Monday, December 10, 2007

Lost Woods

This reminds me:

Why isn't Pete Woods a regular Superman artist?

Not to knock Gary Frank or Renato Guedes, the current regular artists, but I think we can all agree that (one of) the best Superman stories in years was "Up, Up and Away," followed closely by "Back in Action," both of which featured the fast and sure pencils of one Pete Woods (and provided the banner at the top of the page).

Since then, Woods has knocked out of the park The Superman-Prime Sinestro Corps one shot and drew the hell out of Amazons Attack. (No matter what you think of the story, the art was great).

Woods has a clean but powerful style, and he's as good at drawing expressive characters as he is at imaginary scenes. (A great slideshow can be found at his site, with examples of both the fantastic invasion of the Amazons and Superman's back in action pose after out racing a bullet.)

And after the production delays that have plagued the Superman books for the past year, DC could use a guy who is also fast and reliable. Some of the artists had trouble getting out 22 pages every two months. A year ago, it seemed Woods was laying down full issues every two weeks.

I think it's time for the undervalued artists who are great storytellers and reliable (the Woods, Immonens, Kirks, and Kramers of the world) be rewarded for their work. I want Woods on Superman now, so that I know I'm getting good comics every month!

(I will also accept him on JLA, JSA, or Teen Titans.)

3 comments:

Diamondrock said...

I concur. What *is* he drawing right now, anyway?

Anonymous said...

With his talent for big crowd fight scenes, I think a team book like JLA would be best for him.

I don't think Benes is working out too well on that one (he only seems to have two facial types - one for males, one for females - which is not good for a book with such a large cast, and his obsession with ass-shots is seriously taking away from the story).

-Phil

Anonymous said...

Hear, hear! Pete is the absolute shiz. I'd have still loved Up, Up, and Away just for the story, but his art was the icing on the cake. Although I was happy Renato was in that arc too. ;)

And yes, bring back Stuart too!