If it HAD to be a different artist...

[JayzusB.Christ]

Steve Yeowell was perfect for Zenith, but I often try to imagine what it would have been like if they'd gone with the original choice of artist, Brendan McCarthy.  Which made me think of other strips where the artist is absolutely intrinsic to the strip - if it really, really had to be someone else, who would it be?

Button Man, for instance.  I don't think Frazer Irving was quite the man for the job of replacing Ranson, even though he's brilliant.  But I think the Yeowell of Zenith phase 2 could have done it.  Or Jimmy Broxton with a time machine.

Halo Jones - hmmm.  What about Ron Smith? All those normal, everyday people and weird aliens. My mind is breaking trying to imagine it, but as i said, if it HAD to be someone else...

Bad Company.  I love Rufus Dayglo, I really, honestly do, and he absolutely nailed the look of Kano and co., but I just can't imagine him illustrating the grim, introspective psychological horror of the first few series.  I'm struggling here, but what about Cam Kennedy?  He really nailed the dirty, battered warscape in Rogue Trooper, and I can just about see him doing a successful job on Ararat and the weird planets that came after.

Sooner or Later - Hewlett was the man to replace McCarthy, no doubt about it.  But y'know, if Rufus can do Tank Girl so well, I'd have no problem with him doing a sequel to this.

[broodblik]

Button Man I can see that Jimmy Broxton will work. Patrick Goddard is a good choice as well. I am not a fan of Irving's work so he did not work for me.

Halo Jones  for some reason I see Culbard taking it on.

Bad Company if you want to go dark gritty Coleby is the man.

[Greg M.]

For Bad Company to work, the art needs a dose of craziness. Brendan McCarthy is the one other person I think could have done it.

[Jim_Campbell]

Button Man, for instance.  I don't think Frazer Irving was quite the man for the job of replacing Ranson, even though he's brilliant.  But I think the Yeowell of Zenith phase 2 could have done it.  Or Jimmy Broxton with a time machine.

I always thought that with his gift for rendering deep shadow and talent for capturing body language in 'ordinary' people, Pete Doherty could have done a blinding job on Button Man.

[broodblik]

I forgot about Peter Doherty, i always enjoyed his work. What about David Roach for Button Man ?

[Bolt-01]

Peter Doherty is a blindingly good artist, and the idea of him drawing a Button Man strip would be amazing.

[Jim_Campbell]

Peter Doherty is a blindingly good artist, and the idea of him drawing a Button Man strip would be amazing.

I'm sure he must get very bored with my automatic response to any of his (very fine) colouring work he posts on social media being "WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DRAW MORE STRIPS, PETE?!"

[Colin YNWA]

Could you imagine a Henry Flint Bad Company? That would be something to behold... though Henry Flint might be my default answer to most of the suggestions!

I would have loved to have seen Colin Wilson have a go at Nikolai Dante that would have been wonderful.

[Colin YNWA]

Oh and I'd love to see Steve Yeowell do ABC Warriors. There's a specific feel to the Mighty Yeowell's robots and mechanoids and I'd love to see that refresh the ABC Warriors world and its inhabitants.

[JayzusB.Christ]

McCarthy on BAD Company - staring me in the face! Especially since his brother contributed so much to it. Coleby is a really good suggestion too (modern-day Coleby, that is, not the way he used to do the Friday stories).  Also had completely forgotten about Henry Flint, who, as you say, could do most of the jobs.

But he wouldn't suit Button Man - Peter Doherty is a great choice.  There was another guy who illustrated the Dan Abnett Past Imperfect where it turned out that JFK [spoiler]was assassinated by Sinister and Dexter[/spoiler] - his stuff looked a bit like Arthur Ranson's and he'd have done a good job.

I can definitely see Ian Culbard on Halo Jones - or even his spiritual brother D'Israeli.

Also, I can't quite see Flint's art working with America, amazing though he is.  Maybe Sean Phillips, or John Higgins in fully-painted mode?

Can't really think of any more strips where the artist was absolutely essential, but there definitely are more - prog or otherwise.  (Looking at Bisley's Sláine / Heavy Metal stuff, I'd never have thought of him for Hellblazer, but he did a fine job.)

[Jim_Campbell]

Can't really think of any more strips where the artist was absolutely essential

Kev O'Neill on Nemesis? Ian Gibson on Robo-Hunter? I know both those artists were subsequently replaced, but I don't think either of those series would have had the legs they did if the scripts for the early stories had been handed off to Jobbing European Agency Artist #23, as was not uncommon at IPC at the time.

Cam Kennedy's three Slaine covers always make me wish he'd got a shot at the main strip.

[Colin YNWA]

Can't really think of any more strips where the artist was absolutely essential

.... Ian Gibson on Robo-Hunter?

I'm going to commit hersay here and say I thought Rian Hughes work on that strip was almost as good.

But take the point and suggest Bellardinelli on ACE Trucking... and then immediately undermine myself by adding BUT I loved Nigel Dobbyns work on that strip... damnit!

[JayzusB.Christ]

Can't really think of any more strips where the artist was absolutely essential

Kev O'Neill on Nemesis? Ian Gibson on Robo-Hunter? I know both those artists were subsequently replaced, but I don't think either of those series would have had the legs they did if the scripts for the early stories had been handed off to Jobbing European Agency Artist #23, as was not uncommon at IPC at the time.

Cam Kennedy's three Slaine covers always make me wish he'd got a shot at the main strip.

Fair point - it didn't hurt early Nemesis at all to have possibly the best artwork the prog has ever had. But I can't imagine anyone other than John Hicklenton on the two books he did, and I have to say I preferred Henry Flint's episodes to Kev O'Neill's one on the last series.

Definitely would have loved to see more Cam Kennedy on Slaine - the few covers he did were a worthy stand-in for McMahon, which was no mean feat.

Colin - I thought Rian Hughes was great on Robohunter too. Sam looked like Sam, and his kind of retro sci-fi architecture suited the strip nicely.

It's hard to believe that Strontium Dog began with a rotating roster of artists like Dredd. Obviously it'll always be the King's strip but Colin McNeil was perfect for it, and unlike most, I liked Simon Harrison's work on it too. Other than Carlos and Colin, though, nobody ever got Johnny's face quite right,though I suspect Henry Flint once again could have made a decent go of it.

[Funt Solo]

Steve Yeowell was perfect for Zenith, but I often try to imagine what it would have been like if they'd gone with the original choice of artist, Brendan McCarthy.

The spare, clinical despair that Yeowell brought to it would be hard to beat. I can't imagine Zenith with McCarthy at all. Maybe if it was Atlantis-era McCarthy, it'd be okay.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Steve Yeowell was perfect for Zenith, but I often try to imagine what it would have been like if they'd gone with the original choice of artist, Brendan McCarthy.

The spare, clinical despair that Yeowell brought to it would be hard to beat. I can't imagine Zenith with McCarthy at all. Maybe if it was Atlantis-era McCarthy, it'd be okay.

Think it pretty much was that era; though of course it would still be very different in atmosphere.  I can't even imagine Steve's current,  more fluid and wobbly, style on Zenith either - the severe angles and hard contrasts between blacks and whites were what made it. 

That said, I didn't mind the addition of Gina Hart's flat colours in Phase 4 at all.  She really nailed the day-glo primaries of the arse-end of Baggy and Rave in Britain, but switched effortlessly to a suitably muted palette when [spoiler]it all turned to shite* in an instant as the sun went out and the world ended.

*Sometimes literally, according to the newly prepubescent Peyne.[/spoiler]