Your favorite 1990s breakthrough artist

[erwinrafael]

Th 1990s in comic books is defined by the emergence of artists as a powerful force in the industry. The Image founders were obviously the strongest movers here. Love them or hate them they changed the landscape of comic books by making the art a selling point for a lot of comic book. Their movement also paved the way for the breakthrough of artists who are now icons in the industry. Who are your top artists who made their breakthrough in the 1990s? Here's mine:

1. Joe Quesada - I don't care if he can not meet deadlines. Quesada is the 1990s artist whose style reflected the spirit of the time (there is no shortage of pin-up worthy images) BUT at the same time managed to incorporate a lot of craft by making sure that his drawings tell a story well. In a Joe Quesada book, every beuatifully rendered detail has a storytelling purpose.

2. Jae Lee - he started as yet another grim and gritty artist who made his name in the John Byrne-written Namor, but I was able to tell then that there was something different and exciting about his art. He improved his craft and proceeded to wow a lot of us with his work on Inhumans, Fantastic Four 1234, and The Sentry,among other things.

3. Mark Bagley - Bagley was like the standard bearer of old school substance over style superhero comic book art in the 1990s. He was amazing in New Warriors and he was one of the few reasons (along with John Romita Jr.) to read Spiderman during the spider-clone era. Then he went on to make it big time with Thunderbolts and Ultimate Spider-man.

4. Alex Ross - Marvels. Kingdom Come. Astro City. His photorealistic art stood out during the era of flash over substance.

5. The Kubert brothers - it is a tough job to replace Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri in X-Men and Wolverine, respectively, especially as newcomers at the time. But the brothers delivered. I actually miss the earlier style that they used in the X-books. Andy was much more creative in his layouts while Adam was less cartoony during that time.

6. Greg Capullo - Greg is an artist who always had a tough assignment. He had to replace Rob Liefeld in X-force, and then he had to replace Todd Mcfarlane in Spawn. Back in X-Force, one could already see how talented he is and that he is more than just another 1990s pin-up artist. It's very good to see him finally getting the recognition he deserves with his Batman work.

7. Mike Wieringo - just thinking that he had so much more to offer...why did he have to die at a young age? He would always be the ultimate Flash and Fantastic Four artist.

8. Carlos Pacheco - he did not start out strong, doing mostly fill in work for the big 2. But then he had a breakthrough in X-Men and later on did one of the best Avengers epics, Avengers Forever. Arrowsmith remains my favorite of his works.

9. ChrisCross - he is one of the most underrated illustrators in comics who, unfortunately, never got his big break. he did amazing work with Milestone Comics but my favorite works of his is Slingers and Captain Marvel. I hope he gets more regular work from VEI.

10. Ladronn - why the hell is nobody hiring this guy to produce more comic book art? His throwback Kirby-esque style (along with Joe Casey's writing) made reading Cable a joy in the late 1990s.

Some other favorites who broke through in the 1990s:

David Lapham, Joe Bennett, Ed Mcguiness, German Garcia (ha, I am pretty sure only a few people know him!), Stuart Immonen (would have placed him in my top ten but his breakthrough was really in the 2000s even though he had a lot of Superman work in the 1990s), Chris Bachalo (the Death and the Generation X version), Mark Buckingham, Ron Garney (Captain America work only), Howard Porter, John Cassaday (Planetary), Cary Nord (broke through with Daredevil), Gary Frank, Travis Charest

[lorddunlow]

Both Jae Lee and Marc Silvestri are favorites of mine from that time period.

[Cyberstrike]

Gary Frank, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Jae Lee, and Jim Lee.

[leonmallett]

Not sure if I could do a definitive list, but a couple I would add to the names above are: Mike Parobeck (loved his Fly run at !mpact) and John Paul Leon.

[myron]

look at the VH-1 artist list and you'll find a bunch of mine...lapham, guichet, chen, chang...host of others as well

[Bone-A-Fach-ee]

Well, I think Jim Lee is the single best comic book artist in history. Yes, that might be blasphemy, not saying Jack Kirby, or Neil Adams, or some other older artist. But for my money, Jim Lee is the best artist in comics. Period.
That being said, my FAVORITE artist is Mark Bagley. Such a soft spot for him in my heart as New Warriors is my favorite all time book, my gateway drug into comics, all because of Mark Bagley's art.

[The Noto]

I think he was doing work prior to the 90s too, but Dan Jurgens will forever be one of my favorite artists.

[Lightning Strike]

Gary Frank, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Jae Lee, and Jim Lee.

Is it just me or has his work been subpar lately? Compare his early work on The Authority to his recent stuff and it doesn't look quite as well

[leonmallett]

Gary Frank, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Jae Lee, and Jim Lee.

Is it just me or has his work been subpar lately? Compare his early work on The Authority to his recent stuff and it doesn't look quite as well

He has commented he has intentionally changed his approach. I think he found the delays on Ultimates 1 and 2 personally frustrating, which may have driven the change IIRC.

[Lightning Strike]

Gary Frank, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Jae Lee, and Jim Lee.

Is it just me or has his work been subpar lately? Compare his early work on The Authority to his recent stuff and it doesn't look quite as well

He has commented he has intentionally changed his approach. I think he found the delays on Ultimates 1 and 2 personally frustrating, which may have driven the change IIRC.

Ugh. I'd rather he go back to his old style. Thanks for the info

[leonmallett]

Gary Frank, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Jae Lee, and Jim Lee.

Is it just me or has his work been subpar lately? Compare his early work on The Authority to his recent stuff and it doesn't look quite as well

He has commented he has intentionally changed his approach. I think he found the delays on Ultimates 1 and 2 personally frustrating, which may have driven the change IIRC.

Ugh. I'd rather he go back to his old style. Thanks for the info

Did you read America's Got Powers? His style in there reminded of his style from the Ultimates period in some ways.

[Lightning Strike]

Gary Frank, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Jae Lee, and Jim Lee.

Is it just me or has his work been subpar lately? Compare his early work on The Authority to his recent stuff and it doesn't look quite as well

He has commented he has intentionally changed his approach. I think he found the delays on Ultimates 1 and 2 personally frustrating, which may have driven the change IIRC.

Ugh. I'd rather he go back to his old style. Thanks for the info

Did you read America's Got Powers? His style in there reminded of his style from the Ultimates period in some ways.

Nope, haven't read that one

[leonmallett]

Gary Frank, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Jae Lee, and Jim Lee.

Is it just me or has his work been subpar lately? Compare his early work on The Authority to his recent stuff and it doesn't look quite as well

He has commented he has intentionally changed his approach. I think he found the delays on Ultimates 1 and 2 personally frustrating, which may have driven the change IIRC.

Ugh. I'd rather he go back to his old style. Thanks for the info

Did you read America's Got Powers? His style in there reminded of his style from the Ultimates period in some ways.

Nope, haven't read that one

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[Cyberstrike]

Gary Frank, John Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Jae Lee, and Jim Lee.

Is it just me or has his work been subpar lately? Compare his early work on The Authority to his recent stuff and it doesn't look quite as well

He has commented he has intentionally changed his approach. I think he found the delays on Ultimates 1 and 2 personally frustrating, which may have driven the change IIRC.

Ugh. I'd rather he go back to his old style. Thanks for the info

Did you read America's Got Powers? His style in there reminded of his style from the Ultimates period in some ways.

He's got a new series I think it's called Real Heroes coming out in March, it like The Ultimates crossed with Galaxy Quest it's also his writing debut.

Another pair of artists I forgot to mention: Ron Lim and Tom Lyle. Lim was a workhorse for Marvel back in the 90s and Lyle was the artist on Robin II: The Joker's Wild mini-series I think he also did some work for DC and some work for Marvel as well.

[AnthonyF]

Jim Lee is at the top of my list, and agree with most of the names mentioned.

Immediately followed by Mike Mignola. Yeah, he'd been around, but his work on Dracula and Hellboy brought him to new heights.

I wish John Cassaday didn't change his style so much. He draws squished faces now.

[Ramses818]

I have to through out a few names....Brett Booth, J. Scott Campbell, Scott Clark..and of course another who was taken way to early, Michael Turner.I agree Jim Lee is the best artist ever. I even told him so a few times lol. I would say though that Jim Lee was a breakout in the eighties. Like Erik Larsen.

[leonmallett]

... I would say though that Jim Lee was a breakout in the eighties. Like Erik Larsen.

Same for Bagley arguably?

[erwinrafael]

... I would say though that Jim Lee was a breakout in the eighties. Like Erik Larsen.

Same for Bagley arguably?

Bagley's breakthrough (meaning the work where he really got noticed) was with New Warriors in 1990. He did some work in the 1980s but those are mostly fill-ins and trading cards.

Jim Lee got attention with Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal between 1987 -1989. And then he hit it big with Uncanny X-Men in 1990.

[kjjohanson]

Dale Keown and Sam Kieth were both active in the '80s but weren't really recognized names until the '90s.

I always like Joe Madureira and Adam Pollina's work, but both of them left to explore work outside of comics.

[grendeljd]

Lots of great names suggested here, and with regards to them being breakouts in the 90's (even if they worked in the 80's) I'd agree with Jim Lee, Dale Keown & Mike Mignola (That style he evolved & perfected with Hellboy is so often imitated by others now).

My other favourites include;

Travis Charest - wish he was doing American comics still.
John Cassaday - *absolutely love* Planetary.
Gary Frank - been a fan since his Incredible Hulk run.
Jae Lee - his might be one of the most unique styles to come out of that period, though my personal favourite work of his was the GI Joe / Transformers series set in the WWII era.
Doug Wheatley - barely squeaks into the 90's, but Aliens: Apocalypse - The Destroying Angels remains one of my favourite mini-series, and it definitely helped land him a job doing so many great Star Wars comics afterwards.

Alex Roth - in my opinion this guy stands alone above any other comic artist from the 90's. His style is a full blown classic Illustrative style applied to comics. Other artists did painted comic work before him, but he is a master, and I think he blazed a trail for others to follow after the success of the Marvels mini series.

[lorddunlow]

Jae Lee - his might be one of the most unique styles to come out of that period, though my personal favourite work of his was the GI Joe / Transformers series set in the WWII era.

I love Jae Lee's work - then and now.

His art in the Ozymandias book (Before Watchmen) was spectacular.

[x-omatic]

I would add Ron Lim in there. His run on Silver Surfer was amazing.

I also loved Kelly Jones on Batman. The creepy and spooky he brought added to the book.

[grendeljd]

Jae Lee - his might be one of the most unique styles to come out of that period, though my personal favourite work of his was the GI Joe / Transformers series set in the WWII era.

I love Jae Lee's sale - then and now.

His art in the Ozymandias book (Before Watchmen) was spectacular.

Jae Lee is having a sale? What is he selling now that he didn't have before?

I did not pick up any of the Before Watchmen stuff on general principle. Alan Moore is a strange dude, but I hate seeing his creator rights abused so much for a guy who has made too many of the greatest comics of all time.

[erwinrafael]

Dale Keown and Sam Kieth were both active in the '80s but weren't really recognized names until the '90s.

Sam Kieth did get recognized in the 1980s. He hit the jackpot when he illustrated the first issues of Neil gaiman's Sandman.

[lorddunlow]

Jae Lee - his might be one of the most unique styles to come out of that period, though my personal favourite work of his was the GI Joe / Transformers series set in the WWII era.

I love Jae Lee's sale - then and now.

His art in the Ozymandias book (Before Watchmen) was spectacular.

Jae Lee is having a sale? What is he selling now that he didn't have before?

I did not pick up any of the Before Watchmen stuff on general principle. Alan Moore is a strange dude, but I hate seeing his creator rights abused so much for a guy who has made too many of the greatest comics of all time.

First of all, on the really weird autocorrect - how did it get "sale" from "work"?

Secondly, on the Moore thing in general - excellent and gifted writer, but with an ego the size of Texas and a really big whiner. I don't know the ins and outs of rights about each of his creations, but in general if he had the rights but sold them he has right to complain. If the property was a work-for-hire then he signed up for it to be used however the company wanted to - again, he has no right to complain.

I love everything I've read from him. I LOVE Watchmen. I picked up the Before Watchmen because I love that story. Most was mediocre, but the Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan series were wonderful. It felt like reading a behind the scenes documentary about the events of the Watchmen comic.