Who is your favorite Batman artist?

[Todd B.]

I like Breyfogle too.

But I really liked Graham Nolan's 5-year run on 'Tec. He had a sharp, angular Batman that I thought looked really fantastic

[davidh777]

Sorry for Breyfogle, Novick, and other omissions. I cross-collected a few different sources and must have missed some.

[Preterite]

Neil Adams is one of the most important Batman artists.
Marshall Rogers is probably my favorite artist on the list.
Bruce Timm made me like the character again after the comic version descended into Bat-Dickery.
When I think of the character I envision Jim Aparo's rendition.

But I went with Mazzuchelli as the one who'se artwork I most enjoyed on a Batman story. I also liked how his style influenced the Gotham Central series, which was the only on-going Batman title I purchased in the last twenty-five years.

[Khamul]

Kelley Jones really is my favorite artist,having just reread his run.
So many others just hack it out,but with his there is so much care.

[JayDerek]

Mike Mignola

[Hokeyboy]

Neal Adams. No question. But there are so many.

[MinLShaw]

I picked Bruce Timm, partly as a cop out. Still, I have to admit that his designs are probably my mental defaults anymore, after 20 years of familiarity. Plus, my second favorite Batman series ever is/was The Batman Adventures, which was done in his style. Even though he didn't get to design the characters the way he might have chosen to, I always liked Mike Parobeck's work. Ty Templeton, too.

Count me as another Norm Breyfogle fan, though! Also, I always liked Kevin Nowlan's work. He does the best utility belts of anyone. I like to visit his blog just to see his work in various stages, from sketch to final inks. I always loved Brian Stelfreeze's covers for Shadow of the Bat. I think my favorite single Batman story ever remains "Heat" from Legends of the Dark Knight #46-49, and its art was by Russ Heath. I wish he had done more Bat-work.

Of those who were included in the poll choices, I have much respect for Neal Adams's work. It was before my time so I don't have an emotional investment in it, but any time I look at any kind of anthology, it's very clear there are two eras: Before Adams and After Adams. I almost got him to sign my Green Lantern/Green Arrow trade at C2E2, but dude charges $5 just to sign. I wasn't that interested. The guy I chatted with in the line for Jeph Loeb remarked, without a moment's hesitation, "I'll pay it. Dude, he's Neal Adams." I'm glad he got his chance to have something signed by someone he thought so highly of, my balking at his charging price notwithstanding.

Tim Sale is a favorite, partly because he worked on some of my favorite specific stories. I got to chat with him at C2E2 for several minutes about his work on the first LOTDK Halloween Special, which is in my top 5 favorite Batman stories ever. There's an amazing piece inside to begin Chapter 2. We see the silhouette of Batman perched on a ledge, then we turn the page to a double splash page of a streak of lightning illuminating the whole city. Sale keeps us on the exact shot as the previous page in darkness, though, so the effect of turning that page is very dramatic. It gives me chills each time I get to it.

Jim Aparo worked on quite a lot of Batman stuff in the era when I was an active reader, and I always liked his work quite a bit, too. I always contrasted his stuff with Breyfogle's since they were on concurrent series there for a while. Breyfogle's stuff stood out more to me because it was sharper and more stylistic. Aparo's was more realistic, and I think easier to take for granted as a younger reader.

[slop101]

Aparo's run while Starlin was writing (culminating in the Death in the Family story arch) - he just had the definitive looking Batman, not to mention his Joker looked perfect as well.

[Paul_SD]

I commented earlier but didn't vote.
And now that I think about, I'd have to say Timm is my all-around favorite Batman artist. Even taking out the animated series, I just suddenly realized the comic book work he's done was more substantial than I originally thought. He's another artist's artist, imo, synthesizing the best aspects of other artists i truly admire (from Toth to Kirby to even a little Dan DeCarlo and Chuck Jones). And next to Toth, he's one of the best pure storytellers I've ever seen. His little Two-face story is a masterpiece in staging/breakdowns/composition.

Anytime some one makes it look so effortless, it's easy to not give them enough credit.
I have enormous nostalgic affection for Adams, Aparo, Moldoff, Sprang, Robinson, and Novick. And Garcia-Lopez is probably just behind Toth for me in terms of my all time greats. But for this character and his universe, Timm is my favorite. no question about it.

[will travel]

My All-Time favorite Bat-Artist is Don Newton.

http://www.talesofwonder.com/product...man+Don+Newton

[MinLShaw]

I forgot to mention in my previous remarks that the very first Batman comic book I owned was Detective Comics #603. The artist was Norm Breyfogle. There's something to be said for first impressions.

[Spottedfeather]

I've always been partial to Irv Novick's work in the 70s. That's who I think of when I hear "Batman"...after Bruce Timm, of course.

My third favourite would have to be Norm Breyfogle. When I was a kid, my dad worked downtown. He would always buy me a comic or two on the way home. One of these was the Detective Comics series Mud Pack, involving Clayface. Norm Breyfogle was the artist. Just seeing those covers (Detective Comics 604 - 607) takes me back....

[Paul_SD]

Originally Posted by Spottedfeather

I've always been partial to Irv Novick's work in the 70s. That's who I think of when I hear "Batman"...after Bruce Timm, of course.

Based on the left hand, I'd say this was Garcia-Lopez, not Novik. Looks to be from the DC style guides. And as much as I love the guy, gotta say I was disappointed when DC came up with these style sheets for merchandising. Before than, like in the 70's, the images they used in merchandising were from the various titles themselves. So there would be a whole range of artistic styles on display, depending on which characters were on what products. I loved seeing the difference between an Infantino Flash and a Neal Adams Batman, or an Infantino Batman and a Bob Oksner Supergirl. It made me conscious of the personality in an individuals art, at a very young age.

But at least in Garcia-Lopez they picked an outstanding draftsman to homogenize everything under one style.

[ytrez]

Originally Posted by slop101

Aparo's run while Starlin was writing (culminating in the Death in the Family story arch) - he just had the definitive looking Batman, not to mention his Joker looked perfect as well.

Was this your introduction to Aparo/Batman? I ask because, outside of nostalgia, I see no reason anyone would be attracted to that work. I'm not trying to be disparaging but I single that run out to be the low point of Aparo's career rather than the highlight. I disliked Starlin's writing, strongly, and absolutely hated DeCarlo's inking. I voted for Aparo as my favorite Batman artist primarily on the strength of his the Brave & the Bold work. Aparo inking himself was gold. Even better when he provided the lettering too. The guy was great and I highly recommend http://www.amazon.com/Legends-Dark-K...8&sr=8-1-spell.

[mrhan]

Originally Posted by ytrez

Was this your introduction to Aparo/Batman? I ask because, outside of nostalgia, I see no reason anyone would be attracted to that work. I'm not trying to be disparaging but I single that run out to be the low point of Aparo's career rather than the highlight. I disliked Starlin's writing, strongly, and absolutely hated DeCarlo's inking. I voted for Aparo as my favorite Batman artist primarily on the strength of his the Brave & the Bold work. Aparo inking himself was gold. Even better when he provided the lettering too. The guy was great and I highly recommend http://www.amazon.com/Legends-Dark-K...8&sr=8-1-spell.

I agree. His later work was just bad. His best work was in the 70's on BB and Adventure Comics (The Aquaman and Spectre runs were my favorite). It started to change in the early 80's and De Carlo's inks didn't help any.

To me there's a huge difference.




Death in the Family:

[Hokeyboy]

Aparo's 80s work as abysmal. Undynamic, flat, ugly work. But everything before his decline was solid.

[fujishig]

I didn't even know that they were doing an Alan Davis Batman collection, but it came up in my Amazon Goldbox:

http://www.amazon.com/Legends-Dark-K...GAYF40QBVFAW9P

[Patman]

I voted for Neal Adams because he was the Batman artist I aped the most in my childhood. Marshall Rogers is also a fave of mine from his Englehart/Detective era (Terry Austin really did a bang-up job inking Rogers. I also liked Michael Golden's work in some of the Batman Family stories.

The Batman artists from the 1990s-current time period leave me a bit cold, I still like the Batman artists from the 1970s and 1980s.

[Spottedfeather]

Originally Posted by Paul_SD

Based on the left hand, I'd say this was Garcia-Lopez, not Novik. Looks to be from the DC style guides. And as much as I love the guy, gotta say I was disappointed when DC came up with these style sheets for merchandising. Before than, like in the 70's, the images they used in merchandising were from the various titles themselves. So there would be a whole range of artistic styles on display, depending on which characters were on what products. I loved seeing the difference between an Infantino Flash and a Neal Adams Batman, or an Infantino Batman and a Bob Oksner Supergirl. It made me conscious of the personality in an individuals art, at a very young age.

But at least in Garcia-Lopez they picked an outstanding draftsman to homogenize everything under one style.

I think you may be right. The hand does look just about identical. These pics are Novik.


But you can see where I'd be mistaken. They're quite similar styles.

It does appear that the style I was thinking of was mainly the style sheet work from Garcia-Lopez. You'd see it all over toy packaging, posters, shirts, and all sorts of things.

[ytrez]

Originally Posted by fujishig

I didn't even know that they were doing an Alan Davis Batman collection, but it came up in my Amazon Goldbox:

I didn't know about this either but these were my favorite Batman issues of the period (Detective actually, but you know what I mean). Barr's characterizations of Batman, but more importantly Robin, were pitch perfect. The quality of these stories is part of what makes me so upset about how Starlin came in afterward and ruined things. My only problem with this run is that Davis didn't finish the Batman Year 2 storyline, which may present problems for filling out this book. McFarlane did a fine job with the pencils on those issues but why Denny O'Neil or anyone else would think that Alfredo Alcala was the right inker for him is beyond me.

And that pic posted earlier is definitely Garcia-Lopez. Irv Novick was definitely an underrated Batman artist though. He did some excellent work for a number of years.

[ytrez]

Originally Posted by Hokeyboy

Aparo's 80s work as abysmal. Undynamic, flat, ugly work. But everything before his decline was solid.

While Aparo was obviously in the twilight of his career I don't recall there being many problems with his layouts or storytelling (though it's been a long time since I read these). The flat & ugly aspects of the work I attributed to DeCarlo. I wonder now if I judged his work too harshly back in the day but I hated having to look at his work in Batman, Legion, Warlord, and anywhere else he showed up.

[brayzie]

Originally Posted by ytrez

The quality of these stories is part of what makes me so upset about how Starlin came in afterward and ruined things. My only problem with this run is that Davis didn't finish the Batman Year 2 storyline, which may present problems for filling out this book. McFarlane did a fine job with the pencils on those issues but why Denny O'Neil or anyone else would think that Alfredo Alcala was the right inker for him is beyond me.
.

Barr's work on the title was great fun, and he actually made me like, not just Jason, but the idea of a light hearted Robin. Barr and Davis were an ideal team on that title.

Maybe at the time DC thought that McFarlane's tick lines were mistakes and that Alcala could smooth them out, or maybe that Alcala could make the art, somehow closer to Neary's inking. Either way it ended up looking very rough mid way through.

[pelenor]

Gary frank.

http://www.badhaven.com/comics/comic...ary-frank-art/

[mrhan]

Originally Posted by ytrez

The flat & ugly aspects of the work I attributed to DeCarlo. I wonder now if I judged his work too harshly back in the day but I hated having to look at his work in Batman, Legion, Warlord, and anywhere else he showed up.

I was curious about that so I looked through my collection and randomly pulled issues from the early 90's. If you look at Batman 480 and 481, Aparo did the inking and lettering along with the pencils. It looked just as bad as when De Carlo was doing the inks.

[slop101]

Originally Posted by mrhan

I agree. His later work was just bad. His best work was in the 70's on BB and Adventure Comics (The Aquaman and Spectre runs were my favorite). It started to change in the early 80's and De Carlo's inks didn't help any.

To me there's a huge difference.

There is, but I dunno why (maybe because it looks a little less cartoony), I just like Aparo's later work better...