The artists' series - Stephen Platt

[une_croix]

In 1993/4 an unknown artist found himself propelled to the big leagues in comics via a 4 issue stint on the soon to be cancelled Moon Knight series from Marvel.




11 big images under the cut.















Platt's first issue of Moon Knight was 55 (I don't have that one - it still commands big bucks as a back issue) - and while it caught folks' attention, it wasn't until 57 featuring Spider-man that it all started to get out of hand. His style was described as dynamic, powerful and McFarlane-esque (remember, this is only 2 years after Image comics was founded - Todd and the rest were still a huge deal and most books from the big 2 featured either Image-clones on art or Image-ised characters) and he was soon jockeying with Todd for the number one spot on Wizard's Top Ten Hottest Artists list...











Marvel were set to assign Platt to their Cable book which sold well enough (it was an X book and this was 1994) but could really use a boost from a "hot" artist. As it turns out, Cable's creator, Rob Liefeld -



-snapped Platt up and assigned him to the ongoing Image/Extreme Prophet series (originally a 4 issue mini with art by Dan Panosian (the current penciller of X-Factor Forever)) starting with #5 - ahead of his interior debut, a Platt variant cover to #4 saw that comic become one of the most wanted back issues in the land.

Next: Prophet!

Comments

[perletwo]

Great googly moogley, what the heck is Sue Richards wearing there?!

[une_croix]

Yeah, that's not artistic liberty - that WAS Sue's outfit at the time.

[jlroberson]

Why? You're going to give me the usual "It was the 90s," aren't you?

[crinos]

I think the explanation was that she had recently become Malice again, and even after she got back to normal she still had a little Malice-ness left in her, so she started dressing like that.

IIRC when some of her neighbors called her on it, she used her powers to make their clothes invisible.

[icon_uk]

Your recall correctly, now let us never speak of it again...

[perletwo]

....invisible stripper pole?

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

I'm usually able to read right past the art on a comic, and may not notice something weird about a given drawing until the second or third time I read through a page.

That said, both Moondragon and Sue Richards appear to have some kind of horrible disfiguring disease that's shoved their knees down to their shins. What the hell.

[tammy_moore]

Almost none of the men on that page have EYES! Look at Thor and Wonder-Man and even Quicksilver. They just have weird eyebrows and this gurn-like face.

[kamino_neko]

The weird placement of Moondragon's knees get worse.

Look at her pose.

One leg is straight, the other is bent. Both are as flat on the floor as those heels will allow. Her hips appear to be more or less level. So her right leg appears to be significantly longer than her left.

[sir_razorback]

You think that's odd? Let's play a game. It's called "Find Puck's right elbow".

[kamino_neko]

Puck's elbow is the least of his anatomical problems...the fact that his head seems to end just below the eyes (although he still has the 'stache) would be my pick for the worst.

[sir_razorback]

That and Moondragon appears to be wielding her right breast as some kind of weapon?

[icon_uk]

Have to say, based on this sample, I'm not a fan of his work.

[une_croix]

He gets better - these are literally the first 4 comics issues he pencilled.

[jlroberson]

It has a very high-schooler notebook stiff-but-showy quality. There are also traces of things that in a different direction would give you Richard Case.

And Marc's legs on that last page--those are some nasty tumors there. What, those are muscles? Nahh, he wouldn't even be able to walk.

[une_croix]

Oho.

You ain't seen nothin' yet...

[rainspirit]

I cringed when I first saw that artwork. :( Been reading through the old Marc Spector - Moon Knight issues, and wow did the art hurt my eyes.

Killing Marc shortly after those issues was a blessing, really.

[une_croix]

Actually Platt was the penciller on the final issue, featuring Marc's death.

[tacobob]

I heard he suffered an allergic reaction and got all puffy!

[tacobob]

Are my eyes supposed to be bleeding?

Everything is so PUFFY!

Heh.

http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/feb00/bb_0200.shtml

[shanejayell]

BAD Todd impersonation. And where the hell did he NOT learn anatomy?

[geooco.blogspot.com]

Not to hate on anyone who likes this, but good god, that is some of the ugliest stuff I've ever seen. This is why I quit comics in the 90s.

[nezchan]

To be fair, I'm going to reserve judgement until I see more of the series on Platt. After all, there were a bunch of artists who got way better after they stopped being told by editorial to mimic the Image guys.

Hell, even Liefeld eventually learned to draw feet. That means anyone can change!

[leorising]

Motto. So motto. This awful junk makes my eyes bleed. :P

[goblinthebamf]

...I suppose the layouts are somewhat interesting...

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Heh, looks like he drew Feral instead of Wolfsbane

[une_croix]

It is Feral, no?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Feral wasn't involved in the mini series in question. Wolfsbane was

[une_croix]

I blame the colorist.

[foxhack]

*goes into seizures*

[dalf]

HEY KIDS

COMICS

Thank Heavens that the first comic book I got was Batman Adventures. And the second a George Pérez issue of Batman. Otherwise I would have left in utter disgust.

[sir_razorback]

I think he would draw their poop with muscles... Do you have his later stuff that we can see for contrast?

[une_croix]

Sure do. Will up them later.

[badficwriter]

Those sleeves never lose their shape! Chiffon..?

[halloweenjack]

Pink puffy sleeves. I feel like someone owes Rob Liefeld an apology, although I am not volunteering to be that someone.

[wizardru]

The art! How it BURNS!

The fight choreography between Seth and Moon Knight is atrocious. There's literally no visual flow at all. Several panels are just someone punching someone else and in the very next panel, their positions are reversed. And how does that one shot manage to turn the villain completely around when getting hit after charging (and getting shot up the tuchas, apparently)? And that panel meant to convey action with multiple iterations of the two characters? WTF? Look at Seth's arms as he goes flying by...what kind of motions is he making to make them move from the positions in the first position to the second? And why does it seem like he and Moon Knight aren't even in the same picture? Never mind the terrible anatomy, lack of understanding of physics or even of how clothing lays on the body (ex: look at Seth's sleeve defying gravity when he holds Moon Knight by the throat...somehow).