Humanity hates and fears the X-Men in the Marvel Universe. In the real world, the genetically superpowered heroes have enjoyed incredible visual interpretations over the last 50 years. Let's take a look at the artists who've done the most iconic versions of the Children of the Atom.
Neal Adams
Probably best known for his work on Batman, Adams' stint on X-Men
was an important early step on his way to becoming a superstar artist.
His run on the teenage mutants made them feel desperate and dynamic in a
way that they'd never been rendered before, as well as introducing new
characters like Havok and Polaris.
Paul Smith
This master artist gave life to an exceptionally great period of X-Men
comics, one where Storm become leader of the subterranean Morlocks and
Kitty Pryde became best friends with a pet-sized firebreathing dragon.
Smith's smooth linework proved to be a perfect match for the soap opera
elements of the mutant superhero franchise, which were in full bloom
during the 1980s.
Dave Cockrum
If you love
X-Men like Colossus, Nightcrawler and Storm, then you have the late
Dave Cockrum to thank. The artist created these characters and many more
during his run, which started off with the series' first major
shake-up. Cockrum helped introduce an international line-up that also
included Wolverine, Banshee and Thunderbird. Nowadays, it's hard to
imagine X-Men as a title that's ever had a creative slump, but Cockrum was a big part of what helped it find new life.
John Byrne
Classic storylines like the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past
are one of the reasons John Byrne became a comic-book legend. He did
more than art, co-plotting the series with longtime writer Chris
Claremont and creating characters like Kitty Pryde and Canadian
super-team Alpha Flight during his tenure.
Marc Silvestri
There's
something simultaneously gritty and high-energy about Silvestri's
artwork, which fueled popular arcs like Inferno and Fall of the Mutants.
His first tour of duty with the X-Men was in the 1980s and 1990s but
he's peroidically returned for high-profile stints.
Jim Lee
If mutants
are supposed to be the next step in human evolution, Jim Lee's one of
the artists that excelled at making them look like advanced,
near-perfect lifeforms. His style's change a bit since his 1990s tenure
at Xavier's but even his early work shows the strong figurework and
dramatic staging that would make him a highly sought-after creator for
decades to come.
Bill Sienkiewicz
Most famous for a trippy, psychedelic run on New Mutants—which
featured younger, inexperienced heroes at the X-Men's
school—Sienkiewicz's unique style looked like nothing else in superhero
comics at the time. Larry Stroman
Stroman
spent time as a portrait artist before his comics career kicked off and
his special affinity for capturing the emotions of the human face made a
run on X-Factor feel particularly special. During his
partnership with writer Peter David, X-Factor felt like a glitzy,
quasi-celeb take on what it means to be Homo Superior in the Marvel
Universe.
Frank Quitely
Grant
Morrison's bold re-invention of Marvel's mutant franchise in 2001 simply
wouldn't have been possible if he hadn't reunited with frequent partner
Frank Quitely. Quitely made Charles Xavier, Scott Summers and the other
team members at the time feel like true outsiders, creating a cool,
aloof and slightly off-center tone that the long-running series hadn't
enjoyed for decades.
Chris Bachalo
A fan
favorite for more than 20 years, Bachalo's style merges a loopy manga
influence with strong inky outlines for an approach that feels funny,
manic and threatening all at once. His work on Generation X
helped make that series an X-family highlight in the 1990s and he's
returned several times since then to work various mutant-centric titles.
Joe Maduiera
Familiar to video game fans as one of the primary creative forces behind the late, lamented Darksiders series, Madueira helped re-invent the visual style of the entire X-Men universe as one of the chief artists during the Age of Apocalypse
crossover. His takes of Cyclops, Wolverine, Bishop, and other
characters made the twisted alternate universe feel like must-read
material.
Mike Del Mundo
Though his work on the X-Men franchise primarily consists of covers for volume 2 of X-Men Legacy, Del Mundo's unique visual approach made that book's brief run stand out from nearly anything else with an X on the front.
Alan Davis
Stints on both the mainline X-Men books and the UK-based Excalibur
spin-off endeared Davis to comics readers back in the day. His curvy,
rounded figurework always looks attractive, no matter what kind of
action or emotion he's putting across.
John Cassaday
One of the best latter-day runs on Marvel's mutants came in the form of Astonishing X-Men, written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer
creator Joss Whedon and drawn by Cassaday. His art made the drama of
resurrected characters, evil emergent AI villains and sci-fi adventures
feel relatable for people who can't shoot lasers out of their eyes.
Art Adams
The energy
found in Adams' version of the X-Men set fans on fire when he first
started drawing them in the 1980s. Along with his co-creation of
breakout character Longshot, his tight pencils, melodramatic poses and
unique body types made Cyclops and crew feel totally re-invented.
Stuart Immomen
Drawing
characters who debuted in 1963 for a 21st century audience is a tough
job. Having them look and feel like the same teenagers created by Stan
Lee and Jack Kirby is even tougher. But Stuart Immomen's proven more
than capable of doing both, with an excellent, recently ended run on All-New X-Men that brought the original five students of Professor Xavier into the present day.
Olivier Coipel
Copiel's
drawn many of Marvel's top characters as a mainstay of the Avengers and
X-Men creative stables, bringing a highly-honed European comics approach
to American superheroics. You can see some of his best stuff—including
excellent costume re-designs— in the recent Avengers vs. X-Men crossover.
Clayton Crain
Rarely has an artist's style felt so appropriate to a book's tone and subject matter as it did during Clayton Crain's time on X-Force.
This version of X-Force was a secret black ops strike team that
sometimes used deadly force and Crain made some of these familiar
characters feel darker and more lethal than they ever had before.
Mike Choi
If
you've ever wanted the X-Men to feel like they've stepped out of a
glossy, high-end CGI anime movie or video game, then you've probably
already seen Mike Choi's art.
Barry Windsor-Smith
He hasn't
done as long a run as other artists on this list but Windsor-Smith's
draftsmanship and design sense made his early 1980s run on Uncanny X-Men
one for the ages. Amongst the best issues are ones featuring a brutal
brawl between Sabretooth and Wolverine and the Lifedeath stories which
focused on Storm's crisis of faith after losing her powers.
Windsor-Smith's closest association with the X-Men was the epic-length Weapon X series which detailed Wolverine's days as a brainwashed killing machine.
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