Rob Liefeld vs. J. Scott Campbell
Most Controversial Artists
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Between Rob Liefeld and Jeffery Scott Campbell, these are some of the most successful yet divisive comic artists.
In case it's not already obvious; I subscribe to Atop the Fourth Wall. One of the few series that gets a complete look through is Liefeld's Youngblood. As Linkara's brand states, those comics are pure roast material. A few of Liefeld's other works also go into the red. From what a couple of other influencers say: it’s passion that just can’t work with business.
As for J. Scott Campbell, he made his career drawing pin-up models. Especially with Gen 13.
Gen 13
Have you ever heard of Gen 13? Maybe that animated movie floating around YouTube based on the original mini-series. It was one of the best performing titles of former Image Comics imprint WildStorm even as WildStorm came into DC. Probably because it dealt with characters with actual arcs and characterizations, not just early Image’s bunch of violent man…
These designs would later push into his Danger Girl pulp-style series among other things. Most of which were aborted. But after a while he never really went anywhere aside from covers. Which really limited his artistic quality.
Frankly that’s a story for both of them.
Rob Liefeld: Carrot Top
To avoid repeating the videos, Liefeld’s art was a long work in progress. Most of the shorthand and lack of oversight made the art haphazard. Such as the infamous Youngblood’s Disease to bodies being in poses that offset the tone.
According to one writer he used to work with, Karl Kesel Liefeld’s corner cutting was starting to get to people.
While some of Liefeld’s frustrations with the Big 2 was justified, even when he got his own company, he wasn’t the best person to work with.
Image Over Substance
Looking back, most of Liefeld’s successes comes from…Lightning in a Bottle moments!
Cable, the New Mutants, X-Force, and Youngblood were viral hits because of shifts towards the direct comic market. It was more of a matter of timing and noticeable art shifts than quality. Why? Because past all of the hype, Liefeld’s stuff exploits the worst traits of comics. His chaotic storytelling, pin-up focus artwork, cookie cutter character designs, and overall poor business management practically ruins every publisher he creates.
From what people in interviews say, people seem to like working with Liefeld because of his fun-loving personality. But it looks like before he got more…humble(?) he wasn’t the best listener. Especially on account of quality control.
The guy practically drives himself purely by his passions and merchandising. He never even bothers to change his ever failing business strategies. Liefeld’s social media history also suggests some poor communication branding.
All this to say: when Liefeld’s left to his own devices, the quality of his work suffers. Sure his artwork has gotten easier to look at, but it has a lot of the same drawbacks like Youngblood’s Disease in group shots. Even more recent works like a self-publishing comic he funds on Kickstarter takes forever to publish. As well as an NFT project involving a group called The Defiants.
Rob Liefeld: Reflection and Cooperation
Most of the time, his IPs get better handling from others. Usually giving these characters and designs more layers and depth.
It goes as far back as The New Mutants and Cable with Louise Simonson. Who Liefeld's is still on good terms with. She is the one who went to him for designing Cable.
Plus look at his most successful design, Deadpool. The Merc With a Mouth mutates beyond his initial knock-off status into an iconic character. Liefeld doesn't really like this clownish take, but he learns to live with it overtime. If I have to guess, it's actually because he relates to this version better. They're people who have a reputation for being laughingstocks but try very hard for positive recognition.
But it looks like Liefeld still holds onto his old Deadpool concept with Major X.
…
Do I really need to bring up Alan Moore, Chad Bowers, and Jim Towe when it comes to Youngblood?
Plus it seems Liefeld can still be hard to work with. If some friction with an Archie imprint’s take on the Mighty Crusaders is any clue.
J. Scott Campbell: Self-Smearing
But enough about Rob Liefeld for a bit. J. Scott Campbell comes from a family of artists, he himself starts in cartooning. I’m usually all for stuff like that because that comes with potential for more expressive artwork in different shapes and sizes.
This all changes after seeing the Uncanny X-Men which changes Campbell's direction. Still images can present more anticipation and action than animation does.
After high school, Campbell submits art to a WildC.A.T.s contest. Jim Lee likes it so much, he personally calls Campbell for work. With Lee, Campbell starts his more recognizable art style in a swimsuit special. Wildstorm becomes Campbell's personal playground with the advent of his and Brandon Choi's Gen13. The series is practically a recreation of the X-Men that drove Campbell to comics in the first place.
Fortunately, unlike Youngblood, Choi induces Gen13 with actual characterization. Although it's safe to say that people seem to like Campbell's cheesecake as a hook. Especially with the pulpy bits involving an island with dinosaurs. Even though it can look like Campbell is putting a bunch of pin-ups together.
It’s just that somewhere along the way, it looks like some creative differences came up between Campbell and WildStorm. After leaving Gen13, his other title Wildsiderz ends before it begins.
But it seemed to have awakened something in Campbell where he and two other artists founded the "Cliffside" imprint. It's the place where the Danger Girl franchise cements Campbell’s direction.
Danger Girl has twenty years of fun enough comics, a video game with poor reception, and a movie deal… It's actually safe to compare him to Michael Bay stylistically.
That’s kind of the problem. At that point, Campbell put less work into creating anything more “animated” just pin-ups of the same character model with different skins. The only book he did in a while, Time Capsule is just more pin-ups.
Work Habit Traps
Between Campbell and Liefeld, I think I found what make them so controversial.
Sure the sexualization of characters with bizarre poses and cookie-cutter designs is up there but it’s part of a bigger focus: pin-ups.
Another (more) controversial artist (who I am not going to name!) made his career on pin-ups and he said this about artists who focus on them: they’re lazy. At least when it comes to storytelling.
Pin-ups can be very lucrative for artists, in fact many in-demand artists make lots of money on exclusive commissions. The problem is, while these are often higher rewards per piece they put artists into an unproductive mindset. Like how the “Perfect shots” of people or events are usually so flashy with so little buildup, they take readers out of the story. Plus getting used to one design or a set of them for so long in certain ways causes muscle memory to kick in. The kind that focus on making each panel a masterpiece where a little less polish could have made more impact.
Or failing to recognize how attitudes and audiences have changed when making anything out of your usual niche. That’s what the scandal with Ironheart was all about. As well as why some of his Spider-Man variant covers misrepresent characters; thankfully not all the time.
Then there’s how they work with others. Liefeld for all of his improvements in art still needs someone to provide quality control. Otherwise his stories are pretty aimless. Because when he has all of the reigns, there are train wrecks like Snake Eyes. Not to mention building awareness of the comic business works. Which is where his premature departure from Archie's Mighty Crusaders starts. Liefeld has to be less of a diva to be anything more, otherwise he'll just keep repeating his mistakes.
Campbell meanwhile… has basically found his niche. It looks like comic pages and their compositions weren’t working out and he seems satisfied with just doing covers and pin-ups. Problem is, I can’t help but feel this is because he might’ve been too hard to work with. I don’t know if this was because of past experiences with WildStorm or Danger Girl, but he’s very touchy when it comes to a lot of his work. It’s a bit of a shame since monster and Spawn artwork is proof that he can do more. But he seems more eager to get into fights with some of his critics. Even the constructive ones.
Important Message for Creators
For all creatives, please take note as per Creative Biz; respond positively to constructive criticism, ignore the vocal minorities but not the vocal majorities, explore art styles, diversify designs, refine your skills at every opportunity, come up with your own ideas, get out of your comfort zones, think before you act, have a game plan, handle finances, don't let entitlement go to your head, build healthy relationships with co-workers and audiences, adapt to the times, and love your work but be smart. Because if you're anything like Liefeld or Campbell during their development phases, you'll end up making yourselves look as vain. Thanks for coming and as always, remember to look between the panels.