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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 04 July 2018 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Hmm...I had neglected to put Gil Kane on the list, even though I love his Captain Marvel and the others mentioned above.  But did he do enough to beat Kirby or Cockrum?

But while I love George Perez's artwork and some of his designs, he also (Sorry!) produced some of the WORST designs!  (I hate Troia with a burning passion!)  If this were a points system, I feel like some of the bad ones have to cancel out the good ones.

But John Romita Sr.?  Yeah, I forgot to consider him too.  Besides those listed above, he also designed (or had a hand in designing) Luke Cage, The Rhino, the Kingpin, Brother Voodoo, Wolverine(!), and--he almost deserves to win just for this--Mary Jane Watson!!


Edited by Eric Jansen on 04 July 2018 at 3:15pm
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Mario Ribeiro
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Posted: 04 July 2018 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Hah, I love Troia. Hate the Wonder Girl uniform, though.

Cockrum
Ditko
Infantino
Kirby


Edited by Mario Ribeiro on 04 July 2018 at 4:16pm
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Robert Shepherd
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Posted: 04 July 2018 at 7:37pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I can't pick a favorite but here are some designs that really stand out to me.

Kirby - Thing, Galactus
Ditko - Dr. Strange
Kane - Captain Marvel (I assume he made the red/blue version and Gene Colan made teh Gren/White version? My favorite (blue/red), so maybe that means Kane gets my vote.)
Cockrum - Storm, Nightcrawler
Perez - Taskmaster, Deathstroke
Byrne - Terrax, Puck
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Robert Cosgrove
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Posted: 04 July 2018 at 8:26pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Have to go with Ditko.  Spider-man is probably the best design since the original big two, Superman and Batman.  His Blue Beetle is exceptional.  Then there's Dr. Strange, The Creeper, the original Captain Atom, Iron Man, and a lot of great villains.
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 05 July 2018 at 12:58am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Yeah, just looking at those heroes and all the Spider-Man villains, Ditko is indeed in a class by himself.  I think of the Vulture and what a unique design that is and how so many people through the years have tried to revamp him or make him look "cool" and yet nothing beats Ditko's original.

As an artist who just happened to draw a lot of these characters in recent months (for practice), I have to say that the Ditko and Kane creations are probably the most FUN to draw!  (And some of the Adams and Kirby's are hard to draw well...unless you're Adams and Kirby!)  Oh no--I'm talking myself out of my original four!

But then again, Cockrum's are pretty fun to draw too, and they usually look good no matter who draws them.  And they bring a smile to my face.  OK, there are six or seven great designers, but I'm still leaning toward Cockrum.
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Lars Sandmark
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Posted: 05 July 2018 at 6:35am | IP Logged | 6 post reply


A few of my favourite costume designs are by John Byrne.

Guardian
(super) Count Nefaria
Silver Banshee
Wolverine
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 05 July 2018 at 7:49am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Carmine Infantino definitely deserves some distinction of merit for designing the iconic Flash in the late 50s, but I find it hard to argue with those saying Gil Kane. His Green Lantern design is brilliant and I'm also a big fan of his revamp of the look of Captain Marvel.

But then Cockrum did so much great work... 

Either Cockrum or Kane!
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Brennan Voboril
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Posted: 05 July 2018 at 9:38am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

I'd have to go with Jack Kirby.  I can't think of anyone who even comes close.  Just think of all the costumes he's created.  For me, second and third would go to Dave Cockrum and Gil Kane.  
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Paul Lloyd
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Posted: 05 July 2018 at 10:16am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Alan Davis? I'm thinking of Captain Britain, and the ClanDestine, and the tweeks he made to existing designs in The Nail and Superboy's Legion.


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Adam Schulman
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Posted: 06 July 2018 at 4:32pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Yes, Gil Kane. But Neal Adams goes up there if only because he gave the Angel a beautiful costume with boots that look like honest-to-god-actual boots.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 06 July 2018 at 10:25pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Literally the first thing the next artist got rid of! Granted, it was Sal Buscema and he was probably given about eight minutes to draw the whole book, but by the time I was on THE CHAMPIONS the leather boot were gone "forever" -- and they'd turned yellow!
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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 07 July 2018 at 12:08am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Yep, Angel's boots were white in X-Men #66 (the issue by Sal Buscema), then the book was cancelled and the X-Men went into that period where the didn't were costumes in their guest appearances for a while and then eventually showed up in Captain America #174 in their original costumes (another Sal Buscema story).

Angel was given the bland red & yellow costume with the headband in Champions #1 (drawn by Don Heck) and changed to the red & yellow version of the Adams costume in Champions #8 (probably because the Ghost Rider and Black Widow already had black costumes with "blue highlights").
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