Artists I Like: Gilbert Hernandez

Like his brother Jamie, Gilbert Hernandez of Los. Bros Hernandez is an amazing comic book artist capable of delivering so much clarity and so much feeling in so few lines.

In truth, I was exposed to Gilbert's work more than Jaime's back in the day because as a sex-comics enthusiast in my early 20s I spotted Birdland and snatched it right up. Only later did I start checking out Love & Rockets.

Gilbert's work is fascinating to me because it seems to ride a line that I cherish. It is revered and respected as part of the Los. Bros. Hernandez oeuvre, which left a giant imprint on comics history. But it is happily and frequently dirty as fuck. Who else can draw women with huge boobs and still be an icon across generations?

Oh you sly devil, you. I see what you did there.

 

Artists I Like: Larry Todd

This week's Artist I Like is Larry Todd, one of the lesser-celebrated cartoonists of the 60s and 70s underground comix movement. He was a New York guy who was pals with Vaughn Bodé and the two collaborated on science fiction and comic covers that are absolutely amazing.

I confess I haven't read many Todd comics. He's best know for Dr. Atomic, which seems to be in the post smokin' wheelhouse of the comix movement. All those guys liked to do was draw drug using hippies and naked ladies.

I don't know how to explain my attraction to this style. But Bodé and Todd both simply charm the socks right off of me. There's a cartoon vibe to them both, mixed with a fantastical aesthetic and it's just perfect.

Larry Todd died less than a year ago in Sept 2024. And that makes me very sad. The idea that I could *possibly* have found a way to contact him and I didn't... well, honestly, that's just how I roll. I never reach out to "famous" artists I admire because I assume they don't want to talk to a schmuck like me. Anyway, RIP Larry Todd.

Todd + Bodé

This image inspired my whole ZSF idea, honestly.

This is my fave.

 

Artists I Like: Donna Barr

I know very little about the iconic 80s/90s comics artist Donna Barr. I know she is famous for The Desert Peach comics, which is a series about the youngest brother of the German WWII general Rommel. But don't be discouraged... Barr creates a gay character charged with commanding misfits and, as far as I can tell, does his best to undermine the evils of the Holocaust.

I have not read it, so I can't comment further. But according to Wiki, she simply took the name of Rommel's brother who died in infancy and imagined The Desert Peach into existence. A sort of "what if" kind of treatment. Very unique and original idea, if you ask me.

Oh, she also illustrated Pauli Kidd's Lace & Steel roleplaying game. And she created Stinz, a comic about a centaur society.

Barr is a creator I need to look into a lot more.

 

Artists I Like: Daniel Strickland

Artists I Like.... Daniel Strickland! I encountered his work on Insta and fell in love. He draws fat girls a lot, and I appreciate that. It's a morally good thing.

This post might be more comfortable over on my Blood Red blog... and I might do a mirror version featuring more of his art over there. But hell's bells, y'all. If you don't know my proclivities by now you ain't never gonna learn. I'm a package deal.

Anyway... Daniel Strickland seems to work mostly in ink with digital color. His website says he's a professional comic book artist. Looks like he also makes adult coloring books*.

I love his delicate lines. Almost an animation style. Of course his forms are fabulous as well, capturing the volume of a body in an elegant way. This is my kind of thing. So check him out.

*"Adult" coloring books sounds dirty, right? But it just means coloring books created for grown ups, not kids. So it can be anything from hot rods to flowers.

 

Artists I Like: Rick Geary

I had no idea Rick Geary was born in the 1940s. I guess I assumed he was roughly my age. But that's because I don't do my research and I assume too much.

Geary has a long career spanning back to the early 1970s when he did work for various newspapers. He was in National Lampoon for years. I recall seeing his work for the first time in Heavy Metal when was a teen, so it had to be around 1988 since that is when his first story appeared in the magazine. (Is he in the new Heavy Metal??)

The one book I own of his is Jack the Ripper. Apparently Geary is a bit obsessed with Victorian murder because he did a whole slew of those kinds of books ranging from the Borden murders to the killing of Abraham Lincoln.

His style is iconic. I don't know his tools, but it always felt like he was using technical pens (maybe dip pens) and working with delicate precision over these pages. But I suspect his comic pages are not large scale. I don't know. But the Victorian murder books are digest sized, or around 8.5 x 5.5 inches or something. If I was publishing at that size, I would draw on 8.5 x 11 or something. (Look at me speculating about what I could probably just research.)

Geary does good work. Check it out.

 

Artists I Like: Stan Sakai

This week I'm looking at Stan Sakai... legendary creator of legendary rabbit samurai Usagi Yojimbo!

Usagi the protector... he's just a good guy, you know? He does the right thing most of the time. And his skills are off the charts.

He is brought to life by Stan Sakai's masterful pen. The stories are great. Simple, and direct. But it is the high quality linework that makes them stand out. There's a nifty walkthrough of his process on Stan Sakai's website.

I saw Usagi here and there as a youth but never in the wild, always in a magazine or something. I didn't get my hands on any of the comics until I picked up Fantagraphics' volume one collection. I was probably 30 by then. But since my 30s were extremely formative for me, artistically, it was good timing and I hope something of Sakai's magic rubbed off somewhere in my doodles.