WB-I agree with your analyses and likes and dislikes almost to 100% for all the artists and writers other than Rosa. Although there, I do agree that his short gag-driven stories are (usually), by far, his best.
There's just something about his short stuff that is seriously fun (Incident at McDuck Tower, The Master Landscapist, Oolated Luck, Metaphorically Spanking, etc), but I get the feeling that he himself actually relishes in doing the longer stuff which is actually a bit of a shame. I dunno, maybe its a bit of a double edged sword. The thing about Rosa is that in short stories, when he wants to be funny he can be absolutely biting. The levels of Donald abuse are high from him, but even with Barks its pretty much the same thing when Gladstone is around (coincidentally when I first began reading Disney Comics I despised Gladstone to no end, but couldnt stop laughing at how miserable he'd make Donald. Stories where Donald would never win after trying time and time again are infuriating but oh so hilarious in that you dont want to laugh at poor Donald and you feel bad for doing so but you just cant help it. ^_^ Anyways I digress...)
Rosa shorts have a stark difference from Van Horn shorts IMO because rather than build upon surrealist insanity or deal with absurd moments like Van Horn, he seems to kinda build upon gag after gag after gag until he can no longer top himself - which isn't bad, just a different way of a telling story.
I don't like his stiff characters, dark shading and cluttered panels.
I must admit. If theres one thing about Rosa that irks me to no end its the use of musculature on his characters. Part of what makes Donald, Scrooge, Mickey, and Goofy appealing is that they dont have that "furry" muscular look. Don Rosa (albeit subtly) has given definition to Don's chest when shirtless or given muscles to the characters here and there (nothing SERIOUSLY odd or out of place mind you, just weird looking in general) - and its the one thing I can really pinpoint I dont like about his artwork.
Yes, Mickey, Goofy, and Donald no longer have "pipe-cleaner" limbs but at the same time I think that if you're going to use musculature on a character it needs to maybe be for the sake of a gag perhaps. Donald, Mickey, and Scrooge's bodies should be....I don't want to say "cuddly" because thats not what I mean...but I guess maybe the phrase I'm looking for is that they should feel cartoony, but not look like generic "furry art". Does that make sense?
As far as the dark shading goes, I have to admit I have a bad penchant for this myself and have to force myself out of this habit. When you're drawing for material that will be shown in color, its different as opposed to material that will be shown in black and white. EARLY Rosa's detail seemed to be a better balance to CURRENT Rosa's detail. I think that some of the same effects can be achieved with hatching as opposed to crosshatching (something I've seen Rosa do and I myself have been guilty of). Thing is, its like a switch. You have to know when to tone down the detail and give the "illusion" of detail without "being" detailed. I think Carl Barks succeeded greatly in doing this - the prime example being Ancient Persia which was just printed by Gemstone. There are serious details by Barks in that story which make the atmosphere gorgeous, but he also knows where and when to turn it off at just those right times so the art doesnt look like its on *constant* detail. Thats something that I'm not sure if Rosa can do or has done before and I think that maybe his extreme detail comes from the fact that he's still thinking in terms of black and white as opposed to leaving some detail for the colorist. I dunno...its not a major complaint on my end but I see where you are coming from.
I don't like his Barks sequel stories and think he has too high a percentage of panels with characters standing around talking.
I must recant again here and point out one final thing that irks me: Rosa's second major fault can be his "verbose-ness." Guardians Of The Lost Library in particular is one story that I can immediately pinpoint where all of that extraneous text wasnt necessary and probably needed a really good editing job. It felt more like a history lesson than a duck story. Dont get me wrong - I LIKE bits of history in my Duck treasure hunts, it makes them interesting. But when thats all the story is, I think that something gets lost along the way and thats where the editor should come in and steer it in the right direction.
Otherwise, our tastes in those other artists are spot on.
Nice to know.
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What do you think of the art in the Duck stories of Frank McSavage,
I have only ever seen two stories by him but I really wish I could find more artwork. Of all of the classic artists his style is just so very distinct and well rendered. Granted the two things I've seen - often reprinted Grandma Duck stories - are short, but his work just has this really enchanting fun look about it and I prefer him to a lot of the side artists of the western era. Its a shame that there isn't more of it available.
Jack Bradbury,
I used to prefer Bradbury to Murry - now I really don't. It took me a while before I realized why and what changed that was gaining access to early Murry work which I have since centered on. Bradbury is as close to Rosa detail as you'll get among old school artists, but Bradbury is also REALLY stiff. Moreso than any stiffness Rosa has done IMO. He renders the mouse characters fairly well and his style is distinct BUUUUUUUUUUT....
I dunno. The quality of the stories hurts him a lot PLUS I dont think his style is exactly the best thing. Plus, his later art really takes a nosedive. Theres something about his work that I cant pinpoint that irks me. Maybe I'll figure it out later.
The Scamp artist who introduced Cousin Feathry(forget name)
Al Hubbard works best doing Scamp. Certainly no ducks, certainly no mice. He works best rendering characters with more complex structures - dogs, animal-like characters, movie characters who need fluid motion but have different structures. With Scamp he succeeds (I greatly prefer Harvey Eisenberg's Chip N' Dale to his), but with anything else - I'm sorry but no. I think thats also the case of Carl Buettner with Little Bad Wolf and Vivie Risto with Bucky Bug. One thing about early Western/Gold Key - the artists were played for thier strengths with certain characters that they were associated with.
Al Taliaferro
I wish more of his work was available actually. I miss the comic strip run in Donald Duck.
I'm kind of curious to see how his late artwork changed so drastically. Outside of Barks he's one of the only major Disney artists (and I do count him just as major as Barks and Gottfredson due to what he's contributed to the Duck portion of the legacy) I know whose early work looks entirely different from his later work which surprises me to no end. I don't think its bad at all, I'm just curious because of the very stark contrast.
Dick Moores
I love The Wonderful Whizzix and Goofy's Mechanical Wizard. In fact I think that they are two extremely charming classic Mouse stories. I think that might have had to do with the fact that he was rumored to have written those.
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However, The Mardi Gras Mystery and Robert The Robot (the first time I'd seen his duck work) surprisingly left me a bit cold, and I'm not sure why exactly (maybe its because Im not sure if he DID write these). I really like Dick Moores' artwork though. Its been a while since I've seen the stories in question, but I seem to remember that one of the main things was that his mouse characters actually had differing expressions which was always a plus IMO.
Jack Hannah
Havent seen enough of it in comic book form and would like to see more.
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Either way - in terms of contribution - I think he's to the animated world of Donald Duck what Barks was to the comic world in terms of defining who he is to that specific medium.
Walt Kelly (mostly covers)
Some of his covers are charming and cute. Some of his covers however are off. He's hit or miss I think. just depends on the piece of art in question. DID he do any story work? I don't think he did...
Vic Lockman
Meh. Only think I really like that he contributed to the ducks and mice was Emil Eagle. And thats probably because the first Disney material I was ever exposed to was the "reintroduction" of Emil Eagle in during the Disney Comics run. I havent seen any of his classic appearances but I wasnt so hot on his stories during the Gladstone run to be honest.
Kay Wright
QUINTUPLE MEH. It was this art that turned me off of all the late Gold Key/Whitman era.
The Western artist who drew mostly Warner Bros, comics in '50s, but also drew Disney stories, ..etc,?
I'm guessing you're referring to Harvey Eisenberg?
Bill Wright
You know - there was a time when I really did not like Bill Wrights artwork and I'm wondering if that was a bit unfounded. Bill Wrights work is pretty good - but yet again, he suffers from all Mouse artists of the western era in that his characters are very stiff, and thats my only major turnoff. Reprinting the classic material with better production values has done wonders for my opinions of the artists like him because I was surprised that I liked "World Under The Sea" as much as I did (minus the stiffness). I think Bill Wright's talent was wasted on having to do redraws of various Gottfredson stories. Because now that those amazing Gottfredson stories have come to light, they make his redraws pale baldy by comparison which is a real shame. I'm curious to see some more of his work as he's one of the best alternatives to Paul Murry.
Manny Gonzales
Havent seen enough.
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I know that he did all of the Mickey/Goofy/Ellsworth sundays which I did like but beyond that Which Gottfredson era stories did he have a hand in?
Daan Jippes (did USA Mouse strip(1981-83 and a couple Dutch stories)?
Love him. Consider him one of the modern greats actually. His art style has a strange habit of fluctuating wildly. His Barks style is VERY well done while what I'm guessing is his wilder personal style has more of a flair of Taliaferro in it if I were to compare it to anything...
Freddy Milton
....
I can honestly say that I dont know. Maybe its because I've only seen a small selection of stories. But...I just don't know.
Verhagen
I did not like Verhagen initially, now I miss him. The stories that we've gotten by him in America were fun and were actually not bad at all. the story with the cursed princess doll comes to mind. I can see how some might not like his style but I dont think he's bad and I'm curious to see more.
Branca
In the old Gladstone days and early Disney Comics days I found his stories to be the **ONLY** Egmont stories worth reading. IMO he does Carl Barks' late style BETTER than Barks and turned it into something all his own, and that says a lot.
Vicar
I did not like Vicar at all until Gladtsone Series 2 when they printed Tour Du Jour. After that he became one of my favorites and hasnt stopped since. I realize now that a lot of that had to do not necessarily with his art but with the really subpar stories that he was given to work on. At some point his artwork just all of a sudden became more lively and full of vigor as if it was injected with a much needed dose of fun. His stories in the Disney era however especially are just boring. And I think you can kind of see that in his art. He didnt play with the layouts any, his characters were just kinda "there". And then it all suddenly just changed and he became really good almost overnight. Its so odd.
Mau & Bas Heymans
Wacky.
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Jan Gulbransson, Volker Reiche, Marc de Jonge, Jules Coenen, Sander Gulien
Never seen it and curious to see it actually
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Michel Nadorp
Haven't seen enough.
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Flemming Andersen
Caught me completely off guard. He's one of those artists who's style is all his own - he doesnt copy off Barks or anybody and you know what - I like it. Its so different from what I'm used to seeing. AT FIRST I was off put by it because its such a shocking style, but his work is FUN. And I like that.
Massimo De Vita
Dont remember much about De Vita but I do know that I have fallen in love with Massimo Fecchi's work
Santanache, Xavi, Scalabroni, Colomer, etc.?
If Santanach is whom I'm thinking of then meh. Xavi is a definate "meh". I just don't like his mouse I'm sorry to say. I commented on Scalabroni elsewhere BUT I LOVE those model sheets Egg posted.
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Dont know much of anything on Colomer. The Spanish Studio artists in general I think are very hit and miss.