Wich2 wrote:

Well, this is what makes horse races & football games, I guess.
It really does mainly boil down to taste, I agree.

To me, Joe is THE iconic Hawkman purveyor; one of the best War artists; and among Burroughs afficionados, his classic Tarzan run is considered to rank with Hogarth, Foster, & Manning.
I admit that his Hawkman work is possibly his best, and one of the few instances of his work that I even cared for. Hated his war stuff, hated his Tarzan stuff. I just don't like his scratchy style.

Boy, that's a seed for a LONG thread; but I think you're really into Taste, there, not Fact.

I'd say it's a bit of both. Marvel had more artists that fit my tastes, that's true. But I also believe they had the better artists overall. The greats that did show up at DC didn't seem to last on anything very long. I'm talking about overall issues of good art to total issues ratio.

Marvel, for one thing, was permanent home to such folks as "crucifier-of-other-artist's-work" Vince Colletta, and to "I'm o.k., but mainly here 'cause I'm the Bosses' brother" Larry Lieber.

True, but Colletta did a decent job on Kirby's Thor work. That seems to be the only thing he inked that I could stand though. And remember, DC had its destructive inkers like Jack Abel, who made everything look like his own crappy art. They had people like Sekowsky, who single-handedly forced JLA to be unreadable for the first 5-6 years of its existence. They had Curt Swan, the less talented DC version of Sal Buscema. They had Mike Esposito. Rik Estada ruined a lot of stuff for DC. So did Jerry Grandenetti, Frank Robbins, Win Mortimer, and Carmine Infantino. Al Milgrom peddled his crap at DC too.

The DC bench, over time? Simon/Kirby. Jerry Robinson. Joe Kubert. Jack Burnley. Lou Shwartz. Jim Aparo. Steve Ditko. Bernie Wrightson. Carmine Infantino. Gil Kane. Curt Swan. Neal Adams. Dick Giordano. Dave Gibbons. Mike Kaluta. Sam Glanzman. Murphy Anderson. Nestor Redondo. Etc...
Kirby did more work for Marvel than DC. Created more cool stuff there too. Burnley/Shwartz...who even remembers them? Old Golden Age artists, with GA styles. Aparo was great, I agree. Ditko did far better work at Marvel than at DC. Wrightson was great, but his output was meager. Infantino I think sucked, especially in his later years. His hack-to-pro ratio was terrible. Kane was awesome, but he also did a lot of work for Marvel. Giordano was a great inker, but not that great as a penciller. I'll also give you Kaluta. Love his work! Murphy Andersom was good, but not spectacular. Redondo, eh.

Marvel had Kirby, and most of his best stuff was done for Marvel. Ditko's best stuff was done for Marvel. Marvel had Ploog, John Byrne, George Perez, Marshall Rogers, Mike Golden, Jim Starlin, Paul Gulacy, Frank Miller, Frank Brunner, John Romita, Jim Steranko, John Buscema, Barry Windsor Smith, Neal Adams, Gene Colan, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jackson (Butch) Guice, etc. Marvel had far more great artists doing far more great work than DC did. Better inkers too...Austin, Marcos, Rubinstein, Janson, Sinnott, etc. Also the better writers by far!

Don't get me wrong. I love DC Comics. It's just that Marvel generally blows them away when it comes to writers, inkers, pencillers, and even characters.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted in a profoundly sick society."

- Krishnamurti