Battle of the Gregs Part 3: The Showdown

On our left, a prolific comic book artist who can manage to draw extremely engaging interiors to comics, but seems forever hindered in how the fans perceive him due to a reliance on tracing, duplicating images, and in some instances just photoshopping the same picture multiple times, sometimes in the same frame.

On our right, an artist who can draw and paint some of the most gorgeous artwork I've ever seen on a comic book cover, but seems to have a strict mindset to make things as close to pornography as he can.  And he has some really strange ideas about horses.  

Yes, that was the actual cover to an actual comic book.  Picture "MARVILLE" plastered across the top.

So, whose artistic integrity is lower?  Who should only be brought onto a book when it's either absolutely desperate or is simply trying to pander to the lowest common denominator when it comes to books?  Who has the most potential to rise above his reputation?

We settle it here, in BATTLE OF THE GREGS: GREG LAND vs. GREG HORN.




Confession time: for several years I had these two guys completely mixed up in my head because of how similar their art could be at times.  Land's covers can be just as gorgeous as Horn's, but he doesn't have the same consistency.

So let's try looking at specific parts of their art and see who comes out on top.

Variety:

Now, I don't just mean the variety of comics, the variety of companies, or anything else, I mean the variety of characters.  Greg Land has, to his credit, done the interiors of large team books, and there's no way anybody would ever confuse Cyclops and the Beast.  Greg Horn, primarily doing covers, doesn't have the same number of characters to access, but when his characters are people like She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Elektra, it's just as important to make the character recognizable as well as unique from any other title sitting next to it.

Now, I will freely admit I could be swayed either way here.  Land does simply have more characters under his belt.  He's drawn characters for Crossgen Comics (which I will freely admit is one of my favorite titles of all time, partly due to his artwork in the early issues), he drew the Birds of Prey for DC, the X-Men for Marvel, the Ultimates, and many other teams.

However, I also remembered that the copying images doesn't just apply to women.  It applies to his men, too.

Sometimes even to the same guy in the same comic.

I give the advantage to Greg Horn, because while he doesn't have the same wide depth of characters, there's no chance you're going to mistake a giant emerald green strong-woman for a Greek assassin under his watch.

Detail:

Again, I'm torn on this one.  Land has more interiors, but frequently tries to crowd a lot of characters into scenes, requiring him to make sure the details let you realize who's who and who's where.  Horn (whose name seems more and more appropriate the more I post his art) has more time to touch up the little bits of his work, but doesn't have the same rush to get things done, as near as I can tell.

In this one, I might actually give the edge to Greg Land, because there's a lot more artwork involved in being able to draw a scene as complex as this:

Especially when you're doing pages of it every month.  Advantage Land.

Unintentional Hilarity:

We've talked about Greg Horn's fixation on making things seem quasi-pornographic, but let's talk about humor:

See, it's funny because her breasts are so big she can't do push-ups!  ...I will admit, I do love that soldier in the background who's so worked up that his hat has literally popped off his head like a cartoon character.  Plus, the guy to the left has an uncanny impression of a Rob Liefeld Captain America chest.

Just because your name isn't Greg doesn't mean you get a free pass, Liefeld.  Your time will come.

On the other hand, take a look at this picture from Greg Land:

I'm 83% sure the two people towards the front are actually having sex right there with everybody else watching.  Either that or the woman's pelvis is Siamese-twinned into the guy with the black hood and shades.

For pure hilarity, you can't beat flipping through anything Greg Land did.  There's almost always something that makes you snicker because you realize how bad or unintentionally hilarious it is.  However, when you're trying to tell an action-packed superhero story, that's not a bonus.

Advantage to Greg Horn, because his humor is at least in things that are supposed to be funny.

...well, minus that Catwoman (sorry, She-Cat) picture, anyway.

Bad Habits:

Greg Horn draws Late Nite Cinemax Porn.  There's really no getting around it.

I can never not feel dirty looking at this one.  It's like every bad fantasy a teenager ever had.

In fact, that last image came from something Penthouse asked him to draw.

It's also the reason that, even if I was a huge fan of his artwork, I could never buy his book, because THAT WAS USED FOR THE COVER.

Oh look, they made it even worse by changing the buttons.  Geez.

Plus, is it me, or does the woman in the second look a bit more concerned about the fact she can't control her actions?  Guys, it just got real.

So yeah, he's bad.  And if it was just that, I would be torn between that and the "porn faces" that Greg Land frequently draws, but here's the thing.  Tracing isn't Greg Land's only fault.

The man also steals.

That's just a sampling.

And that's something I can't forgive.

Congratulations, Greg Horn, you won the battle.  You may be a pretty huge pervert, but at least I can't put your images directly over someone else's artwork and match it up line for line.

Greg Land, I think you might actually rank under Rob Liefeld.  He's awful and kills books he gets connected to, but there's no way he stole that Captain America from something else.

Your prize (a complimentary bat to the bones of your fingers to keep you from "drawing" again) will be waiting for you in the lobby.  Feel free to pick it up at any time.