Rob Liefeld's Teen Titans

[mikeszekely]

I was curious about the result of Jim Lee's recent run on Batman. I heard so much buzz over it, I was worried it was more marketting than actual worthy product.

I'm going to say that it's probably good. Batman has always been one of the most story-driven comic books in the industry, and in recent years DC has been hellbent on getting some of the best writers in the industry to do Batman. And as for Lee, when one of his projects was less than good, it wasn't usually because his art was bad, it was usually because they paired him with a lousy writer.

OT... what ever happened to Jim Lee's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

[Blaine23]

Lee/Claremont= 100% Pure Grade A ownage.

Lee/Claremont is great... but I'll always prefer Arthur Adams over any of the Image clones he spawned with his style. At least Lee and J. Scott Campbell were pretty honest about their Adams influence.

I'll die a miserable excruciating death before I buy a comic featuring any Liefield art... I remember having to buy a variant cover of Alan Moore's Supreme just so I didn't have to look at Liefield's tiny screaming mouth, giant neck, tiny head misbegotten, mutant child, bad proportioned excuse for art.

Edited May 2, 2005 by Blaine23

[Golden Arms]

Jim Lee is currently pencilling Superman for those that didn't know. It has been a good run IMO, but I'm biased b/c I've always loved his work. Marvel added him to their legends lineup. This collects some roughly 8 various issues he penciled during his run on Uncanny X-men.

[lt.actionjackson]

That cover to Classic X-Men #1 has always been one of my favorites. Great stuff from Mr. Adams.

[glane21]

Art Adams is indeed awesome and was clearly aped by Lee, Campbell, Turner, etc.

When I was at his studio, Jim Lee showed me the submission pencils he used to get his first job at Marvel. They were terrible and I mean baad. I couldn't believe it got him a job let alone that they were his. So it's amazing how far he improved to be one of the best ever.

Campbell was there too but he didn't really say much, I think he was having some lung issues. Just showed me some Danger Girl pencils, I think from #2. There were kind of bland but really looked good after coloring and photoshop effects.

[Mr March]

I was curious about the result of Jim Lee's recent run on Batman.  I heard so much buzz over it, I was worried it was more marketting than actual worthy product.

I'm going to say that it's probably good. Batman has always been one of the most story-driven comic books in the industry, and in recent years DC has been hellbent on getting some of the best writers in the industry to do Batman. And as for Lee, when one of his projects was less than good, it wasn't usually because his art was bad, it was usually because they paired him with a lousy writer.

OT... what ever happened to Jim Lee's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

I might pick up the collected editions of the Hush Batman stories that Lee did. It would be a thrill to see Lee do Batman right.

[Ladic]

I don't know why but I think Lee's run on batman looked better than his run on Superman.

[Mr March]

Lee/Claremont= 100% Pure Grade A ownage.

Lee/Claremont is great... but I'll always prefer Arthur Adams over any of the Image clones he spawned with his style. At least Lee and J. Scott Campbell were pretty honest about their Adams influence.

I'll die a miserable excruciating death before I buy a comic featuring any Liefield art... I remember having to buy a variant cover of Alan Moore's Supreme just so I didn't have to look at Liefield's tiny screaming mouth, giant neck, tiny head misbegotten, mutant child, bad proportioned excuse for art.

Yeah, Art Adams was pretty much the first artist I was aware of that began the next level of detail in comic book art. I actually own the book you posted

I always enjoyed Art Adams, but I prefer the proportions of Lee's characters. I always found Lee's approach interesting as it does more internal detailing, rather than outline detail. I wonder what Art is up to nowadays?

[johnkillingsworth]

Liefeld should be an inker. There's no doubt his finishes are good, but the underlying structure/backgrounds are non-existent. His name generates a buzz as evidenced by this thread and how people have such a strong reaction to any project where he's involved. The work may be fugly, but if it moves books he'll still be around.

Lee was my favorite artist for a long time. His Uncanny X-Men work will always be the most influential. Better artists have come since and he lost quite a bit when his style became 'over-polished' with heavier outlining. The cross-hatching craze is all his fault too, but weren't we all clones of his at one point or another?

Art Adams just fades in and out of the industry as far as I'm concerned. Nothing remotely consistent since the '90s. He's a great artist, but how is he going to leave his mark? Kick-ass covers for a reprint series? Come on, man! Get back to work! The Authority run several years ago was a good start.

[terry the lone wolf]

Before Jim Lee came along, I always thought Arthur Adams drew the definitive X-Men. Not only his covers to Classic X-Men but also his summer X-Men annuals(Days of Future Present, Evolutionary War, etc) i always looked forward to. X-Men always had the industry's best artists like Neal Adams, Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Barry Windsor Smith, and John Romita Jr. I used to owned that Classic X-Men no.1 too; that was one of the best covers I ever seen.

[bsu legato]

The cross-hatching craze is all his fault too,

Actually I'm not too sure of that. The cross hatching we all associate with the Jim Lee/Scott Williams era X-Men goes back even further, back to the days when Williams was inking The Punisher for Whilce Portacio.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Stupid question but I gots to ask: was that one on the right official work for some gay pron or something? If not, looks like somebody went to all the trouble to draw the covered arm and stuff.

[Mr March]

Lee was my favorite artist for a long time. His Uncanny X-Men work will always be the most influential. Better artists have come since and he lost quite a bit when his style became 'over-polished' with heavier outlining. The cross-hatching craze is all his fault too, but weren't we all clones of his at one point or another?

I'd disagree. Walt Simonson utilized heavy cross-hatching in his 80's artwork, especially his stint on Thor. He eventually went to X-Factor and made that book, at which point his style became extremely popular. To the best of my knowledgem this was the first time an artist for one of the mutant comics made excessive use of cross-hatching and shadow. I don't recall Lee using all that much cross-hatching until later into Punisher War Journal.

[JELEINEN]

If you want really lame, check out the web comic thing here: http://www.robliefeld.net/shrink.htm Easily one of the most un-funny things I've ever seen.

[gerwalk25]

I might pick up the collected editions of the Hush Batman stories that Lee did. It would be a thrill to see Lee do Batman right.

I haven't picked up Lee illustrated comic in over a decade. I picked up both Batman Hush collected trade paperbacks because I heard so many good things about it, read them and was great IMHO.

[Skull Leader]

Lee/Claremont= 100% Pure Grade A ownage.

Lee/Claremont is great... but I'll always prefer Arthur Adams over any of the Image clones he spawned with his style. At least Lee and J. Scott Campbell were pretty honest about their Adams influence.

I'll die a miserable excruciating death before I buy a comic featuring any Liefield art... I remember having to buy a variant cover of Alan Moore's Supreme just so I didn't have to look at Liefield's tiny screaming mouth, giant neck, tiny head misbegotten, mutant child, bad proportioned excuse for art.

yeah, he did some pretty good stuff... probably one of my second favs after the Lee/Claremont duo...

Colossus is my main man and Adams really made him look awesome.

[terry the lone wolf]

A lil'bit off topic: Here's a color preview of All-Star Batman & Robin by Frank Miller(Da Man!) and Jim Lee. Look for it this summer!

Edited May 3, 2005 by terry the lone wolf

[terry the lone wolf]

Here's the Robin promo!

[EXO]

hmmm... Robin in his old costume... Dick Grayson?

Lee's buildings are getting a lot better since he started drawing Batman.

[Blaine23]

I agree that Lee has progressed wonderfully. His Batman stuff is excellent - those pics above are proof of that.

I just think he and most of the current crop of artists owe a great deal to Adams, who was years ahead of them. Not to mention Simonson, who also deserves a great deal of credit for that "style."

Adams has never been one for regular monthly work, though - a trait that also seems to have been passed down to most of the Image staff

But that Classic X-Men cover and his work on the Asgard/Xmen/New Mutants crossover was my favorite X-men work to date.

Edited May 3, 2005 by Blaine23

[terry the lone wolf]

hmmm... Robin in his old costume... Dick Grayson?

Lee's buildings are getting a lot better since he started drawing Batman.

Yes, it's indeed Richard "Dick" Grayson. DC's All-Star line will be continuity free stories told with iconic interpretations. In All-Star Batman & Robin, it'll re-tell the origin of the Dynamic Duo set in the modern world. There will also be a All-Star Superman series that'll be a close match to his "Silver Age" counterpart.

[Isamu Atreides 86]

hmmm... Robin in his old costume... Dick Grayson?

Lee's buildings are getting a lot better since he started drawing Batman.

Yes, it's indeed Richard "Dick" Grayson. DC's All-Star line will be continuity free stories told with iconic interpretations. In All-Star Batman & Robin, it'll re-tell the origin of the Dynamic Duo set in the modern world. There will also be a All-Star Superman series that'll be a close match to his "Silver Age" counterpart.

The All-Star Superman books are being done by Grant Morrison (WE3, New X-men) and Frank Quitely (New X-Men, the Authority). should be pretty awesome.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

I might start getting back into comics again. The 90s are back! My fave artists were jim lee, and simon bisley (he did the ABC warriors in 2000 AD and Slain:the horned god, and also covers for Lobo.) It's been 10 years since I bought a comic though.

I think I got out when all the artists went away to form image and paper started to turn shiny. The thing I most remember were spawn comics, (I had the first print ofthe first issue) the maxx, (a kind of purple hulk - crap description I know) the savage dragon, three-armed cyborgs (not sure what image title this was from, I think wildcats?) and comics that had lots of black in them (Cybernary: my bro was an artist for that, until he couldn't continue due to illness. This is probably why it was cancelled The darkness was due to printing problems)

The problem I have with comics now is like tv, I have a short attention span and tend to lose interest after a story is spread over so many issues/episodes forcing you to wonder WTF is going on unless you've been paying attention from the begining. I tend to like reading a large volume in one big chunk rather than waiting a whole month to just to get a bit more of a story and have to make several trips to the comic store to get back issues. See I'm paranoid that if the writing or art quality doesn't stay consistent over time (similar to how in a tv series that you like, suddenly gets cancelled, pissing you off) it's not worth the effort or hassle trying to follow it. What if it is awesome the first 5 issues and then gets really bad later?

Edited May 4, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I stopped reading a lot of comics during the whole spidey clone shi* and such during middle school. I continued on but gradually stopped reading more in high school and in college every now and then I will, but for the most part I just focused on my artwork. While I kind of negleccted the comic scene a bunch of people like Bangal and others came out of nowhere.

I just looked at the Shrink comic by liefeld...christ its HORRIBLE!! WTF?!

I also heard that he gave Pat Lee his first job,....and we all know where he ended up...llosing a lot of fans and support due to the fact he did not pay a lot of the artists under him. Shame. And his Jae Lee imitations in the gijoe tf crossover were lame.

On the subject of Jim lee though, I ddi get some of HUSH and loved it.

[Mr March]

Nice pictures! Lee's work never fails to impress me.

It's hard to get into comics now. At least for a person like me. Back in the late 1980's and early 90's, it was so easy to know which comic books I wanted to read and which ones to avoid. Seems like I knew who every good artist was and I had a handle on all the good writers.

There was the Ron Marz/Ron Lim team that made Silver Surfer great for a good two years, which eventually led up to Starlin and the great Infinity Gauntlet saga. There was Frank Miller's brilliant run on Daredevil, which totally made that book. There was Simonson's run on Thor that reinvigorated the character and for a short time even made it one of Marvels top books. There was Byrne/Claremont on Uncanny X-men, which created the Dark Phoenix and one of the mutants best runs I can remember. Then there were so many great graphic novels.

Now it seems I'm totally lost on most of the new books. I know nothing about the artists or writers of the new stuff or what to look for and what to avoid. The only book I managed to get into was Straczynski's Rising Stars, which FINALLY finished the last three issues just this year, after a nearly 3 year hiatus. Straczynski I knew from his Babylon 5 work, so that was the only real reason I got into the series. Twenty four comic books in four and half years is pretty damn weak, but not sure what else to get into.

I admit, I did like Witchblade at the start, despite the exaggerated art. The airbrushed cover on the first issue was what hooked me. It was really just blind luck that one day I decided to drop into a comic shop, something I hadn't done for years, and I ended up buying a book. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I had stumbled unto a gold mine. About a year later, Witchblade was "it" and I sold issues 2-5 for over $125 (kept the first issue as a memento). Nottingham was so cool

Damn, I really went off on a tangent of nostalgia here didn't I?

Edited May 4, 2005 by Mr March

[Mr March]

See I'm paranoid that if the writing or art quality doesn't stay consistent over time (similar to how in a tv series that you like, suddenly gets cancelled, pissing you off) it's not worth the effort or hassle trying to follow it. What if it is awesome the first 5 issues and then gets really bad later?

Oh, you have every right to gripe about this one. I'm quite mad about the draw-and-drop sickness that has infected comic books for many years. To keep any one artist or writer on the same book for even a year is a huge achievement. So many titles have begun so well with a great creative team, only to lose them a mere five or six issues into the series. I think most of the publishers are doing one of two things with this festering scam:

1- Hoping comic book fans won't notice the talent has left and keep buying the book as it quickly circles the bowl.

2 - Hope loyal readers will follow their favorite artist/writer as they jump around to any old title, in the process buying books that normally the fan wouldn't use as butt wipe.

It's no wonder that the comic book industry is suffering. The birth of flashy art/weak story books started it and now title jumping has added to the problem. This creates a situation in which a consistant, steady title can never be properly produced and titles cannot remain strong for more than six months to a year. There are exceptions and I suppose independant comics have done much to fill the gap. Still, it's a bitch to see the majority of books run this way.

[Sarensaas]

Travis Charest's work on X-men/Wildcats: The Golden Age was incredible. He really stepped out of the image of everyone considering him a Jim Lee clone, and his work on Wildcats Vol.2 was great too, but, like Adam Hughes knows, trying to do interior sequentials with cover art rendering will blow your deadlines or make interiors look rushed.

I like Jim Lee's work; his work on the X-men back in the 90's blew me away, but his stuff now has a sameness to it, which comes from having a system for cranking out work as the priority. Same type faces on everyone, same layouts. I admit I havn't seen much of his Batman work, but the Max Faraday stuff had this feel to it. He just doesn't seem to have grown as much as Charest has.

Alex Maleev has some nice interiors on Daredevil right now. Very inky and realistic.

[Ladic]

A lil'bit off topic: Here's a color preview of All-Star Batman & Robin by Frank Miller(Da Man!) and Jim Lee. Look for it this summer!

that kicks all kinds of ass

when is this comic out?

[Mislovrit]

Speaking of lame take a look at this. CyberpunX

[Stamen0083]

Speaking of lame take a look at this. CyberpunX

That's a Gundam GP01Fb.

Interesting.

[zeo-mare]

yup that is a Gp-01 FB all right, dont these guys have anything original left anymore. i hope they are not going to have her wear that though the entire series, maybe it will get destroyed halfway through and she will get a GP-03 armor

Edited May 4, 2005 by zeo-mare

[NERV]

Speaking of lame take a look at this. CyberpunX

note how the thigh closer to the viewer is significantly shorter than the one behind it, more shitty proportion

[zeo-mare]

is it shorter? or is it up aliitle more and and at a angle? as a artist i have a few pics that are posed the same way.

chris

[Mislovrit]

yup that is a Gp-01 FB all right, dont these guys have anything original left anymore. i hope they are not going to have her wear that though the entire series, maybe it will get destroyed halfway through and she will get a GP-03 armor

I myself was a bit surprised he'ld draw her after the Motor-Slave [someone else drew it] debacle.

[zeo-mare]

yup that is a Gp-01 FB all right, dont these guys have anything original left anymore. i hope they are not going to have her wear that though the entire series, maybe it will get destroyed halfway through and she will get a GP-03 armor

I myself was a bit surprised he'ld draw her after the Motor-Slave [someone else drew it] debacle.

i am not familiar wth that what happend? did they get sued?

chris