Originally Posted by
Le Messor
Dear Captain Marvel creative team,
I saw a preview of some of the art from The Mighty Captain Marvel #1 on Saturday, and have a compulsion to discuss it.
What I want to think when I look at it is how skillful it is. I want to think about how Rosanas (I've just researched the artist's name) is very good at filling in backgrounds. I want to think about how good the detail is, about subtleties of expression that I can see in the artwork, about how clear everything looks. All of which is valid.
Instead, all I can think is, 'You never studied; you've got yourself a professional gig regularly drawing characters you weren't familiar with, and instead of doing due diligence (ie: spending five minutes on the internet), you just phoned somebody up and got a vague description.
You see, years ago, John Byrne created Alpha Flight as a team to go toe-to-toe with the X-Men. In doing so, he made Sasquatch this unique, distinctive, even iconic design; something that's instantly recognisable. What Rosanas has drawn is not Walter Langkowski's alternate form but an orangutan, a species of great ape from Borneo or Sumatra. While it might be Peotr, of Red Ghost's Super-Apes, it is not Sasquatch.
After that, I was thinking about why Puck (who was designed much later, for Alpha Flight #1, but that's not important right now) suddenly has a beard - a design decision I don't like, but I don't object to. (Meaning: it's not to my personal tastes, but it's perfectly believable that the character would grow a beard.) A couple of hours after seeing it, walking through a supermarket, it hit me: Rosanas heard 'he's a bald dwarf' and thought they meant Tolkien's dwarves, and that's what he drew. I face-palmed out loud in public when I figured that out.
So instead of thinking about how nice his artwork is (and it is!), all I can think is 'he's too lazy to do research - and the editor isn't bothering either'. At least, that's the impression that the artwork gives me.
I'm sorry that that's all I can come away with. :/
~ Mik Bennett,
Canberra, Australia
OKAY TO PRINT