Badmovies.org Forum

For those of you unaware, Rob Liefeld was a big time comic artist and writer from time to time back in the 90s.  He had a gritty artstyle that lots of artists tend to copy back then and he was one of the founders of Image I believe.  However nowadays, he isn't as popular as he used to be and he is easily one of the most hated artists today.  Why?  Just give a gander at this art!

http://progressiveboink.com/archive/robliefeld.html (http://progressiveboink.com/archive/robliefeld.html)

And for actually looking at all of that crap, please go here to recover:
http://www.alexrossart.com/ (http://www.alexrossart.com/)

So, what did you think of the art?

Fist off, the whole typing was rushed- BLATANT ERRORS!
Second, #20- How the hell can someone screw that up? SERIOUSLY, #40, I can see Rob Liefeld and Frank Miller working together on that, but 20? FAIL!

I tried to click but I got a huge warning sign from my net securitey saying it was a know malicious site.


 :bluesad:

Anyway, my favourite artist, to recovor from the terrible ones, is 2000AD's Simon Coleby:


(http://www.2000adonline.com/2000ad/media/index/progs/original/1514.jpg)

Really?  That's a shame.  Here's a few of choices from the site so you get an idea:

(http://progressiveboink.com/b/images/rob/liefeldgirl1.gif)

(http://progressiveboink.com/b/images/rob/bill3.jpg)

(http://progressiveboink.com/b/images/rob/bill11.jpg)

(http://progressiveboink.com/b/images/rob/liefeld%20001.jpg)

Site's down at the moment.

Liefeld is pretty awful, but he did exemplify a style that was endemic to the '90s.

(http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/stevereads/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/liefeld_cap.jpg)

The sad thing is that he's clearly got the chops to be good, he just takes so many shortcuts and he exaggerates all the wrong things to "look cool." The finished product just looks wrong.

I wouldn't say he is "hated," just mocked mercilessly. Another founder of Image, Todd McFarlane, that guy's hated.

I didn't know Captain America was a D-cup.

I don't know.  I'm pretty sure Liefeld is pretty much hated by most, especially those within the industry. 

Myself, I'm not a huge fan of the guy, but I started reading comics around that time so I am fairly familiar with his work. 

I remember how huge a deal Image was when it first came out and everyone thought we should snatch up all those # 1 issues....hmm, I bet they're mostly worthless nowadays and honestly the comics paled next to Marvel and DC in terms of story. I think Liefield did a title called Bloodstrike which seemed a rip off of X-Force for which he used to do the art...

From what I've heard, that Captain America picture was never actually supposed to be published.  Apparently it was something he just quickly threw together, and it ended up getting printed and put on covers because his work was so hot at the time.  People couldn't get enough of the guy. 

And he jokes about it too. 

I've heard a story where at some comic convention they were talking about the upcoming direction of the Captain America comics, and they asked "What's the worst thing you could imagine happening to Captain America?"  From the back of the room, somebody shouted "YOU could hire some talentless hack to draw him with big boobs!"  and when people looked to see who had said that, it was Liefeld himself standing there smiling. 

Not really.  He's just mocked alot online.  Apparently he's a really nice enthusiastic guy in real-life.  He still sells fairly well. 

Now he's burned a few bridges, but pretty much everybody in the comic industry has somewhere. 

That was my thought. Liefeld is a hack, but he doesn't seem like an a***ole. But I don't keep up on insider talk.

Like I said, the guy could draw well if he wasn't so lazy. But nobody is going to forgive Liefeld's laziness. He's got no cachet. In the meantime, other artists such as Frank Miller are still well-supported despite a significant drop off in quality. The Dark Knight Strikes Again was embarrassingly bad. Not just the bad writing, but the art as well. Miller seems to have forgotten everything he used to know after he released (the admittedly very good-looking two-tone art of) Sin City.

In Rob's universe, everyone was pouches.  Lots and lots of pouches!!  :)

He seems enthusiastic about stuff, which is commendable.  I was a big fan of X-Force and Youngblood.  But there are people out there who vastly dislike him.  Why, I don't know.  Guess when he started Image and whatnot, people didn't like it, those in charge at Marvel and whatnot.

some examples from Rob:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/79/New_Mutants_087-01.jpg/387px-New_Mutants_087-01.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d5/Badrock.jpg)
(http://comicbookdb.com/graphics/comic_graphics/8852_20070814075019_char.jpg)

I'm not really seeing what's supposed to be bad with those, unless you just don't like his character designs. 

I liked his work on The New Mutants and X-Force personally. His style seems to fit well with those characters...

On one hand, I absolutely see where Liefeld's haters are coming from, and I absolutely agree with many (not all) of their criticisms regarding plagiarism, corner-cutting, lack of originality, and general anatomy-related insanity (not to mention the obvious fetishization of gunes, muscles, and pouch-belts, as well the equally obvious inability to draw, uh, feet).

ON THE OTHER HAND, I think, while part of the criticisms are valid, being indicative of poor craftsmanship on the part of the artist, many of them aren't simply because it all comes down to a question of taste and style. You could argue that many of Liefeld's art flaws/eccentricities are more the result of his unique "style" than of how "crappy" he is. Sure, physics don't work like that. Anatomy doesn't look like that. Women do not curve and bend like that and "oh, dear god, where the hell is that chick's ribcage? does she even HAVE one?" Nevetheless, it isn't like comic book art has always been the paragon of realism. Look at, well, just about any female superhero. More specifically, look at their busts. Take a look at just about any Jim Balent drawing ever, and you'll find the word "gratuitous" doesn't even begin to describe it.  Furthermore, it isn't like comic book art SHOULD necessarily be the paragon of realism. Some people like realism, some people don't. I, for instance, am not an Alex Ross fan. I love many of the books he's worked on, like Kingdom Come, Uncle Sam, Project Superpowers, and Astro City. And I respect the craftsmanship that goes into what he does, and I can definitely see why people love his stuff. But I don't. I'm much more enamored with artists like Scott Bisley, Mike Mignola, Joe Madureira, Basil Wolverton, Tim Sale, or Dave McKean. Those guys do NOT draw reality. They draw their own stylized, in a way cartoonish, version of it, which is more to my tastes. I've never much cared for artists whose paintings are photo-realistic, because I've always felt like "oh, well, I get that you worked very hard on this, and you're very good at what you do... but why don't I just look at, well, a photo?"

Anyway, I'm getting off-topic, but what I was ultimately saying was that, hey, somebody don't want reality. Realism is NOT actually all that important. Saying that adherence to anatomy and the laws of physics is importance, that's arguably a fallacy, a false point, and an easy fallback point for the criticism of someone whose tastes or style may run contrary to your own.

Well, that's just my two cents.

Not to say that 40 worst list isn't still hilarious as heck. It is. Oh, yes. It is.


Eh. Could be worse. Could be Rob Granito.

Is Captain America pregnant with a muscle baby?  Holy s**t!

I thought he got breast implants to match his muscles. :bouncegiggle:

#22 gives me the creeps, I won't lie.  The rest of that list is pretty hilarious though.  Dude has one wonky sense of perspective.  Still, as has been pointed out, comics have always presented distorted realities, that's sort of their appeal. And it's note like he started out great & turned lousy like Frank Miller or Alan Moore (writing-wise), or is an insufferable prick ike McFarlane.  Liefeld seems like a nice enough - albiet lazy - guy who doesn't take himself too seriously.

Leifeld doing bad art is not just realism or style.  He can't manage basic perspective (and it is NOT intentional), all his faces look the same, he can only draw from like two angles, he can't draw wrists to save his life, his cross hatching technique is wonky, proportions vary wildly from frame to frame at times, and on and on and on.  Jim Lee had a similar style but is technically a significantly superior artist.