Comic artists & definitive depictions of characters

There was some discussion in another thread about Gary Frank's Superman artwork in Action Comics, and that inspired me to think of a topic: for various comic characters, what artist comes to mind as the one that does the most definitive depiction of that character? Whose art stands out in your mind as "what (a given character) really looks like?

Some of my picks:

Superman: Curt Swan (especially inked by Murphy Anderson). Honorable mention to Gary Frank's Chris Reeve-inspired version.



Batman: Neal Adams or Marshall Rogers





Flash (Barry): Carmine Infantino



Flash (Wally): Mike Wieringo



Green Lantern (Hal): Gil Kane or Neal Adams



Guy Gardner: Kevin Maguire





J'onn J'onnz: Howard Porter or Kevin Maguire





The Legion: Curt Swan or Keith Giffen (Giffen's had so many stylistic changes over the years; my favorite incarnation of Giffen's Legion would be circa The Magic Wars, before he went into the slightly more stylized look he used in the Five Years Later series--partly because I liked the look of the art, and partly because of the cool futuristic redesigns he did on the costumes.)




(Man, did I have to search to find something by Giffen from this era! At least we've got shots of Ultra Boy in his kickass reworked costume...)


Spider-Man: Jazzy Johnny Romita



The X-Men: Neal Adams for the original team, Paul Smith for the all-new, all-different (with strong honorable mention for Dave Cockrum and John Byrne; for a more recent take, I like Frank Quitely's New X-Men version)





The Fantastic Four: King Kirby all the way (though Byrne and Wieringo both did some pretty outstanding versions, too)



Out of left field, I have to mention Guy Davis' reimagining of the Golden Age Sandman from Sandman Mystery Theatre. For one thing, I liked his realistic rendition of Sandman's 'costume' as a suit, hat, and trenchcoat with a real gas mask, as opposed to the deeply stylized 'classic' version of the character with the weird yellow gasmask, green suit, orange hat, and purple cape. Moreover, though, his version of Wes Dodds as a less physically-imposing, almost pudgy, bespectacled type was a refreshing change from the strapping, square-jawed, black-haired Bruce Wayne clone. To this day, most artists seem to go along with the retconned realistic version... and the Simon & Kirby yellow-and-purple tights outfit seems to have been almost completely swept under the rug.





What do you think, sirs?

--g

 

Would it be possible to post pictures of your choices? As well as anyone else who has a pick, if possible.

I don't read many comics and the topic of artists renderings of these characters is utterly foreign to me. But, I find the topic very interesting.

 

Dracula: Gene Colan

 

John Totleben: Swamp Thing, Miracleman.

 

I'm afraid I don't have pictures to post but my personal definitive artists are -
Superman: Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, John Byrne, Dan Jurgens, Ed McGuiness. (This is sacrilege but I'm not a fan of either Curt Swan or Wayne Boring.
Batman: Neil Adams, Marshall Rogers, Jim Aparo, Jim Lee
Spider-Man: Steve Ditko, John Romita Snr.

 

Captain America: Steve Epting



Wonder Woman: George Perez



For the X-Men, I would probably have to say Jim Lee in most cases, but that has a lot to do with the 90s animated show leaning so heavily on his designs.

Batman, likewise, I tend to think of Bruce Timm first and foremost (his style not having any direct comics counterpart apart from his own work).

 

Had to go digging in to the back issue's for names so here it go's. For one of my favorate heroe's It's a REAL toss-up between these three artists. Brain Bolland, Cliff Robinson, Simon Davis : Judge Dredd. Pat Broderick: Green Lantern ( Hal Jordan) Darryl Banks: Green Lantern ( Kyle Rayner) John Cassaday, Jim Lee, Frank Miller: Wolverine. Adam Kubert, Dan Jurgans, Alex Ross: Superman. Sorry guy's, But to me there are SEVERAL difinitive takes takes of these charactors so it's just really hard for me to choose, so I figured I would just vote my favorate take on the heroe's.

 

Spidey: John Romita Jr & Erik Larsen X-Men: Jim Lee, John Romita Jr, John Byrne Superman: Dan Jurgens, Ed McGuiness

 

Superman : Curt Swan
Batman : Jim Aparo

 

DC:

Adam Strange: Ivan Reis
Alan Scott: Dan Jurgens
Aquaman: Jim Lee
Barbara Gordon: Dan Jurgens, Greg Land Ed Benes
Batman: Jim Lee, Bruce Timm
Black Canary: Greg Land, Ed Benes
Captain Marvel: Alex Ross
Cassandra Cain: James Jean
Hal Jordan: Dan Jurgens
Huntress: Ed Benes
Impulse: Humberto Ramos
Martian Manhunter: Jim Lee
Nightwing: Greg Land
The Spectre: Alex Ross
Superman: Jim Lee, Joe Schuster
Wonder Woman: Harry Peter, George Perez (somewhere between the two is perfect)

Marvel:

Captain America: Jim Lee
Human Torch (golden age): Alex Ross
Invisible Woman: Carlos Pacheco, Salvador Larocca
Johnny Storm: Carlos Pacheco
Mr. Fantastic: Carlos Pacheco, Salvador Larocca
Namor: Jim Lee, Michael Turner
Nick Fury: Jack Kirby, Jim Lee
The Thing: Carlos Pacheco, Salvador Larocca
Thor: Jack Kirby
Valeria Von Doom: Salvador Larocca

Ultimate Marvel:

Captain America: Bryan Hitch
Doctor Doom: Greg Land
Giant-Man: Bryan Hitch
Human Torch: Andy Kubert
Invisible Woman: Andy Kubert, Greg Land
Mr. Fantastic: Greg Land
Nick Fury: Bryan Hitch
The Thing: Greg Land
Thor: Bryan Hitch
The Wasp: Bryan Hitch

X-Men:

Angel: Alex Ross, Jack Kirby
Banshee: Joe Maduriera
Beast: Jack Kirby, Jim Lee
Blink: Joe Maduriera
Cable: Jim Lee, Ian Churchill
Cyclops: Jack Kirby, Jim Lee
Domino: Joe Maduriera
Havok: Jim Lee
Husk: Chris Bachalo
Jean Grey: Jack Kirby, Andy Kubert
M: Joe Maduriera
Magneto: Jim Lee
Penance: Chris Bachalo
Professor X: Jim Lee, Adam Kubert
Psylocke: Jim Lee
Rogue: Jim Lee
White Queen: Joe Maduriera
Wolverine: Jim Lee

Other:

Flash Gordon: Alex Raymond

 

Nick Fury: Jim Steranko
Dr. Strange: Steve Ditko, Gene Colon
She Hulk: John Bryne
Original X-Men: Neil Adams

 

Todd Mcfarlane: Spider-man.

 

Yeah, Spider-Man draws the definitive Todd McFarlane.

 

And you throw a cape on him and get Spawn. It's weird how that works.

 

I'd have to go and dig out some old issues of mine to see who drew what, but I really like Ron Garney's Captain America.

 

Yeah Garney's Cap really was kickass back then. Had a real energy to him, even when it there was no action, it FELT actiony.

My definitive Superman: Dan Jurgens.
Definitive Spider-Man: Mark Bagley
Wolverine: Adam Kubert
Wonder Woman; George Perez
Iron Man: Sean Chen (with honorable mention to Patrick Zircher and Adi Granov)

 

I went back and put some pics in my initial post, btw.

--g

 

Mostly the Silver Age artists will always have drawn my image of these characters. The classic characters were born out of TWO-dimensional COMICS.

When the attempts to be "more real" and "grittier" came long, I lost interest real quick.

--Ted

 

Batman by David Mazzucchelli



The Fantastic Four by John Byrne: