and he keep getting put on books I want to read. :(

[streator]

Humberto Ramos made EVERYONE look like a giant ape. I remember trying to read a storyline in PPSM with Hydroman and Shocker and well, I couldn't even make out what was happening in the story it was so bad...

that wasn't ramos. herrera did that arc.

http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/reviews/spiderman_v2/051.html

http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/reviews/spiderman_v2/052.html

[Mister Mets]

I was never a fan of Skroce, but I wouldn't say he sucked.

However I really disliked Pat Lee's art on the Other. I believe he was the worst creator on that storyline (while the fifth chapter was atrocious, Hudlin wrote some good chapters.)

[Goldenbane]

Humberto is quite a complex artist in my opinion. Sometimes he drew great. His best work was "A Death In The Family". And sometimes he drew crap like the "Spectacular Spider-Man" stories such as the Queen story. He made Venom look like a giant ape and he drew some really weird facial expressions at times.

Ugh...if "Death in the family" with Green Goblin taking on Spiderman was his best work...I'd hate to see his worst.

[saintsaucey]

Humberto is quite a complex artist in my opinion. Sometimes he drew great. His best work was "A Death In The Family". And sometimes he drew crap like the "Spectacular Spider-Man" stories such as the Queen story. He made Venom look like a giant ape and he drew some really weird facial expressions at times.


okay which death in the family did he draw cause it obviously wasn't the batman one

but yeah ramos is terrible. and to think they based a green goblin figure after his rendition of the character

[666andahalf]

that wasn't ramos. herrera did that arc.

http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/reviews/spiderman_v2/051.html

http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/reviews/spiderman_v2/052.html

Woops. Sorry about that... Thanks for the catch!

[The Sentry]

Which issues did Skroce do ?

I'm in the minority here; I like Ramos's work.

[Destro777]

Hah. Larsen's run on Amazing is just about my favorite artist's run ever in a comic. The Punisher issues in there are so good and his Venom is super badass. To me the definitive look. Different strokes...

[The Mirrorball Man]

I've never liked Mark Bagley's artwork.

[BigBoss]

I've never liked Mark Bagley's artwork.

nethier did I, he makes spidey look too thin and has a fat head. hes way overrated my opoinoinn only.

[xarathos]

nethier did I, he makes spidey look too thin and has a fat head. hes way overrated my opoinoinn only.


Are you referring to his Ultimate stuff or his Amazing stuff?

[Michael P]

Which issues did Skroce do ?
Amazing, starting around 418 and ending... somewhere in the 430s, I think. It's been a while.


I'm in the minority here; I like Ramos's work.
I like Ramos, but I don't like his work on Spider-Man. It needed to be reined in a little.

Jim Mooney turned in some fairly horrible Marvel Team-Up fill-ins back in the day.

[a-spidey]

with this question steve skroce came to my mind first.

Never was a fan of his art and the inker didn't make it any better imo

[brundlefly]

My two cents:

Worst: Humberto Ramos, Erik Larsen, Pat Lee, Francisco Herrera

Best: John Romita Jr., Mark Bagley, Todd McFarlane, Sal Buscema, Mike Deodato, Ron Frenz

[swinebread]

My two cents:

Worst: Humberto Ramos, Erik Larsen, Pat Lee, Francisco Herrera

Best: John Romita Jr., Mark Bagley, Todd McFarlane, Sal Buscema, Mike Deodato, Ron Frenz

Never liked the way McFarlane drew faces

[Pyro]

I'm going to have to say Pat Lee. Hated having to read his stuff in "The Other."

I'm usually of two minds about Ramos, sometimes I enjoy how kinetic and stylized his work is, other times I avoid it and hate how awkward and rushed everything looks.

I also hated Angel Medina's art, but now I'm less repulsed by it.

[mattx110]

i like how every spidey creator in the last 10 years is somebody's least favorite. though i guess everyone would be mentioning the opposite artist from this thread in a "favorite artist" thread.

but who was the guy dissing buscema and viczy?
that's just uncalled for. so it's not the prettiest work, but it is terrific.


oh, and venom is a giant ape. with spider-powers.

i can't think of a spider-artist i hate, though i think larsen has gotten a lot better since his spider-man run. i guess pat lee i don't like on principal, though i can't trust that the work i'm not liking is actually his, so no comment there... but spiderman is both a creepy buggy character, and a happy go lucky bright character, i think any artist can take him on and it looks right to me.

[Gamma Burst]

Pat Lee is the worst I can remember right now.

[Chris N]

Which issues did Skroce do ?

I'm in the minority here; I like Ramos's work.

418-421,425-428


I've never liked Mark Bagley's artwork.


nethier did I, he makes spidey look too thin and has a fat head. hes way overrated my opoinoinn only.

I'm hurt. His style is different between Amazing and Ultimate. And he does need the right inker and sometimes to take his time. Do we dislike both?


with this question steve skroce came to my mind first.

Never was a fan of his art and the inker didn't make it any better imo

I actually like Skroce sometimes. In particular he did a 4 issue arc of Wolverine that he did a good job on. Didn't work for Spidey though.

[elheffe]

I know this is heresy, but I never cared for Gill Kane's work on Spidey. Unless of course, John Romita Sr. inked his work.
And speaking of overbearing inkers, I always hated anything Jim Mooney inked. And there were large stretches of work by Sal Buscema that were less than great in my eyes.
I was never a fan of McFarlane's art, or Mark Bagely's. Greg La Rocque penciled some awful issues of Web of Spider-Man. Alex Saviuk was another bad Web of Spidey penciller. But I think the all time worst was Alan Kupperberg. It always looked as if he illustrated with the pencil between his toes. I don't know how that guy got work.

[Goldenbane]

i like how every spidey creator in the last 10 years is somebody's least favorite. though i guess everyone would be mentioning the opposite artist from this thread in a "favorite artist" thread.

but who was the guy dissing buscema and viczy?
that's just uncalled for. so it's not the prettiest work, but it is terrific.


oh, and venom is a giant ape. with spider-powers.

i can't think of a spider-artist i hate, though i think larsen has gotten a lot better since his spider-man run. i guess pat lee i don't like on principal, though i can't trust that the work i'm not liking is actually his, so no comment there... but spiderman is both a creepy buggy character, and a happy go lucky bright character, i think any artist can take him on and it looks right to me.

I think I was the guy who dissed Buscema a little. Sal's work was fine...even exceptionary when he had a good inker, but in the 90's his work really started to look pretty ugly.

[mastaflan]

1. Erik Larsen years were horrible.

2. JR JR anything in the 90's sucked. He has improved in th early 2000 with Hulk but fell off with the Sentry.

3. Humberto Ramos....He should have stayed on with the DC Teen Books.

4. Pat Lee... stick to robots....

[Reggie]

Worst spidey artists..? Oeh!

1. John Byrne

Aw man, when he rebooted amazing spiderman it was bad, and it only got worse the longer he was on the title. God, he created a female character (Mattie Franklin) and made her look like a ugly dude most of the time. It was really really sad.. and it was also the era when Aunt May returned.. god.. must.. burn.. out of memory >_<

2. Pat Lee on The Other
I loved his stuff with Dreamwave.. and I was looking forward to his The Other work. But dang, that was the biggest dissapointment ever. The characters looked too generic and Aunt May looked like she was run over by a truck, really horrible rendition.

Those are the worst that I can think of. I dont really dislike any of the other artists of spiderman. Pat Lee and John Byrne were the only ones to really make me want to look away from the pages.. :P

[Venom]

John Byrne. He's worse than Humberto. He really did make people look ugly. I can't believe some consider him one of the greatest comic-book artists of all time. He was so bad on the reboot that I was praying to God to get him off the title by whatever means as soon as possible.

[Huree]

I thought Larsen's original run on ASM was great that's like my favorite phase of his art style! I guess I'm the odd man out on here though because Ramos' eccentric style grew on me and I like his run alot too. Buscema with Bill Sienkewikcakjh's inks were awesomely angular and gritty. JRjr is a staple and is great too (especially with Al Williamson inking).

The guy who I couldn't take was that painter who did a few issues of the sensational "Feral" arc. What was his name again?

Oh and yea I agree that Pat Lee on the other TOTALLY SUCKED.

[sonofagun]

Larsen is by far my least favourite, his version of Venom took an intimidateing and spooky character and made him look like a prop from some low budget sci-fi movie. Also I hated the way he made MJ cheap/trampy... after all the hottness that she was with McFarlane.
JRJR... Loved his first run in the 80's, 90's stuff kind of blah to me but he seems to be back in full form today.
One that I could never stand, and help me out with the name if I'm wrong, was Alex Savuk from Web of Spiderman.
Oh, and Marc Silvanestri's early Web stuff sucked pretty much too, tho gotta love him now

[Alex A Sanchez]

My two cents:

Worst: Humberto Ramos, Erik Larsen, Pat Lee, Francisco Herrera

Best: John Romita Jr., Mark Bagley, Todd McFarlane, Sal Buscema, Mike Deodato, Ron Frenz

What?!!!? How do you like Bagley, but hate Larsen? For a while, Bagley was nothing but a Larsen clone- only skinnier. Bagley didn't really come into his own until he started drawing Venom- which I consider to be the definitive look for the characer. Better than McFarlane's version. But his Spidey was a skinny version of Larsen's.

For all of the Larsen haters: did you read his second run (on adjectiveless Spiderman)-? that was the stuff that got me into reading comics. I loved both of his runs- I guess you either hate him or love 'em. I think it depends on how you view cartoonish styles. I like them.

As far as the worst...
I'll have to agree with everyone except 2 people and say it was Ramos. The guy is capable of some excellent drawing (his crimson stuff was great) but I was completely put off by his Spiderman AND his current X-men arc. That Alex guy's work on Web was also some stuff I don't remember fondly.

[Kid Seven]

Anyone remember Alex Saviuk from the early 90's? THAT was definitely not my style. I'm way more prone to dislike 'average' art than I am art that's really stylistic.

[bookerg]

2 way tie for worst artists ever on Spidey: Larsen & Ramos.

2 way tie for best: JRJR and Buscema w/Sienkiewicz on inking.

Honorable mention to Frenz, how I miss his days drawing Hobgoblin in ASM.

[Steffen]

Humberto Ramos & Francisco Herrera. What in hell possessed Marvel to have these guys on Spidey I'll never know. Although I must admit: Ramos can draw rain like nobody's business, plus he did a nice redesign of the Goblin costume.

Another artist I've never cared for is John Romita Jr. He draws everything like it's carved out of wood, and Spidey looks like a skeleton with muscle slapped on it.

I love Deodato Jr's (although at times he seems to rely too heavily on shadows) and Finch's art. It's clear that the latter loves to draw more grittier stuff; I'd give anything to see Finch on a horror title or doing an arc (or 3 or 4) on the Max Punisher series.

[rpriske]

Worst: Pat Lee

Best: John Romita


No, not Junior.

[default]

can someone post some pat lee's spider-man? thanks :D

[nuclearman]

Ramos's work may be an acquired taste - I haven't acquired it yet. He is my least favored Spidey artist.

Not a big fan of MacFarlane or Romita Jr - but they're okay. I don't mind Larsen.

[Black Atom]

Honestly? Steve Ditko. His art is way ugly.

I didn't like Ramos style, I preferred him back when he wasn't as hyperstylized.

Pat Lee just blew.

[nuclearman]

Honestly? Steve Ditko. His art is way ugly.


WHAT??!?!? - I prefer other styles but I think Steve Ditko captured the early Spidey perfectly - I cannot imagine those early issues done by anyone but Ditko. He is no where near the worst Spidey artist for mine - in my top five best.

[a-spidey]

can someone post some pat lee's spider-man? thanks :D

would like to see that too, can't quite remember when drew spidey.

[supremecomicgeek]

I think I like Mark Bagley's style the best, even though I hate the ultiamte comics, but his drawing style is very good.

[default]

would like to see that too, can't quite remember when drew spidey.

the power of CBR can't deliver... :(

[captain winkie]

Deodato's drew the in-costume stuff well, but his Peter and supporting cast was enough to make me want to put the book down.

Same for Humberto Ramos, although i liked his super-contortionist Spidey quite well (ditto for Larsen).

Bagley's Spider-man (non ultimate) is my be-all, end-all just because his run on ASM was when i first picked the book up regularly, so it kind of defines the grown-up Spider-Man for me.


I love JRJR's work on Spidey (although when he switched from making Spidey bulky to suddenly trying to slim him up it freaked me out.)

[nuclearman]

would like to see that too, can't quite remember when drew spidey.

http://www.samruby.com/Series/MKSpiderman/Large/MKSpiderman22.jpg

Marvel Knights 19-22

[Venom]

I love JRJR's work on Spidey (although when he switched from making Spidey bulky to suddenly trying to slim him up it freaked me out.)

That's exactly what I kept saying. Although it didn't stop me from loving his work. I think he's bulked him up again since leaving the title as he looks muscular on the "World War Hulk" promotional poster.