I’m the other guy who won the First contest with Steve. I drew a back-up story for First also (published in Badger #47 I think), but I blew my deadlines pretty badly (in my own lame defense, I got married, went on my honeymoon, and moved in the middle of pencilling and inking it). Anyhow, I didn’t get any more work from First and got pretty discouraged in regards to pursuing a comic career. Haven’t drawn many comics since: I assisted Bob Burden on some issues of the Flaming Carrot, wrote and drew some stories for a humor mag called Thwak, and drew a few stories for Cracked magazine. My day job is doing t-shirt art, been doing that for over 22 years now.
Steve, I’ve just got to say that I’ve been amazed by following your growth as an artist and your stellar career and I think you are one of the best superhero artists in comics today! Hats off to you, sir and keep up the GREAT work!

And technically, he wasn’t a sidekick. He was a mechanic at Ferris, where Hal Jordan worked.

Or did you cover this already as well?

I only started reading at about 90 or so and have only had limited time to catch up.

However since writers write because they must, (ask any writer,) it would probably remiss for any author to leave any good idea unresolved.

Bobb

That’s totally worth it. I’ll stop defending an artist whose work I don’t even follow just so I don’t have to listen to you making fun of said artist. IT’S A DEAL!

Man-Thing debut was early 70′s (I want to say 72ish) D&D debut was ’74, the first Monster Manual was published ’78, so Man-Thing definitely came first.

Oh come on. Did Rob come to your house and kick your dog or something? The man has the right to earn a living. If you don’t like his work – don’t buy it. VERY simple.

Well, thanks for the condescending advice, but I already do that. I CAN make fun of his art without paying for it, y’know.

And we’re not talking about earning a living. No one’s stopping Mr. Liefeld from taking a job as a bank teller, etc. We’re talking about a guy who can’t draw for shit, selling his drawings. I will always make fun of deluded people.

Tell you what. I’ll stop making fun of him when you stop defending him. ‘Cause it’s not like either one of us is more JUSTIFIED or anything.

And yeah, Rob’s strong suit was never anatomy. He’s an idea man, not a craftsman. Same thing with Kirby. Not saying Liefeld is even remotely in the same league, but they’re in the same category of artist.

No, he’s not an idea man, either. You have to actually have ideas to qualify for that, not just riff on pre-established characters and tired themes.

Here’s why they’re not in the same category of artist: Kirby had an idosyncratic style that complemented the things he usually drew, which caught the collective eye of the community and led to him being considered one of the greatest.

Liefeld had a style which was very similar to a number of other artists working at the same time, that he adapted pre-established characters to fit, which is widely considered a standard of low quality.

It doesn’t matter if neither of them were photo-realistic, they’re leagues apart.

I think great inkers can have a huge impact (and Kesel’s a good one). I remember reading Legion of Superheroes when Brandon Peterson was doing the art (with Al Gordon inking) and thinking he was superb. Then Peterson moved onto Uncanny X-Men (for the X-Cutioners Song) and I couldn’t believe the change – he just seemed so scratchy and substandard…

Or maybe because mr. Jones knows something called distorted perspective instead of raping it like mr. Liefeld. And anatomy, let’s not forget that mr. Liefeld gave captain America .

To compare Liefeld with Jones is like comparing mämmi with pancakes.

Dan

And that would also explain why Kelly Jones DOESN’T catch the flak like Rob does.

Remember the Hawk & Dove mini-series done years ago? That was Rob’s big break. If you look at it, the art is great, anatomy, perspective, & backgrounds are all there… What happened? Does anyone know what made him change styles so radically?

Leifeld started as basic hack and never altered.
(Except to get worse)

That’s the difference between the two.

~P~
P-TOR

Let’s Thor, Captain Americ…. I mean, Agent AMeri… I mean, the Fighting American, Superma…. Supreme, Wonder Woman…. wait, Glory.

Still, it may of been better than the ‘New’ Avengers.

Skrulls! AH!

Equine manure.

I don’t think Malibu was trying to get someone to buy them. That’s what ultimately happened, of course, but Marvel wanted to buy out the competition and gain their color process. Malibu had a respectable market share and some pretty big names working on their stuff including Barry Windsor-Smith, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, James Robinson, George Perez, and others. They also offered an equity stake in the characters and concepts, which was pretty cool. Eventually Marvel will bring them back, possible after they have approached the creators in question and put together a new contract with some type of royalty system that won’t have them lose as much money with the idea that half a loaf is better than none. Malibu was more “Marvel” than Marvel was at the time. Their stuff was of higher quality and more geared toward the younger demographic that Marvel wasn’t selling as well to, IMO.