Legion World
Posted By: MLLASH Favorite LSH artist: the BEST of the REST! - 06/26/08 06:56 PM
My previous poll which ends in the morning selected 17 artists whose work is well-known in LSH fandom! This poll selects 18 additional artists who have made their marks thorughout LSH history but are perhaps better known for other things.

You will have to select your own criteria for narrowing down favorites... LSH-only work, body of work as a whole, non-LSH work, etc.

But no one should be forced to bypass a favorite... you have up to 5 choices!
Ooops. You only get one choice the way this launched. I messed something up. MAN, this is going to be SOOOOOOO hard for you now!!!!!!
Actually, the choice was easy: Starlin was by far the best of the artists I knew (and there were a few I didn't).

Perez ia outstanding, too, but I don't recall him ever drawing a Legion story (a few covers, maybe), whereas Starlin's "Murder Most Foul" arc is still a fond memory.
I chose to include Perez based on those covers, that LSH fact file thing he drew for a digest in the 80s, last year's BRAVE and the BOLD Batman/Legion story, and of course, the upcoming Lo3W mini.

I myself voted for Chris Sprouse, whose LEGIONNAIRES run I awaited in a fan-frenzy. His runs on SUPREME and TOM STRONG didn't hurt his standing with me, either.

My 5 were going to be definitely Sprouse and Hughes, possibly Nasser.

I am livid now that I realize I left off Alan Davis.
Posted By: Jerry Re: Favorite LSH artist: the BEST of the REST! - 06/27/08 02:13 AM
This was almost as hard as the original poll. I came close to voting for Starlin for the reasons HWW sites. Nasser was hard to pass up. I wish he had done more. Same for Doran. In the end, I went with Calero. I like an artist who isn't afraid to challenge convention, especially when it seems to have a purpose. Dennis takes chances. His style is unique and innovative. Too often, the Legion is about looking to the past and nostalgia. It was great fun to have an artist who was on the cutting edge for a few months. His issues will always be special for me.
I kind of surprised myself by realizing the choice was pretty easy for me: Starlin. His Legion work just stands out the most to me as excellent enough as to even overshadow the story.

Second choice was probably Nasser.
I chose Dan Jurgens. Really, I think Dan's a really underrated artist, and whenever he gets to draw Legionnaires, whether in Tales, the "Time and Time Again" arc during his run on Superman or even that cameo of Brainy in the most recent Booster Gold issue. Dan just always knocks them out of the park!

I'd LOVE to see Dan be the regular artist on an LSH title if and when he leaves Booster Gold or if it gets cancelled (hope not).
I chose Sprouse. As much as some of the others have done amazing work (Perez), Sprouse's style just hits me the right way (and his Legion stuff stand above Perez's Legion stuff (although who knows once "Legion of 3 Worlds" drops...)
I chose Gary Frank because I think he's technically brilliant. The Action episodes will soon be a TPB hit.

Dennis Calero and Terry Shoemaker also deserve recognition IMO.
21 votes in, and Sprouse and Starlin are the clear leaders of the pack so far.

Perez is getting support, and the more recent work of Calero and Gary Frank hasn't been forgotten.
I voted for Ditko 'cause nobody else will!
I thought I would be the only one voting for Pat Broderick, but I was luckily wrong. I've always enjoyed his unique style and I remember reading his issues when I was a wee boy in the 80s...
Love his work on Ragman and Green Lantern. For me, he is THE GL artist after Gil Kane.
40 votes in, and we have a leader by all of 1 vote. Of our so-far top 3 votegetters, I'd guess 2 of those artists are getting votes based mostly on non-LSH work.
43 votes in, slightly more than 1 week of voting left... here's how our top 5 stand so far:


Jim Starlin's 3 issues of LSH include the very popular "Murder Most Foul" story. Even the butchering of the followup (which resulted in Starlin using the pseudonym "Steve Apollo" for those 2 issues) could not destroy what was obviously a good read.

George Perez is tied with Starlin. Excitement over the upcoming "3 Worlds" mini, plus some great 80s covers for LSH assured Perez' doing well. It's likely fans look with love upon Perez not-inconsiderable runs on books such as TEEN TITANS and AVENGERS as well and that doesn't hurt.

Current 3rd place Chris Sprouse had a nice little run on LEGIONNAIRES, a series (I know from online LSH fandom) that brought new fans into the Legion fold. This might also explain the 5th place (so far) ranking of Adam Hughes, another LEGIONNAIRES alumini. Their work on other popular titles was a big factor as well in the votes they've gotten, I'll bet.

Our current 4th place finisher Coleen Doran has done some LSH issues here and there as well as a run on VALOR (especally the "End of an Era" crossover).
Posted By: Pov Re: Favorite LSH artist: the BEST of the REST! - 07/09/08 05:50 PM
Quote
Originally posted by lil'rhino:
I voted for Ditko 'cause nobody else will!
lol QFT!
Posted By: Pov Re: Favorite LSH artist: the BEST of the REST! - 07/09/08 06:01 PM
Myself... I also voted for Broderick, Ricardo. I loved his work on MICRONAUTS around the time it went Direct Market-only, and enjoyed his LSH run. I remember being pissed when he was replaced by Giffen!
I picked Gary Frank though it was hard with Perez and Calero in the mix.

I just really enjoyed the storey Gary worked on. Perez upcoming Legion work looks amazing but his previous work...i never liked as much I thought I would. Calero (like Frank) took some getting used to but then I just fell in love with it. (Frank bug eyes)
I feel bad for Lee Moder. His run was probably about as long as everyone else's on the list put together! He probably should've been on the other list but probably wouldn't have garnered even the single vote he's got here so far. Honestly, it was some pretty nice work.
I agree that Moder should have been on the first poll and regretted leaving him off.

I wonder how things might be different here if I had correctly launched this poll with my originally-intended "5 choices per voter" option.
Here's my top 5

George PEREZ
Jim STARLIN
Pat BRODERICK
Gary FRANK
Dan JURGENS

But since I could only vote for one, I gave my vote to Perez, because I know he will blow me away with L3W.
Calero brought the futuristic, alternative look to the Legion. While I still love the traditional methods of the penciling-inking-coloring process, streamlined art seems to integrate better with subplots, or one-shots. So it's him I vote. I'll vote for Perez once I see how Lo3W turns out. His B&TB depictions were quite loyal to W/K's, but if that's all that he can do, then that leaves me wanting a bit more.
My fave Legion artists of all time:
- Keith Giffen (GDS-era + 5YL)
- Steve Lightle
- Stuart Immonen
- Olivier Coipel (started out rough but finished real strong...he's still saying he'd like to do Legion again)
- Jason Pearson (#38...powerful, powerful stuff)
Mine:

- Keith Giffen (natch! - especially on the Baxter and most of all 5YL)
- Jason Pearson (gorgeous stuff)
- Steve Lightle
- Curt Swan
- Francis Manapul (yeah, he is that good)
- Mike Grell (because he is, you know, Mike Grell)
- Chris Sprouse

Runner-ups:

- Barry Kitson
- Stuart Immonen
- Dave Cockrun
- John Forte
- Oliver Coipel
- Greg LaRocque (why do people forget him so easily? His issues were rock solid and his Flash run was wonderful!)
Perez
Starlin
Sprouse
Hughes
Doran


are... the rest of the best! Looks like people are truly looking forward to an all-Perez/all-LSH smackdown!
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