Comments on: Month of Art Stars: Artist’s Choice – Kelley Jones

By: Sam Kieth

Sam Kieth — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:20:44 +0000

i don’t think Kelly’s a poor man’s ‘sam kieth’ or … poor man’s ‘anybody’.

I think he’s his own guy, artistically speaking. Your not going to confuse his batman with anybody else – Heck, i could never touch the stuff he does now! i actually prefer his batman to mine. And I’m not just saying that cause i know him. Or cause i like weird art. But i do. Both.

And what’s wrong with a crap load of abs? Course that’s just me. : )

By: "O" the Humanatee!

"O" the Humanatee! — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:17:06 +0000

Bernie Wrightson’s two main influences are Graham Ingels and Frank Frazetta, and Kelley Jones is definitely influenced by Wrightson above all. So there should be some second-hand Frazetta influence on Jones – except that he seems to have abandoned any allegiance to the strong anatomy of Frazetta.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:50:44 +0000

Hmm… Sam Keith makes me think of Frank Frazetta, but Kelly Jones is more of a Bernie Wrightson style artist to me. There’s definitely something in there though.

By: T.

T. — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:54:59 +0000

I think that’s a great way to look at him: a poor man’s Sam Keith mixed with a rich man’s Rob Liefeld. I also dropped Batman because of him. Seeing Batman with 18 abs and a double length ribcage wasn’t enjoyable to me.

By: Busterchops

Busterchops — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:36:49 +0000

Am I the only one who thinks that his work often looks like a poor man’s Sam Keith?

By: Gavin Bell

Gavin Bell — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:31:31 +0000

I didn’t mind him on Sandman or Red Rain (I think Malcolm Jones was inking him back then?) but Kelly Jones’s artwork led to me dropping Batman, which I’d followed from the age of 12. Now that I think about it, that was the catalyst that made me start dropping other books until I went four or five years comic free…

Yep, Kelly Jones’s Batman art killed my childhood.

Dream of a Thousand Cats was awesome, though.

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By: T.

T. — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:16:28 +0000

Sorry but this is the first one in the series I have to disagree with. When it comes to storytelling, clarity, panel to panel continuity and basic anatomy, Kelley Jones is slightly better than Rob Liefeld. Yet somehow he gets way more respect. To his credit though, at least he can do backgrounds and Liefeld can’t.

By: "O" the Humanatee!

"O" the Humanatee! — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:42:00 +0000

What Kolya said.

By: Kolya

Kolya — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:09:52 +0000

Great design, but Kelly’s storytelling leaves a lot to be desired. Much like Bachalo, I guess.

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Michael Rawdon, don’t ask me to choose between Mantlo and Gillis, they’re two of my favorites. On the surface, they may seem very different, but I think Mantlo was more subversive than he was usually given credit for and Gillis always backed up his weirdness with solid storytelling fundamentals, so they actually had a lot in common.

By: Adam K

Adam K — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:02:37 +0000

Kelley Jones is great. His Batman is so ridiculous that it ends up being one of the best, I think.

By: Chris Bloom

Chris Bloom — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:38:38 +0000

I loved him on SANDMAN, but haven’t seen much of his work since. I always thought he was good on the Batman covers, but no so much on the interiors. A little Jones goes a long way for me, I guess.

By: Richard Pachter

Richard Pachter — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:35:32 +0000

The Hammer was awesome. Would love to see more.. Jones wrote it too!

First became aware of Kelley when he did Micronauts, btw…. before any Vertigo work.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:20:49 +0000

Not many artists could pull off a mile-long cape and yard-high bat-ears, but Kelley Jones does, every time.

When’s that Moench/Jones Batman reunion mini thing that was announced so long ago going to come out?

By: joshschr

joshschr — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:06:59 +0000

I like Bachalo, I like Jones. I like them both more now!

By: Michael Rawdon

Michael Rawdon — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:53:16 +0000

Matt Bird: I still have my run of Micronauts: The New Voyages! Lovers of Mantlo’s Micronauts hated it. I thought it was a pretty smart series, not least for realizing that the only hope anyone had of making a successful Micronauts series post-Mantlo was to make it completely unlike the first series. (And boy, there are few writers more different from Bill Mantlo than Peter Gillis.)

Jones’ art had an edge to it even then, but it got considerably darker soon thereafter.

Anyone remember the aborted series Chrome that he illustrated for (I think) Hot Comics?

By: Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom Fitzpatrick — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:27:53 +0000

Enjoyed his series The HAMMER from Dark Horse.

Probably one of the best horror-gothic artist there is after Berni Wrightson.

By: Ian A.

Ian A. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:18:43 +0000

I always like it when the urban legend/horror aspect of Batman comes to the fore, and Jones is a master of depicting that version of the Dark Knight.

Glad he made the list this month. Good call on Bachalo’s part there.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:02:55 +0000

Love Kelley’s Batman look (esp. the gigantic ears). I was very happy to see his style get highlighted in the Batmite episode of B:B&tB.