Favorite X-O Manowar Artist?

TheFerg714 · Post by **TheFerg714** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 5:22 am

In honor of #50.

I left the option open for two choices. Can't wait to see what comes of this. If anyone's wondering, I threw Doug Braithwaite in there seeing as he did two major X-O stories, even though they weren't technically X-O Manowar issues. For me, the front runners are easily Diego Bernard and Rafa Sandoval, with Cary Nord right behind. While Braithwaite is amazing, I don't think he captured the spirit of X-O as well as some of these other artists.

In case anyone's wondering:
Cary Nord (1-4, 11-14, 19)
Lee Garbett (5-8, 15-18)
Trevor Hairsine (9-10)
Vicente Cifuentes (20-22)
Diego Bernard (23-36)
Rafa Sandoval (33, 38-42)
Robert Gill (43-46)
Joe Bennett (47-50)
Clayton Henry (Book of Death, 4001 AD)
Doug Braithwaite (Unity 1-4, Armor Hunters)

And the honorable mentions:
Clay Mann (0)
CAFU (25 Anniversary Special)
Francis Portela (Commander Trill 0)
Pere Perez (Annual 1)

DirtbagSailor · Post by **DirtbagSailor** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 8:36 am

Braithwaite and Nord.

jeremycoe · Post by **jeremycoe** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 9:44 am

Cary Nord and Diego Bernard got my votes.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 10:02 am

Dammit. I only voted for one.

This is the only place on the internet that has two choice polls, I swear.

TheeBaldMoose · Post by **TheeBaldMoose** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 10:32 am

Guess I am kind of partial to Nord. Met him in ECCC and had him do a quick sketch that I really enjoy.

Just kind of drawn to his art.

BugsySig · Post by **BugsySig** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 11:11 am

I liked Bernards run, and Nord's covers were some of my favorites (though some of his interiors were just OK).

But when I first read the title of the post, my brain said, "Joe Quesada"

grendeljd · Post by **grendeljd** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 11:28 am

Cary Nord all the way - even if he doesn't like drawing high tech subject matter as much as fantasy, he was great on this book. His style is influenced by illustration in a broader sense, & not just limited to typical comic book art. Don't get me wrong here, I love comic book superhero line art as much as any other fan of superhero comics, but Cary's work transcends the more stereotypical look of the medium.

Honestly, I've been mildly disappointed with most of the choices for main artists on the series ever since. With Nord's work, XO felt like something more than a superhero book - it felt like a new classic piece of sci-fi was in the works. Everyone else since has pulled it back into an average superhero vibe to varying degrees. I'm certainly not criticizing any of the artists because of that (they're all talented pro's on the title), it's more of a feeling of loss - there was a potential there that got away. Just IMHO..

nonplayer · Post by **nonplayer** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 1:09 pm

Sears.

DirtbagSailor · Post by **DirtbagSailor** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 1:28 pm

Yup, Sears, Layton, BWS might have been some solid candidates for inclusion on this list lol!

nonplayer · Post by **nonplayer** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 2:57 pm

DirtbagSailor wrote:Yup, Sears, Layton, BWS might have been some solid candidates for inclusion on this list lol!

Yes layton my second vote. Yes guys do a good job now in current Valiant but the oldies really give me a Woody.

jmatt · Post by **jmatt** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 9:23 pm

nonplayer wrote:Sears.

+1

Minus the occasionally ridiculous chins and cheekbones.

What was the name of that computerized coloring system they used on his books? I forget.

Aport · Post by **Aport** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 10:16 pm

Layton
BWS
Sears
Calafiore
Andy Smith
And the best of vol 2, Sean Chen.

jmatt · Post by **jmatt** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 11:01 pm

Yes, Andy Smith!

chriskay99 · Post by **chriskay99** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 11:31 pm

Cary Nord and Lee Garbett for me.

Sadly I'm the only vote for Garbett at the moment. I think he's truly great.

Dallow Spicer1 · Post by **Dallow Spicer1** » Sat Sep 24, 2016 2:31 am

grendeljd wrote:Cary Nord all the way - even if he doesn't like drawing high tech subject matter as much as fantasy, he was great on this book. His style is influenced by illustration in a broader sense, & not just limited to typical comic book art. Don't get me wrong here, I love comic book superhero line art as much as any other fan of superhero comics, but Cary's work transcends the more stereotypical look of the medium.

Honestly, I've been mildly disappointed with most of the choices for main artists on the series ever since. With Nord's work, XO felt like something more than a superhero book - it felt like a new classic piece of sci-fi was in the works. Everyone else since has pulled it back into an average superhero vibe to varying degrees. I'm certainly not criticizing any of the artists because of that (they're all talented pro's on the title), it's more of a feeling of loss - there was a potential there that got away. Just IMHO..

+1 Nord was superb and a great artist to set the tone for the relaunch. I thought he was perfectly complimented by Lee Garbett (my 2nd choice) and I'd have really liked them 2 to alternate arcs much longer than they did. I own a piece of Garbett XO art (the only art I own) and it's really great.

I've also been mildly disappointed with the artists at times as well as how unimaginative the covers often were. Some VEI books had consistently great cover eg Shadowman (even though the interior story was often a let down) but each month I look at the XO covers and they're all so 'samey'.

Hopefully we get more Nord/Garbett art when the book comes back in 2017.

Thegreatmagnet · Post by **Thegreatmagnet** » Sat Sep 24, 2016 3:54 am

What, no Rafer?

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:03 am

Although Clayton Henry is my favorite artist on this list, I have to go with Nord as favorite X-O artist. Can 't wait to see his upcoming Deayhstroke run.

jeremycoe · Post by **jeremycoe** » Sat Sep 24, 2016 2:05 pm

chriskay99 wrote:Cary Nord and Lee Garbett for me.

Sadly I'm the only vote for Garbett at the moment. I think he's truly great.

I like Garbett's X-O work a lot, just not as much as Nord or Bernard.

Donovan · Post by **Donovan** » Sat Sep 24, 2016 2:54 pm

jmatt wrote:
nonplayer wrote:Sears.
+1

Minus the occasionally ridiculous chins and cheekbones.

What was the name of that computerized coloring system they used on his books? I forget.

Valiant Vision?

jmatt · Post by **jmatt** » Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:15 pm

Donovan wrote:
jmatt wrote:
nonplayer wrote:Sears.
+1

Minus the occasionally ridiculous chins and cheekbones.

What was the name of that computerized coloring system they used on his books? I forget.
Valiant Vision?

No, that was something that came earlier with Psi-Lords. When Sears and Smith were on X-O, they used some computerized coloring system that would mimic light reflections with a really cool gradient.... Found it! Ominous Color.

grendeljd · Post by **grendeljd** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 9:55 am

jmatt wrote:
Donovan wrote:
jmatt wrote:
nonplayer wrote:Sears.
+1

Minus the occasionally ridiculous chins and cheekbones.

What was the name of that computerized coloring system they used on his books? I forget.
Valiant Vision?
No, that was something that came earlier with Psi-Lords. When Sears and Smith were on X-O, they used some computerized coloring system that would mimic light reflections with a really cool gradient.... Found it! Ominous Color.

So, basically, they used Adobe Photoshop like everyone else from the dawn of digital colouring to now...

ShadowTuga · Post by **ShadowTuga** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:50 pm

DirtbagSailor wrote:Braithwaite and Nord.

My choices as well. One is the OG X-O artist in this incarnation, and everytime he came back to the book I was excited. The other gave Aric an "Adams' school of thought" treatment, imho: very realistic, and it worked wonders during that Unity first arc and AH.
Honorable mention to Diego Bernard. Kick a** artist.

Ramses818 · Post by **Ramses818** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 1:36 am

I also could name the classics (you guys already did!) but how about some of the AMAZING cover artists? I mean these guys were so on point it was crazy. Philip Tan, Shane Davis, Aja, Ribic, Segovia....such great talent. The biggest accomplishment would have to be Mr. XO himself though right? Robert Venditti.

what a great great run.

AnthonyF · Post by **AnthonyF** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:24 pm

Aja's cover

Cary and Rafa for me. I like anything Clayton Henry does, but my ideal book for him is generation zero.

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