Ant Williams on Robo Hunter...

[Woolly]

For my money, Anthony Williams is a great comic artist.
Instantly recognisable style, which works just as well on serious stories as well as 'cartoony' ones, and good solid storytelling skills.
My only criticism would be that his work is generally lacking in the kind of minute detail that would have me poring over the pages for hours. He's also another artist who's work has suffered in the prog as he always seems to be given wank stories to illustrate! (Kola Kommandos anyone?)

As Robo-Hunter is essentially Gibson's baby, its always going to look 'wrong' if someone else draws it. But i believe Tharg's made a good decision on giving the job to Williams.

All he needs now is a good, original story to draw from the word go to let his work shine!

[Bad Andy]

Bear in mind Williams has done plenty of Robo Hunter during the Millar years, so he's hardly coming cold to the strip.

I like him because my girlfriend bought me a page of original artwork of his from PJ and the Mock Chock Factory all on her ownsome.

[Steve Green]

I wouldn't be that keen on anyone other than Gibson doing Robohunter - simply because it's a strip that has his stamp all over it, in the same that way that Ezquerra is the artist for Strontium Dog.

It would have to be an artist who can do great robot designs, and has a sense of the oddball.

Maybe Boo Cook would make an interesting choice?

[TordelBack]

...so he's hardly coming cold to the strip

Well, other than H&S I don't see many elements that carry over from  the old days, but I digreee...  Williams is a remarkable artist in many ways, as Woolly says his storytelling is spot-on, and his recent Dredd was pin-sharp, but I'd also generally be a fan of more detail than he offers.  

Williams seems to give you exactly what you need to follow the story, no more, no less, no mess, no fuss, but sadly no mad flourishes either either - as such he asks a lot of the script, which let's face it is pretty lacklustre here.  In many ways he's the anti-Coleby (who overcomplicates everything to an insane degree, sometimes to a story's detriment, sometimes to its eternal glory), which is interesting because early Coleby had a certain Williams-quality about it.

And it's true that Williamds has been handed some right cack to draw over the years.  I'd love to see him do some Spurrier stuff, where artists often seem to be battling to free a story from behind high-concept high-verbage scripts - it's why I think Lobster works best of all Si's ongoing projects, Critchlow's style is so marvellously clear.

For my money, Williams really steps up to the Robohunter oche, with a style that follows naturally on from the minimalist Gibson of recent moons.  In fact, recent Gibson is not unlike Williams, so it was a good choice at a pinch, something that might indicate just how much Gibson's Robohunter has changed from the madcap style of Day of the Droids or even the Slaying of Slade.

[Smiley]

Y'know, the kind of reasoning I'm seeing on this thread is what gave us stuff like Escape From Bisleyland.

Circumstances didn't detract from the artistic quality of Helter Skelter, no reason why Robo-Hunter should suffer.

[TordelBack]

Circumstances didn't detract from the artistic quality of Helter Skelter, no reason why Robo-Hunter should suffer.

Not following ya here, Smiley.  Explain?

[Byron Virgo]

"Circumstances didn't detract from the artistic quality of Helter Skelter"

I think there's some as would argue with that.

And unless you actually know what these particular circumstances are, it's not really fair to speculate or cast aspersions.

[Bad Andy]

Well, other than H&S I don't see many elements that carry over from the old days.

I guess I meant mentally rather than technically. Ant Williams is unlikely to get whatever the artist's version of stage fright is (blank page syndrome?) as he's done Robo Hunter before. Plus Thargy knew it would be a more than competent replacement as he has the evidence to back it up.

I would second Boo Cook for backing on anything. I'm not usually a massive art fan, as I prefer the words, but I like his stuff.

As far anything else that's happening on this thread - I haven't got a clue...

[Smiley]

Explain?

D'oh. Fair point. I assumed that it was common knowledge here that Ezquerra couldn't do all of Helter Skelter on account of his house flooding. However, that's not to say he produced stuff that was poor (because I reckon Ezquerra's artwork could only be described as poor by comparing it to its usual standard, much like Gibson) and Flint came up with a couple of cracking episodes.

Now, in that instance, whatever your or my opinion of Helter Skelter may be (and why we should have known of Ezquerra's circumstances anyway was beyond me) you still have two artists who are at least generally accepted to be able to draw a good Dredd episode, right? That was a good call on someone's part. Imagine if some perenially unpopular or unsuitable artist like Kim Raymond was drafted in and not Flint?

In the case of this Robo-Hunter (recent stories of which I've enjoyed even if others haven't which is fair enough) you have two artists who are almost synonymous with the strip's best and worst stories. So, does it follow that the historically best choice should be replaced with one of the worst for the sake of circumstances? (Whatever they may be in Gibson's case; and, frankly, it's none of our bloody business anyway.) No. I figure that was a bad call. Just as if Ezquerra had bowed out of Helter Skelter and Kim Raymond stepped in. After all, who could complain? That would have been competent artwork from a reliable artist with previous experience on the strip, right?

Because, even taking PJ's list into account, why not include the options to shelve the strip for completion at a later date before publication or run some other standby strips in that slot instead, or even write it off as a loss and cancel it altogether if it's not going to be finished? That'd please the readers who don't like it at least. It's not as if Samantha Slade's return was widely trumpeted and we were expecting it. Hands up who knew and would have been disappointed?

Maybe the choice was unavoidable, maybe it wasn't. No idea. It could be anything from a molehill like a trivial bit of damage limitation on Tharg's part or the mountain of some whacky scheme to bring back the nineties and irk the purists for all I care.

unless you actually know what these particular circumstances are, it's not really fair to speculate or cast aspersions

But it shouldn't matter to anyone what the circumstances are. And it should be fair to have an opinion based on what you see in the comic (which I got earlier BTW, ho-hum). Yeah, I'm casting aspersions on an artist's lack of style in his work, the wisdom behind choosing that work for a particular strip, but most of all this stupid impression that's prevalent on the board nowadays that every 2000AD artist's work is actually wonderful and the end result has to be constantly excused. Some opinions come off like contrariness for the sake of it, or taking a pop at those armchair artists and see how they like those pineapples for a change, or that there's automatic brownie points to be had for defending or even praising stuff that isn't really very good at all, without a single ounce of objectivity. I don't know.

Where's that Americop thread... Shit art, wasn't it? Well, the artist was ill. You bastards. Probably. Oh, no. The artist was a small presser hoping to break the big time, and by criticising you may as well have just stamped on a kitten. No. It was a seasoned pro who didn't care much for what he was drawing and wanted to wind up the fanboys. No, it was...

[paulvonscott]

Putting any other issues to one side, I think Anthony Williams art is very good on this week's Robohunter.  His Hoagy and Stogey are great, and the art works well as a whole.  While he's been put in a situation he could be criticised for, I don't think that would be fair.

As a strip, I've never been entirely sure either if Gibson or Grant has had their hearts in this.  Nice idea, and nice moments, but it needs more enthusiasm and energy.

[pauljholden]

"shelve the strip for completion at a later date before publication."

That's only viable if:
* you haven't published the first episode already. (and the publishing date is usually quiet far in advance of you getting your copy of the comic, there are all sorts of lead times built into it - so when the first episode saunters off to the printers everything may look hunky dorey for the rest of the deadlines - esp when you're dealing with a long established creator like Ian Gibson)
* the artist WILL finish the strip (maybe an artist is unwell or just unable to finish the work.)
* you have something the exact same length to replace the strip with (there's only so many futureshocks Tharg keeps in his drawer)

"run some standby strips"

See above.

"right it off" HAH!

Not that you have to care about any of those things. As for Helter Skelter, at the time, happily, Henry was (and still is) fast AND reliable and was available. Kim Raymond probably wasn't.

For my money I really liked the Anthony Williams RoboHunter (and, if he's given some time, I think his quirky cartoony style will really suit the strip). Now, I do prefer a strip to have a single artist all the way through (unless I'm the replacement, obviously), but having some idea of how a comic is put together, I can understand why it inevitably happens and why Tharg makes the decisions he makes.

-pj

[Radbacker]

haven't seen this prog yet but did Williams do the Art on the last(I think it was last) non Grant Slade story, the one where the City gets up a buggers off.  If so I think he'll be a good match as I always liked that one(particularly Sams ridiculouse battle armour, cricket pads and all) plenty of quirky droid design.

CU Radbacker

[Grant Goggans]

No, that was Rian Hughes.

Link: http://hipsterdad.livejournal.com/199022.html" target="_blank">Hughes on Slade

[Radbacker]

ah well, face has gone a bit red now.  Which Slade did he draw?

CU Radbacker

[Smiley]

If the lead isn't long enough and there's a dearth of available material, well, molehill it is, then. Presumably that's not worth fixing because everything else works fine by it and it's easier to just say shit happens now and then. Great.

Not that you have to care about any of those things

I shouldn't have to care. Which is rather the point.