Comments on: Name that artist!

By: David Wynne

David Wynne — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:30:00 +0000

Just wandered by here, six weeks later…

DanCJ, I’m not talking about Tim Sale’s Deathblow art, I’m talking about Jim Lee’s Deathblow art, from the original Deathblow series.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:04:01 +0000

I have got the Deathblow book sitting in my unread pile (and TBH I might never get around to it) and yes it is a blatant copy of the Sin City style. In fact Tim Sale has stated that when he drew Deathblow he was told to make it look like Sin City.

By: David Wynne

David Wynne — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:56:55 +0000

DanCJ- well yeah, I only said LESS obvious… have you seen his Deathblow stuff? It was extremely heavily influenced by the then very recent first Sin City book. I remember reading at the time that he actually wrote to Miller to ask his permission to draw that way! So, in comparison, the Batman stuff isn’t AS Miller fixated… but yeah, the influence is still apparent.

I’m an unashamed Lee fan. When I first reached the age were I started looking at the credits of the comics I was reading, those comics were Punisher and Punisher War Journal… as a result I also have a lingering softspot for Wilce Portacio, although I wouldn’t spend as much time discussing the merits of his art .

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:50:48 +0000

Mr. Burgas, have you ever read the Batman story he did with Warren Ellis that was in the second â€œBlack and Whiteâ€ collection? That was some really nice artwork, in my opinion. A bit like his old â€œDeathBlowâ€ stuff, but with less of an obvious Miller fixationâ€¦

Interesting. When I read that Batman B+W story it just looked to me like he was impersonating Frank Miller (around about Daredevil-DKR era) but falling a bit short. That said it was still some of the best Jim Lee art I’ve seen.

I do think Jim Lee is a capable artist, but he rarely draws in a style I like

By: David Wynne

David Wynne — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:21:41 +0000

Sorry! I’m a bad tempered old man… and I’m 28. Wait till you see the blog comments I make when I’m 50!

And that’s a good point about it being the short stories where Lee experiments. Which makes me lean even more towards the idea that it’s about the time it takes him to ink his own work.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 01:19:13 +0000

Be nice, David! And no, I haven’t read the Batman Black and White story. I own the first collection but not the second. In short stories, apparently, he’s willing to do some interesting stuff.

By: David Wynne

David Wynne — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:04:43 +0000

Sanctumsanctorum… did you see where the guy who set the question gave out the answer, and listed the comic it’s from?

(clue: Count 8 comments up from yours)

(why yes, I HAVE been called an arsehole before, why do you ask?)

By: SanctumSanctorumComix

SanctumSanctorumComix — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 22:36:15 +0000

First thing I thought of looking at it is a really DAMN GOOD Scott Collins.

Like, the BEST he’s EVER done (IF it’s him).

Then, I’m reading all these “jim Lee” guesses, and I’m not buyin’ it.
Finally some other Collins votes were listed, so I don’t feel so alone out here.

No idea what comic it’s from, however.

~P~
P-TOR

By: T.

T. — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:28:30 +0000

I think what hurts Jim Lee the most is that his biggest, most mainstream stuff always seems to be inked by Scott Williams. Not saying Williams is bad, but it’s hard to separate the two, and it always makes Lee look like he hasn’t changed at all since his 90s days, since Williams was his inker back then too. It’s hard to know what part of the artwork is Lee’s and what part is Williams.

On another note, does Williams do anything outside of wait for Jim Lee to pencil something? What does he do when not pencilling Jim Lee? It seems like he’s only dragged out to ink when Jim Lee decides to take on a high profile project.

By: I am MODOK

I am MODOK — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:10:40 +0000

Jim Lee I believe.

By: Olokin

Olokin — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:47:01 +0000

Lookslike Scott Kolins

By: Chris Hill

Chris Hill — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:36:58 +0000

“Looks like Scott Kolins to me, but what do I know?”

At least I wasn’t the only one.

By: Ditko Hands

Ditko Hands — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:42:06 +0000

Without having read the book in question, I could tell it was Jim Lee immediately – the drawing of the hand reaching out in the second picture gives it away. I remember X-Men #1 (first JL comic I ever read) having a similar gloved-hand-with-piping drawing on the splash page. Now, the question is, why the heck can I remember that and not things that are, you know, important?

By: David Wynne

David Wynne — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 04:15:22 +0000

Well, Lee’s work generally improves drastically whenever he inks himself… I’m guessing it just takes him a long time, or perhaps he just feels too self-concious about the results? It could just be that he knows there’s an inbuilt audience for his established style, and he doesn’t want to rock the boat too much and risk losing that audience.

Mr. Burgas, have you ever read the Batman story he did with Warren Ellis that was in the second “Black and White” collection? That was some really nice artwork, in my opinion. A bit like his old “DeathBlow” stuff, but with less of an obvious Miller fixation…

The fact that Jim Lee is actually a really good artist is probably one of the least acknowledged facts in comics criticism.

By: Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom Fitzpatrick — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 03:45:53 +0000

Jim Lee. For sure. I remember the story, so dammit, it’s Lee!!!

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 03:06:09 +0000

I’ll end what little suspense there is: it’s Jim Lee, from Flinch #1 (1999). And yes, he is inking his own work here. The reason I posted this is because I don’t get why Lee doesn’t do more interesting stuff like this. He did it in the flashback scenes in “Hush,” but it’s few and far between. I get that he wants to draw the big-time stuff and get the big-time money, and that’s cool, but he obviously knows what he’s doing and could experiment a bit. Just a bit! It’s a shame, because I like Lee’s art in general, but I really love it here, and it shows that he could be a great artist if he wanted to be.

Thanks for playing, everyone!

By: Rory

Rory — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 03:00:48 +0000

Looks like Scott Kolins to me, but what do I know?

By: David Wynne

David Wynne — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:13:41 +0000

..okay, I’m gonna go with the people who appear to have actually read the comic in question (I haven’t), and are saying that it’s Jim Lee (I wouldn’t have guessed that on my own, I was stumped till I read the comments).

But I’m going to up the ante by saying that I think he’s inking his own work here (which is why it isn’t INSTANTLY recognisable as him, since most of the surface elements we generally associate with his work are actually down to his usual inker Scott Williams).

Am I right? Wrong?

By: Da Fug

Da Fug — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:09:24 +0000

As a person who hasn’t read a Jim Lee comic in a year or more (and as someone who doesn’t have much of an eye for art), I would say the only thing that really gives this away as Jim Lee is the young cop in the last panel of the bottom sequence.

By: Ian Astheimer

Ian Astheimer — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 23:40:16 +0000

That’s Jim Lee? Damn, that’s the best Jim Lee art I’ve ever seen. I thought it was, like, Jorge Lucas or Ariel Olivetti or somebody.