I've been a long time fan of the X-Men and find myself with an on-again/off-again relationship with the comic. Sometimes this has to do with the artists on the book. My top 5 artists to rock the X-Men world? 1. Jim Lee 2. Marc Silvestri (those 2 are ideal PERFECT tastes on the X-Men IMO) 3. Joe Madureira (his work went more and more anime after awhile. And while I really dug the influence, his early work on his run sticks out to me the most) 4. Billy Tan (he's ideal. I see a lot of my number 1 and 2's in his work) 5. Salvador Larroca (I loved his run. Just so clean and beautiful) I also have to give it up to John Cassaday. His run on Astonishing was just stellar. My least favorite. Probably Chris Bacchalo. He has a very distinct, instantly identifiable style, which is good especially for the artist. But his artwork is too clustered for my taste. Yet, he keeps COMING BACK to the book. I don't know about recently, but over the last few years I know he has several runs on the franchise.
1. Jim Lee 2. John Byrne 3. Andy Kubert- he really did wonders after Lee left Adjectiveless. LOVED his Iceman during AoA. An honorable mention to Adam Kubert too, but I heart Andy more. 4. Carlos Pacheco 5. John Cassaday 6. John Romita, Jr.- he had two great Uncanny Runs one in the late 80s and one in the early 90s. He draws a great Colossus. 7. Alan Davis.
Jim Lee- far and away my fav Marc Silvestri had a good run Whilce Portacio- I liked his take on Archangel and Iceman John Byrne/Dave Cocrum they sort of blur together for me can't really think of a fifth at the moment it's been years since I read any comics
Adams, Cockrum, Byrne, Kubert, Yu. Silvestri and Portacio are solid as well Not a fan of Jim Lee in general. Nice to look at the first time, but you've seen his entire range after a few issues and he hasen't learnt much since. Hated Madureira and Bachalo. Can't comment on anyone more recent, Claremont's Neo run was the final nail in the coffin for me.
Joe Madueria... he basically got me into the xmen comics when he had his few year stint on uncanny on the age of apocalpse book. I kinda went off it when he stopped drawing and only just gettin back to it. He is missed though. Him and scott lobdell (i think) were the only team to portray cyclops not looking like a complete twat! But he drew all of them with such emotion. loved it!
See I love Madureira and Bachalo, maybe I just more a fan of the cartoony look. I like Adam Kubert, but he's been a bit hit and miss recently. I also like andy kubert to a lesser extent.
In chronological order: Neal Adams, Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Art Adams (I don't think he ever did the main book, but he did the annuals for several years in a row and that counts for me), and Jim Lee. Last place definitely goes to Greg Land. I don't know how that magazine-tracing hack still gets work. I'd be so much happier if Terry Dodson was on every issue of Uncanny.
In no particular order besides Byrne being number (1) John Byrne Paul Smith Dave Cockrum John Romita JR Neal Adams I really feel XMEN lost its way in the early 300s so I havent been following much since then, though Morrison's new XMen and Astonishing has been a breath of fresh air for the franchise. I will second the statement on land, I hate where they have a scene in uncanny now that calls for the emotion to be fear and the character has this stupid orgasmic face. Total garbage..get rid of this guy.
Bachalo is hit or miss for me. That cover he did awhile back of Mystique and Iceman was a true work of art. And I love Generation X. His work was so ridiculously detailed with weird shit that you really had to study to even notice. But for me, when he does X-Men his action doesn't flow well for me. I have a hard time following the story. And with X-Men that's hard enough!
I agree on that. Not as good on xmen recently, doesn't apply to the tone as well and you can tell sometimes when he's not put as much effort in. But his work, like you said, on the orginal run on Generation X was amazing. All sorts of stuff going on round the frames and leech and artie would be crawling up the side of the page. A spilt notebook, the pages would flutter over all the panels. He really did capture those characters!
Exactly what I mean He's a true talent, with great vision. But he doesn't work for X-Men with me. X-Men should be very streamlined imo.