Battle of the Gregs Part 2: Greg Horn

So last time we discussed Greg Land, an artist who can put out some really quality work but tends to simply decide to trace dubious material for most of the women he draws.

Today, we're going to look at another artist who can do some absolutely amazing artwork when he tries it, but whose taste in subject matter leaves me scratching my head sometimes.

We're talking about Greg Horn.

In regards to that above picture, there are several things that bother me.  First and foremost, you take some of the strongest and most well-developed female characters Marvel has (and Psylocke) and simply have them slutting it up for a "camera."  They even had a woman whose big mutant power is "controlling the weather" make sure it rained on them to give them that "wet" look.  Storm, you were a goddess in Africa, you've lead different teams, and you once kicked a woman's ass in the sewers in a knife fight without your powers.

You don't need to be trying to show porn star cleavage.

The only thing I really like about that image is Kitty Pryde, because even in a twisted fantasy image like that, she still manages to be the most reserved and innocent.  If the picture was just Jean and Shadowcat sitting somewhere, crop out all the others, it might be a really good picture.

What the heck, Greg?  You've got monsters and a damsel in distress and even some weird bondage thing going on...what possible context could there be for this picture?

Ohhh, it's a Dr. Who image!

That happens, right?  The female companion is almost put into weird slave bondage by monsters and is completely helpless despite carrying a gun?  They're the useless characters, right?

You'll also note that he apparently drew it twice, because the woman's head is different in the first one.

This is one of those "really well drawn, but-" pictures.  See, I'm pretty sure that when he was commissioned to do this, was "make sure her clothes have burned off enough to show a black lace thong" on the request?  If this is supposed to be when witches were burned at the stake regularly, did they even have a Frederick's Of Hollywood for her to buy that outfit from?

Also, maybe it's just me, but that face doesn't really scream (no pun intended) "Oh god, I'm about to burn to death."  It seems to either be annoyed or really bored high school drama acting.    Plus, how is her dress that tattered but her stocking hasn't caught fire yet?

Let's move on.

Okay.  I'm going to time myself.  I get two minutes to type everything I can.

Go.

Who would ever drink in that pose?  Did Black Batman provide the milk or just pick up the carton trying to figure out what the hell's going on?  Who puts a water tower on top of a two story building?  Why is that fire escape sideways?  Why does the newspaper read "She-Cat Strikes Again?"  Are those ears glued to her head or just on a cheap headband?  Who is she looking at?

*ding*

Okay, let's just move on.  Man.  Could anything be worse?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.  THAT HORSE!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

MOVING ON.

Okay.  So let's get this out of the way now, yes, Jenna Jameson had her own comic book where she fought supernatural evil or something.  Yes, it was garbage.

However, look at those evil faces in the background.

Whatever else, it takes talent to draw something like that and have it look at least as realistic as anything you'd see in a movie.  In fact, they look more realistic than Jenna does (then again, Jenna isn't 100% natural to begin with).

Okay, let's try to get one good image in here.

Well, it's not BAD, but...

Okay, here's the thing.  If you're doing a book about Emma Frost, it's hard NOT to draw her looking like that.  However, when you're putting it on as a cover of a book that features a young teenage Emma Frost getting her powers for the first time and going from high school into college...as in a "we want girls to read this book" book...yeah.

And when you have pictures like that on the covers of the first SIX ISSUES of said book...it's no wonder the book didn't do well.

See, there's some good artwork.  In fact, I'd call that almost brilliant.

But that's the thing about Greg Horn.  You get great pieces of artwork, it's just they're almost always pin-ups or worse.  Land might trace, but he's doing insides of comic books, too, while Horn just does covers (as near as I can tell).

So, which is worse, tracing porn to do an entire book or artistically creating porn to plaster on covers?

We'll have the two Gregs hammer it out to see who triumphs at losing tomorrow!