
Even though Blackest Night started back in 2009, it rounded out its finale in 2010; and what a finale it was. Blackest Night was easily one of the best major comic events of the past decade, let alone the past year, and Ivan Reis drew his heart out to make sure the artwork was up to par with the storytelling. He succeeded on every level, bringing fans one of the best looking books they will likely ever see. His character designs (and even more so, redesigns) were all fantastic; bringing new lantern inspired looks to many classic fan favorite characters. For me at least, Reis’s artwork paired with Geoff Johns‘ writing made Blackest Night one of the most memorable comic series of all time. Without Reis’s inspired hand, I don’t think Blackest Night would have succeeded quite as well.
Rafael Grampa first piqued my interest with a gorgeous pin-up in last year’s Daredevil #500, but this year with Dark Horse’s reprinting of Mesmo Delivery and his stunning cover and Wolverine 8-pager in Marvel’s Strange Tales II #1 he grasped my attention with both hands and rammed it face-first into every glorious page he drew. His is a style unlike any other.
Lee’s art remains a moderately stylized, yet true-to-life view of how our greatest heroes and vilains would look in our world. Through his imagination, our eyes catch a glimpse of the terror and beauty of the stories we adore.
While I love Chris Scalf’s perfect work on Blood Ties, I have to give this one to Alex Maleev. Maleev’s breathtaking cover work for The Last Days of American Crime as well as his flawless work on Scarlet has stolen my soul and locked it in a pretty swimming jar of Pulp and Noir. Thanks for that.
Having just become the regular artist on Amazing Spider-Man he quickly reminded me why I enjoyed his art. Full of energy and almost popping off the page his art is never boring to look at and he’s always been good at expressing the characters feelings without making them look too cartoony.
Excellent. A much deserved win to Alex Maleev.
I'm glad to see that Ramos made it up there…he was definitely on my short list!!!
maleev just traces photos. nice work guys.