How hard is it to draw hands? And why is Deadpool's legs longer than his head and torso? And when did Cable become a dwarf with those legs? And where are all the damn pouches? Btw, I love how this is a rip off of Perez' Crisis cover, was this intentional?

Yes. If you view the art unscaled, you'll see that he signs "After Perez" under his name.

I liked how you can see Deadpool straining under Cables weight...but...hands. Its not that hard....

Actually it is. If you look at Perez, they are nifty foreshortened hands drawn looking up the fingers. Not easy at all.

But if someone's been paid to draw pictures of people for a couple of decades, he ought to have learned by now.

Hands (and feet) are probably the most difficult aspects of human anatomy to get right.
Even Frazetta tends to fudge this as much as possible. No question he can draw them and draw them well, but just look to see how often a characters hands or feet are obscured by shadow or environment.

But there is a difference between someone who can draw and makes the editorial/business decision not to, and one that doesn't because they can't pull it off.

I don't seen anything in Deadpools body attitude to indicate he is straining.

Feet, yes, I always hated drawing feet, but hands aren't that hard. It just seems lazy on Liefeld's part, unless midget Cable has handles on his back.

Hands aren't hard to draw. He should get this book.

I would agree that hands and feet are a little harder to draw, I went to art school so I get it. I did a drawing of Isis 2 years ago, and I couldn't get one of her feet/sandles right. Threw a lightning bolt in front of it, just to finish it.

Looking at it again I thought It looks like Deadpool was straining, with the water popping off his face. Now I guess its suppose to be tears. Which is great since hes wearing a mask...

I had one of those dynamic books in High School, good stuff.

I always felt he was the weakest of the original Image guys anyway (was never a big fan of Valentino either) but I'd have to agree with this mostly because it felt like he got way lazier once he started doing Youngblood. Maybe he just had to deal with real editors and standards at Marvel but his New Mutants/X-force stuff are practically masterworks compared to Youngblood. He needed to learn a lot and he seemed to actually go backwards once he was "the boss", probably because he was making $$$ hand over fist and didn't have to get better.

I can still remember reading Youngblood #1 and wondering where all the backgrounds were....seems like 3/4 of the comic was a figure (with no feet, of course) and a solid one color panel behind him.

That's funny, because I remember when Image was first founded I thought Valentino (despite loving Guardians of the Galaxy) and Larsen were the weak links, yet they're the ones still doing actual comics on a regular basis. I thought all the Image founders were much more consistent under the editorial guidelines of Marvel. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Image came into existence, but the rampant lateness of their books and then the whole studio system where they pumped out comics done by style-clones, and then the disappearance of regular art from most of the founders was sad to see. Also, a lot of them couldn't write a lick, at least when they first started out. I wish more of them would've gone the route of Mignola with Hellboy, when he got Byrne to help him script the first mini.

As a fan, I kinda miss the days when guys like McFarlane and Joe Maduriera were chained to a desk and forced to draw issues on a regular basis...

Well, it certainly depends on the beholder's eye! I was a sucker for Larsen from Spidey days and loved Savage Dragon--though high art it wasn't, I just loved how he churned out all these interesting (to 14 yr old me) characters, and his flat, liny style kind of stuck with me. Valentino's style just never clicked for me (and I hated GotG), but I never thought either of these guys was as technically weak as Liefeld.

I'd have to agree with you though....hard not to think a lot of these guys were better creators when they didn't have 100% control and were forced into a real framework--and the delay issues with Image, though just a vague memory now, were pretty bad. I think 2 issues of Wetworks and Pitt came out in maybe 2 years? Terrible.

Had kind of forgotten about the style clones...I now remember reading "Brigade" and thinking "man, I didn't think they could do Youngblood again and draw it worse, but here it is".

I think it was because Larsen followed Todd on Spidey, and I couldn't help but compare them. Plus, he can tend to get lazy with the art at times. But I loved Savage Dragon from the beginning... and it is impressive how long he's been able to keep it going, never afraid to make radical changes to the title.

I think it's tough to be your own boss, and stick to deadlines when you're making money hand over fist anyway, and then add to that the other stuff they had to coordinate in addition to that.

As for the clones and studios and whatnot, the worst part is that as a kid, I bought into it hook, line, and sinker. I bought Brigade and Bloodpack and (pre-Moore) Supreme and all that stuff.

Yeah McFarlane is a tough act to follow!

I probably shouldn't be so harsh on them, if I was in their position I have no problem admitting I'd probably be the Liefeld of the bunch rather than a Todd or Jim Lee..."what? FEET? I just made 3 mil! Who needs to draw FEET?!?".

I give lots of respect to Lee and even Silvestri...though I thought their stuff was the least original to me it seems like they were ready for/up to the challenge of independence whereas some of the other guys clearly weren't.

I am now embarrassed to admit I basically bought everything image just because it was image, just like a lot of other dumb collectors...and at the same time just a few years earlier was dissing great stuff like Magnus and Rai (Before they got popular because they were worth $$$).

This list/article was hilarious.

I missed these pics, are they completely gone, love to see them re-upped.