It’s a brand new day
Greetings everyone!
Before I get started tonight, I want to let everyone know that I have enlisted the help of a few guest bloggers here on the site. While I’m sure that everyone loves hearing me talk about MYTHOI everyday, I would hate to bore you with just my own voice. So, on Tuesdays, Ash is going to be talking about movie goings-on in his weekly “Cinegasm” blog. On Wednesday, Mr. Wolff is going to be checking in with his “Hump Day Rant”, sounding off on whatever has him enraged at present. On Saturday, Streetfece will enthrall you with his “Geek of the Week” column, talking about what ever nerdy goodness he has found. I’m sure that you are going to get a kick out of these, so check them out as they start coming out. I am going to be reviewing comics every Thursday, so feel free to check that out as well. As for today, well, I hope you are all ready for another list, because that’s what is coming. I have been interviewing a few artists lately for various projects, and I was thinking about what comic book artists I would love to work with on a project. So today’s list is just that, the top 10 (as always, in no particular order) comic book artists, I would love to have work on a Semantink project. Here we go:
1) Yoshitaka Amano: I first caught Amano’s work on Sandman: The Dream Hunters, and I have been a big fan ever since. I know that a majority of his work has been outside of the comics genre (he was the main designer for the Final Fantasy games up through FF VI), but his comic work has always blown me away. Amano has a great design sense, and a style so surreal that is always visually arresting.
2) Jim Lee: The man is solid gold! From a strictly business standpoint, Jim would be number one, as he could draw a cow taking a dump and it would sell like crazy. From an artistic point of view, Lee is a great storyteller. I know that his critics say that his work is static and everyone looks like they are posing, but I disagree. The man is a master of the superhero comic. Look at any of his work, from Batman to X-men, Divine Right to Wildcats, and you can see why his stuff sells: it pops off of the page.
3) Dave Gibbons: The first thing that everyone thinks of when they hear “Dave Gibbons” is WATCHMEN. That might have been what put Gibbons on the map, but the man has always been quality. He has been around since the the late 70’s, and even though he writes more than he draws these days, he has shown with recent projects like ALBION (covers only) and THE ORIGINALS that he has still got it.
4) David Mack: Is was a toss-up here between Mack and Dave McKean. Both of them are masters at combining foreign objects into their work, creating collage-like art, but Mack’s art really does it for me. His series, Kabuki, is always beautiful to look at, and his layouts are always easy to follow, but far different from anything you would find in another book.
5) Dave Mazzucchelli: I wrote about my man-crush on Mazzucchelli a few days ago, so I wont rehash the whole thing. I shall just say he is the man and leave it at that.
6) Mike Mignola: The moodiest art in comics. Mignola, who created HELLBOY, has art that instantly sets the mood, so long as that mood is dark and gothic. His interesting semi-two dimentional art catches the eye, and his use of blacks is without equal.
7) Jae Lee: The first time I say Jae’s art was in NAMOR in the early ‘90s. I thought it was terrible. Then all of a sudden, Lee got good. His work on Marvel’s INHUMANS and THE SENTRY were awesome. ever since then, everything he has done has been off the chain. His story flows smoothly, and the detail (which he lacked early on) is like looking at a photo (and not in the Greg Land sense.)
Jim Steranko: An oldie but a goodie. The man was an innovator when it came to page layouts. He showed a whole generation of artists how to break of the nine panel page. Oh, and he used to be an escape artist!
9) Barry Windsor-Smith: A master of just about any genre he wants to work in. Superheroes (see Wolverine above)? Check. Fantasy? Look at his CONAN work. Sci-Fi? Check out his work on TUROK from Valiant. Moody, but clean, Windsor-Smith’s work is always a pleasure to look at.
10) John Cassaday: Another Artist who I have gushed about here from time to time. Always fantastic in every detail, from character design to panel layout.
So that’s the top ten. This one was tough, as there were so many others that I would like to have put in. Bill Sienkiewicz, Bart Sears, Dave McKean, Kevin Maguire, J.H. Williams, Bryan Hitch, Tim Sale, Mike Grell, Neal Adams, Alan Davi, Travis Charest, Alex Toth, J.G. Jones, the list goes on and on. If you feel that your favorite artist got left out, let me know,but make sure to tell me who I should take out of my list.
Alright all, time for bed, see you tomorrow.
