Must get that superhero comic for my kids.

IMP.

The sad things is that DC is showing Psycho Pirate coming back as a Black Lantern, but the pictures I've seen show him with a giant hole in his head. 

I guess we haven't done enough rape stories, now we need gory murder stories.

DC...Catch It!

I don't know if I can think of many comic book artists currently who have the "grandeur" down.

There's some guys like Darwyn Cooke who have a style that appeals to me, and anyone who takes on that style. Jason Armstrong and Michael Cho, for instance. And you could say they're all derived from the great Dick Sprang.

There's solid artists I enjoy, like Mike Samnee, Sean Phillips, Francesco Francavilla, Gabriel Hardman, Ryan Sook, and their like. I mean, there's a skill there and a dynamism, but it's hard to compare their work to the kind of comic book art I grew up with. Except for Gene Colan, of course, from whom these men have an artistic kindship in their moody shadings.

I don't see much of the "clean" art that used to be so prevalent, that Buscemas/Kirby-Sinnott/Curt Swan/Jim Aparo template. Does anyone do that kind of "functional" art anymore? Or was that merely the "times," when the inker held so much importance? Seems that the artists are doing vast detail in their work in liu of allowing an inker to interfere. And because of that the art is rendered so forcefully that there's no room for "cleanliness." But oddly, the lack of clean art has managed to take away the grandeur, almost as if the artists were attempting to exorcise dynamics for style. Because style means a "fingerprint" of the artist, and that's important...to the artist.

In a way, I kind of wish most of the Big Two flagship books had that sort of accessible, clean art. An art style designed to streamline the accessibility, provide a unity. It's the mentality, I guess, that required Kirby's Superman heads to be redrawn...but really, as much a shame as that is, I'd rather have a straight, recognizable Superman no matter how you held in the comic book in the light. Not for my sake, but the sake of every new reader there might ever be, an unquestioning loyalty to a "brand" insuring everyone starts off with the same Superman and ends with the same Superman.

The only guy I can think of who still produces "clean" art is Eduardo Barreto. And he's rarely found on the big-time titles any more.

I guess we haven't done enough rape stories, now we need gory murder stories.

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Scaaaary! Oooo.

Yeah, Dan Jurgens. Jerry Ordway as well.