COMICS: Jim Lee Reveals The "Impactful" First Two Pages Of ACTION COMICS #1000

@AbidNaga -
Bendis is actually getting his own line so that he can Luke Cage/Jessica Jones DC's lower level heroes.

@Asturgis - This post went far longer than I thought it would, but being an artist myself I love talking this stuff. Sorry in advance!

I hear you, though I think these pages are far from rushed. But I’ve seen what you mean in other work. A few things to keep in mind though: the fact that he draws at all while being a co-publisher is a feat in itself, let alone still finding time to do full interiors. With that, I can accept those times when he does have to rush, on top of always tight deadlines. Though I know not everyone will either know that, or will always see the finished work for what it is. Very easy to lose reputation based on what is the end product. I do feel his rush jobs are still better than about half of what passes for finished. Not many inkers know how to handle his work, that’s for sure. But he and Scott Williams are a perfect team. Pencilers tend to loosen up when they have full trust in an inker. It gives the inker more room to flourish and add their own artistic touch to the work. Another example of this is Greg Capullo with Jonathan Glapion or Danny Miki. Capullo’s pencils have a strong attention to detail. But it has a very loose finish. Glapion adds extra grit. Miki gives it very clean look with stark blacks and whites.

Something that I think is easily misunderstood as well, pencils are basically just a guideline. It’s a step in the process and dictates where the inkers and colorists need to go. So you’ll see different types of finishes from penciler to penciler. Lee’s pencils these days certainly aren’t as tight as they used to be. I think the tightest work he ever did was on Hush. But after so many years with Williams, plus everything else on his plate, he knows what shortcuts he can take now.

Another thing too, it’s possible your tastes in art may have changed over the years. I still love seeing Lee’s work, but I’ve also seen so much of it, I became more drawn to other artists as time went by. And the ones out there that are great, are really damn great.

@DTor91 - Thank you for your post, it was a very interesting read! You say you're an artist yourself, do you have a site or a deviantart page? I'm dying to see what you do!

I've been reading around 20 titles monthly since I could buy them with my pocket money, back in 1989. Watchmen, I think, was my first buy. I was 12 :) I've followed a lot of artists along the years, being a complete comic-book zealot, and I've had the chance to meet and talk to a few I regard as legends, like Jim Lee, Michael Turner, Olivier Coipel, David Finch, Ed Benes, even artists whose style hasn't really aged well, sadly, like Randy Queen, Joe Benitez, or Wilce Portacio. Biggest legend I've met, I think (even though Mike Turner has my undying love, RIP), is probably Ron Lim, followed by Gary Frank.

And today, my absolute favorite artist is the beautiful and talented Nicola Scott, who is an absolute gem of a woman. Her work is astounding. If you haven't tried Black Magick and her run on Wonder Woman Rebirth, I highly suggest you do. Black Magick is drawn in black and white and is breathtaking (the story too, by Greg Rucka, my favorite writer). The work she did on the latest Wonder Woman origin story is incredible. A lot of artists seldom draw different facial expressions, or when they do, the characters are rarely very expressive. Without lying, I think in one issue of Wonder Woman, I've never seen an artist convey that many emotions. Her surprised and amused face when she first sees stilettos, her smile when she tries a cocktail (and not ice cream in this version), the look she has when she's ashamed, angry, curious, happy, worried, it's phenomenal.

I didn't mean Jim Lee's pages here looked rushed, because they don't, but I meant on other things he's drawn (and left, to be honest, like Joe Madureira used to do, start something then bail), he's been very inconsistent. There are pages in Suicide Squad where you can hardly believe it's him, and it's not on the inker, you can see that it's just roughs, he hasn't taken the time to polish anything. He did that too in Divine Right, which I loved. And Europa was just horrible.

About the deadlines, I know how hard it is, but I would argue that artists like Mark Bagley literally draw 5 times as much each month and yet always deliver flawless art.

Yes, Williams is the perfect inker for him. I'd say Sibal would also probably be perfect. I'm not sure if they've worked together or not. i agree with everything else you've said, and it was a very interesting rad, especially the inking part regarding Miki.

Give me a link to what you do, I can't wait!

@duncboy -
I hate the red trunks, but a good Superman story is a good Superman story.