Friday, April 25, 2014

Who's the Best... Batman Artist?

 






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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Best---Dick Sprang
Favorite--Marshall Rogers

Scott Lovrine

April 25, 2014 at 6:35 AM
B Smith said...

Showing my age...

1. Adams
2. Novick
3. Robbins

April 25, 2014 at 6:49 AM
Edo Bosnar said...

So many to choose from: Adams, Rogers and Newton are among my favorites, but my very favorite - and, in my opinion, the best - is Jim Aparo. Whenever I think of Batman, it's the version drawn by Aparo that first comes to mind.

April 25, 2014 at 7:31 AM
Doug said...

Just to flesh out the discussion a bit, are the ears on the cowl or the cape more important visually to you; and, who really gets those "right"?

Marshall Rogers draws a great cape. Todd McFarlane's cape was around 20 yards long...

Doug

April 25, 2014 at 7:34 AM
Anonymous said...

Jim Aparo and Don Newton are personal favorites. Marshall Rogers may well be the best.

Carmine Infantino should get credit for the iconic and definitive Silver Age depiction of the character. And Neal Adams should get credit for helping to restore Batman's Dark Knight image after the camp fad passed.

April 25, 2014 at 7:52 AM
david_b said...

Not a big Bat follower in the Bronze Age and after, but my favs seem to be..

1) Infantino, personal favorite
2) Adams, great B&B Silver work
3) Stanton, nice '80s work like Rogers
4) Curt Swan (his WF work was outstanding drawing Bats and Robin.., very underloved)
5) Dillin, pretty standard JLA work, consistently solid.

Byrne had a great sleekness to his shoulders and cape. I grew tired of Aparo's work quickly, and those ears always seemed way too long and pointy. Actually his Batman was fine; it was more his non-cowled faces that seemed too repetitive..

April 25, 2014 at 8:30 AM
Mike said...

Lotta great choices here, but I'm with Edo on this where the Batman I think of is Jim Aparo's. Rogers and Adams gets honorable mentions.

I do admit to having a soft spot for the very early Golden Age Batman done by Bob Kane and crew. Batman #1 is probably my favorite cover of all time ... and if I ever hit that lottery someday it will be mine!

April 25, 2014 at 8:32 AM
KevinFermoyle said...

So many choices! Considering how long the character has been around and the number of titles he has appeared in - has Batman been drawn by more artists than any other comic book character?

My favorites -
Golden Age - Dick Sprang
Silver Age - Carmine Infantino
Bronze Age - Marshall Rogers

April 25, 2014 at 9:11 AM
Anonymous said...

Curt Swan tends to get overlooked when it comes to Batman, probably because he is mainly thought of as a Superman Family artist, and World's Finest was generally considered a Superman Family title at the time that Swan was drawing it.

I would assume that either Batman or Superman holds a record for being drawn by different artists, partly because of longevity, and also because of all the spin-offs, team-ups, and crossovers.

April 25, 2014 at 9:37 AM
The Groovy Agent said...

I'm with Edo too, though not necessarily in the same order, and I'd add Michael Golden into the fave category for his all-too-short run on the Batman leads in Batman Family.

April 25, 2014 at 9:52 AM
david_b said...

Groove, great mention of Michael Golden.., the book really took an interesting, moody swing upwards when they replaced Don Heck with Golden during the later BF lead stories. He did great shadow work.

April 25, 2014 at 10:51 AM
Garett said...

Jim Aparo for me. Realism combined with some of that Neal Adams flashy style. Great dynamic compositions and inking.

April 25, 2014 at 11:05 AM
Hoosier X said...

No contest.

Dick Sprang

April 25, 2014 at 11:41 AM
Anonymous said...

Hmmm...Adams, Aparo, Newton, Rogers, Colan...too close to call; Five way tie!

Mike W.

April 25, 2014 at 1:35 PM
david_b said...

Distinquished members of the Jury, I humbly call your attention to...Exhibit A:

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_Vol_1_251

That one just about settles all bets in my book for Bronze Batman.

April 25, 2014 at 1:47 PM
William said...

Personally I like Bruce Timm. And not just for animation. He did quite a bit of comics work with Batman as well, including one of my favorite ever single Batman comics "Mad Love".

If we're talking strictly Bronze Age, and comics, I'd go with Marshall Rogers, personally.

But I don't think there can be much doubt that Neal Adams deserves the top spot generally speaking. His Batman is THE Batman for most people I talk to.

I love Michael Golden as well, but he hasn't done enough Bat-work to qualify as one of the all-time great Bat-artists, IMO.

Batman is one of those characters that I think has been greatly underserved, artistically speaking over the years. I wish someone like Marshall Rogers had stayed on the title for a much longer run. And there are several artists out there that I think would have done a great Batman, but they never really got a chance to work on the character.

April 25, 2014 at 3:04 PM
Anonymous said...

I guess Adams would be my favorite, but a couple guys who I enjoyed seeing draw Batman were Howard Porter and Kelly Jones.
Pretty different styles, I know!
It took me a while to get used to Jones' stuff, but it really grew on me.
And Porter just kept getting better and better.

April 25, 2014 at 5:52 PM
Anonymous said...

Wow some true comics legends being mentioned here. Asking for the best Batman artist is like asking for the best explosive - they're all gonna blow you away!

While Neal Adams, Sprang and Rogers and company all contributed yeomen service to the Dark Detective's exploits over the years, I have to cast my vote along with Edo, my namesake Mike and the Groovy one himself - I vote for Jim Aparo. His kinetic style just seemed like the perfect one to depict Batman in my opinion. Yes, I know, his art style isn't to everyone's taste like David_B said, but count me in on those voting for Aparo.


- Mike 'Biff! Wham! Sock! Pow!' from Trinidad & Tobago.

April 25, 2014 at 10:12 PM
Teresa said...

Marshall Roger's Batman was Sleek and sharp. Gorgeous artwork.

Jim Starlin's batman wasn't Grimdark and yet menacing. I liked it.

John Byrne: Based on the Man of Steel mini, I would have loved his Batman Year One.

Neil Adams of course.

I had "Batman From the 30's to the 70's" reprint hard cover.
I loved Dick Sprang's art. His art was basic and still held up.

BTW, when I read my reprint book (over and over again) I wasn't confused that Batman wasn't 70yrs old.
I realized at a tender age of 7yrs old that it was a comic book with characters that didn't age, just like the Peanuts characters.

I figured that out minus the internet. No reboot needed DC.

April 25, 2014 at 10:37 PM
Anonymous said...

Marshall Rogers first - the architecture; the cape; the ears. His Batman is the one I always go to first.

It should be noted that while his work was absolutely first rate - hence my vote - some love should also go to Terry Austin, who made Rogers' work look even better.

Then, Adams. Really hard to keep him from the first spot, as when I think of Batman, the first two images that come to mind are both Adams: (1) the running shot; and (2) the first page of "Night of the Reaper" with Batman and the tree.

April 26, 2014 at 5:20 PM
Dan Toland said...

It begins and ends with Aparo for me. His Batman always somehow managed to convey someone who was both incredibly physically powerful while at the same time having the litheness of a gymnast.

Also, the man could draw him some cape.

April 29, 2014 at 10:34 PM

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