For Pomona, On Comic Art

[riselikelions]

Hey Pomona. We talked about comic artists and it occurs to me showing you said comics artists work would be quicker than trying to explain it in an email or over the phone. Here we go.



Top left is Mike Mignola. Top right is the maestro J. H. Williams III. (Holy shit, right?) After seeing that, you understand why I buy Batwoman comics whenever Williams III is drawing them. I call J.H. Williams III the maestro, and I'll get to that in a minute.

Remember when I said Frank Miller's art isn't pretty? That's him in grimy black and white on the above left. Mazzucchelli, who drew Miller's script for Batman: Year One and Daredevil: Born Again, is what I'd call prettier than Miller. Why a page? I like Mazzucchelli's pages better than I like his covers. Frank Miller works in absolutely iconic panels, like the one where Marv leaps out of a window, and a cover, if done well, is an iconic image that gives you a clue or a moment in the comic to come. Mazzucchelli is an artist that doesn't go in for splash pages as iconic moments.

 

That's a J.H. Williams III double page spread. It's over written and there's too many goddamned word balloons, but that's a story for further down in the post.

The above is also J.H. Williams III. I say fairly often that J.H. Williams III is one of the best superhero artists, not merely because has one style that he capitalizes on, but because he can use many styles and he's the best at all of them. Now, look carefully at the Mazzucchelli page at the beginning of the post. You'll notice some similarities, and that's because for this story, J.H. Williams III was aping Mazzucchelli's style!

If you still find this interesting, I'll talk about other artists like the following next time.