madcougar

Yep. Looks like he's going to be the new artist on Superman.

JRJ is one of those guys I NEVER thought would would work for DC. Although... even Stan Lee has done it.

The Valeyard

Hopefully, it won't be the rushed art JRJ puts out to hit a deadline. Sometimes that stuff looks horrible. I wonder if they'll get Janson to ink him (like the sketches in the above link)? That's a good pairing.

Hopefully, DC won't waste him like they did when they had Mark Bagley.

fujishig

I'm not sure if it's because he was at Marvel for so long that I associate him with them, or if his art just suffered because it was rushed, but Bagley was terrible (IMHO) at DC. I usually like JRJr's stuff, but I'm not so sure about Superman...

madcougar

I met JRJ at a convention about 20 years ago when he had started drawing Punisher War Zone. He was seriously the nicest comic book artist I ever met.

The Valeyard

He is. I meet him last year at Stan Lee's Comikaze. He spent HOURS at his booth signing books for fans without one complaint. And he didn't just quickly sign stuff either. He took a few minutes to chat it up and do a couple of very quick sketches if someone asked. Very awesome.

reverie

I've always been a big fan of his work. That said, it still won't get me to pick up any Nu52 stuff. I'd love to meet him and get an autograph one day!

Timber

JRJr was an artist that I couldn't stand when I was younger. His work on Uncanny X-Men in the early 200's I thought was horrible. When he came back around issue #300 there was just something about his work that I started to dig. Going back now I like all of his work although I think when he takes his time and isn't trying to do multiple books at once his work phenominal.

madcougar

I like the guy so much, I may just pick this up.

slop101

I really liked JR Jr.'s work with Ann Nocenti on Daredevil in the late '80s/early '90s. But I did not like his work before or after that period. For some reason, that's when he got good, but then slacked off after that.

fujishig

I really liked his X-men runs, and then his Spider-man run, where he went with his trademark blocky style, but a few years later I picked up Sentry (I think) and wasn't all that impressed.

Some of it has to do with deadlines and/or schedule, and a lot of it has to do with inkers, I think. I remember reading John Byrne's anorexic Wonder Woman and wondering where the artist that did those amazing Uncanny and FF runs went.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Hooray for JRJr! Supermans costume still looks fuckin stupid!

slop101

Here's JR Jr.'s masterpiece:

madcougar

I might have to jerk it.

Red Hood

After 7 years of working exclusively at DC, Romita Jr is back at Marvel. Honestly, his art at DC, specially Superman, was not his best to say the least.

fujishig

Some artists are just more identifiable with Marvel than DC... I'm not sure if it's art style or the costumes or what.

For instance, Mark Bagley.

Why So Blu?

Wow, looking at that image, I can see why colorists make more money than pencillers. Look at all the added definition and separation that was added to JR's artwork. I'm no hardcore fan of his, or at this point, even a casual fan - but I did always like his artwork when I was younger for Punisher War Zone. I tuned out after that.

stingermck

His DC work was pure shit. Action was horrible.

Maxflier

Not a fan at all.

fujishig

It's kind of amazing how long he's been at it, though (I think he did his first comics work around the time I was born). I didn't think much of the Marvel house style he started with, and then as he got more of a Frank Miller influence and made his characters distinctively blocky, I kind of grew to like it (Punisher War Zone, Man Without Fear, coming back to Spider-man and even his X-men stuff). But then somewhere along the way, well before he went to DC, his stuff seemed less dynamic.

I always wondered if it had to do with the inker, or if his style just evolved or what. A similar thing happened with John Byrne where I loved almost all of his stuff up to when he did his own thing with Next Men, and then when he came back on to do Wonder Woman she was gaunt, similar to how Superman looks gaunt above, and I wondered if it was the lack of Terry Austin or something.

Like I said before, though, I do think his style lends itself better to the Marvel characters, though maybe that's just my head remembering the bulk of his work.

PhantomStranger

Does anyone like Romita Jr's style? I'm almost positive he wouldn't be working for either Marvel or DC these days if his name wasn't Romita.

Red Hood

I actually like his style and most of his early worked and it's because it was inked by Bob Layton and Klaus Jensen. Due to his seniority in the business, he now works mostly by himself and that actually hinders his art as it looks rushed. CBR compiled a list of his best work and I want to add his art on Heart of Darkness one-shot and Batman vs Punisher to it.

https://comicbook.com/news/my-hero-a...les-milestone/

ddrknghtrtns

I guess this is his Picasso inspired phase? He also pulled a Liefeld, by hiding their feet. Why does Superman have a goatee? Another nitpick, the characters are always a little too close together in his art. How about a little social distancing and spreading them out?

Why So Blu?

That's not a goatee. It's supposed to be a shadow in the neck, where the adam's apple is. I'm just wondering Superman's undies are sagging.

ddrknghtrtns

Another
Yeah, I noticed the saggy undies and missing fingernails on his right hand too. Just feel like their is so much wrong with that picture.

Why So Blu?

And you see what the colorist, again, on this piece has to do in order to salvage the drawing. The colorist tried adding the shadows and highlights and even colored in some additional definition on some of the figures, muscles, etc. I bet you if there was a black and white pic of that, minus the colors, there wouldn't be that much there.