Through the history of comic-book and especially its dominant gender, the super-heroic, we can find a small group of artists that could well be considered as cornerstones, true icons influential or as I have described in the post title, style columns within the medium itself.
With the style column, I refer to this small group of artists who not only marked a time in the comic-book, if not his art and drawing style conditioned the medium itself.
can be considered not as great artists like Joe Kubert, Alex Toth and Frank Miller to give three examples, have accomplished that, I mean. Joe Kubert has been one of the biggest, that's for sure, but for one reason or another (perhaps have focused more on other genres outside of the super-heroes), it has influenced other artists or the same style book medium itself. Alex Toth is a master teacher, admired by many and it has influenced many artists, but not the way I present here does not automatically and palpable on the same medium conditioning a time (possibly as always it is said, for lack of a character with which it can be identified, their work is diverse and dispersed). In the 80's, Frank Miller served a great influence on the world of comic-book and the super-heroic genre, but it was his way of dealing with the characters and the revolution which led (along with Alan Moore) in the genus, but not drawing style not come to become the artist to be emulated by everyone else.
And we're getting to where we wanted, to the handful of artists who themselves conditioned medium with his art and who exerted a significant influence in his day (and beyond). This group of artists could be defined in four columns plus three pillars. The three pillars I say that there are three artists who perhaps had a somewhat smaller in proportion to the four columns main, but still need to be mentioned its importance. We
first with the three pillars. One is José Luis García-López, exceptional artist who landed at DC Comics back in the 70's and soon emerged as the head of the style book publisher, and entrusted to a series of illustrations of all main characters in the house (apart from advertising illustrations more about Superman and co.), which were used by DC as the iconic and ideal pattern to be followed by all the artist who would like to draw your characters. Just add that one set of covers and a handful of single issues of Superman comics, García-López has emerged as one of the most iconic artists of all longest path of the character of the comic-book history.
The second pillar is John Romita Sr., could well represent an artist for Marvel Comics as well as José Luis García-López for DC. Apart from the Amazing Spiderman extolled stage (where you can say that John created the final and most iconic version of the character), you can not say that Romita father was an artist too prolific, and is just as happened with Garcia-Lopez , John was not a fast artist as if they were, for example, Jack Kirby and John Buscema, which (And thanks to his talent) Stan Lee decided to name the artistic director of Marvel, so that practically left Romita draw comics, but had a great influence in different ways, making covers, touching many other covers on the order of Stan (always in a cover illustrated by another artist, had a face that Stan did not like it was retouched or redrawn by John Romita) or designing various characters from the shadows. Many are unaware that such iconic characters as Wolverine, Punisher or Luke Cage: Powerman, were created graphically by John Romita, although then draw other artists.
And we're going with the third pillar, which is none other than John Byrne, arguably the most famous comic book artist and influential of the 80's. Between the late 70's and early 90's, all that John Byrne touched turned to gold. Stage in front of the X-Men (as artist and co-scriptwriter) was the character that catapulted to stardom maximum, assuming a title truly marginal. He was then chosen by Marvel to take over the Fantastic 4, title where he was responsible for the second biggest stage in the entire history of the characters, after the original Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. So great was his fame and influence at the time, that DC Comics pulled the boat out and hired him to be the head of its most iconic character, Superman, in the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, when DC "reset" all his characters and wanted to start fresh (fruit then also include Batman: Year One by Miller and Mazzucchelli or Wonder Woman by George Pérez). What John Byrne why is not next to the four columns because of their importance and influence in the 80's? ... Basically for a fact, because in the case of Byrne can not find a legacy as large as that of the four columns at the level of direct artistic influence on many other contemporary artists and post-contemporary. Why?, It is hard to say, perhaps for the moment in which he lived, an era full of great artists with a strong personality, which did not look like anyone else, but rather to innovate, perhaps because his style does not was easy to imitate. The truth is that this is why the poor or work and work from the shadow of Romita and Garcia-Lopez, these three artists have been somewhat neglected in terms of direct influence in comparison to the four columns.
And it was time to go with the four columns of style, without further ado, are Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Neal Adams and Jim Lee. I dare say that no other artist has caused a great and direct influence on the world of comic-book these four artists in their respective eras.
Jack Kirby revived the genre of superheroes with pop-art style and infinite creativity in graphics ... How many artists have been influenced by Kirby?, You can not even count, from Rich Buckler to Steve Rude, to himself or Walt Simonson, John Byrne. Even Jack and contemporary artists as diverse in style and Gil Kane and John Buscema, captured dramatically influences Kirby style that included in their own style, at least when discussing the genre of super-heroes. Jack Kirby is undoubtedly the most influential artist in the history of super-heroic genre and probably the entire history of comic-book.
John Buscema Marvel broke into the mid 60's and his realistic style caused a brutal and immediate impact on the environment, so that he quickly began to proliferate more realistic style artists trying to be like him more or lesser extent. John Buscema captured the essence of Kirby and those characters who had been unaware until that moment and were injected with the reality of their own school, and Foster Raymond, making history and getting all of a sudden, people like Thor, Captain America, Silver Surfer and the Fantastic 4 are back and obtain more realistic versions that even today are virtually the final and most iconic characters.
Neal Adams landed in the world of comic-book a little later John Buscema, but just causing a tremendous impact. Like John, Neal gave them superheroes realistic drawing style that created school and greatly influenced the medium itself and many other artists. The main differences between Neal and John Buscema, both masters of realism, is that a triumph, and based most of his career at Marvel (John), while the other did the same in DC (Neal), and that was much Buscema faster Adams drawing, with the former more titles illustrated steadily, while the second has a more dispersed work and at times even illustrated many covers of comics whose interior was designed by another artist. Although the interior of the comic was drawn by others, if the cover of Neal Adams could draw the better, they thought of DC.
strictly technical level, the main difference between the two giants of the art of comics can be found in the classic style of John Buscema style as opposed to "risky" and innovator of Neal Adams. John Buscema, despite reaching Marvel captured the essence of Kirby and the super-heroes and put it in his own style, he possessed a more classical design, more indebted to Harold Foster and Alex Raymond, while Neal Adams, due in large part to his experience previous press comics, where he obtained a clear and direct influence of Stan Drake in his art, and his restless nature that made him experiment and try to be more innovative, got a style, a manner of speaking, more streamlined and groundbreaking.
And finally we have a Jim Lee, artist fetish Image and the artist was more "copy" and influential of the past 20 years. Since winning illustrating the X-Men for Marvel, during the last gasps of Claremont was in the title, and throughout her experience of Image, first as co-founder of the label and subsequently to break it into several smaller publishers, as operator of the label Wildstorm, Jim Lee has influenced many new artists with their detailed and dramatic style. Style, on the other hand, has also had its detractors, due to greatly enhance splash-pages and large ornate and dramatic vignettes to the detriment of the narrative and flow chart in the comic. Actually what really hurt his image (and other artists of his fifth) was the poor quality of scripts was Image that historical, hanging ending many of his comics the label "spectacular pictures, but empty of narrative and content."
In short, these four artists marked an epoch in the history of the medium and not just for its unquestionable quality and creative level, but also for setting trends, to change what he and many others make artists were set on them and become style books to follow and imitate, in alpha males of the comic world.
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