Copper Art Adams appreciation

1 1

Art does a bunch of variant covers these days. I think he's done a handful for the current John Carter series as well as the Marvel ones. I picked this one up a few years ago, I think it's for AvengersChildre's Crusade #3:

 

I am completely unimpressed by this.

 

I am completely unimpressed by this.

His females have never been his strongpoint. He tries. His characters tend to come off cartoonish, which is fine with me, it becomes an issue when he tries to sex up a female, that ends up looking like a 12 year old.

His detail work is what's amazing.

Steranko is the man!

I disagree, Art Adams female portrayals are at a league of their own. They are Frazzetta voluptuous mixed with Anime.

Brilliant stuff, keep em coming

I think they are terrific as well. I guess you could say the proportions are a little porny, but it all just works .

I really wish he would draw more comics. But his pin-ups are out of this world...

Not really, Im just a fan and have all his copper books, that's the only one Im missing.

Yes, Art took forever on books, but for art's sake (no pun intended) it was well worth it and always well received. You can clearly see a difference in his art from his really early books (Xmen annual 9,10 lets say to X men annual 14). Each panel used to be packed with details and amazing texture renderings. It got a little sloppier with late copper - modern issues, but that's probably because he couldnt meet his deadlines. Theres nothing wrong with taking your time in perfecting your work, if the results are well worth it.

 

 

 

He couldn't meet his deadlines because he's admittedly lazy.

Disagree it was over after 1990.

Art Adams is still the man. Do you hear me, punks?

STILL THE MAN.

 

Totally! I like his stuff from the last ten years better than the stuff from the first ten years!

 

Now I know you're loony.

 

I still love his work, but that first 10 years or so... He's probably my favorite new mainstream superhero artist of the 1980's.

Here's a sucky pic of my AA piece...X-Babies!!

I love him, but I almost think of him as two separate artists\people, early Adams and everything else.

That Batman page is badass.

Just found this.

Art Adams fan. Any fan should check out his website, got to love those prints and posters (thumbs u

Would suggest adding 'Modern Masters Volume 6: Arthur Adams' to the list.

Enjoying Nick Bradshaw's work, has many similarities and has stated that Art Adams was one of his great influences.

On 11/23/2014 at 8:17 PM, Aweandlorder said:

Finally, does anyone here own a copy of High Energy #1, I have long wanted to see its interior as it had the first published work of Art. I've been looking to find a copy for the longest but never see it come up on the Bay

 

 

5-6 years in the making. Finally got my grail

High Energy #1 - Arthur Adams 1st published work

Mission accomplished

On 11/24/2014 at 1:42 PM, Aweandlorder said:

Not really, Im just a fan and have all his copper books, that's the only one Im missing.

Yes, Art took forever on books, but for art's sake (no pun intended) it was well worth it and always well received. You can clearly see a difference in his art from his really early books (Xmen annual 9,10 lets say to X men annual 14). Each panel used to be packed with details and amazing texture renderings. It got a little sloppier with late copper - modern issues, but that's probably because he couldnt meet his deadlines. Theres nothing wrong with taking your time in perfecting your work, if the results are well worth it.

 

 

 

 

Do you count this one as copper?  This is an overlooked one you never see mentioned.  It's right on the edge of that 1990 cut-off .

Also, I always hated that some of his best work was wasted on Mojo and the X-Babies.    I wonder if that was his preference or the editor's.  

6 minutes ago, Von Cichlid said:

Do you count this one as copper?  This is an overlooked one you never see mentioned.  It's right on the edge of that 1990 cut-off .

 

 

Certainly. I wasn't aware of this one either ??

Re: High Energy

It baffles the mind how Art's art has changed tremendously since High Energy (1982) - Longshot 1 (1984) (or Alien Worlds 3D for that matter)

In the interview Art gave to CI, he jokingly says it was very bad. He wasn't kidding!!

I wonder if:

A. Marvel recognized the artistic potential Art possessed and taught him how to utilize it accordingly. There is a "making of a cover" post out there in the blogosphere that adds to that notion, which showcases Classic X-Men #1 cover being developed from Art's preliminaries through Romita's instructional changes, back to Art's finishes. 

B. Art drew the High Energy story many many years before 1982, and just finished it around the time it was published. 

This is circa 1984 as well

The first time I remember seeing Art Adams was at a San Diego Comic-Con I believe in 1984. He was at a table doing sketches and nobody was around him. I think he had only done a couple covers at this point. I remember noting to myself that his art was pretty good, but since I hadn't heard of him, I didn't bother to get a sketch from him. The following year i believe the 1st issue of Longshot had come out and since he was now known to me I got a sketch from him. A Longshot and Ricochet Rita. The next year 1986 I was helping my then boss at his booth at San Diego Comic-Con (I was a manager at one of his stores). On the Friday of the con I stayed and worked the store the 1st half of the day, so the other employee would have a chance to attend the con. By the time I got to the con, I found out that earlier in the day Art Adams had brought and sold the original art for Longshot 1. He apparently sold the cover for $100 and interior pages for $50 each.  The dealer who bought the cover for #1 put it up for sale for $300. I tried to trade the original art for the cover of Marvel Fanfare #5 (Marshall Rogers wraparound Dr.Strange) and an interior splash by Jim Starlin from Death of Captain Marvel (the nightmare sequence where he's fighting all of the bad guys) for the Longshot cover, but while the dealer was thinking about it, someone came up and bought the Longshot cover. Oh well. 

Someone mentioned Art is doing mostly covers nowadays. He is also doing some awesome commission pieces. Don't know what he charges or how long it takes him to complete one, but they sure seem to be worth it. These images are from his facebook page.