Most Underappreciated Comics Artist Of All Time

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Ron Smith.

― Vic Fluro, Friday, 21 January 2005 00:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Gil Kane

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 21 January 2005 03:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Bernie Mireault

― Austin (Austin), Friday, 21 January 2005 04:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Roger Langridge.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 21 January 2005 10:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex Toth

― droid, Friday, 21 January 2005 11:22 (twenty-one years ago)

david law

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 21 January 2005 11:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Austin wins, but I'll throw Gene Colan out there anyway.

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Friday, 21 January 2005 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Joe Staton did some amazing work on Green Lantern, and JSA in Adventure Comics and Green Lantern Corps in the 70s and 80s before flipping all cartoony in the 90s.

― Huk-L, Friday, 21 January 2005 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Don Newton. Why was he never famous?

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 21 January 2005 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Partly because of an incident when my then-wife was transcribing an interview for me (not sure who with - may have been Eisner, may have been Doug Wildey or Archie Goodwin), and I looked at the transcript and thought "Who the fuck are Jerry Grant and Eddie?" I will nominate Jerry Grandenetti.

Toth is an odd choice, given that he'd be a strong contender for Greatest Comic Artist Ever in any poll of critics.

The first ever fanzine interview I published was with Don Newton. I liked him a lot too. At around the same time, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez was drawing Superman, and I think he is a very similar case.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 21 January 2005 23:36 (twenty-one years ago)

crockett johnson

― Andrewl, Friday, 21 January 2005 23:43 (twenty-one years ago)

or maybe mark marek

― Andrewl, Friday, 21 January 2005 23:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Norm Breyfogle and Klaus Janson?

― Chrchuckis Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Saturday, 22 January 2005 01:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Alfredo Alcala, and that's my final offer.

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 22 January 2005 03:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Toth is an odd choice, given that he'd be a strong contender for Greatest Comic Artist Ever in any poll of critics.

Except for ILC of course! ;) i know hes a huge name, but oddly enough I dont think any of his works were nominated for the ILC Greatest ever comics poll...

Perhaps its just on this side of the pond, but most of the comic nerds (and even shops!) I know dont seem to have a clue who he is... There also seems to be a new Eisner, Kirby, or Golden Age DC hardback reprint on the shelves every week, but the only Toth stuff ive seen at all over the last few years has been those 'Americas Greatest stories', which i cant seem to get my hands on at all...
he seems to me to have fallen by the wayside slightly, one of these artists that everyone namechecks but no-one reads...

Anyway Im probably catastrophically wrong yet again, but i thought he was worth a mention.

― droid, Monday, 24 January 2005 12:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah I know the name of course but don't believe I've ever knowingly read a comic by him. See also Krigstein.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 24 January 2005 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Which side of the pond are you on, Druid?

I like Breyfogle a lot. He was doing alternating between Batman & Detective during the height of my collecting, and probably gave me a push towards enjoying more stylized art. His action sequences had such great dynamic, but I didn't like his jet-powered batmobile. It looked too implausible.

― Huk-L, Monday, 24 January 2005 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I was thinking "Alex Toth??? Are you high?" but decided that was unnecessarily combatative.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 24 January 2005 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex Ross, on the other hand...

― Huk-L, Monday, 24 January 2005 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Well Toth arguably didn't produce any really great full comics, let alone series - I did vote for one or two shorts by him in the poll, but there aren't any longer things I'd have voted for. But how many of the greatest comics ever you drew doesn't directly correlate with how high you might be ranked as an artist, as there are plainly many other factors in the former voting.

To see him at his best, there was a Bravo For Adventure collection available - not very interesting stories (aviator adventures), but magnificent art. 'White Devil, Yellow Devil' was reprinted in that short-lived Sgt Rock reprint series several years back, and is as good a short as you'll ever read. There are two wonderful Toth stories in one of the EC war box sets too - one about flying upside down through clouds is an astounding achievement. He probably is my favourite comic artist ever.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 24 January 2005 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I think he drew my all-time favourite Green Lantern/Green Arrow arc, where they fight The Crumbler and Dr. Ojo (both of whom were never seen again, despite being totally badass! Dr. Ojo had no eyes! The Crumbler...made things crumble! They robbed banks!)

― Huk-L, Monday, 24 January 2005 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Nope, sorry, that was Alex Saviuk (who maybe deserves mention on this thread...he did a lot of stuff in the 70s)(but I know Toth did some great GL issues in the 80s, during the Exile-era):
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/2327/200/2327_2_114.jpg

― Huk-L, Monday, 24 January 2005 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Tank Girl, baby. My fav.

― Antimax (Antimax), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 06:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Toth work is available, but you have to look a bit for it.
Manuel Auad has published several collections of Alex Toth work in recent years (see http://www.auadpublishing.com/auadbook.htm; I'd imagine any decent comics shop could get them for you, or try on-line retailers). Also, there was a complete collection of his Zorro stories came out a year or two back.

― David Simpson (David Simpson), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 10:06 (twenty-one years ago)

for anyone who hasn't read any Krigstein, here's his best story: http://es.geocities.com/thegweb/berniekrigstein1.html

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 10:48 (twenty-one years ago)

my own answer: Roy Crane. there's an amazing long sequence of dailies in that big Smithsonian book, but i've never been able to find any other reprints of his work.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 10:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Roy Crane is fantastically great, yes - I wish there were some good reprints available. Also, one of his successors, Noel Sickles.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

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