I don't think he was being "stupid" at all... what's with the name-calling?

By asking me how I can't tell it's Batman with the title Batman on the cover?  And seriously, you think what I said was "name calling?" Ok. Sorry if I offended anyone.

Joel I apologize if you think I was trying to yank your chain but this isn't a choir here and if it is we are surely off key.

I agree. Nor should it be. But I can state my opinions just as you can state yours.

For the record, I'm not trying to criticize Pope overall as an artist. His backgrounds on this and some other things I've seen from him are really good. I just don't care for his rendition of Batman. That's it. That's all. Just my opinion. Feel free to disagree. Plenty of people do.:)

I think JB's changes to the Wonder Woman costume are respectful to the character and it is still very recognizably Wonder Woman.  I think it's important that the character look as closely "on model" in their main title.  Regarding Year 100, I also think Pope was very thoughtful of his own redesign of Batman as evidenced by his notes to Bob Shreck on the first page of this thread.  His Batman is still very much identifiable as Batman.  I think because it's an Elseworlds and just a one-shot, he can have artistic license to change things.  If he was doing Detective Comics however, I would expect him to be "on model". 

But then again, as per this discussion, what is "on model" nowadays.

I usually don't post often but I'm really enjoying this discussion.  Great points from everyone!

Question to Michael Retour: I am also a big fan of Paul Pope.  Did you check out Pulphope?  Great art and essays and interviews with Pope.

It'd be awesome if they did a cartoon in a realistic style like the pic posted on top of the page.

I'm a Paul Pope fan, I got most of his books from his self publishing days. Horse Press? My only gripe is that he's never really improved his inking. It still looks like he has no control over his brush. I guess it's his style he wants to hold on to. Like Bjork still pretending to be 18 even though she's 40 something.

Anthony Frail wrote: I meant more for today. Lopez's art's great but it is 20 years old or more at this point; to be competetive, shouldn't DC use a modern artist who can capture the imaginations of the youth of today?

The artist's style doesn't really matter as setting up proportions / height / facial features / jaw shape / build / stance. I worked from the style guides for a popular anime and I was surprised at the detail, how they can make one face distinctive from another. Though of course, that doesn't mean all their sequences are on model. But the model sheets are really cool. I ended up learning alot.