the art of the umbrella academy vs the art of, apparently, the remainder of the industry...

[cimorene]

The tough thing about letting The Umbrella Academy be my introduction to comics wasn't the writing. I could tell right off that it was excellent and, after all, bad writing is no surprise to you if you've ever read books, let alone fanfiction.

No, the tough thing is that Gabriel Bá's art is not only excellent - execution-wise it's probably in the top 1% - but also has an incredibly distinct style, and its uniqueness, aside from being memorable and full of character, is imaginative and playful.

If you search about for another comic to flip through, the art is not only a step down in quality (and that's even when the second GN my wife bought was Watchmen), but a disappointing step back into a more formulaic system of imagery. Way and Bá play with the genre and are masters of it; most comics I've picked up and flipped through (the ones I've read are much fewer, mainly for feminist reasons having nothing to do with the art) plod dully along within the genre, mistaking it for the limits of possibility, not even realizing what they're doing - like plebefic.

Some of the books Wax has bought have had nice art. We recently bought Volume 1 of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, which has some stunning visual design and blocking in the lines and ink, but possibly the worst, most repulsive coloring imaginable. (effex tells me the early volumes were re-colored in later editions, and we will have to be careful to purchase those if possible, now.) And I just got Volume 1 of newish Vertigo title Madame Xanadu, which has really beautiful line-art & coloring by Amy Reeder Hadley and Guy Major. We've also bought a special GN of Witchblade set in feudal Japan drawn not too badly by [I had to go check] Billy Tan, with some truly excellent coloring by Steve Firchow.

But none of these I've seen have so far approached the innovation and the sheer coolness of Bá's deliberately stylized noir approach, which reminds me of Batman: The Animated Series from my childhood (which received design awards at the time, I believe). (I'm sure there are other genius artists working in the industry whose work I have not happened to encounter, and this is not a cry for recs, because I still don't intend to explore comics widely and certainly not on the basis of art. I try not to buy books that don't pass the Bechdel test, for one thing, and I prefer to save most of my book budget for female protagonists.)

Comments

[effex]

Looked up the new Sandman books. The series was (re)collected into 4 books: the Absolute Sandman One, Two, Three, and four. Seems like only the first 18 issues were recolored (looks good, though).

If you're looking for comics with amazing art and a decent story, I'd suggest giving the current run of Detective Comics (starting from #854) a look.

[cimorene]

Oh, bummer! My UK bookdealer is out of the first two volumes of it. If only 18 issues are recolored, that's 2 volumes, I think, so only the first one would really be necessary anyway. Well, maybe someday it will be restocked...

[l_elfie]

i would add that it's only really the earlier issues of sandman that would need to be recolored. as the series progresses, certain arcs get very distinctive artists and excellent coloring (i'm thinking of the kindly ones and the wake).

anyway, i agree re: gabriel ba's artwork. i remember reading the first preview on myspace or whatever, and being weirded out by it because it was so different, but ultimately the artwork became the selling point for me (the story feels too "typical" somehow, for me, but i also don't usually buy single issues at a time so that could be part of it, too). often, even really excellent artists of more mainstream-style comics (like fables, for example) still mostly work in a typical semi-realistic style, and are not nearly as imaginative or emphatic in the gesturing.

[effex]

Truth about the art in general - there are a couple of artists I really like (Adrian Alphona on Runaways, Rafael Albuquerque on Blue Beetle, etc), but even their mainstream work is best described as 'serviceable.' If you want comic art that's more integrated into the storytelling process/experimental, you have to look to the smaller/indie presses. Although, Cim, phosfate below is right - The Watchmen, Sandman, etc, are older titles and not typical of the current art style - I'd cruise scans_daily, Project Rooftop, and a random sampling of previews for the full picture. *cough* If, you know. That's what you want to do.

...Maybe some of Mignola's work? Shoot, all my comics are at home*.

* If you don't want me to spam you when I get home, better let me know now. I can't help myself.

[phosfate]

Watchmen is 20 years old, and was meant to look a bit retro even when it was brand new. Try Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot, the Moomin comics by Tove Janssen (old, but really lovely moody art), or In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman.

[msilverstar]

Check out _ming's comic art, she's amazing!

[cesare]

Kabuki by David Mack has a female protagonist, an almost all-female cast, and stylized, beautiful art, especially once it goes color in the Skin Deep storyline and afterward; it's mostly painted, and looks very different from typical comic art. I think it's probably the most beautiful and thoughtfully designed series being made.

On the other hand, as you can guess by the dude's name, he's a white guy writing about an Asian female protagonist and there's plenty to criticize on the grounds of stereotyping and appropriation. I think he gets better over time, but it's still an issue.

[retrofit]

I can never make up my mind whether I _like_ this guy's _books_, but his artwork is one of the pros on my list - he paints the pages. With a brush, and all.
http://www.nocturnals.com/?q=node/107

Pros: usually-positively-portrayed female characters, lack of assholity from sympathetic male characters, nifty character naming (of course "Eve" would be short for "Evening", if your dad's name is "Doc Horror", interesting _ideas_, sometimes, and always the art (except for that one ugly orange-and-black section).

Cons: in many ways, its a horror comic - at the very least, gothic and/or grotesque, which is not usually my thing. The protagonist-type characters do usually have fairly stereotypically comics-y body types. The plots are sometimes difficult to piece together.

Pro-again: despite the horror themes, usually not gory, which makes up a ot of the ground that would be lost to that, for me.

Anyway. I keep meaning to check out Umbrella Academy. Was about to go walk over to the neighborhood independent comic store. Maybe I will see if they've got any. Thanks for the reminder!

[prysmicdork]

Seconding the Kabuki recommendation (along the with the caveats.

On the superhero side I've found Wonder Woman to be really good lately, it's being written by a woman, Gail Simone, who has a really fun playful style (and before that she wrote on another DC book, Birds of Prey, which is about an all female superhero team, but I've read much less of that).
The biggest problem I've had with it is that this isn't an offshoot title, and there was no reboot when she took over, so often stories deal with WW's incredibly long, convoluted and sometimes deeply silly back story. And the art has been consistently good to decent (the regular artist is good, but like all monthlies there are fill ins).

Oh! Gail Simone also wrote a limited somewhat original series in the Wildstorm universe called Welcome to Tranquility, with a female cop protagonist, who is the Sheriff of a little town where everyone is a retired superhero or one of their decedents. It's snappy and the art is very good. (that description is probably not doing it justice)