Best art of the New 52?

[Munkiman]

I think there was a thread like this in the first week, but I can't find it, so...

All 52 #1s have come and gone. Out of all those new and revamped titles, whose art stood out the most?

1. J.H. Williams III - This should be pretty obvious. J.H. is still doing his crazy thing, beautiful layouts and fantastic everything, you know the drill. And with Dave Stewart backing him up, he's unstoppable. The effects on the Weeping Woman are insane. The book is very versatile, the art reflecting the change in tone from civilian to superhero life. Williams, please never change.

2. Francis Manapul (and Brian Buccelato) - I expected fantastic art from Manapul, as we saw in his last run on the Flash with Geoff Johns. Somehow, I think it was actually better than I thought it would be. I think the artists being the writers really helped this book, as the surprisingly great story complements the art seamlessly. Manapul is actually getting better, and that's a scary thing considering where he was already at. Very cinematic, very cartoony. Just completely awesome overall.

3. Yanick Paquette - Paquette's work is just gorgeous. He pulls off the horrific elements of Swamp Thing very well, while still making everything beautiful to look at. And most importantly for a Swamp Thing book, he's fantastic at drawing the natural world, from all the dying animals in the beginning of the book to the all-important flora, and the ever-changing Swamp Thing himself.

4. Travel Foreman - None of the above were really a surprise, but I had never even heard about Travel Foreman. The guy did an amazing job on Animal Man, though. The kitchen family scene feels very real: Foreman's acting is great. And when he gets into the really creepy bits, like the dream sequence and the final page, it is genuinely disturbing. Honestly, everything in this book has a slight tinge of the unnatural about it, even the mundane bits, which is perfect. Travel Foreman is a name to remember.

5. Cliff Chiang - Cliff Chiang really knows how to draw a woman. Not in the Red Hood and the Outlaws or Catwoman style; Wonder Woman introduces its title character sleeping in the nude, and the other major female character is in her underwear the entire issue. But it's not at all exploitative. Somehow it all works. Anyway, the action is great, the people look great, the scary bits are great... this is one of the best comics of the relaunch, and a lot of that is in how it looks.

That's my top 5. There are a bunch more great artists in the relaunch: Doug Mahnke, Mahmud Asrar, Rags Morales, Ivan Reis, Greg Capullo, Keith Giffen and Pat Gleason all bring in great work that really stands out. DC is kicking ass in the art department right now. Agreed?

[El Sombrero]

I have pretty much the exact same list as you. Only difference would be you have to have Moritat in there. His art in ASW was jaw-dropping, some of those pages were just unthinkably good.

DC is home to the best artists in comics right now. Not top-to-bottom, I mean some of the new 52 books look pretty freaking bad (Hawk and Dove, New Guardians, Red Lanterns IMO), but DC's top 10 is unf***withable.

EDIT: I also thought Diogenes Neves and Guillem March did an especially good job.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

yeah, i'm sure there was a thread too. But, I suppose we'll leave it up to the mods to find it. =D

I loved probably at least 1/2 of the art of the New 52 and probably still enjoyed another good 1/4 or 1/3. Very little did I dislike. As for my top 5, it's tough. I have an objective top 5 (which is still subjective) and subjective top 5, I suppose. Objective 5 wasn't too hard to narrow down. But the subjective 5 was near impossible for me to figure out. I just love art too much...

objective top 5:
1. Swamp Thing by Yanick Paquette
2. Batwoman by JH Williams III
3. The Flash by Francis Manapul
4. Batwing by Ben Oliver
5. I, Vampire by Andrea Sorrentino

subjective top 5:
1. The Flash by Francis Manapul
2. All-Star Western by Moritat
3. Supergirl by Mahmud Asrar
4. Birds of Prey by Jesus Saiz
5. Justice League by Jim Lee

[sky dog]

JH Williams III and Yanick Paquette

I'd be curious to see how Williams's art would translate to a lighter title like Superman

[Babylon23]

I have to agree with your list. These are the 5 artists I'd put at the top. I feel some of the art in this relaunch has been a little generic, with too few artists trying new and interesting things. But these 5 really delivered.

[Raye]

I think there was a thread like this in the first week, but I can't find it, so...

All 52 #1s have come and gone. Out of all those new and revamped titles, whose art stood out the most?

1. J.H. Williams III - This should be pretty obvious. J.H. is still doing his crazy thing, beautiful layouts and fantastic everything, you know the drill. And with Dave Stewart backing him up, he's unstoppable. The effects on the Weeping Woman are insane. The book is very versatile, the art reflecting the change in tone from civilian to superhero life. Williams, please never change.

2. Francis Manapul (and Brian Buccelato) - I expected fantastic art from Manapul, as we saw in his last run on the Flash with Geoff Johns. Somehow, I think it was actually better than I thought it would be. I think the artists being the writers really helped this book, as the surprisingly great story complements the art seamlessly. Manapul is actually getting better, and that's a scary thing considering where he was already at. Very cinematic, very cartoony. Just completely awesome overall.

3. Yanick Paquette - Paquette's work is just gorgeous. He pulls off the horrific elements of Swamp Thing very well, while still making everything beautiful to look at. And most importantly for a Swamp Thing book, he's fantastic at drawing the natural world, from all the dying animals in the beginning of the book to the all-important flora, and the ever-changing Swamp Thing himself.

4. Travel Foreman - None of the above were really a surprise, but I had never even heard about Travel Foreman. The guy did an amazing job on Animal Man, though. The kitchen family scene feels very real: Foreman's acting is great. And when he gets into the really creepy bits, like the dream sequence and the final page, it is genuinely disturbing. Honestly, everything in this book has a slight tinge of the unnatural about it, even the mundane bits, which is perfect. Travel Foreman is a name to remember.

5. Cliff Chiang - Cliff Chiang really knows how to draw a woman. Not in the Red Hood and the Outlaws or Catwoman style; Wonder Woman introduces its title character sleeping in the nude, and the other major female character is in her underwear the entire issue. But it's not at all exploitative. Somehow it all works. Anyway, the action is great, the people look great, the scary bits are great... this is one of the best comics of the relaunch, and a lot of that is in how it looks.

That's my top 5. There are a bunch more great artists in the relaunch: Doug Mahnke, Mahmud Asrar, Rags Morales, Ivan Reis, Greg Capullo, Keith Giffen and Pat Gleason all bring in great work that really stands out. DC is kicking ass in the art department right now. Agreed?


Same list, except replace Travel Foreman with Moritat, Travel Foreman is good, but I liked Moritat better. His art captured the feel of 19th century Gotham well, all the characters were beautifully drawn and distinct from one another, with good facial expressions and structure... just all round very solid stuff.

but yeah, definitely some good art in the relaunch :)

[Munkiman]

I have pretty much the exact same list as you. Only difference would be you have to have Moritat in there. His art in ASW was jaw-dropping, some of those pages were just unthinkably good.

DC is home to the best artists in comics right now. Not top-to-bottom, I mean some of the new 52 books look pretty freaking bad (Hawk and Dove, New Guardians, Red Lanterns IMO), but DC's top 10 is unf***withable.

EDIT: I also thought Diogenes Neves and Guillem March did an especially good job.

Oh yeah, what I've seen of Moritat's work looks excellent. I'm just not so interested in reading a Jonah Hex comic.

Guillem March is pretty great, but Catwoman looks too cheesecake-heavy for me to try to get into. Neves did some solid work on Demon Knights, but nothing that really wowed me.

Marvel has some really great artists - Jerome Opena, Esad Ribic, Gabriel Hardman, Marcos Martin, Paolo Rivera and Kev Walker all come to mind - but they have so many titles and so much of the art is either average or crap.

[DemonsDanceAlone]

1. All-Star Western
2. Wonder Woman
3. I, Vampire
4. Frankenstein
5. Animal Man

Undeniably the best art. :D

[Yttrium]

I'm just not into the stylish art. The OP's top five aren't on my list. I'm probably one of the very few people around here who isn't wowed by Manapul's art. It just doesn't look that great to me.

Ivan Reis looks the best to me so far.
Jim Lee
Jesus Saiz
Jurgens. Perez. Jurgens and Perez!
Aaron Lopresti is hitting all the right notes for me with JLI.
I've seen complaints about Ed Benes, but I enjoy his art style. Too bad I'm not interested in Red Lanterns.

[weeks]

this is a very tough question as i think the art has been the strongest part of the new 52. i'm just gonna go with my gut, as cliff chiang popped into my head as soon as i saw the title. i've been a fan of work i've seen by chiang before, but this was simply stunning. excellent work of visual storytelling.

a few others of my favorites: jh williams III, moritat, yanick paquette, francis manapul, and guillem march. amongst many others who did some awesome work, but those are my favorites.

[Amacent]

Top 5:

- All-Star Western (Moritat)
- Animal Man (Travel Foreman)
- Batman (Greg Capullo)
- Batwoman (J.H. Williams III)
- Wonder Woman (Cliff Chiang)

Honorable Mention:
- Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. (Alberto Ponticelli)

Surprisingly, pretty much every single issue that I read had good/excellent artwork.

[Yttrium]

1. All-Star Western
2. Wonder Woman
3. I, Vampire
4. Frankenstein
5. Animal Man

Undeniably the best art. :D

Oh, I can definitely deny it. Especially Frankenstein. Blech.

[The Imakandi]

Ben Oliver (Batwing)
Fernando Pasarin (Green Lantern Corps)
Jim Lee (JLA)
Kenneth Rocafort (Red Hood and the Outlaws)
Tony Daniel (Detective comics)

[Hatut Zeraze]

For me, in no particular order, the 5 that I most loved were...

1. J.H. Williams III (Batwoman)

2. Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman)

3. Keith Giffen (O.M.A.C.)

4. Francis Manapul (Flash)

5. Jesus Saiz (Birds of Prey)

But that list is so incomplete. I could list probably 30 more that I really liked.

[sethysquare]

My top 5
Jim lee
ivan reis
greg capullo
Ken rocafort
francis manapul

[Godlike13]

1. Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman)
2. Batman (Greg Capullo)
3. Francis Manapul (Flash)
4. J.H. Williams III (Batwoman)
5. Yanick Paquette (Swamp Thing)

[djsweet]

Alberto Ponticelli drew the second best comic I bought.

[Griffard]

My Top 5:
J.H. Williams III
Francis Manapul
Ivan Reis
Ben Oliver
Yanick Paquette

Other Art I'd put at the same level of enjoyment:
Jimmy Moritat
Diógenes Neves
Alberto Ponticelli

Don't know why Neves hasn't been mentioned much of late for his work on Demon Knights, the book looks great.

[Blue_Beetle]

1. Travel Foreman (Animal Man)- I've said it before, this is J.H. Williams III level stuff. I beleive with the first issue it was even better than Batwoman :eek:
2. J.H. Williams III (Batwoman)- Since his Detective Comics run, doing things I've never seen before.
3. Francis Manapul (The Flash)- Pure perfect fun super hero artwork. He blew me away on the first Flash run he had and he didn't dissapoint with The Flash #1.
4. Yanick Paquette (Swamp Thing)- This dude made Superman's new costume look awesome. Amazing pages.
5. Kenneth Rocafort (Red Hood and the Outlaws)- I wasn't a fan of the issue, but I was a really big fan of this guy's art.

Honorable mentions to Cliff Chaing, Alberto Ponticelli and Greg Capullo!!!

Also colorists Brian Buccellato, Dave Stewart and Nathan Fairbairn. Godlike stuff!

[Aquawar]

My top 5
Jim lee
ivan reis
greg capullo
Ken rocafort
francis manapul

Wow that's pretty much my exact list.

[crossbones]

Jim Lee (Justice League)
Kenneth Rocafort (Red Hood and the Outlaws)
Tony Daniel (Detective Comics)
Ivan Reis (Aquaman)

all caught my eye. i usually like David Finch too, but BTDK #1 really wasn't his best work.

[El Sombrero]

Oh yeah, what I've seen of Moritat's work looks excellent. I'm just not so interested in reading a Jonah Hex comic.

You should give it a shot. I don't like westerns at all, I wasn't even planning on buying the comic, but I thought the preview was great so I gave it a shot...it was IMO the second best comic of the relaunch. It's superb. We usually like the same things, I'd be surprised if you didn't like it.

[Just Endless]

Greg Capullo - From uncolored preview pages that made me pretty sure I wouldn't be buying Batman anymore to my favorite surprise of the relaunch.

J.H. Williams III - He's now at the point where I will buy a book if he is drawing it. Even if it's like, Mark Millar's 1985 2 or some garbage.

Ivan Reis - I sure wish someone who wasn't Geoff Johns was writing Aquaman. While decompression is usually kind of acceptable if the art is this good, I don't know if I can swing this one. Also, they kind of pumped up the Tranch to be something creative and cool, not ...sea monsters from ...Piranha ...3D.


Others people have mentioned:

I really REALLY hated the art on both Frankenstein (enough to make me sad I bought it), and Action (will still buy it, it's Morrison, but Morales is a very unclear storyteller, which may undermine a Morrison epic somewhere down the line).

And as to Manapul: I think it's not just that he wrote it, it's that it's quite compressed. Seems like condescending logic, but more of the same quality pictures on one page, shrunken down is going to look better than 5 blown up pages in a row of Flash destroying one helicopter.



I sound like I'm really hating on Johns here, I legit like a lot of his work in a Mark Millar's Ultimates kinda way (Blackest Night, few issues here and there of flash and green lantern). I've just lost a lot of Johns-enjoyment lately as I think Flashpoint and JL were handled very poorly to satisfy old readers and bring in new ones, respectively.

[Winghead]

Eddy Barrows on Nightwing
Greg Capullo on Batman
Tony Daniel on Detective
Rags Morales on action

[sethysquare]

ive just finished my books for 1st week of october. Was blown away by several of the issues, some not so much, but the art has improved for alot of the books. Stormwatch especially. Right afterwards I read the free preview for season 1 from marvel that was given to me. My god, those were awful. They look like they were drawn for kids but done it in a rush. I'd rather have any of the new 52 including Rob Liefeld's art to those horrible season 1 stuff. Which was strange cos usually when I check out previews from marvel they all look really modern and beautiful, but the season 1 are just horrid.

[liopleurodon]

My list would be the same, except the order would be changed up a bit:


JHW III - No surprise here, best artist in DC by far.
Manapul - I expected big things, but it was even better than I hoped. Only barely loses out to JHW III.
Chiang - I was not crazy about the cover when I first saw it, but once I had the book in my hand, I was blown away by the art.
Paquette - Swamp Thing was just a beautiful book, through and through.
Foreman - While I can see how objectively the coloring was very good, it did not do it for me (too flat), and that brought the overall art down a few ticks for me. Otherwise, the line art was amazing.

[TheVampire]

1. J.H. Williams III on Batwoman
2. Andrea Sorrentino on I,Vampire
3. Travel Foreman on Animal Man
4. Ben Oliver on Batwing
5. Ivan Reis on Aquaman

i love when artist can show a character by his very personal point of view, and can make some "art" on the page in a different way then the conventional one.

[Imraith Nimphais]

1. Wonder Woman by Cliff Chiang
2. Batwoman by JH Williams III
3. Aquaman by Ivan Reis
4. Batwing by Ben Oliver
5. I, Vampire by Andrea Sorrentino

Honourable mention goes to Travel Foreman for Animal Man

[krisis]

There was so much amazing art I serious started to lose track as the month went by! At a glance, I'd absolutely co-sign the original post as my favorites with the exception of Chiang - I don't like his figurework or his composition.

Although both are more traditionally comic book-y than your list, I was obsessed with Fernando Pasarin on GL Corps and Jesus Saiz on Birds of Prey.

[Filip]

1. Travel Foreman
2. Travel Foreman
3. Travel Foreman
4. Travel Foreman
5. Travel Foreman

May he never step off A-Man.

[Selkirk]

let's see my top five:
1)jh williams(awesome...best illustrator in comics)
2)guillem march(his catwoman is just breathtaking...awesome skill all around)
3)ivan reis(i love everything he does-best mera ever)
4)moritat(really great style-perfect look for a western book)
5)andrea sorrentino(great moody style-excellent figure drawing...loving it)

[rpriske]

1. JH Williams III
2. Moritat
3. Cliff Chiang

BIG GAP

But really, I liked the art on most of the books I got... the only exception that jumps to mind was Suicide Squad and that is due to the redesigns more than the art itself.

[Flashpoint]

So glad to see all the votes for Ivan Reis on Aquaman. Easily my favorite artwork by a wide margin. Love that book! :biggrin:

[Munkiman]

You should give it a shot. I don't like westerns at all, I wasn't even planning on buying the comic, but I thought the preview was great so I gave it a shot...it was IMO the second best comic of the relaunch. It's superb. We usually like the same things, I'd be surprised if you didn't like it.

I think perhaps I will buy it once the price goes down on Comixology. $3.99 is a little steep, I don't know. Is there a backup, or just extra pages?

[TheVampire]

I think perhaps I will buy it once the price goes down on Comixology. $3.99 is a little steep, I don't know. Is there a backup, or just extra pages?

and I,Vampire! Try it too! :)

[Blue_Beetle]

Foreman and Paquette are still killing it. Animal Man and Swamp Thing are two of the best Writer/Arist books out there. Special books.

[janthonyh]

Top 5

JH Williams III
Kenneth Rocafort
Greg Capullo
Jim Lee
Rob Liefeld (yeah, so)

Runners up include:

Moritat
Travel Foreman
Cliff Chiang

[Deus ex Chris]

Well, JH Williams is in a class all his own. Nobody else even comes close. However, Travel Foreman, Cliff Chiang, and Greg Capullo are all impressing the hell out of me. I'm loving their stuff.

EDIT: Yeah, Paquette is on that list too.

[paulski]

So glad to see all the votes for Ivan Reis on Aquaman. Easily my favorite artwork by a wide margin. Love that book! :biggrin:

Easy top 5 (probably top 3) for me. I'll come back and do a proper list next time I'm online.

[El Sombrero]

I think perhaps I will buy it once the price goes down on Comixology. $3.99 is a little steep, I don't know. Is there a backup, or just extra pages?

Issue #1 has extra pages. Starting with issue #2 there is a backup.

Seriously dude it is REALLY GOOD. I am telling you, I don't care for westerns at all and had no intentions of picking up the book. If you like Moritat's art from the preview you will not be disappointed. The art is breathtaking and the writing is fantastic, Hex is such a badass and the dialogue is great. It's pretty much a flawless comic book.

[hondobrode]

Extremely difficult to pick my top 5. I've read everything except Batgirl, JLI, and Red Hood and the Outlaws, so I'm excluding them from my selection pool.

In No particular order :

Travel Foreman - Animal Man

Keith Giffen - O.M.A.C.

J. H. Williams - Batwoman

Andrea Sorrentino - I, Vampire

Philip Tan - The Savage Hawkman

[BadChuckBot]

1. J.H. Williams III - This should be pretty obvious. J.H. is still doing his crazy thing, beautiful layouts and fantastic everything, you know the drill. And with Dave Stewart backing him up, he's unstoppable. The effects on the Weeping Woman are insane. The book is very versatile, the art reflecting the change in tone from civilian to superhero life. Williams, please never change.

I LOVED his art in Detective Comics, but it just feels somewhat off here. Can't quite place my finger on it, but the layouts feel disjointed and distracting this time around than actually enhancing the content that's inside the panels like his past works. Also, and I guess this is more on Dave Stewart, the colors are pretty inconsistent within the issue...not a real fan of that bright, cel-shaded look for the GCPD sections. But yeah, even despite the nitpicks, it's still got his distinctive look to it though, and that's enough to go ga-ga over.

My personal Top 5 artists of New 52:

Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman) - Easy pick for me. It's flat-out stunning.
Diogenes Neves (Demon Knights) - Love the facial expressions, especially for Xanadu.
Jesus Saiz (Birds of Prey) - Fantastic action pieces...characters actually look like they're fighting, not just striking a pose.
Greg Capullo (Batman) - Sharp stuff, a bit cartoony at times.
Rags Morales (Action Comics) - Could do without the occasional lazy eye.

...If Huntress was part of New 52, Marcus To would definitely be near the top of the list. I'm surprised with myself for not including Jim Lee...he's one of my all-time faves.



Marvel has some really great artists - Jerome Opena, Esad Ribic, Gabriel Hardman, Marcos Martin, Paolo Rivera and Kev Walker all come to mind - but they have so many titles and so much of the art is either average or crap.

Yeah, but if I had to pick between best-of-the-best for DC and Marvel, I think I'd probably would have to go with Marvel on that one.

[Jabare]

Batwing

















everyone else

[Munkiman]

Issue #1 has extra pages. Starting with issue #2 there is a backup.

Seriously dude it is REALLY GOOD. I am telling you, I don't care for westerns at all and had no intentions of picking up the book. If you like Moritat's art from the preview you will not be disappointed. The art is breathtaking and the writing is fantastic, Hex is such a badass and the dialogue is great. It's pretty much a flawless comic book.

I definitely will get it, once the digital price goes down.

[OMACtivated]

Foreman and Paquette are still killing it. Animal Man and Swamp Thing are two of the best Writer/Arist books out there. Special books.

Yeah mines

manapul
giffen
williams III
paquette
foreman

[cliffhanger]

1) Ben Oliver is doing the damn thing on BATWING.

2) Rocaforte

3)March

4)Lee

5) The guy doing that Frankenstien book.(couldnt afford it get it next time.)

[pariah-1972]

J. H Williams on Batwoman.