My theory on Rob Liefeld is that he’s the last survivor of an alien race that was dedicated to radical body modification. Adopting the Earthling obsession with men = strong; women = sexy but possessed of surgical techniques beyond our imagination, they soon passed even the most ridiculous of Earth standards and into the realm of the grotesque.
They removed ribs and internal organs, enlarged their thighs, and lengthened their legs. Neck tendons were made permanently tense; all fatty tissue on the face was relocated to the pectorals; and every strand of hair was replaced with an artificial polymer so sharp it could cut molecules.
Sadly, in the craze to reach perfection, every viable uterus on the planet was removed and destroyed. Realising this ultimate folly too late, the survivors detonated megatonne warheads, rendering their world uninhabitable. Only Liefeld, who had hidden from the body-wracking insanity of the endtimes, escaped, in an insanely detailed and really cool-looking spaceship.
Liefeld’s entire body of work is a work of grief; an extended lament for his dead people, and a terrible warning to us all.
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That’s funny… ^_^
Oh, Liefeld isn’t ALL bad–at least, not in moderation. I actually like some of his stuff. The problem was when he was everywhere, and everyone was imitating him.
It’s funny about comic book artists and anatomy; Kirby and Ditko never had a good handle on it, after all, and I’m fond of semi-toony artists like Chester Gould and Sam Keith. So my biggest problem with Liefeld’s art isn’t his stylized anatomy; its his inept facial expressions and terrible composition, things at which Kirby, Ditko, Gould, and Keith all excel.
Y’know, of all the artists from that Liefeldesque 1990’s style, one that has grown beyond it to become a really good artist by any yardstick (I think mainly by learning some basic structure and anatomy, which most of the Image crew refused to do) is Jim Lee. It amazes me how much better his current stuff is than the stuff he was doing during Image’s heyday ten years ago. I’m still a little offput by his linework (he still likes those Image-style hashy jagged lines instead of nice smooth ones), but I’m sure that’s his own stylistic choice and doesn’t stem from a lack of ability to do a smooth outline if he wanted to.