I think back to the "glory" years of reading comics in my youth, back when the artists were king. All those great artists left Marvel to start Image Comics. McFarlane, Lee, Silvestri, Keown, Portacio, Larsen. Image Comics didn't exactly set the world on fire with the stories, but they sure looked dynamic and bigger than life. Are there just not any good artists left in the comic book world? It's just not lucrative enough? Going into advertising or storyboarding for Hollywood or something is a better career path? Or am I just old and harking back to when I was young and I thought comics were better? Who knows? I don't read everything, so I'm sure there are a bunch of fantastic comic book artists out there I don't know about. But thinking of any great artists at the big two, Marvel and D.C., left me completely blank. The best looking book I read all year, though, was hands down
Friday from Panel Syndicate. It was published pay-what-you-want (i.e. free) online, and only 2 issues came out in 2023, but it was gorgeous to look at. Marcos Martin drew it and Muntsa Vicente colored it. It probably helped that it was written by 2023's Writer of the Year, Ed Brubaker, so it was nice to read
and look at. The great thing about Marcos Martin's art is that he's skilled enough to change it to fit the story. When he drew
The Public Eye for Panel Syndicate, it was set in the future and so it
looked futuristic.
Friday is set in a sort of old-school, film-noir small town with a kid detective...and it looks
exactly like you would think an
Encyclopedia Brown type of book
should look. The gorgeous colors set the tone as well. The art in this book is just note-perfect.
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