Favourite CLASSIC art droid Round 2 - Massimo Belardinelli or Brian Bolland

[JayzusB.Christ]

I thought I'd be in a minority of one here.  For all of Bolland's brilliance, the gnarled, wild and reeking landscapes of The Wickerman alone means Belardinelli wins it for me.

[Dandontdare]

BOLLAND by a country mile - Massimo is fantastic at some things (weird aliens and landcsapes) but terrible at others (human figures in motion), whilst Bolland is the very first time I made the effort to actually look at and remember a creator's name 'cos it was so good.

[I, Cosh]

I only ever read Bolland's stuff after the fact in the Best of 2k and the like. Obviously it's good but Belardinelli was all over the first Progs I actually read like nothing else. From Slaine to The Dead I loved it all.

Ultimately, I find the stylistic choice to try and make something look realistic a lot less interesting than the choice to make it look as strange and gooey and oozing as possible.

Massimo Belardinelli.

[Andrew_J]

Vote for Bolland

[Dr Feeley Good]

Bolland....

[Colin YNWA]

VOTING CLOSED

Well, well, well. Now whenever you comment on art you do so through the lens of your own subjective biase but for me this one has turned out a massive shock. I really thought the clean style and iconic imagary of Brian Bolland would have made him one of the favourites and one of the artists that might, just might challenge Carlos BUT while there was much love and appreciation for him here to my surprise and by a decent margin

Massimo Belardinelli

Is through to the quarter finals.

[Magnetica]

I'm shocked too and the vote was never even close.

Bolland is my absolute favourite by miles. No one even comes close. Oh well. I kinda know who I'm going to vote for instead now.

[broodblik]

Vote for Simon

[Colin YNWA]

I'm shocked too and the vote was never even close.

Bolland is my absolute favourite by miles. No one even comes close. Oh well. I kinda know who I'm going to vote for instead now.

Yeah that's the nature of these things. Art is so subjective and I'm sure others have lost their absolute favourites along the way. This though, Bolland is so iconic and his work is so embedded in the formitive years and I say that as some who wouldn't list him in my top 5, very probably my top 10 even. BUT I defo get why he's in others top spots. Add to that my personal issues with the art of Massimo - again through my own lens - and when I drew this I just didn't see any other outcome than a Bolland win.

The extent to which Massimo Belardinelli has engrained himself on the consiousness of folks, the undeniable charm and warmth of his work is far greater than I'd realised.

I'm not taking names here like I did when The Mighty Yeowell went out in the Current tourney, but I'm really surprised. Which is why this type of thing is so much fun!

Vote for Simon

Always vote Simon!

[TordelBack]

Bolland's contribution is foundational, integral to the visual identity and wider perception of Dredd and the comic itself. But his last proper strip work (IIRC) was a few episodes of Block Mania, while Bellardinelli was slogging away at his unique brand of whimsical crazy from Prog 1 and was still a seemingly-weekly presence 600 progs later.  It's not unlike comparing the 30-odd Vermeers with the 2000-ish Van Goghs. 

(Plus, there are single panels in Dragonheist that equal the technical precision of Bolland at his best).

[Bolt-01]

Seconded.

2000 AD is as much an 'attitude' of comics as anything and personally I think Massimo embodies that more than Brian.

[broodblik]

I see Bolland, McMahon alongside O'Neill as founding fathers of the prog. These guys via their art help establish and create the prog we know and love today.

[Bolt-01]

I'm sure I've recounted this before but at the 40th, there was a table of us on the friday night, catching up and chatting about the prog, when it was noticed that standing behind us and doing exactly the same thing were Carlos Ezquerra, Mike McMahon and Dave Gibbons.

The whole table just went silent and watched for a moment as three of the building blocks of our lives had a natter.

A wonderful moment.

[broodblik]

I should add Gibbons as one off the founding fathers.

I see Carlos (his name can also be added to the founding fathers as the creator of Dredd), Gibson, Ron Smith, Massimo as the golden age renaissance-ers. These are the people whom contributed to the first golden age of the prog and established some off comics strongest and most awesome characters off all time.

[TordelBack]

Throw in O'Neill and I'm with you 100%.