Man, Dan Jurgens can draw a hell of a Superman

[MFitzH2O]

It's Norm Rapmund these days. Before that it was Joe Rubinstein.

Yeah, it was actually Rubinstein's finishes that lost me with Jurgens. Breeding had a slick line with great variation. Jurgens / Breeding. Great pair. Really, I think Jurgens is a good penciller to illustrate the point that an inker has a HUGE job.

[mos]

Yes, I agree that Breeding really enhanced Jurgens' pencils. I think that tandem struck gold and was difficult to match. When Breeding inked Grummet's work in "Superman: The Man of Tomorrow" result is not as appealing as the Jurgens/Breeding tandem. That's just my opinion, though.

[MFitzH2O]

Yes, I agree that Breeding really enhanced Jurgens' pencils. I think that tandem struck gold and was difficult to match. When Breeding inked Grummet's work in "Superman: The Man of Tomorrow" result is not as appealing as the Jurgens/Breeding tandem. That's just my opinion, though.

Agreed! Along those lines, the artwork was so reminiscent of the Jurgens / Breeding team, it made me really appreciate Breeding since Jurgens art was being finished by Rubenstein at that point and just didn't have the same feel. Grummet, on the other hand, must have tighter pencils because the inking in Man of Tomorrow brought something familiar from Superman to the Adventures artist. It was, to me-at-the-time, like looking at a combination Jurgens / Grummet which, combined with my dislike of the finishes over Jurgens at the time, showed me that the real appeal was Breeding. I still haven't forgotten that and hope I won't.

I wonder why he's not the inker following Jurgens these days ... why'd he part from one of the strongest Superman artist-teams in history? (Am I trying to derail this into a Brett Breeding appreciation? Aw, geez, I'm sorry ... but inkers get so little credit...)

[mos]

I think, it's okay. Jurgens' pencils were really good if you happen to see some samples. It was his collaboration with Breeding, however, that made it really shine through. There was actually a time when I thought Jurgens' pencils were inconsistent but looking at the results of the inking of Art Thibert and Rick Burchett I noticed that the shadows, crosshatches and fine lines were always there. This made me realize that the inker really influences the pencils. As I mentioned before Perez's inking of Jurgens' pencils were also good, almost up to par with the Jurgens/Breeding team.

When Breeding was inking the work of Bob McLeod before he worked with Jurgens you can see that the result was also ala Jurgens. Maybe we can say that Jurgens also learned a thing or two from Breeding.

I also wonder why they no longer work together anymore. Maybe somebody here in CBR can ask any of them : p

And you're right inkers (like colorists and letters) are underrated. Look at Scott Williams, I think he's the one that truly brings out the best of Jim Lee's pencils.

[MFitzH2O]

I think, it's okay. Jurgens' pencils were really good if you happen to see some samples. It was his collaboration with Breeding, however, that made it really shine through. There was actually a time when I thought Jurgens' pencils were inconsistent but looking at the results of the inking of Art Thibert and Rick Burchett I noticed that the shadows, crosshatches and fine lines were always there. This made me realize that the inker really influences the pencils. As I mentioned before Perez's inking of Jurgens' pencils were also good, almost up to par with the Jurgens/Breeding team.

When Breeding was inking the work of Bob McLeod before he worked with Jurgens you can see that the result was also ala Jurgens. Maybe we can say that Jurgens also learned a thing or two from Breeding.

I also wonder why they no longer work together anymore. Maybe somebody here in CBR can ask any of them : p

And you're right inkers (like colorists and letters) are underrated. Look at Scott Williams, I think he's the one that truly brings out the best of Jim Lee's pencils.

When was the last time anyone other than Williams inked Lee?

[King Krypton]

Yes, I agree that Breeding really enhanced Jurgens' pencils. I think that tandem struck gold and was difficult to match. When Breeding inked Grummet's work in "Superman: The Man of Tomorrow" result is not as appealing as the Jurgens/Breeding tandem. That's just my opinion, though.

I don't think Breeding worked well over Grummett, either (although he was much better than Denis "Make everything look like tree bark" Rodier -- ugh). His inks always looked too thin over Grummett's pencils. There's a lot of texture to Grummett's work that came across perfectly under Doug Hazlewood, but Breeding's sharper approach lost that quality. By contrast, Jurgens' art had that finer, sharper linework that fit Breeding's inks perfectly. And with Rubenstein, the inks always seemed much heavier, so the art always had a darker look with him. And to be honest, I don't think Jurgens and Jesus Merino worked well together at all. Their styles, while good individually, just didn't mesh.

Having said that, I wouldn't mind seeing Jurgens inked by guys like Randy Emberlin (Bagley and Butler's inker on Spider-Man), Bob Almond, Cam Smith, and Tim Townsend -- inkers with a smooth, slick approach all around. I'd even be up for seeing him paired with Dexter Vines, just to see what would transpire.

[SJNeal]

It's Norm Rapmund these days. Before that it was Joe Rubinstein.

Who was a real downgrade from Breeding. I even prefer Rapmund to Rubinstein...

[MFitzH2O]

Who was a real downgrade from Breeding. I even prefer Rapmund to Rubinstein...

Amen to that.

Who inked did finishes for his JLA run?

[DrSimonHurt]

Jurgen's art never worked with digital coloring. I really love his organic 90's art, but when DC transitioned into digital inking and coloring(around the time of the electric Superman), Jurgen's style didn't work anymore.

[mos]

Sometimes you can find Sandra Hope inking Jim Lee's pencils. There was an X-Men poster years ago where Lee himself inked his work and it was not as awesome compared when Williams embellished his work. This is not a knock on Lee because he's really good.

@ DrSimonHurt

I agree with your observation. I think the perfect example will be the way Jurgens draws heat vision. It was cool in the early 90s (example will be when Superman ordered the Justice League to focus their energies against Doomsday) but the improvement in digital coloring made it obsolete. Instead of looking like an energy the recent coloring scheme make the heat vision look like a mask glued onto Superman's face. However, I think colorists can still get around with the problem since Jurgens' pencils work quite well in Hunter/Prey.

[mos]

Amen to that.

Who inked did finishes for his JLA run?

Rick Burchett did the inks (I think Burchett also pencilled The Batman Adventures). When Jurgens' pencilled for Solar: Man of the Atom the late Giordano inked his work and the result was like Rubenstein's. I think it just depends on the style of penciling being compatible with the inker. Giordano was perfect for Byrne IMHO and Rubenstein was perfect for Neal Adams (Armageddon: The Alien Agenda).

[dupersuper]

I loved Jurgens/Breeding, but also really liked Jurgens/Ordway in Zero Hour.

[Ness]

Jurgen's art never worked with digital coloring. I really love his organic 90's art, but when DC transitioned into digital inking and coloring(around the time of the electric Superman), Jurgen's style didn't work anymore.

I feel this way too. And I don't know what the deal is. Maybe it really is the digital transition. And if so, that's sad. His early 1990's work I can't get enough of it's one of the reasons I go and read over The Death of Superman over and over again. I just like what Jurgens did during that period. Now it's a lot different and while I was excited that he was going to be working on the New 52, I just couldn't feel the spirit of his pencils. I think Neal Adams' work mights suffer from this a little too.