MY FIVE FAVORITE COMIC BOOK ARTISTS

It's been some time since I did a little list like this, but for whatever reason, not long ago I was thinking about which artists I consider to be my favorites of all time in the comic book field. It honestly didn't take much thought at all to come up with five; these guys all came to mind immediately with very little head-scratching or consideration over anyone else. So in alphabetical order, here they are:

• Mark Bagley: I first encountered Bagley as the regular artist on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN when I became a regular ongoing reader with issue 360 (which was a fill-in, but Bagley returned for the next installment). At the time I wasn't all that enamored with him; he seemed to draw people's heads too small for their bodies sometimes, and as his time on AMAZING went along, he drew Spider-Man's eyes larger and larger until they seemed to take up about 75 percent of his head. But over the years, on THUNDERBOLTS and his subsequent work for Marvel, I've come to love his expressive style. I really like the way he draws musculature; his characters are all sinew and strength, and I love the way he draws faces these days. Plus, in Tom DeFalco's COMICS CREATORS ON SPIDER-MAN book, he admitted that he loves drawing "big, strong buxom women", which is always a plus in my book. Bagley is one of only two artists who I will always check out on Marvel Unlimited even if I have no interest in reading the actual issue he drew (the other of those two is #3 below).

MY TOP TWELVE FAVORITE MARVEL COMICS RUNS - #5 - #1

Concluding the list:

5. Thunderbolts by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, & Mark Bagley
   (THUNDERBOLTS #1 - 50, plus assorted related issues)
   Nostalgia Rating: 5 | Story Quality: 4 | Overall: 4.5
   

   

   Art: Mark Bagley

   Reason: When this series launched, the first issue revelation secured it immediately as the book I waited most for every month. About a year later, it was supplanted by the next item on this list, but even then Kurt Busiek and subsequent writer Fabian Nicieza maintained the twists, turns and momentum that had gripped me from the outset. I capped this run at THUNDERBOLTS #50 because I believe that's the apex of the series. I like the stories for about another ten issues, but 50 is the peak. And if we were to include the final 15 issues, the "Story Quality" grade would drop a point or two, as Nicieza became hampered by the Bill Jemas/Joe Quesada mandates of minimal continuity and "writing for the trade", and the series became aimless and boring. But the first fifty or so issues of THUNDERBOLTS were some of the finest comics coming out of Marvel at the time.

MY TOP TWELVE FAVORITE MARVEL COMICS RUNS - #12 - #6

And away we go:

Art: Alan Davis

12. Excalibur by Alan Davis
    (EXCALIBUR #42 - 67)
    Nostalgia Rating: 1 | Story Quality: 4 | Overall: 2.5
    Reason: I won't waste much time on this one, because I've already written about it at length in my Captain Britain reviews -- but I find Davis's tight plotting and mastery of seemingly unrelated sub-plots which thread back together, sometimes when you least expect them to, to be astounding. The run loses steam after issue #50, but it's never a chore to read, and the characters are all great fun.

MY TOP TWELVE FAVORITE MARVEL COMICS RUNS

Why a Top Twelve? Well, this was originally going to be a top ten list, but I could only whittle the thing down to about twelve entries. And since this is my blog, I make the rules. So, for the next few weeks, I'll post the list in segments. Today is the introduction. Next Sunday will be numbers 12 through 6, and the following weekend will bring the Top Five and a little wrap-up.

I have an interesting group here, I think. There are things you'd expect -- runs that most anyone would have on a list of the best Marvel ever. But at the same time there are several glaring holes as well. Versed as I am in the world of Marvel, there are several classic runs I've never read. The Lee/Kirby FANTASTIC FOUR, for example, does not appear here, because I've barely ever read any of it. Though really, the entire Silver Age, beyond Spider-Man, is a huge blind spot for me. I know what happened; I just haven't read all of it personally. So all I can do is pick my favorite runs from the ones I've read, and that's exactly what I've done here.