Alright, so I'll leave the jokes to The Stooge, and stick to what I know...

...no I don't mean drinking. Not this time anyway.

What I wanted to bring to your attention this time, is inspired by jkthunder's latest blog, where she explained the myth behind her blog title. You may have seen a few recent lists of my favourite heroes, villains and soundtracks, and I was in the process of planning a couple more of those, but jk's blog made me put them to one side, and bring you a new one. An unplanned one. It wasn't jk's blog itself that made me come up with this, but some of the comments between the two of us towards the end of the replies.

Basically, I mis-read her comment about the comics (The Empire Strikes back comic adaptation, to be precise) and I began to praise the artist behind that.

Anyway, misunderstanding over, I decided to let you know which comic book artists have fuelled my passion for comics, have fuelled my passion for Star Wars, and have assisted in my growing up from a six year old picking up Star Wars #1, to the present day. EU-haters may turn away at this point, as there will be some references to the object of your despise...

...Regular visitors to the Rogues Gallery may have noted that my earlier blogs concentrated on the Star Wars comics, but mostly surrounded the fiction, if not always. Well now it's the artists turn.

This entry evolved and went through a few re-writes already last night and this morning, as it was intended to be a tribute to one man's work. But I decided to expand and enlighten you to "a larger aspect", and in a similar way to my soundtrack entry, inform you of which artists make me tick.

At first I was loathe to simply write a top ten. There's so many great comic artists out there that I was afraid I'd miss someone out (I still might have), or annoy someone else because their favourite one isn't mentioned (but feel free to mention your choices). But remember folks, this is about ME, as well as the artists, and I think I've got everyone covered - this is quite an easy topic for me, as its so close to my heart.

Please also understand that the artists that feature don't simply do so because of their technical abilities, or ability to render likenesses of characters (in the case of Star Wars). Some of them are here because they stood out, they imprinted themselves in my mind at some stage or other, and are unforgettable.

In the usual Rogueish fashion, I'll list my favourite top ten artists, in the normal manner, by which I mean I'll list them in descending order:

10. Carmine Infantino. The first EU artist, and the only one of my choices who appear in the Eisner Award Hall of Fame. His work may not be perfect compared to today's standards, but back in the late 70s and early 80s - he was perfect in my eyes - he was bringing my heroes to life.

9. John Nadeau. A regular during the run of Rogue Squadron comics, I don't know much about him, and have rarely seen his work other than for the Rogues, but his work simply stood out for me.

8. Doug Wheatley. A newbie for me, he probably has a substantial portfolio of work, but I've just seen him in Empire and lately during the Revenge of the Sith adaptation, which I adore. I adore everything I've seen, he may go even higher on the list if I see more of his stuff.

7. Ian Gibson. The first non-SW artist on my list. Actually that's not true, he has drawn the Droids comics and Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire, to name a couple, but I remember him prior to that. Whilst I was an adolescent he delighted me in bringing Judge Dredd to life as well as Sam Slade: Robo-Hunter, Ace Trucking Co, and The Ballad of Halo Jones.

6. Brian Ching. Mr Ching is another fairly recent artist to me. I've only ever seen his Star Wars work, and he frequently had me in awe during the Clone Wars and most notably, my favourite (Star Wars) story arc of all time - Obsession. Nowadays he's performing miracles with Knights of the Old Republic.

5. Ron Frenz. Ah, back to the Marvel Star Wars comics. Thank the Maker that Dark Horse reprinted these in the ALTA graphic novels. I used to live and breathe Ron Frenz as he sated my appetite for Star Wars whilst patiently awaiting the Return of the Jedi movie in the early 80s.

4. Carlos Ezquerra. Here's another artist that I grew up with, then delighted me much later by drawing for Star Wars. Back when I was a young boy reading 2000AD, Carlos was a favourite of mine even back then as he gave me Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog. His work on the Dredd story - The Apocalypse War is unforgettable. He did Mara Jade: By The Emperor's hand too.

3. Cam Kennedy. The Scotsman that revived Star Wars. Dark Empire. 'Nuff said. Before that though, he gave me Rogue Trooper. Beautiful stuff.

2. Al Williamson. All kneel in the presence of comic book royalty. King Williamson, along with his high exaltedness Archie Goodwin (writer) took the baton from the greats such as Howard Chaykin and Carmine Infantino, and produced some of the finest artwork I've ever seen in the comic adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as much of the work in between and the old newspapers strips set after A New Hope. Only Al Williamson could get away with giving us an Imperial Admiral with a sheepskin coat! (sorry - I couldn't find a picture of Admiral Griff anywhere)

1. Jan Duursema. The Empress of Art. Quinlan Vos, Aayla Secura, Khaleen, Tholme, Darth Talon, Darth Krayt (and I've only read 2 or 3 issues of Legacy) - need I say anymore? Her Darth Maul trade paperback, and the adaptation of Attack of the Clones, as well as many many issues of Republic, are simply the best works I've ever seen. Long may she reign. I've said it many times; She and John Ostrander are the Dream Team.

So, there it is. The not so definitive Rogueish Hall of Fame regarding comic artists. I say 'not-so definitive' as it could change all the time. Why? Because of these "almost-made-its":

Joe Corroney. A superb artist, but I've only seen him do Star Wars. He hasn't done too much in the way of Star Wars comics, but he's done a lot for Insider. I frequently visit his website, and he's a regular blogger too.

Brandon Badeaux. First seen (by me) during the Clone Wars comics. We definitely need more BB, and I'm not talking about Big Brother!

Tomas Giorello. Probably the best rendering of Durge ever, although I'm not able to find an online pic of it.

Steve Dillon. Another one from my childhood. He was my favourite Judge Dredd artist - and there were many. Dillon stood out for me head and shoulders above the regular artists.

Heaps of praise/kudos/special mentions have to go to the following:

Lucas Marangon. Although Kevin Rubio is a genius at writing them, Tag and Bink wouldn't rock half as much without Marangon.

Rodolpho DaMaggio. The only time I've seen this chap's work is the Episode 1 comic adaptation, I think. But it is highly impressive.

Ramon F Bachs. My second favourite Star Wars story arc of all time, Jedi Vs Sith, was brought to life by this geezer. He also produced fine work on Jango Fett: Open Seasons, yet another favourite. I'd like to see more of his work in that galaxy far, far away.

Edvin Biukovic. Although all three comic adaptations of the Heir to Empire Trilogy were superb, The Last Command was by far my favourite. Biukovic was able to show me Tim Zahn's vision in the manner I'd pictured it.

Mike McMahon, of Judge Dredd, the ABC Warriors and Sláine fame, is another of those artists I grew up with. As were Dave Gibbons (Dredd again, The Harlem Heroes and Rogue Trooper), Massimo Belardinelli (early Dredd, Flesh, Ace Trucking Co and Sláine), regular Dredd contributors Ron Smith and Brian Bolland, and lastly Alan Davis (D.R and Quinch).

I should of course not forget all the writers, inkers, letterers, cover artists and other contributors without which, we would not have all this outstanding work.

And last but not least, I just have to mention that these artists I've praised would probably list their own artistic heroes, the people that brought the world all those fine superhero comics in the early years. Although I'm not familiar with any of them (I was a reader of some DC and Marvel titles, but not regularly enough to remember who the contributors were), they deserve some sort of mention. I raise a glass to you all.


Dedicated to the memory of Tim Hildebrandt (1939-2006)