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Well, looking over the numerous things I hear coming down
the pike for 2002, it sounds like it’s going to be a good year for
the X. Actually, for comics in general, it’s looking pretty good.
Last year was cool too, and ‘02 looks to be even better. Could
comics finally be making the long overdue upswing in quality
we’ve all been hoping for?
Maybe, but that’s not why I’m here.
As good as things are looking right now, there is one major
thing that is bugging the crap out of me from the corner of the
Marvel Universe I call home.
Where are the regular artists on the two core X-Titles?
I’ve spent a lot of time here complaining about Frank
Quitely’s slow, yet occasionally nice artwork, but as I sat and
thought about it these last few weeks, I’ve noticed that this is
quite a larger problem, and only seems to be getting worse. This
has been almost unbearable since the new writers started up last
May.
Just a quick note, this is going from memory, so I may have
screwed up a bit.
Let’s break this down by title. First, look at Uncanny X-
Men. Ian Churchill was announced as the new regular penciller
when the creative changes were revealed about a year ago. He
lasted a whole three issues. Then we had two issues of fill-in
artists, then an issue by the "regular fill-in artist", whatever that
means, a single issue with four different artists, and finally, the
first issue by new regular penciller, Ron Garney. He got two
issues finished, and then Aaron Lopresti steps in for an issue,
then another guy for two more issues. So, in the course of a
year, Uncanny X-Men has had five or so issues by the ‘regular’
artist. Five out of 12. Someone get a dictionary and look up
regular.
And then there’s New X-Men. That goes a little something
like this: Frank Quitely comes in and does two issues, and
manages to make the book later than anything done by Joe
Maduriera, in that short time frame, and the NEW regular fill-in
artist, Ethan Van Sciver, comes over and does two more issues,
also late. So along comes yet another guy, Igor Kordey, who
actually manages to get the book back running on time with the
next two issues. Quitely makes a return visit for an issue, the
‘Nuff Said issue, and I think the next one as well. Then it’s back
to fill-ins for a few months. So, Frank has about the same ratio
as the other guys on Uncanny, but makes the book a whole lot
later.
Now, things get interesting. Van Sciver has left his job as
regular fill-in artist, to work on a Phoenix miniseries (I’ll be
discussing this later. Let’s just say I’m happy about the news).
And so Igor has been declared the new guy, but they’re not
calling him a fill-in anymore. They’re acknowledging that Quitely
is slower than Liefeld, and have declared them "co-artists".
Which basically says to me, "Hey, we know Frank isn’t the
regular artist anymore, but his name sells more books, so we’ve
decided to make him a figurehead." What next, they realise he
isn’t drawing anything, and change the title to "Frank Quitely
Presents X-Men by Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey"?
Now don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with fill-in
artists. Everyone needs a break, sometime. But shouldn’t your
regular artist be doing the majority of the work? Barring
something major happening in their lives, of course. And at the
very least, call it what it is, and don’t try to snow the customers
by calling them co-artists, or some other pop phrase that sounds
cool and means nothing.
It’s in my opinion, that despite how good some may find
Frank’s work, he is not cut out to be doing a regular
MONTHLY title. This thing has deadlines. If he can’t keep
them, he shouldn’t be doing the comics. Let him do big specials,
or miniseries. Something he can complete before solicitations go
out.
I’m being a bit harsh on Quitely here, and not saying much
about Garney, mainly because he just started. Of course, since
he just started, you would think he could get more than two
issues done before going away for a bit. For now, he gets the
benefit of the doubt, and we’ll see how many more issues he can
do.
Finally, I’ve heard a lot of folks saying, "Oh, shut up and
wait! Don’t you want quality art in your comics?" Yeah, I do.
And guess what? There are actually artists who can do a
monthly comic! Damn good ones! Like say, Salvador Larroca
on X-Treme X-Men. He’s done every issue since the comic
started. Ten which are currently out, with 12 solicited so far.
Plus the annual! And they’ve all been more or less on time, give
or take a week. I could list off a number of artists who could do
just as good a job as Quitely, and keep the book on time, as
well as do more issues before needing a fill-in. Heck, I can
name a few artists who can do two comics at once. Which if
one was to look at the X-Office, is apparently an impossibility in
this day and age.
And that about does it for me, this month. Next
month...well, I have no idea what I’m going to do next month. It
will be a surprise for everyone! Except for the Liefeld slam.
That’s expected.
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