ASM #655 is looking to be something special...

[Dam Fox]

That's too bad, I really enjoy his work. Ramos and Caselli treating you alright?

Yah, I like their styles. Caselli more so than Ramos.

[mikekerrIII]

This book doesn't come out for a few weeks so you should start getting angry and dismissive now before it becomes the thing to do.

SW

You are right People have no reason to believe that death is unimportant in the MU, after all "dead is dead" not something that is routinely recovered from

[mikekerrIII]

Didn't see this many tweets before any of the other previous issues had come out...

So they hyped up the hype, they need to do more since they announced there will be a death every quarter

[Lee H]

I don't understand how any comic reader could not find Marcos Martin's art gorgeous, or at least acknowledge the great level of craft even if it isn't their cup of tea.

[Spidey_62]

I don't understand how any comic reader could not find Marcos Martin's art gorgeous, or at least acknowledge the great level of craft even if it isn't their cup of tea.

Yeah, really.

[H. S. 6]

I don't understand how any comic reader could not find Marcos Martin's art gorgeous, or at least acknowledge the great level of craft even if it isn't their cup of tea.

I'm under the category of "not-my-cup-of-tea-yet-appreciative." I can see how his minimalist style will help to reinforce the feelings of the funeral here.

[Lee H]

I'm under the category of "not-my-cup-of-tea-yet-appreciative." I can see how his minimalist style will help to reinforce the feelings of the funeral here.

His art is NOT minimalist. Try drawing the page posted earlier. Try just tracing it. It's as detailed as anything else the book has seen.

[Dam Fox]

I don't understand how any comic reader could not find Marcos Martin's art gorgeous, or at least acknowledge the great level of craft even if it isn't their cup of tea.

I'm not saying he's not talented, I just don't like his style.

[CyberHubbs]

I personally am staggered as to how he keeps getting work.

Love for good artwork, most likely. Every once in a while, the fans do something right.

[CyberHubbs]

I'm under the category of "not-my-cup-of-tea-yet-appreciative." I can see how his minimalist style will help to reinforce the feelings of the funeral here.

I'd call his art clean. A very European style. Not all the unnecessary cross-hatching and shading you see all so often in Western styles. Especially in the 90s. Jim Lee, for example.

[DarkWarriorBlake]

Greg Land keeps getting work.

Not comparing the two, just saying, if he still gets work, someone else being denied it wouldn't be very fair.

[Pumpkin Bomb]

I don't understand how any comic reader could not find Marcos Martin's art gorgeous, or at least acknowledge the great level of craft even if it isn't their cup of tea.

His art isn't minimalist, it's amateurish. The guy doesn't have artistic flair or a decent understanding of anatomy. Everything just comes off lifeless, awkward and two-dimensional.

It just seems to me like he spends way less time on his work than Caselli or Ramos.

[CyberHubbs]

Man, I am glad that sort of opinion seems to be in the minority camp.

[Dan_Slott]

Not comparing the two, just saying, if he still gets work, someone else being denied it wouldn't be very fair.

This is the craziest thing I've read on these board in a LONG time.

Ever hear the phrase "an artist's artist"?

There is not a SINGLE artist I've run into since working with Marcos that hasn't told me how much they admire his art-- hell, most of them are admittedly ENVIOUS of his skills. I don't think you will find ANY artist working in the industry today that thinks Marcos SHOULDN'T be working-- or that his success has been at the expense of others.

His story telling is flawless. His page layouts are things of beauty. His line work is economical to the point of perfection. It's not that he uses too few lines, it's that he uses the right ones.

Legendary artist, Alex Toth, once said that he spent the first half of his career learning which lines to put on the page, and the second half of his career learning which ones to take away. That's a pretty damn good description of what makes Marcos so good.

People have different styles-- and if that style doesn't work for you-- that's cool. But when you assign merit vs. lack-of-merit to someone's work BASED on your personal preference, THAT is unfair.

Back in the 90's there was a hot, up-and-coming artist who (in a couple of interviews) stated that Jack Kirby "didn't know how to draw." The guy was young and-- well-- he didn't know better. A couple of industry legends sat that guy down and walked him through WHAT Kirby was doing on the page, what was revolutionary about his style, and how he used his art to tell the story--like no one else out there. Cut to a few years later, and that 90's star had done a 180, and found inspiration in Kirby's work. At some point the proverbial "light" went off, he "got it", recanted his previous statements, and expounded on what he learned from studying the work of one of the greats.

There's a page or two in ASM #655 that I honestly believe that NO ONE working in the industry today-- OTHER than Marcos Martin-- could have pulled off. (When the issue comes out, check out Pages 15 and 16 and tell me who ELSE could have executed those pages better. Seriously.)

I am being very blunt about this-- the work Marcos Martin turned in for ASM #655 is some of the best pages I've seen in ANY comic for my entire 20 years of working in this industry-- and I'm going to be really miffed he doesn't at LEAST get an Eisner nod for it.

Earlier in this thread, one poster pointed to a string of Tweets that came out of the Marvel offices when ASM #655 left house. Tweets from myself, ASM letterer Joe Caramagna, ASM editor Steve Wacker, ASM assistant editor Ellie Pyle, VP Tom Brevoort, and assistant editor Charlie Beckerman-- all praising the issue.

And then ANOTHER poster got snarky saying that Marvel was over hyping the book. Here's the thing-- Hyping #655 THAT early is a pretty bone-headed move to do. Why?

Because there were still 3 to 4 other issues of ASM that hadn't hit the stands yet! That's why! When you're hyping, you're hyping the NEXT thing up and NOT something that far in the future-- you DON'T draw attention away from the next issue on sale. You just don't. (And don't get me wrong, we were VERY proud of those upcoming issues TOO!)

The reason we made those tweets-- was because #655 was leaving house-- we were all reading it again-- and we were all so frickin' blown away by the job Marcos did that we couldn't NOT Tweet about it! Hell, Charlie isn't even part of the Spider-Man office-- but when he read the issue out, he tweeted: "Just read one of the best comics in my tenure at Marvel..." C'mon! In a normal world, Charlie would be hyping stuff that came out of HIS office. That's how it's SUPPOSED to work! But he felt compelled to tweet that. And days later, when I was up at the office, he felt the need to stop me and tell it to me again in person. That's not hype-- that's praise.

Oy. (Honestly, I've been a little jammed up-- worrying about the issues that are following it-- because I think #655 set the bar too damn high! I'm serious. If I get hit by a bus or something in the next few weeks-- it'd be a RELIEF, 'cause this'd be a good one to go out on.)

Look, we're about 10 days away from ASM #655. I'm more than happy to let the issue come out and speak for itself. End of the day, there is not one piece of internet snark that's going to harsh my buzz about this issue. I love it to bits. It is-- without a doubt-- my favorite comic that I've ever worked on in my entire career. I'm very proud of this one-- and of the STELLAR work Marcos Martin turned in-- AND our colorist Muntsa Vicente, our letterer Joe Caramagna, Steve & Ellie, and every person involved in putting it together.

[DarkWarriorBlake]

I think...i think you may have misread what I wrote.

It certainly wasn't a dig at Marcos. Someone said that Marcos shouldn't be working and, personal preference aside, I was just saying that if Land gets work then noone else should be denied it. Certainly wasn't putting Marcos in the same league as Land.

If you are however upset that I'm digging at Land, tough, he reaps what he traces and then sows.