Word for this vote - IMPOSSIBLE
Two artists who I think most of you wanted to be in the final (sorry!) - but whose work do you prefer?
Carlos Ezquerra - more info (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=CARLOSE)
OR
Kev O'Neill - more info (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=KEVINO)
Alas we have to pick our favourite and to do so just pop the name of the art droid you'd most like to go through to the Semi Finals, but please add anything else you'd like to say as well.
This one will close and be counted on the morning of Sunday 31st January
What the hell is all this? Find out more about the Art Droid Tourneys and Quarter Finals (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47294.0)
Who made the 32 in both tourneys?
Entrants in the Current Art Droids Tourney (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47044.msg1042917#msg1042917)
Entrants in the Classic Art Droids Tourney (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47044.msg1042893#msg1042893)
Rules for what they are worth (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47294.msg1050982#msg1050982)
Anything else just ask and I'll make something up.
Carlos Ezquerra! Probably easier for me than it should be...but nobody tops king Carlos! Co-creator of my two favorites, Dredd Strontium Dog, nobody does it better.
There are artists whose work appears in 2000AD. Then there are artists who are 2000AD and Kev O'Neill is in that rarified elite band. And then there's Carlos Ezquerra.
As much as Kevin O'Neill is brilliant and has given us iconic work I have to give it to Carlos for the sheer breadth and longevity of his work. It's not just Dredd and Stront, but the Stainless Steel Rat, Al's Baby, Fiends of the Eastern Front, Cursed Earth Koburn, Spector and many more.
Plus his Starlord Strontium Dog was hugely responsible for getting me into comics in the first place.
Probably the two I find it most difficult to choose between; I was dreading this decision. Kev O'Neill is such a legendary artist and, page-for-page, the artist I've spent most time absorbed by. His early Nemesis especially grabbed me by the brain and never let go, for which I'll always be grateful. There's so little separating my Top Three - O'Neill, McMahon and Ezquerra - that it's just painful to rank one above the other since they've all done so much, so well. In the end though it can't be anyone other than Carlos who gets my vote here. My journey with 2000AD began with Starlord and the reason for that was Strontium Dog and Carlos, and he deserves every bit of praise that's heaped upon him. There are just too many incredible stories to his name and the level of consistency and productivity he maintained is just mindblowing.
Carlos
It took a while for me to "get" him, but once it fell into place it was Kev who brought wide-eyed amazement to the Prog. I'm confident Carlos will take the popular vote though.
Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Ezquerra.
Carlos is King for so many reasons, but for such tremendous work on Nemesis books 1 and 3 I'm voting for Kevin O'Neill.
This is a terrible choice to force on us so early!
As much as I think Kevin O'Neill better defines 2000ad in its early days anarchic glory, the character of Carlos Ezquerra just pips it. How could I vote against someone who managed to allow us to at least find something positive to say about the Millar Dredd stories?
Really the gold standard of the prog. It would not be the same without them. I am voting Carlos Ezquerra as Necropolis was my entry into Dredd.
Early Nemesis is among some of the most stunning art to ever appear in the Prog, and there's no doubting O'Neill's style was unique; but I was less keen on his later stuff, and honestly wish Flint had been able to complete Book X of Nemesis.
Ezquerra, though, had an extraordinary tenure in the Prog. And despite some dodgy flirting with horrible computer colouring for a period, has a body of work that is unparalleled in the Prog and deeply under-appreciated in the wider comics world. His Dredd was fantastic; his Strontium Dog was amazing. His chunky line and gritty art style were perfectly suited to those strips, but other 2000 AD outings showed he had range.
What's interesting about this pairing is neither artist really has any modern-day equivalent. Sure, there are echoes of O'Neill in Henry Flint, and early Colin MacNeil B+W art owed a debt to Ezquerra. But these were largely two unique voices in the Prog, now both sadly lost.
On balance, due to a combination of quality and quantity, my vote has to go to Ezquerra.
Kev O'Neill
Kev O'Neill -- Stevie's absolute & all-time favourite comic book artist
Carlos. Because no one else comes close, not even the Mighty Kev. Although Kev comes closer than most.
SBT
It's telling that the only negative i can come up with for Ezquerra is that he couldn't draw Feral.
Quote from: credo on 28 January, 2021, 12:13:04 PM
It's telling that the only negative i can come up with for Ezquerra is that he couldn't draw Feral.
I've always though he wouldn't have been able to do Slaine either. And IMO that's borne out by the scenes with the historic Vikings being amongst the weakest he has ever done. But it's a style thing not a quality thing. Not sure Kev could have done Slaine either.
Anyway looking for weakness in either is like the damage that happens to a train travelling at 100 MPH when a fly hits it 😉.
While it kills me to vote against one of the best we'll ever have, Kev O'Neill wins it for a style that was like nothing before or since (except for Henry's homage on the last Nemesis book, of course).
kevin
Vote for me or mister nice guy below will get you:
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e6/4d/b9/e64db9db9836a8ba5864b1c49b06e8ab.jpg)
Some Dredd action:
(https://i0.wp.com/www.comicon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/newdredd.jpg?resize=692%2C1024&ssl=1)
(https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/w_768+q_lossless+ret_img+to_webp/https://comic-watch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ezquerra-jd.jpg)
Quote from: broodblik on 28 January, 2021, 01:28:48 PM
Vote for me or mister nice guy below will get you:
I'm surprised you didn't use an actual Kev O'Neill image to illustrate your point but hey :lol:
(https://i.imgur.com/uqpCklS.jpg)
I was going to say Kevin O'Neill and then you posted that. Carlos.
Ezquerra.
Carlos.
No need for words.
(https://neotextcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DreddApocalypseWar.jpg)
Been ruminating on this one all day. I've been given to one-word answers to these artist polls lately because it's so much about personal taste - but this choice seems different. They're just objectively great artists, aren't they?
O'Neill was one of the key gateway drugs into 2000AD for me. He's also an artist who has, to an extent, shifted styles a couple of times across the decades. His early stuff is kinda shonky, and his later stuff is a bit too sedate. But his mid-period stuff - THAT stuff is literal nightmare/dream fuel. It's operating on the level of best comics art all time ever.
Ezquerra meanwhile has been about the most consistent artist, certainly from his 2000AD/Starlord days on. And it's worth noting that his consistency includes being among the very best storyteller and character/world designers ever. But he's not my favourite at drawing characters created by other artists, which he's had to do a bunch with Dredd villains.
Ultimately I guess it's between who produced the most high points, and who the highest high points.
And for that, I'm voting Kev O'Neill.
Quote from: ming on 28 January, 2021, 02:02:24 PM
Quote from: broodblik on 28 January, 2021, 01:28:48 PM
Vote for me or mister nice guy below will get you:
I'm surprised you didn't use an actual Kev O'Neill image to illustrate your point but hey :lol:
Let's fix this - Vote O'Neill or your dreams will be invaded by just gentle soul:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5ey1GcW0AEginE.jpg:large)
It has to be Carlos. I'll read pretty much anything he illustrates, and there are very few artists I'd say that about. His death saddened me greatly, more than for other creators that have passed in recent years. I always felt a sense of occasion when he did a Dredd, a feeling that this story meant more (even if it was a throwaway one off). And who doesn't love an Ezquerra lady?
Kev I admire more than love. His stuff is great, but often a bit too spiky for my liking.
Kevin O'Neill has always stunned and entertained. He's a unique talent, has been from the start. I've always gotten a thrill from turning the pages of his work. Nemesis, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Marshall Law; spinetingling stuff. Nevermind the fact that he set the visual agenda for the prog from the start.
BUT
Carlos's work just has the feels. Its alive. Blood flows in his characters. Its Carlos Ezquerra for me.
Kevin 'Kingslayer' O'Neill.
And may Grud have mercy on my soul.
Quote from: Magnetica on 28 January, 2021, 07:35:15 AM
I have to give it to Carlos for the sheer breadth and longevity of his work. It's not just Dredd and Stront, but the Stainless Steel Rat, Al's Baby, Fiends of the Eastern Front, Cursed Earth Koburn, Spector and many more.
Well said!
Carlos for me. If anything more for Strontium Dog than for Dredd. A wonderful artist.
Kevin is obviously a legend as well though. You can't deny that.
Perhaps there should be a rule for these knockout comps... if you win one year, you can't be included the next... that should lead to Carlos only winning every second year...
Holy sneck! I can't bring myself to vote against either of these two titans, but I am going to vote for one of them.
Very difficult to even compare the two styles. I've been trying to do some imaginary artist swaps on their greatest works, but I think, uniquely, that neither could do what the other did. Both utterly essential to 2000AD, and yet so different.
Ezquerra has perfect storytelling, layout, and action. Totally authoritive and definitive on Dredd *and* Strontium Dog. O'Neill is crazy spiky alien imagination gone wild. His Nemesis work is mind blowing.
In the early 2000s there were two hardback b+w editions of the Apocalypse War and Nemesis books 1-3 that I was desperate to buy. The only way I can split these two maestros is to pick the book I ordered first: Kevin O'Neill's Nemesis.
O'Neill is my choice today.
I love, love, love O'Neill, I will instantly buy literally anything he touches with the twisted implements of his art. I maintain that Nemesis balancing on a thrown spear in Book III was the first time I noticed that comics art was something more than cool pictures illustrating a story, in the manner of Count Curly Wee or Rupert, but something in and of itself that you could just stare at for hours.
But Carlos Ezquerra is everything.
Kev's work rightly getting platitudes here but Carlos is king.
Nothing else I can say in praise of it that hasn't already been said really, his art embodies 2000AD for me and my love for it is deep and enduring. My vote is for Carlos please Colin.
There are quite a few times during Colin's tourneys where I don't mind at all if my choice doesn't win. This is definitely one of them (I picked Kev, and felt like a right bastard for doing so).
Last day of this final before the final (maybe). If you want to change the result, or just celebrate the magnificent artists here get your vote in today and I'll announce the winner in the morning.
VOTING CLOSED
Well is that the tournament. I kinda thought Carlos would ge this one - though see my predictions thus far! - but didn't quite see this margin. Its not that the magnificent and terrifying Kev O'Neill didn't get plenty of votes - he'd have have got mine - he did. Still though our King ran away with the popular vote.
When we started this this someone said shouldn't I exclude Carlos the way I had John W for the writers tourney otherwise it'd be a forgone conclusion. I though 'Nah this is art - we all love Carlos, but art is so subjective it won't be clear cut... hmmm
Carlos Ezquerra
Into the semis - of course