Even though the consensus is his JL isn't the best ever, does Sup Forums like Hitch's art...

even though the consensus is his JL isn't the best ever, does Sup Forums like Hitch's art? I was a huge fan of artists like McGuinness and Bachalo growing up, but the Authority hit like a ton of bricks and Ultimates inspired me to draw again
I'd argue Hitch is the most important/influential artist of the past few decades

So what you really mean is Alan Davis is the most influential artist of the past few decades.

Snark aside, I legit don't see it. Comics have veered back into a more cartoonish style this decade rather than a photo-realistic one.

not how his composes his characters but how he tells a story
ACTION! it just felt so different from anything else, Hitch probably inspired the most kids to draw since Lee/Liefeld

I stand by what I said, I sincerely don't see it. There's a definite before and after when the Image creators came on the scene, I can't say the same for Hitch.

nice dubs
imo the Image crew made everything badass like 80s action movies designs which kids loved and then Hitch realized the motion and action parts of those films perfectly and expanded the audience
most comics could basically be storyboards for movies these days and that's his influence

Again, not seeing it. Dave Gibbons did similar sorts of things in Watchmen, not exactly in the same way that Hitch did but this could just as well be a storyboard. Hitch is a fine artist and one you obviously have a reference for but I think you're stretching his importance a little further than it should be.

He gave us the best she hulk so that alone gets him in the top 10

I don't think you're looking hard enough. I can't speak on the OP's claim that he's the most influential artist of the past few decades, but his style did definitely help shape the 2000's. He help push Marvel into telling more "cinematic," "wide-screen" stories with bombastic art that just felt epic. Liefeld and Lee's art is definitely action-packed, but they didn't have the same cinematic approach to storytelling that a lot of people have tried to emulate.

However, I don't think he's very good anymore. His stuff comes off as clay-like and cartoon-y, while he's clearly trying to make his art super serious. I think his style was a staple of the 2000's "era," but it feels like comic book art styles have sort of shifted again within the last couple of years. Maybe I'm talking out of my ass here, but artists now tend to try to find a balance between cinematic and comic-book-y. Just look at the huge names right now, like Jason Fabok, Greg Capullo, Andrea Sorrentino, Esad Ribic.

>most comics could basically be storyboards for movies these days and that's his influence
This.

That Watchmen page just says it all. Dave Gibbons storytelling is very regimented and by-the-numbers. That's not to say it's bad, but Hitch (and others) went in a different direction.

Watchmen art is so great because of Moore's intricate as fuck scripting, Gibbons non-Moore or Miller collaborations are completely forgettable

The way Gibbons tells a story and the way Hitch tells a story are kind of different though. Gibbons in pages like that one does a lot more beat-by-beat, more intimate. Hitch's seem more spread out. And I don't think OP's wrong. There was kind of a move toward a "realistic widescreen style" in the early 00's, and I think Hitch, Cassaday, McNiven, and some others are examples of that.

Yes. Cassaday and McNiven for sure. I was trying to think of good examples but was coming up blank. Do you think people like Frank Quitely and Alex Maleev should be in this group as well?

I think DC kind of avoided this trend though. They very much had a "house style" up until very recently.

Yeah I think Hitch's success came because his style meshed with Ellis' writing and looked more "modern" in a way that Alan Davis' style didn't seem to (to a late 90's reader) when you compare Davis' X-Men from the late 90's to Hitch's Authority. That being said, I think Alan Davis does a LOT better than Hitch does because he doesn't have to focus on being realistic.

The move by Hitch, Ellis, Millar, and others toward making superheroish stuff "real" also helped since Hitch kept emphasizing modern and realistic stuff. Think of how he redesigned Captain America's costume for Ultimates and was kind of dismissive of the standard costume's buccaneer boots. Ultimates stood out against the standard superhero design.

Problem is that in the last 17 years too many designers have focused on being realistic and it ended up with a lot of bland-looking designs. And sometimes it also means that some of Hitch's designs in the last five years don't really stand out that much.

Quitely is widescreen but I don't think he's "realistic" in the way that Cassaday and Hitch are. I used to not consider Quitely as good as Cassaday and Hitch more than 15 years ago, but over time I think Quitely's a better artist than either of them because his strengths come from his storytelling and sense of movement.

Maleev I'm not sure though. I'd have to think about that. He seems more like David Mack and Bill Sienkiewicz style.

Lots of Love for Hitch and other widescreen comic artists. The epic feel of The Ultimates and Authority is pretty unmatched for me to this day. Morrisons JLA is also great but I don´t like Porter that much

His art really hs gone down the drain since Ultimates

Quitely also takes mad influence from Hitch, you can tell the first Authority pushed him to be way better and develop his storytelling style

He has been working faster with worse inkers and colorists.
Hitch is someone who should be doing prestige OGN stuff that gets released serialized once it it's all completed but that would be too smart for DC or Marvel.
And it's tragic that he is clearly chafed at working with a writer when his own storytelling and dialog are pedestrian.

I don`t like his art, I barely get over it in ultimates.

That colouring is BAD

>Bill Sienkiewicz
He had a huge influence on the whole industry and helped usher in a lot of experimentation with indi "art" comics. And is one of the reasons why Dave McKean was able to get through the door and do comics

That picture has been edited. Somebody fucked with the lighting.

I think in his heyday he was very good, now though I dread seeing his name on a book.

Hitch was on top of his game during his wildstorm days for sure. He became gradually lazier.

The widescreen style itself became a house style for Marvel post Ultimates though. Like look at the work that was done during that time. Even people like Kubert, Finch and Romita who were industry veterans had to do composition and paneling the Hitch way or someone like Linel Yu who had very distinct feel to his art turned into yet another "storyboard artist" during that time. I don't know if editors were asking for it specifically or artists thought that's what the audience wanted, so in that manner Hitch and Authority/Ultimates were very influential.

Widescreen is just the normal style of eurocomics though, he didn't invent it...maybe he can be credited for bringing it over I guess. Part of that comes from the wider aspect ratio in eurocomics. Don't know which came first, the art style or the page size

Nobody's saying he brought anything new to the game, wider paneling or the focus on detailed environment of the hyper realistic character work, all existed. before Hitch worked on Authority and Ultimates but he really did popularize the style same way Lifield or Lee did in the early 90s or Neal Adams did in the early 80s.

>I don't think you're looking hard enough.
If I have to look hard for his influence then he's not the most influential artist of the last two decades.

His style suffers when he is inked by someone other than Paul Neary, and in recent years he has become less polished and more sketch-like. I think he feels that composition and narrative alone will save him, but I think he is wrong. If he does not provide a high level of detail, he becomes very pedestrian. In his more recent work, you can tell which pages he rushed out.