RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Top 5 Batman artists

Adams
Aparo
Rogers
Novick
Simonson

Thoughts?

Breyfogle.
Brian Stilfreeze.

Who are the other three?

The definitive Batman, to be sure.

The only one I think could be disputed is Simonson, because he only did a handful of stories, but still milestone issues:
DETECTIVE 443, 450, 500 (and less impressively 469 and 470).

And BATMAN 300, 312 and 321. If there are others, I'm not aware of them.

Making a case for Simonson. The cover for THE GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD (1989). It also reprints Simonson's BATMAN 312 story.

Another famous Simonson page, from DETECTIVE 443, where Manhunter and Batman meet for the first time.
Interesting the difference in styles of Batman and Manhunter.

Batman's restraint and adherence to the law, vs. Manhunter's lack of inhibition about killing criminals.
Manhunter is, in fact, as Batman was in his earliest days, circa 1939--1941.

And what a way for Simonson to begin drawing Batman, in the culmination of the already award-winning
Manhunter series (DETECTIVE 437-443).

The Wein/Simonson offering from the DETECTIVE 500 anniversary issue in 1981.
A pretty minimal story, almost more of a comedy relief offering. But two beautiful pages by Simonson.

Here's a blog post on BATMAN 321 by Wein and Simonson. Honestly it wasn't one of my favorites,
but still nice to see another Simonson take on Batman.

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/3771157.html?thread=126364693&style=original

THE FORGOTTEN BATMAN: SIX WHO LEFT US BEGGING FOR MORE (Chaykin, Buckler, Nasser, Starlin, Grell, Simonson)


Followed by a collection of Simonson splash pages from Batman stories he did.

My favorite of the Simonson offerings on Batman is DETECTIVE 450. To me it harkens back to the very earliest Batman stories where Bruce Wayne and Commisioner Gordon meet and sit in armchairs as Gordon discusses his latest baffling case.
Beyond innovative art, and despite the brevity of it, the story has both sophistication, humor and surprise twists galore in its scant 12 pages. I also love the ending, that presents Batman as a feared pulp-like hero who is almost a supernatural force.

The complete story here:
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-450

or at
http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2010/04/grooves-faves-cape-cowl-deathtrap.html

Neal Adams
Frank Miller
Jim Lee
Bob Kane
Bruce Timm

Y'know, I'm glad you posted that, because I was thinking two names not listed that are vital to the Batman mythos are Bob Kane and Frank Miller.

Jim Lee I'm not so hot on, although his run was probably a big seller.

Bruce Timm is another I wouldn't think of. But doing animated cartoons, he probably has cultivated more Batman fans than all the Batman comics combined. I understand that a huge audience loves comics characters in movies and animated series, but have never read an actual comic book.

Pretty funny how issue number 450 was treated as just another run of the mill issue but for the artwork. No giant sized collection. No special crossover. Just a good solid story that could’ve appeared in any months Batman comic

And who can forget this Simonson Batman cover

That BATMAN 366 cover is Simonson pencils and inks, but to me it looks like it could have been inked by Klaus Janson!



And regarding the DETECTIVE 450 story, by Simonson's own account in the 1989 book THE ART OF WALTER SIMONSON, DC's management was less than pleased with the changes in art style and his alterations to Batman in the story, just 7 issues after DETECTIVE 443. DC even had Simonson re-draw the facial expression of Batman on the opening splash page. THE ART OF WALT SIMONSON reprints the page as Simonson originally drew it. The book is a nice collection of Simonson's early work for DC, that I pull off the shelf to re-read pretty often.

But screw the opinion of DC management, I think it's a great story, one of my favorites.

As sparse as Simonson's run of Batman stories is, G-man, what made you select him as one of the top 5?

I’m a big fan of his work, especially 70s and 80s stuff,overall. I was lucky enough to see his debut on the character in the Manhunter series. I think he’s a perfect transition between the hyper pseudo realism of Adams and the more stylized work of Rogers, Miller/Jansen, Jones, etc.

You're preaching to the choir on that one, G-man, I definitely agree, Simonson is one of the best artists on just about every series he's worked on.

The 1989 trade paperback DC collection THE ART OF WALTER SIMONSON makes that point pretty well, collecting a wide range of his 1970's stories
in one book:

* "Dr Fate" (from FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL 9, 1975),
* the Batman story from DETECTIVE 450, also 1975.
* Two UFM backup stories from STAR SPANGLED WAR 170 and 180, from 1973 and 1974.
* "Captain Fear" in a 3-part backup series from STAR SPANGLED WAR in 1980,
* two HERCULES UNBOUND stories from 1977, issues 11 and 12.
* And METAL MEN 45-49 from 1976-1977.

Lots of great stuff, with printing far superior to the original.

The Dr. Fate, DETECTIVE 450 and METAL MEN 45 stories all rank among my all-time favorites.

Here's almost the whole Simonson story from FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL 9, not the whole story, but enough to get Simonson's version of the character.
I'm frankly amazed a series didn't emerge out of this story:


https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/1st-Issue-Special/Issue-9?id=85367


Oversized sample page:

Sal Amendola should at least get honorable mention if not Top 5 status, based on this one award-winning story from DETECTIVE COMICS 439, "Night of the Stalker".
http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.com/2016/04/batman-night-of-stalker.html

The only other Batman stories I know of that Amendola did were DETECTIVE 440, BATMAN 296, and a few WORLDS FINEST stories.

I love this Marshall Rogers cover. Poster-worthy!

From the BATMAN: STRANGE APPARITIONS trade, collecting DETECTIVE 469-479.

O'Neil/Adams/Giordano goodness, from the climactic moment of the R'as Al Ghul saga in BATMAN 244. (Complete story in BATMAN 232, 236, 240, 242-244 and 245.)

Does it get any better than this?

I feel sorry for the many kids over the last 50 years who grew up without O'Neil/Adams Batman.
While it's been back in print in multiple editions over recent decades, probably the reaction
of most Batman readers to the names O'Neil and Adams is... who?

They don't know what they're missing.


Most recently reprinted in BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS, vol 3 (in hardcover and trade editions), in 2005 and 2013.

Sticking with Simonson picks just a little bit more, here are Simonson's stories from...


DETECTIVE 443:
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-443


DETECTIVE 450:
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-450


DETECTIVE 469 and 470 (inked by Milgrom):
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-469
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-470


DETECTIVE 500:
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-500/37




Simonson's complete stories in BATMAN 312 and 321 I couldn't find online.

While I know he won't have the same appeal to a modern audience, Irv Novick will always be among my favorite Batman artists. Novick's first issue
was BATMAN 204, and for the first year inked by Joe Geilla. The post-camp creature-of-the-night Batman began officially with BATMAN 217 (and
Giordano inks with issue 216), and Novick pencilled most issues up through 266. Mostly scripted by either Frank Robbins, and beginning with issue 224, by Dennis O'Neil (1970-1975).

Novick later came back for another run from roughly issues 310-342. (1979-1981).

Plus Novick's run on DETECTIVE on more scattered issues.


BATMAN 217:
https://comiconlinefree.com/batman-1940/issue-217


BATMAN 224:
https://comiconlinefree.com/batman-1940/issue-224


BATMAN 227:
https://comiconlinefree.com/batman-1940/issue-227


BATMAN 239:
https://comiconlinefree.com/batman-1940/issue-239

I obviously agree as I listed him in my top five. By the end of his run his work suffered. I suspect in no small part because, like so many good artists of the 70s, DC saddled him with poor inkers. But from the early to mid-70s, especially when he was being inked by Dick Giordano, he was top notch.

Yeah, that second run in BATMAN 310-342, Novick's work suffered because he was assigned a rotation of about 6 different writers (Len Wein,
Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Michael Fleisher, Marv Wolfman) with inks by another huge assortment (Dick Giordano, Frank
McLaughlin, Bob Smith, Vince Colletta, Steve Mitchell).

And while it's interesting to see how Novick blends with a wide range different writers and inkers, I think the lack of a steady
collaborative team made this Novick run a bit half-hearted, relative to his earlier 1970's work with Robbins and O'Neil. Also, like Aparo,
Novick might have been getting a bit past his prime.

Irv Novick stories in the few DETECTIVE COMICS issues he did:

DETECTIVE 364, June 1967, 9 pages (the Elongated Man backup story he did, no Batman in the story. But I included it
because it's a rare example of Novick pencils and inks. His first work in DETECTIVE COMICS.)
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-364


Novick covers only on DETECTIVE 373-384, 386-388, 390, 393 (March 1968-Nov 1969) :
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?tid=100871&pgi=351




DETECTIVE COMICS 414, 15 pages, August 1971
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-414

DETECTIVE COMICS 418, 18 pages, Dec 1971
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-418

DETECTIVE COMICS 419, 17 pages, Jan 1972
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-419

DETECTIVE COMICS 425, 15 pages, July 1972
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-425

DETECTIVE COMICS 427, 15 pages, Sept 1972
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-427

DETECTIVE COMICS 431, 15 pages, Jan 1973
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-431

DETECTIVE COMICS 434, 15 pages, April 1973
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-434

DETECTIVE COMICS 435, 16 pages, July 1973
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-435

and one last offering:

DETECTIVE COMICS 489, April 1980
(Batman) 8 pages https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-489
(Tales of Gotham) 8 pages https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-489/13

Agreed. I didn’t realize it until you posted it a while ago, but he had a long career before doing Batman, having started in the golden age. By the time the 300th issue rolled around, he was already in his 60s.

Yeah, because DC largely didn't have story credits until 1969, I initially thought Novick was part of the 1970's influx of new talent at DC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irv_Novick

His career began in 1939!
Nice to finally see a photo of Novick, after having enjoyed his work all these years.

Same here. I figured Dick Giordano brought him over given how often they collaborated.

Speaking of Giordano, I wonder if Adams, not Giordano, didn’t ink the bottom panel

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1358989

DETECTIVE 418, guest starring the Creeper, one of my favorite stories by the O'Neil/Novick/Giordano team. So much that I linked it above. With a nice Adams cover.

I don't really see an Adams style in the panel you cite. But hey, you never know. The way Overstreet points out every issue of Adams inks, even those where he only inked a panel or two (such as, say, WONDER WOMAN 220, or MISTER MIRACLE 19, or the very scant "Crusty Bunkers" artist jams on inks with other artists in books like SWORD OF SORCERY or SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN 2) I think they'd list it as Adams. And certainly, Giordano riffs the Adams style in his own Batman work.

One of my favorites by Giordano on his own is his story in DETECTIVE 500:
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-500/2

I don't know whether to list this as artist Tom Grindberg, or to list this as another example of Neal Adams:


DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL 4 (1991)
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Detective-Comics-1937/Annual-4?id=92549

The complete story. By Louise Simonson, with art by Tom Grindberg. And it's beautiful work, all the way through (56 pages!), and also nicely colored. But it looks like a lost issue of the Neal Adams run.

Grindberg clearly illustrates in the Neal Adams style, but he seems to draw in that style without doing blatant swipes, as in the example of Rich Buckler. Although there are a few familiar panels to the Adams run.



Also famous for his BATMAN: SON OF THE DEMON graphic novel. By Mike Barr and Jerry Bingham, also in an Adams style.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-Son-of-the-Demon/Full?id=44496


And then Barr and Grindberg did a BRIDE OF THE DEMON sequel.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-Bride-of-the-Demon/TPB?id=102187

I haven't seen the third in the Batman graphic novel series, but it's BATMAN: BIRTH OF THE DEMON.
Story by Dennis O'Neil, with art by Norm Breyfogle.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-Birth-of-the-Demon/Full?id=77890#5

This one I've known of but never seen till now.
Kind of a sharp break in style from the previous two.

I found an interview with Grindberg. No surprise, he worked under Adams for about five years.

From the interview:


I figured as much, that Adams demands artists at Continuity draw in the "house style", which is Neal Adams down to the last pen-stroke.
Even Grindberg's signature looks like Neal Adams'.

I'd like to see what Grindberg considers of his own work to be representative of his own individual style, once moving on from his clear Adams influence.
Probably many leaving Continuity for Marvel and DC would say the same thing. Like Bill Sienkiewicz and Rich Buckler. Drawing like Adams definitely provided them with a very attractive and marketable style, but definitely not their own. Sienkiewicz in particular also spent about 5 years of his career drawing just like Neal Adams, before finally developing an individual style. It must have taken a bit of courage to break away from what you know sells, to express your individual style that might not sell as well. Keith Giffen's precipitous drop in quality in 1984 comes to mind.

Whoever transcribed that interview can't spell for shit. It was pretty annoying throughout. Saying "there" for "their" and so forth.

For me the list of "top 5 Batman artists" pretty much begins and ends with Neal Adams. Without whom many other artists never would have drawn the character, or at best, their work would have been vastly different.
Such as Dick Giordano, Irv Novick, Jim Aparo, and Frank Miller. These are all artists whose work clearly evolved out of Adams' vision of the character, who brought Batman back to his mysterious avenger-of-the-night roots that Batman began as in his first year in 1939-1940, before Robin was added to the mix.

DETECTIVE 369, Nov 1967. (Elongated Man backup story)
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-369/24



DETECTIVE 395, Jan 1970 "Secret of the Waiting Graves"
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-395

DETECTIVE 397, March 1970. "Paint a Picture of Peril"
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Limited-Collectors-Edition/Issue-44?id=101153#45
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Detective-Comics-1937/Issue-397?id=5639#1

DETECTIVE 400, June 1970. "Man-Bat", first appearance.
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-400

DETECTIVE 402, August 1970. "Man-Bat" part 2.
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-402

DETECTIVE 404, Oct 1970. "Ghost of the Killer Skies"
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-404

DETECTIVE 407, Jan 1971. "Man-Bat" part 3 (of 3)
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-407

DETECTIVE 408, Feb 1971. "The House That Haunted Batman"
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-408

DETECTIVE 410, April 1971. "A Vow From the Grave"
https://comiconlinefree.com/detective-comics-1937/issue-410


Plus Neal Adams covers on 370, 372, 383, 385, 389, 391-392, 394-422, and 439, many of them suitable for framing.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?tid=100871&pgi=351

And continuing from there, to Adams' run on the BATMAN series:


BATMAN 219, Feb 1970. "Silent Night of the Batman"
https://comiconlinefree.com/limited-collectors-edition/issue-43/18

BATMAN 232, June 1971. "Daughter of the Demon" Part 1 of the 5-part R'as Al Ghul storyline.
https://comiconlinefree.com/limited-collectors-edition/issue-51/5

BATMAN 234, Aug 1971. "Half an Evil"
https://comiconlinefree.com/the-greatest-batman-stories-ever-told/issue-TPB_1_(Part_2)/78

BATMAN 237, Dec 1971. "Night of the Reaper"
https://comiconlinefree.com/batman-1940/issue-237

BATMAN 242, May 1972. "Bruce Wayne, Rest In Peace" (by Novick/Giordano, but part 2 of the 5 part R'as Al Ghul storyline)
https://comiconlinefree.com/limited-collectors-edition/issue-51/26

BATMAN 243, "The Lazarus Pit" Part 3.
https://comiconlinefree.com/limited-collectors-edition/issue-51/40

BATMAN 244 "The Demon Lives Again" Part 4.
https://comiconlinefree.com/limited-collectors-edition/issue-51/64

BATMAN 245, Oct 1972. "The Bruce Wayne Murder Case" Part 5.
https://comiconlinefree.com/batman-1940/issue-245

BATMAN 251, Sept 1973. "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge"
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-1940/Issue-251?id=17865

BATMAN 255, March-April 1974. "Moon of the Wolf"
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-1940/Issue-255?id=17869


Plus Adams covers on BATMAN 200, 203, 210, 217, 219-222, 224-227, 229-230, 232, 234, 236-241, 243-246, 251-255.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?tid=98461&pgi=201


The site doesn't have all the BATMAN Adams stories in their original form, so where needed I had to improvise and link from where they are reprinted in comparable form.

Another for the Walt Simonson collection, from BATMAN 312, 1979.
https://comiconlinefree.com/the-greatest-batman-stories-ever-told/issue-TPB_1_(Part_3)/86

As reprinted in THE GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD book, in 1989.

From BATMAN 321, March 1980, the last of the Simonson Batman stories I'm aware of, that I finally found a link to:

https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Batman-1940/Issue-321?id=17966#1

Giordano is probably the best inker in comics history but his style didn’t mesh well with Simonson at all.