Ranking the Image Comics Founders: Who Was the Best Artist?

In 1992, seven of Marvel's best-selling artists left the company to form a brand new one: Image Comics. In this video, Josh from Panels to Pixels ranks the Image Comics founders to find out who is the best artist?






0:00 Intro
0:57 A Few Rules
1:54 Jim Valentino
4:26 Whilce Portacio
5:53 Jim Lee
7:02 Rob Liefeld
8:33 Marc Silvestri
9:59 Erik Larsen
11:28 Todd McFarlane
13:15 Outro

[justrok]

Yeah I audibly yelled "WHAAATT?!" at Jim Lee's placement, but I get your reasoning. Jim Lee got me into wanting to draw though so he holds a special place. Anytime I think of X Men I think of that huge relaunch cover and still think the costumes at that time were the best due to his artwork. Saying his art is corporate I think disses his talent a bit...he was just so super crisp, super clean and super dynamic that you couldn't not pay attention.

[rogerlee]

For me:
1) Jim Lee
2)Todd McFarlane
3)Marc Silvestri

You can give me any reason to interchange anyone in that list and I'd have a hard time disagreeing.

But Rob Liefeld over Jim Lee...LOL

[RosencrantzxGuildenstern]

Glad to see Silverstri ranked so highly. I'd say out of all these artists, he's the one who's managed to improve his already titanic skills the most throughout the years. For example, his work in the 2012 Incredible Hulk run and especially his recent Batman & Joker - Deadly Duo series is pure, artgasmic Heaven.

[sethmorales]

Most absurd shit I’ve ever seen is putting rob before Jim Lee

[sabin]

Agree to disagree but respect that this is your opinion.

Jim Lee is a personal favorite. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

[DailySpawnArchive]

The Todd Father undefeated once again.

[MrVomora]

Jim Lee has always been my favorite artist when it came to drawing the X-Men and Batman.

[BatFan]

From a pure technical standpoint, Silvestri was the better artist of the bunch. He had the best combination of style, draftsmanship and panel to panel storytelling out of all the Image 7.
McFarlane was the most visually striking out of all of them.
Creatively I would say Portacio had the most creative page layouts out of all of them. And his style was equally as kinetic as Liefeld.
Jim Lee was a more polished version of Portacio but also had the better fight choreography out of all the artists.
Liefeld has unfocused energy. That's as best as I can describe his art. If he had applied himself better he could have been a way more better visual storyteller.
Larsen and Valentino never appealed to me.

[peterkoska]

Most of those names I remember, but all of them were behind Jim Lee. His lines, anatomy, clean, & as he said a good inker can make you look even better, as he praised his inker at Marvel, I believe. Jim Lee best hands down.

[bobbressi]

I was always a Wilce Portacio fan. I loved the Wetwork series.

[Juancisco]

Incredible video, Josh. I love how whenever you talk about comics you focus a lot on the artists, which is something a lot of other comic book YouTubers don't do as much imo. I can't get enough of this style of content. Keep it up!

[ryanpyoung]

There has to be some kind of criminal offense that applies here having Liefeld not only higher than last but higher than Lee. Absolutely absurd

[doro]

not mad at this list. Todd is LITERALLY the reason I started collecting comics in 89.

[Buet-ybht]

Lost me when with Liefield over Lee, but I get it, it’s your list. 1) Lee 2) Mcfarlane 3) Silverstri

[ssehcillcnartas]

John Buscema>John Byrne>Arthur Adams>Jim Lee>Others. Arthur Adams and Jim Lee were heralds and avant-gardes of a new era. It's obvious you don't understand comics. Of course, there were many other worthy artists in between, but the groundbreaking these two opened were like two suns rising on the shoulders of their great predecessors, such as John Buscema and later John Byrne.

[kami_in_the_skye]

1) Marc Silvestri (inner-circle all-time great), 2) Jim Lee (cleanest & most readable), 3) Todd McFarlane (incredibly dynamic without sacrificing too much anatomical coherence, the grittiness just doesn't play with me), 4) Whilce Portacio (pretty hit-or-miss, but with enough flashes of undeniable brilliance to juuuust edge out Larsen), 5) Erik Larsen (no real highs or lows, just extremely consistent & workmanlike), 6) Jim Valentino (his art being pretty clean but also indie af is just a weird uncanny valley for me), 7) Rob Liefeld (near McFarlane-level dynamism, but with the technical skill & attention to detail of small, ADHD-riddled child).

[jozefserf]

All 7 are fairly close but seeing the various artists on display reveals the importance of inking and colouring.

[trapdoorfloyd]

Nobody draws Colossus and Archangel like Portacio !

[bigtimecollectiblesbtc]

1- Todd McFarlane
2- Jim Lee
3- Marc Silvestri
4- Whilce Portacio
5- Eric Larsen
6- Rob Liefeld
7- Jim Valentino

[derekdraws]

I was ready to be mad about your list, and while I would have switched your 1 & 2 spots, your reasonings and breakdown are undeniably well-drawn (yoink!). Good video!