Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Reviews : Thanos, Infinity Gauntlet, George Perez, Ron Lim, & stuff

Thanos Quest & Infinity Gauntlet - I find it ridiculous that I haven't read the the cosmic Thanos epic before. As a kid, I was never really into the 'cosmic' stories. Sure, I loved Green Lantern & Guy Gardner but I was always more drawn to the personal, down to Earth stories. My mind has been changed. I'm totally rethinking 'cosmic'.

Thanos Quest was a little too quick for my liking.
We get to follow Thanos' journey to collect the 6 Infinity Gems in his attempt to impress Death. I really loved the characters but I thought he obtained the gems too easy. I realize that this was a limited series when it was released but I would have liked to see Thanos have a bit more trouble securing the powerful gems and becoming omnipotent. (Spoiler alert!) Just as I was really thinking Thanos was badass he has a cry at the end because Death still won't talk to him. Grow up, Thanos, ya cry baby.Now the Infinity Gauntlet was different. I suppose Marvel realised they had a big hit on their hand so they gave them a longer series to A) tell the epic story they needed and B) make more money. This story was drawn by George Perez and then Ron Lim taking over in the end. And boy does Perez knock it out of the park. I would love to see this recolored (if there is a recolored absolute kinda version someone let me know) but Infinity Gauntlet still holds up today. Thanos, Galactus, Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, Dr. Strange, Eternity, the Living Tribunal, etc., these are great characters that have reshaped my outlook on the cosmic stories.
I loved watching Warlock and company scheme up plans to stop the deranged, all powerful Thanos. If you have love for Marvel characters and you haven't read these Thanos stories, do yourself a favor and check it. I am now gonna look into the Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Infinity Watch (whatever the hell that is), Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I'm might even check out this Annihilation, and Green Lantern war. If anyone has any suggestions for great cosmic stories, please email me or comment because I'm down like a clown.George Perez vs Ron Lim

After borrowing Joel's Thanos books we kinda got into a little debate. Buxton is not a George Perez fan but is huge on the Lim train.

I see it like this,

I hold Perez in the same regard as I do artists like Will Eisner, Joe Madureira, Travis Charest, Moebius, Frank Quitley, Jeff Smith, Frank Cho, John Cassaday, & Bill Watterson.
While I enjoy Lim I think of him in the same category of artists like John Byrne & Tom Grummet. What I mean by this is that Ron Lim, John Byrne, & Tom Grummet (and many others but these are the 3 most prominent examples for me) are wonderful artists. I adored them as a child but they did not evolve with the times. Their style seems dated. While I'll always love their past work that affected me in grade 5, I can't really enjoy the new work these fine artists have created.

A 'complete' artist can draw anything, any angle and make it look not only amazing but accurate. A 'complete' artist is timeless.
When Joe Mad or Frank Cho draw Spiderman swinging through NY they don't go the McFarlane route of drawing two big weird diamonds for feet. They draw feet that look functional and practical. When Frank Quitely's characters hold a sword (or a mug or a remote control or anything) it looks natural, kinda like how real people hold things. Then there's the Rob Liefeld way. You know, when you draw the head first, then some gigantic sword or gigantic gun (that doesn't look like a real gun) and then, you just kinda carelessly draw in arms that might not necessarily fit, and then just draw some hands or weird fist blocks that look super awkward and throw off the entire piece.
Perez draws special effects, or smoke, for effect not to lazily cover up things he doesn't want to draw. Perez is a 'complete' artist. These guys can draw anything and it just looks......right.
Now, I don't hate Liefeld or McFarlane, like a lot of rabid comic book fans but I do acknowledge their flaws and while I really like Ron Lim art, I do the same, and I recognize that he's not a complete artist.Now, I really don't want this to sound like I'm bashing Ron Lim. I'm not, I love me some Ron Lim. He's just no George Perez.


2 comments:

dylanio21 said...

I prefer Lim.
Funny fact, when McFarlane and Liefeld were coming up, they were completely convinced Lim was going to more popular than either of them, weird right?
I find Perez's art...bland...I need big guns and thick brush strokes on Surfer that Lim does so well.

Bucky said...

Yeah, you called it Dylanio - Perez is bland as a Blandings Turtle (but less endangered).

I will go on record saying I don't think of Ron Lim as the best artist or anything, far from it - but I do like his stuff better than Perez.

I have Infinity War to lend ya - War of Kings by Marvel was a bit cool, Annihilation has some good Surfer stuff, and Crisis you can probably just skip. That includes Final Crisis as well, both of those stories were feeble.