Geoff Johns & John Romita Jr To Take Over Superman?
Chuck_Melville
Posts: 3,003
comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=50692
I have to admit, this has me strongly, strongly tempted... I love JR JR's art, and the idea of his doing Superman has me very, very interested... but it's still the New52 with that Godawful armor costume...!
I have to admit, this has me strongly, strongly tempted... I love JR JR's art, and the idea of his doing Superman has me very, very interested... but it's still the New52 with that Godawful armor costume...!
Comments
I'm not even slightly tempted.
Don't get me wrong, I love him on Kick-ass, but only because it's original, when he draws the Avengers it always looks off to me, at a quick glance and I usually say "why is kick-ass wearing a captain america uniform?"
I just wonder what the draw if for others here for him.
JR JR has the kind of dynamic layouts that remind me of Kirby's work, without actually looking like Kirby. They're BIG and powerful and full of energy -- and they don't look like swipes from a photo morgue.
Did you see his last Captain America run? Awful. At best his work could be described serviceable, but to me it often simply appears as cartoonish with a bit of grit. Sort of a poor man's Frank Miller.
I haven't liked JRJr's work since he came on the scene. He is NOT his father. When he was aping his father's style back in the 80's, I enjoyed it, but now his work seems more impressionist than anything else.
Disclaimer: I also don't like Rob Liefeld's artwork, and happen to think JRJr is a better artist.
Maybe that's it, like i said I like the art of Kick-Ass but when it's Avengers or something I have an idea of what it looks like his versions always pull me out of the story.
Layouts may be great, that's like having great breakdowns and poorly executed finished panels or taking the perfect photograph with exactly the right composition, it's out of focus (and the subject has been beaten to a barely recognizable pulp before the shutter opened).
Granted, JR is not the greatest illustrator, something he readily admits. He works best with an inker who knows how to draw—like Klaus Janson or Al Williamson. He’s far more interested in the storytelling than in making a pretty picture, and he’s developed many shortcuts in his penciling that, unfortunately, a lot of inkers don't seem to know how to interpret. Part of that may have come from the many years he spent doing breakdowns (breakdowns being similar to layouts, but with no blacks spotted for the inker), but I can’t say that for sure.
When paired with the wrong inker, the results can look a bit shoddy, yes, but you can never fault his storytelling. Personally, a poorly told story with exceptionally beautiful artwork is less likely to keep me reading than an exceptionally well told story with poorly inked artwork. I'm not saying JR hasn’t had a few duds now and then, but for the most part I find his work to be of a very high quality.
I can understand why many readers are turned off by his artwork style. It reminds me of Kirby too, and I think that might be part of it. Kirby isn't for everyone... it took me YEARS to appreciate Kirby, I just couldn't get into the "blocky boxiness" of his style, and his female characters always looked like dudes in drag to me.
I remember enjoying JR JR's X-Men, but HATING his Daredevil. I think it was his run on IronMan where everything started to click with me.
I liked his early '80s stuff. I know people think it's generic, but I think of it as classic Marvel. He developed a different style in his first X-Men run, and I LOVED it. He started to get blockier during Daredevil, and I liked most of that run but by the end of it I didn't like where his style ended up. People love DD: Man Without Fear, and while I certainly wouldn't say that the art is bad in that, it just felt a little lifeless to me. Ditto with his second (Uncanny) X-Men run in the early '90s. Technically good and I always *want* to like it, but I wish he would have dialed things back a bit. Too many little habits of his started to annoy me then. For example, how he always would draw women with big long jawbone/cheek lines on either side of their faces. Just, weird. Coming out of the '90s I think he perfected his blocky look. From '98 or whatever onwards, it always looks good to me... except when he rushes on faces and heads.
All of his characters seem to look the very same to me. Blocky, same dead expressions:
And none of his children look normal. They all look like dwarfs.
I realize art is relevant, but for me JRJr's style always takes me out of the story.
And to those who JRJr reminds them of Jack Kirby, to me there is little comparison...
Jack Kirby
John Romita Jr
I liked his early '80s stuff. I know people think it's generic, but I think of it as classic Marvel. He developed a different style in his first X-Men run, and I LOVED it. He started to get blockier during Daredevil, and I liked most of that run but by the end of it I didn't like where his style ended up. People love DD: Man Without Fear, and while I certainly wouldn't say that the art is bad in that, it just felt a little lifeless to me. Ditto with his second (Uncanny) X-Men run in the early '90s. Technically good and I always *want* to like it, but I wish he would have dialed things back a bit. Too many little habits of his started to annoy me then. For example, how he always would draw women with big long jawbone/cheek lines on either side of their faces. Just, weird. Coming out of the '90s I think he perfected his blocky look. From '98 or whatever onwards, it always looks good to me... except when he rushes on faces and heads.
Excellent critique and I agree with much of it. His late 70's early 80's stuff defined the Marvel style. Look at his Iron Man and then Spiderman runs. But a few years later in Daredevil you could see the Kirby influence start to effect his line work. His recent stuff is just too much. I see it described as blocky and that seems right. Everyone is far too big. No graceful Spiderman. All that being said if he is going to DC Superman is the book. Big and blocky works.
For me, the best thing he’s ever done was the first issue of Black Panther.
As for comparing JR to Kirby, no one is saying JR is Kirby. (At least, I'm not.) But look beyond the surface details, beyond the squiggles and Kirby krackle—and beyond the coloring of that JR FF page which is a terrible fit for the linework. Look at the structures of JR’s figures and the structures of Kirby’s figures, and you can see the Kirby influence in JR’s work.
I've also figured out, based on the images above, that I actually liked the stuff that he was doing that caused me to drop titles MORE than the stuff that he's doing today. The over-rendered colors and shading are really, really jarring (almost as jarring than the punches that broke every JRJR illustrated character's nose) when compared to his figures.
At the end of the day, you like what you like and don't like what you don't like. JRJR, for me, is the eternal dealbreaker. I honestly cannot think of a scenario where I would put down money to read a book that he was doing (watch as further detail comes out and the Johns/JRJR book turns out to be a Superman and the Legion book - it would be painful, but I honestly think that I would stick to my guns).
54% of those responding in this thread are turned off by his art and/or uninterested in his upcoming Supes run.
8% may be fine either way about it.
And then there is @JamieD, who seemed neither here nor there.
I'm already on the record before about my disdain for JRJr's artwork, so this is no surprise. And to see people for or against him or his dad's work, may I recommend the A Comic Cover A Day (is awesome) thread? and that is exactly what I think of his son's work. Everyone looks too thick. Amazed that JRjr's fans here don't see it, but, the bottom line is that we each perceive things differently and there are many factors that contribute to our way of appreciating art forms. There are probably even a few Rob Liefeld fans still out there, somewhere. Art itself is relative.
I love his work for all the reasons Mr. Nigel Weathington the Third said. JRJR tells a story well with art, even if he makes Hulk's face look like a green version of Cap. I also like Kirby and 90% of his faces look exactly the same. The thing is they can both tell a story with thier art and not just 22 pages of stiff beautifully drawn posters.