Favorite Comic Book Artists of 2010
As 2010 comes to a close we take a look back at some of our favorites from the year; there will be many more categories to come, each author getting one pick. And after reading our favorites from the last year we want to hear yours!
Favorite Comic Book Artists of 2010
Salvador Larroca: Invincible Iron Man Geoff Arbuckle
Larroca has always been considered one of the finest artists in Marvel’s stable. He first caught my eye when he worked on X-treme X-Men which says a lot because I’m not a X-Men guy. His work is so beautiful and realistic that sometimes you think you’re looking at pictures of real-life people. Even more striking is his ability to portray Iron Man himself and the big-time action that comes along with the Golden Avenger. His run with writer Matt Fraction is one of the finest for Marvel in this new century.
Dustin Weaver: S.H.I.E.L.D. John Barringer
Dustin Weaver absolutely blows me away with his pencils for S.H.I.E.L.D. He appropriately captures the style and designs of each time period the story moves to and created a truly unique style for the”Brotherhood of Shield.” The details in his work are mind blowing; when looking at structures or machines they could easily be confused with beautiful blueprints they contain so many details. S.H.I.E.L.D. has been one of my favorites book to read this year and although Jonathan Hickman is constructing one heck of a story I always flip through each issue one or two extra times just to drool at the art.
Francis Manapul: Flash Phillip Carson
I had never read the Flash, nor had I cared to. But when Manapul made the leap from Superboy to the Scarlet Speedster, I did as well, just for his art. Even though it sometimes takes him a while to get an issue done, the amount of work he personally puts into it shows. With his expressive characters, animated action, and gorgeous tones, any page by Manapul is one worth looking at for hours at a time.
Miguel Sepulveda: Thanos Imperative Victor Kutsenok
The scale with which this artist had to work with was astounding. Not only did he have to draw dozens of different characters per issue, but he had to redesign all of their costumes. Add to that the fact that it was a space themed series, then you now add all the cosmic aspects that needed to be drawn perfectly. In addition, most of the battles involved energy based heroes so that added some amazing splash page art that were stunning to see. Amazing colors, great detail, many many many characters and each one was drawn perfectly. (Eat your heart out Geroge Perez)
Tyler Kirkham: Green Lantern Corps Mason Moyer
Kirkham took over for Ardian Syaf on the 53rd issue. Before Syaf came in, I thought he would do a good job, but he inevitably quit paying attention to detail and forgot lots of rings on lots of fingers. Kirkham has done brilliantly since joining the title, and I even think he’s nearly as good on the title as Pat Gleason was. Overall, his style works great for this book, and I’m impressed by what he’s put out consistently.
Mauro Cascioli: Green Arrow Tom Parry
His work is truly epic, and brings a sense of the cinmatic to his covers. The double cover of Cry for Justice #1 is one of my favorite DC images in recent years, while his cover for Green Arrow #6 takes the cake completely. I could do to see some more of his work on the interior of the comic, but regardless, his covers will more than suffice for now. He’s hands down my favorite of the year.
Jim Lee: American Vampire cover, etc Claire Smith
The titles I read from DC have decent artists but they tend to be inconsistent. Lee’s American Vampire cover was awesome and he’s just an amazing artist in general. He also sketched stuff and showed it to his Twitter followers. How can you beat that?
Alex Ross: Green Hornet covers, etc Wayland
This is hard for me for two reasons: one, I often don’t really note the artwork unless I really don’t like it (some have commented on this about my reviews); two, it seems to me books rarely have a regular artist these days. They come and go with no warning. So, rather than look at a title, I’ll take someone’s overall work, and that leaves me with only one real choice: Alex Ross. His art in the specials a few years ago, such as Batman: War on Crime and Shazam!: Power of Hope were amazing, and his Justice miniseries was breathtaking. These days, I only seem to see his name on covers, but they are beautiful pieces- most recently I’ve noted him doing the covers of the incredible Green Hornet Series from Dynamite Comics. If DC likes his work well enough to base whole figure lines from DC Direct on it, I must not be the only one who feels this way.
Other Favorites of 2010:
Favorite Comic Book Artists
Favorite Independent Comic Books
1 Comment
R.M. Guera for art and Jock for the covers of Scalped.