#5!!!

[CBM]

http://www.avclub.com/articles/reinv...-main,30528/1/

[Grim Tim]

At first glance I thought you had typed a bunch of random symbols to represent an expletive (like they used to do in comic strips, back in the day), and I thought to myself "what is Christine so upset about?"

But seeing the thread title again, after having gone to the link, it all became clear

Number 5 ain't bad! I think Mike should be number 1, of course.

OK, maybe number 2, after Kirby...

[SpydaWeb]

Considering who's above him, that's pretty darn good.

[dogboy443]

Nice to see Mike at #5, but what about artists like Gene Colan, John and Sal Buscema, Alex Nino, Frank MIller, John Byrne...these are men who bleed CMYK and they're not mentioned. Rob Liefeld? Come on. If it wasn't for Frank Miller giving him amazing layouts to rip-off, where would he be? Very dissatisfied with this list. There is no history here at all.

[CBM]

Nice to see Mike at #5, but what about artists like Gene Colan, John and Sal Buscema, Alex Nino, Frank MIller, John Byrne...these are men who bleed CMYK and they're not mentioned. Rob Liefeld? Come on. If it wasn't for Frank Miller giving him amazing layouts to rip-off, where would he be? Very dissatisfied with this list. There is no history here at all.

You have to read each one because they explain it all in the copy. Remember this is the writer's opinion and when that happens there are always people who are not happy with the list... Also there are people who probably should be on the list who are not...like Frank Miller. All I can say is that we are very flattered to see Mike on the list! Also if you read what the writer says about Rob it's not necessarily good but says good or bad he made an impact...

[patrick r]

That is some nice, positive recognition. The title of the article explains the mashup of artists which makes the choices less confusing.

[Maija]

Yeah, it's quite an interesting (and often funny) discussion of "artists who changed mainstream comics (for better or worse)" [emphasis mine]. And certainly there are many omissions that could be argued for, but it is a selection of 21 artists they chose to focus on because of the effect they had on mainstream comics, not necessarily all "greatest" artists. There are other artists from Europe, underground comix, and newspaper strips (man, try to narrow down 21 influential comic strip artists!) over the decades who would certainly be recognized as artistic greats, but who didn't necessarily affect mainstream comic art trends to the degree that those cited have.

It's a cool article, thanks for sharing it, Christine. I never appreciated the influence that Archie had on Love and Rockets before!

[Nick W]

Here and there are some wonky entries, but overall a great list and it's very cool that Mike is at #5. And I don't think that Liefeld is a crazy entry, especially with how the writer quantifies his pick. As loathe I am to admit it, I wasn't the only person out there buying multiple copies of X-Force #1. *sigh* If only I could go back 19 years and slap the s#!t out of my younger self.

Anyway, I know the writer has no real power, but it's always awesome when people show Mike the love & respect he deserves.

N

[Kees_L]

Great recognition indeed.

Although articles such as these, on 'who influenced the face of comics most', will not only be complicated for being subjective I feel.
Such a 'face of comics' will be hard to determine in the first place. And influences will be nigh impossible to weigh and attribute, I'd say.

Like how to regard arguably periferal mainstream material, like Mike Allred, the Hernandez bros., Charles Burns, Robert Crumb? Meaning: can only mainstream material be influencing mainstream material? Or how to place artists who likely were influential but who maybe didn't get read/bought severely or who for their work got typecasted as being influencees rather than influencers, (Gray Morrow, Mike Kaluta?). I mean: measuring and attributing influence will be hard. Like how much did Klaus Janson's inking do for Sienkiewicz' and Miller's work?
Like also the artists often regarded as 'artist artists', such as Jorge Zaffino, Bernard Krigstein and Lou Fine. Their influence will have hit the drawing-boards rather than be felt by readers.
In that respect I wouldn't think it odd for people widely acknowledging Mike Mignola's comic work as influential: he sort of seems respected for his '90-s work and then once more for Hellboy. Like he's both a mainstream as a 'specialized' one, an artist' artist as well as a well-received one. That's four times acclaimable stuff to put after his name . Gotta be influential then .

I liked the writer being critical towards Ross's output of gloss.
On the list I miss either Wally Wood or Al Williamson. Maybe Gibbons too (but not only due to Watchmen). Maybe Perez should have been Garcia-Lopez for me.
And what about the influences that got Kirby and Lee and Ditko into comics in the first place, aside from Eisner: Alex Raymond? Whoever made strips, adventure books and pulps into comics. That's the person I mean. He probably wore a hat against the weather, cut meat on Sundays and bought coffee for but dimes and nickels...

[Bertowud]

Here and there are some wonky entries, but overall a great list and it's very cool that Mike is at #5. And I don't think that Liefeld is a crazy entry, especially with how the writer quantifies his pick. As loathe I am to admit it, I wasn't the only person out there buying multiple copies of X-Force #1. *sigh* If only I could go back 19 years and slap the s#!t out of my younger self.

Anyway, I know the writer has no real power, but it's always awesome when people show Mike the love & respect he deserves.

N

You may regret buying X-Force #1, but it led to me buying X-Force #8, which led to me buying the back issues of Cosmic Odyssey, which led to me buying Hellboy, so in that way, I have something to be eternally grateful to Mr. Liefeld.

[Gary_B]

Congratulations, Mike!


That list is an interesting read.

[Todd H]

Mike in the Top 5. Excellent.

Whenever I see Rob Liefeld's name brought up I can't help but think of when I was a young lad and I met Fabian Nicieza at a Holiday Inn Comic Convention (do they still do those?). He was signing a book with Shatterstar on the cover and he smiled and said: "Thank Goodness for Rob's thighs. Gives me someplace to sign".

It changed the way I looked at comic covers.

[Bertowud]

Mike in the Top 5. Excellent.

Whenever I see Rob Liefeld's name brought up I can't help but think of when I was a young lad and I met Fabian Nicieza at a Holiday Inn Comic Convention (do they still do those?). He was signing a book with Shatterstar on the cover and he smiled and said: "Thank Goodness for Rob's thighs. Gives me someplace to sign".

It changed the way I looked at comic covers.

There's a magazine article where the interviewer was trying to get Fabes to say something negative about Rob and he just said something like, Whatever you think of Rob Liefeld, I have much to be thankful to him for. He even called his house the "
"House That Rob Built".

[Jake Capps]

"Reinventing the pencil" = Alex Ross?

Not a fan of his comic work. They really have to jam the words in. He paints a pretty picture but to me it works better for posters than it does for comics.

[Kees_L]

"Reinventing the pencil" = Alex Ross?

Not a fan of his comic work. They really have to jam the words in. He paints a pretty picture but to me it works better for posters than it does for comics.

I'm no fan either. For me he uses "color fading" for making pages not clotting up, instead of inks, which takes the "comic" out of it really. Not that I'm against paint (Brereton, McKean - sort of) but the total lack of inks vs. paper disturbs me.

But the writer isn't raving on his work either if I have read correctly?

I kind of figured Liefeld and Ross in there for being arguably less tasteful yet still rather influential examples of impact in mainstream comics.

Still, they wouldn't reach my list for sure.