The artists' series: Joe Quesada - Part 2
Feb. 1st, 2014 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
une_croix posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_dailyPart 1 here:
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/2253198.html
Following his X-Factor run, Quesada moved back to Valiant (he'd done some work for their licensed Nintendo comic in their early days), pencilling the final half of the Deathmate Epilogue issue, and launching Ninjak.
(11 scans under the cut.)
Deathmate was a 1993/94 crossover between Image and Valiant, both still very "hot" entities at that stage (Image having 10% of the US comics market, Valiant having 8%).The series would consist of 6 issues - a prologue and epilogue made up of two chapters each (one by Valiant artists, one by Image), and four stand-alone issues - un-numbered but coloured; Deathmate Yellow and Blue by Valiant and Deathmate Red and Black by Image.
(When I say Image it was really only Liefeld, Lee/Portacio and Silvestri who took part.)
The Epilogue saw Image's Silvestri pencil the first half - the second half was Quesada.
These are the final three pages of the Epilogue - the cosmic wonder that caused the two universes to merge has been undone as overseen by Union. Big cape as was the style at the time.
An uncharacteristically miss-shapen female form on Void there (and a cameo from one of Joe's cats in the same panel) - Quesada's anatomy is usually pretty good or intentionally exaggerated; this is just sloppy.
Final page, the Valiant universe; storytelling very clear, strong backgrounds, but it does seem like slightly less effort on the page than his previous Marvel work - perhaps the deadline was tight (he needn't have been so worried; Liefeld's chapter - Deathmate Red - came out long after the Epilogue).
We move on to the opening of Ninjak #1 - great use of shadows, body language despite the small figures, and an interesting vantage point for the camera, with the ropes and chains in the foreground.
Panels 2 and 6 here are early examples of the art-nouveax touches that would become typical of Quesada's art over the next few years - and there's his cat again.
Huge Alphonse Mucha (Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist) homage in the final panel here:
And again on the cover to issue 3 (his final - a very short run after a fair bit of hype):
Compared to contemporaries like Jim Lee or Andy Kubert, Quesada always appeared to try to make sure his characters' faces were distinct and expressive, in particular female faces. He would go on to use a far more cartoony style exclusively in faces later on, but we can see some of that approach here on Michiko:
These scans from:
Deathmate Epilogue, cover dated Feb 94
Ninjak #1, cover dated Feb 94
Ninjak #3, cover dated Apr 94
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/2253198.html
Following his X-Factor run, Quesada moved back to Valiant (he'd done some work for their licensed Nintendo comic in their early days), pencilling the final half of the Deathmate Epilogue issue, and launching Ninjak.
(11 scans under the cut.)
Deathmate was a 1993/94 crossover between Image and Valiant, both still very "hot" entities at that stage (Image having 10% of the US comics market, Valiant having 8%).The series would consist of 6 issues - a prologue and epilogue made up of two chapters each (one by Valiant artists, one by Image), and four stand-alone issues - un-numbered but coloured; Deathmate Yellow and Blue by Valiant and Deathmate Red and Black by Image.
(When I say Image it was really only Liefeld, Lee/Portacio and Silvestri who took part.)
The Epilogue saw Image's Silvestri pencil the first half - the second half was Quesada.
These are the final three pages of the Epilogue - the cosmic wonder that caused the two universes to merge has been undone as overseen by Union. Big cape as was the style at the time.
An uncharacteristically miss-shapen female form on Void there (and a cameo from one of Joe's cats in the same panel) - Quesada's anatomy is usually pretty good or intentionally exaggerated; this is just sloppy.
Final page, the Valiant universe; storytelling very clear, strong backgrounds, but it does seem like slightly less effort on the page than his previous Marvel work - perhaps the deadline was tight (he needn't have been so worried; Liefeld's chapter - Deathmate Red - came out long after the Epilogue).
We move on to the opening of Ninjak #1 - great use of shadows, body language despite the small figures, and an interesting vantage point for the camera, with the ropes and chains in the foreground.
Panels 2 and 6 here are early examples of the art-nouveax touches that would become typical of Quesada's art over the next few years - and there's his cat again.
Huge Alphonse Mucha (Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist) homage in the final panel here:
And again on the cover to issue 3 (his final - a very short run after a fair bit of hype):
Compared to contemporaries like Jim Lee or Andy Kubert, Quesada always appeared to try to make sure his characters' faces were distinct and expressive, in particular female faces. He would go on to use a far more cartoony style exclusively in faces later on, but we can see some of that approach here on Michiko:
These scans from:
Deathmate Epilogue, cover dated Feb 94
Ninjak #1, cover dated Feb 94
Ninjak #3, cover dated Apr 94
no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 06:02 am (UTC)2. Pierre's teleporting accent is bothering me way more than I expected.