Langley or Bisley?

Darren Stephens · 02 August, 2003, 05:09:09 AM

These last two weeks, the art on slaine has been the best ever, IMO. I never really rated Simon "the biz'Bisley that highly, but he had such an impact on ....well, everything, at the time.

To me, though, Clint Langleys work is so much more than just a flashy style. Its absolutly georgeous to behold. Am i the only one that thinks Clint, really, is 'the biz'?

SmallBlueThing · 02 August, 2003, 05:47:00 AM

Absolutely not. Langley is doing stuff that frankly gives me the same thrill when opening the prog that McMahon's work did around the time of Sky Chariots.

Looking back over the years at how his art has evolved, I have to admit that Langley's 'Dinosty' and his Dredd never did it for me- too much murkiness and curliness of panel. When he did Slaine first though, in the illustative style, all those progs ago, I was extremely pleased to see a different approach taken to the strip, after years of artists trying to recreate the Bisley style, which didn't necessarily play on their strengths.

Mills commented, fairly recently i think, that the strip should always feature painted artwork- but I'd question the sense of this when, for many, the definitive work was done by McMahon and Fabry with line-art. Certainly Langley's first go was a return to something approaching the glories that the strip first demonstrated (Among fan-favourite Slaine artists Bellardinelli is criminally underrated I think, even by Mills).

Langley's return over the last two books has been something of a revelation though. It's wonderful to see an artist who 'gets' Slaine enough to be able to succeed using two such dissimilar styles. But Golamh really is something special.

I have to confess that I was never a huge admirer of Bisley's version- though of course the impact it had on comics was immense, and I accept that I may be underrating it somewhat. I read it again recently, in the hardback form, and it still doesn't quite flow for me though. It suffers from the learning curve Bisley seems to go through over the course of the three books- from illustrative and careful in book one, to a more freeform book two that hangs solely on his developing style of brushwork, to book three, where I think he needed reeling in a little and a damn good editor.

To compare the two is vaguely pointless, as to the non-2000ad fan, like the huge amounts of europeans who bought The Horned God, Slaine will always be synonymous with Bisley. My one hope though is that The Books Of Invasion, when complete and reissued into mass-market editions, find an audience equally as large. They deserve to. Oh, and that the yanks don't swipe Langley as they do everyone else.

At this point I have to admit that I went to college with him- but we were no more than nodding pub-aquaintances, so I have no ulterior motive for wanting his work on the strip to be recognised. It's just damn good.

Steev

Misanthrope · 02 August, 2003, 05:56:17 AM

I am of the opinion that Simon Bisley's work has been vastly over-rated the last ten years or so. He totaly ruined Judgement on Gotham IMO. His work on Slaine ,although good, pales in comparison to Glenn Fabry's stuff.

I must admit though, his work on the ABC warriors left me breathless.

As for Clint Langleys new style, I like it.

Darren Stephens · 02 August, 2003, 06:07:00 AM

Steev, cheers for the insightful reply, though i disagree that comparing them is pointless. My point was that Bisley had this huge impact, but, for me , he really wasnt that great. He certainly caught everyones attention and i dare say that quite a few new readers were drawn to the galaxys greatest, which is great.........but, as you say, he totally went off the rails by the end of it.
Clints work has got better n better on the strip. But no one seems to care that much, which is a shame, i feel ;-)

Richmond Clements · 02 August, 2003, 06:10:23 AM

I agree about Bisley. On the odd individual frame, his work is great, but he hasn't got the consistancy to draw an entire strip. Keep him at posters and covers and he's great, though.
As I said elsewhere, the art on Slaine at the moment is some of the best I have ever seen in the comic... and that is in a prog where Carlos is drawing SD.

Darren Stephens · 02 August, 2003, 06:18:39 AM

Rac, yeh i agree. I dont mean to bash the biz here, because he IS a very very talented artist.....just not in comics! I remember a cover he did for Kerrang magazine, which was a sort of montage of so many characters, from all the big publishers....... Dredd, Spidey, Batman....hell, every great character going. That was such a great picture!

James · 02 August, 2003, 06:35:33 AM

bash the biz

http://www.magicsmoke.net/fnarrr.jpg">

SmallBlueThing · 02 August, 2003, 07:15:15 AM

Am I write in thinking that Bisley was the first artist to be given the opportunity to do fully painted art for a 2000ad strip?

If so, and if my memory isn't failing me over that, maybe it's simply a case of the readership reacting to something so vastly different to what they were used to. After all, what else was in the prog at the time? Was is 'Moon Runners' and 'Survivor'? Now Bellardinelli and Ron Smith are tremendous artists- but i think it was fairly obvious that they were bored of the stories. Compare Moon Runners to Ace Trucking Co (Or Slaine, come to that)- the difference in Bellardinelli's work is notable.

This is not to say that 2000ad readers are capable of only reacting to the art (I've just had a flash that the new Rogue trooper may have appeared at the same time as the Horned God, and that was painted too. Though I don't think I got past three pages of episode one before giving up and not reading the strip again for years- so the standard of scripting is obviously important)- another reason why Horned God was so well-received by the masses was that it was so bloody well written. Some strips succeed in spite of dodgy art (and sorry, I have to say Cabbalistics here, apologies if any of the creators are around) thanks to them being such a good idea, and so full of meaning, in the first place. Horned God is one such. For me at least.

My favourite run of Slaine is the early stuff drawn by Angie Mills, McMahon and Bellardinelli- and I think it's a horrible shame that it's never been reprinted in a lovely hardback edition. Instead Titan reprint, again, the just-Meg'd 'Time Killer'- a series that is not only, by Mills's own admission an attempt to compromise the strip by adding sci-fi style fantasy violence, but also one that suffers from the at times anatomically bizarre (to be kind) art of David Pugh.

Steev

SmallBlueThing · 02 August, 2003, 07:16:59 AM

Sorry, sorry. It's late. I meant "Am I RIGHT in thinking...". baby's playing up again, so I find myself here, discussing Slaine. Sigh.

Steev

Will I. Cooling · 02 August, 2003, 07:15:26 PM

B'ah what's with the Bisley bashing? To me I love his painted work on the Horned God and Judgement on Gotham although I am quite frankly I painted art whore. Although that said I think his b/w work is better designed.

Langely's art is amazing but I don't see at as equalling Bisley, I'd put it second on the painted art Slaine (only seen Timekillers for b/w Slaine) with Dermont Power third and Fabry fourth.

(As far as I'm concerned Birkham never happened)

Now if only we can get Ranson and Ledroit on Slaine.

Will

Bolt-01 · 02 August, 2003, 09:35:10 PM

Langley has inspired Mills to write a damn good slaine.

But McMahon was so far ahead that his work still stands up today. Wish I had some decent scans to show you guys.

Bellardinelli was never reprinted, which is a real shame, as me of his stories were very pivotal in moving the plot along. 1st Medb, 1st Nest, 1st Knucker. A real shame.

Rotts

Queen Firey-Bou · 02 August, 2003, 09:46:50 PM

Bis was Huge at the time ! remember how everyone wanted to be him, then everything blurred cos so many were using his style. some of his panels are fuzzy later on , but yes, that blk & white ABC stuff appeared in my art college thesis it blew my brain so much, still does. & like those Slain posters & covers he did, wow ! the definitive brooding celt. mega-drool fest. I didnt like his Nest, tho, a lotto his women looked the same...

Langley? fan-funting-tastic too. i spend ages glued to those panels trying to unpeel the layers. When the first came up with the idea of puter art i was so excited with the posibilities, & langley seems to me to be someone who has treated it as a fresh new medium, picked it up & run with it ( rather than usuing it to mimic traditional materials). As a fully qualified Celtic queen myself, he gets my seal of approval, last battle i was in looked just like his pix.

petemaskreplica · 02 August, 2003, 09:58:41 PM

IIRC Bisley once said that the reason his early painted stuff was all brown was because he hadn't learned how to mix his paints properly. Which makes it all the funnier that a slew of muddy imitations appeared in his wake.

Slippery PD · 02 August, 2003, 10:19:15 PM

Can I say I dont/didnt like painted art?

Langley, yeah sure his stuffs good, but at times some of the motion is a bit static, if you see what I mean.

Simon Davies, is another who doesnt do motion very well. A lot of his panels seem to be talking heads.

Burns and his recent Return of the chief Judges man, is another. Leather sucks, but his facial expressions are class. Look at his lego land Lawmasters.

But I feel that the painted art is a break from the norm and should be embraced somewhat. But as for preffering it over non painted artists. id rather not. Langley has at least brought slaines quality up.

Yer Slips

JayzusB.Christ · 02 August, 2003, 10:44:29 PM

I like Langley a lot, but I have to say if it comes to a choice I prefer Bisley. While his stuff is getting a bit samey these days, I thought his stuff for ABC Warriors and Slaine (Books one and two of the Horned God, three wasn't quite so impressive) was some of the best artwork 2000ad had ever printed, and I still do.