Benjamin Morse, Comic Book Artist
Benjamin Morse, Comic Book Artist
Channel of comic artist and writer Benjamin W. Morse, creator of We Are Scarlet Twilight and August: Purgatory Underground. Covering current and older comic story arcs, interviews with creators, and videos about developing your own comics and characters!
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Yes, Garcia Lopez's ATARI FORCE is INCREDIBLE!! He made that property!🔥🔥🔥🔥
Absolutely! That book is way better than it deserved to be- the characters are great, and the designs have aged really well!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 That is the TRUTH!🔥🔥
@@africansuperhero 100%!
Bruce Timm and Paul Dini are the goats. My only problem with Bruce Timm is his obsession with Bruce and Barbara. It's a little weird not gonna lie.
I know. That was so weird, man. Any time they can throw in something like that, or Harley and Nightwing, it's always going to happen.
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 Thank god Paul mostly kept Bruce in check.
@@callmejacob3234 Agreed! A few of the pairings they introduced in the DCAU were great- loved Hawkgirl and John Stewart, but so many seemed really out of left field.
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 I really liked Batman and Wonder Woman. I also liked Bruce and Andrea. Andrea is probably my favorite Batman love interest next to Silver St. Cloud.
@@callmejacob3234 Andrea was great- was cool that they brought her into the comics a bit in that Tom King miniseries. I think that wasn't in continuity (it seems like a very direct follow up to his Batman run), but hope they bring her in.
Great video, this is a small nitpick, Grant Morrison identified as non binary and prefers "they/them" pronouns. I don't expect everyone to just know this
Good point! I remember reading that now that you bring it up, should have noted that!
Great video but I'm surprised Roy Thomas himself hasn't made a video since he once owned all 57 issues of the original All Star Comics!
That would be awesome to see!!
Len Wein ("Ween").
I'll read it that way next time! Thanks!
Really nice! One quibble, less about the content, more the video itself. Some of the soundmix sounds off (too soft narration?) before the ad break. But as for the content: let's just say BTAS ignited my love of superheroes. So I wouldn't be doing comics if it wasn't for Bruce Timm, in part :)
@@Dkalban thanks! I'll take a look at that!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 Okay :) It may have been a perfect storm on my end of the sound mix, my AC, and my laptop speakers. ^^; but better safe than sorry?
Great video man,Bruce Timm is a great artist and his Batman the animated series,Batman Beyond,Justice League are his masterpieces.
Thanks!! I agree- he's one of the best, and those 3 shows were GREAT!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 your welcome and yep. I am glad you like those shows as well.
@@Chaosic 100%!!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 👍
his initials are Justice League Green Lantern, man!
Yeah- what a cool coincidence!
When is the style guide being re-released? And where can it be purchased?
I believe you can order direct from dc's online shop, or through your local comics shop- it's in preorder now, and is supposed to ship in August of this year!
Thank you Jose for legendary childhood memories and swag! His drawing of Batman Vs. Joker (Joker has a Joker mallet and Joker flower shooting acid) has been my favorite since i was a toddler. I have the lunchbox and thermos set
I might have had that one too!
We have lived in an age of giants and JLGL is definitely one of them. Awesome artist.
Absolutely!!
I've always been curious why he didn't have a longer run on Batman was it his choice to leave? Does anyone know?
I'm not 100 percent sure on that- I know Englehart had an at times fraught relationship with DC, but I don't think Rogers did. I certainly wish he'd stayed longer- that we'd have as many issues by Rogers as we do Breyfogle, Nolan or Aparo!
What a legendary artist. Wow. I had no idea.
Yeah- he's one of the all time greats!
The Super Powers Collection! I had seen JLGL work on Batman v Hulk, but his Arrt for that toy lines packaging blew my mind. One of the BEST!
Absolutely!! That's probably the first time I saw his stuff!
Could you do art of alex toth
Definitely planning to do a Toth ep!
Luis Garcia-Lopez kissed my sister. After i asked him not to. Ive still a mix of emotions about it.
I'm sorry to hear that happened!
Great video about a great artist. I'm looking over your channel, and it looks like I have a lot of watching to catch up on. A couple of pronunciation notes: Len Wein pronounced his name "ween," and Dick Giordano was "jor-dan-o," not "gor-dee-an-o."
Thanks so much!! I looked around a bit for the correct pronounciation on Giordano and couldn't find anything that seemed right!
JLGL......the goat
100 percent!
Why does everybody hate on Batman and Robin ? I love that movie it's silly fun , what's wrong with that ?
I've grown to like it! Actually was working at a theatre when it came out- I lugged the film canisters up to the projector a few days early to check it out!
Garcia Lopez’s art is great. The Road To Perdition he did was one of the sequel not original
@@White_Tiger2169 you're right- I should have noted that!!
I'm interested in how Lopez trained himself to get as good as he was: clean lines, but also very good mix of the realistic (anatomy) and the fantastic.
@@eliasscorsone3220 from what I've read, and seen of his early work- while he certainly improved over time, a lot of his talent seems natural!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 "Talent" sure, but what was/is his routine? What is his studio like?
@@eliasscorsone3220 Aside from the mentions in interviews, I haven't seen a lot of process stuff from him! I'll look into that!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 Much appreciated! I love the idea of "cracking the code" of how to improve. I wonder if he has adhd or autism spectrum, or some hyperfocus for illustration (which would be cool for us neurospicy people to have a hero). His work is just so clean.
@@eliasscorsone3220 His work is definitely very clean- he must have really impressive focus!
Woah this guy's art is soo much energy im a life long manga reader and anime watcher and i'd read his stuff for sure only if modern comics was like that
Awesome- glad you like his stuff! You're right- TONS of energy in these pages!
Fun fact: Aside from the Marvel characters who appeared in the Batman/Hulk crossover; the only other Marvel character JLGL ever drew for Marvel was Wonder Man from the second Marvel Handbook. Supposedly, Jose wanted to see his pencils inked by Joe Rubenstein.
I saw that image when I was researching- I'd have included it if I could find it at a higher resolution!
Do you truly like José Luis García López´s art? By the way I find it interesting that whenever an important a Spanish name (particularly in DC) it so happens that it is because the artists are either Spanish or from Puerto Rico. ...like, the AMAZING Jorge Jiménez. And not that looks are everything but Jorge is young and looks more like a model than the artist he is. And he works from Spain.
I am a big fan of Garcia Lopez! and you're right- there certainly do seem to be a lot of great artists from those places. Love Jiménez's work- one of the greats.
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 So glad you like Jorge Jiménez. He is incredibly talented. And he has a style that tends to appeal to almost everybody. Have you seen him? Besides pictures you can find interviews here in KZread. Some, if not most, are of Spanish News Channels. I ask because I wonder if you ever imagined him to be the way he is. ...I thought he´d be just a regular guy and truly impressed me by not being one at all when you think of a comic book artist. In fact, check a video (from DC) titled Visionnaires featuring Jorge Jiménez where they go in dept into his professional life. Please do a video about him. PS So glad he can have as credits the designs of Superboy (Jon Kent) and Punchline.
@@justicierodelaliga I definitely have making a video about him on my list! His work has evolved a bit over the last few years (he's changed up his rendering and linework a bit) that would make it interesting to cover!
As a comic fan since the 60's, I well remember the clean, dynamic style of Mr. Lopez in the 80's. He truly defined the look of DC for millions of fans and back when we actively sought out writers and artists over book titles, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez's name SOLD books.
Absolutely! I've spent years tracking down the issues he's done interiors for!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 I recently was able to re-read the very short run of Hercules Unbound, and three comic legends worked on the 12 issues of the book; JL Garcia Lopez, inked by the legendary Wallace Wood and the run was finished by the great Walt Simonson. Woody's skills were beginning to diminsh, but the art was still dynamic.
Great video.
Thanks so much! Hoping to have a new one in the next few days!
That Moebius anecdote is phenomenal
It really is! Read that in the Modern Masters issue abut JLGL!
I really like Marshall Rogers' work, but he didn't single-handedly turn Batman back into a dark figure. That got started when Editor Julius Schwartz started the "new look" Batman, with more down-to-earth stories and art by Carmine Infantino. It got serious when Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams started doing their infrequent Batman stories, with others like Frank Robbins, Irv Novick, Jim Aparo, Walt Simonson, Michael Golden, Ernie Chua, and others trying to continue down the serious, Dark Knight path. That was all from the late 60s and early 70s. So Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers came along rather late in the game, even if what they did was quite good!
I totally agree with what you're saying- the move towards the darker Batman started even in the early 60s, and I'm being a little hyperbolic with my title. But it kind of came out of the research I did on this. The first thing I think of as far as redfining Batman's world in the 70's is Adams and O'Neil- but their output was a lot spottier (in terms of timing, not quality, of course!) than I realized. They had a great stories here and there, but jumped around a lot, and it wasn't really a "run" that built up momentum. And Aparo- probably my favorite Bat-artist- was still on Brave and Bold for such a long stretch, not really on one of the Batman flagships. I'd never been a big Rogers/Englehart fan as a kid, and their run certainly didn't last that long- but it was always something I'd read about as what other teams looked at as a good baseline for the 70s "darker" Batman. But when I finally checked it out a few years ago, I can see what the fuss was about- it was seemed like it was kind of the first time all the cool things that had been happening with the character post Adam West came together, both in art and writing tone, and really took shape over a few arcs. Thanks for your comment- and some of those artists who you listed will definitely be featured in a new video soon!
JLGL is perhaps the greatest DC artist of all time.
Yeah- everybody has their favorite artists in terms of style or storytelling, but it's always seemed like these were the perfect versions of DC's heroes!
There are many others I can mention in the same league: George Pérez, Ramona Fradon (in the Super Friends comics and design for the cartoon) and the current Jorge Jiménez.
@@justicierodelaliga I really don´t know what people sees on Jimenez art. It´s my personal opinion, of course. I´ll say one of the best DC comics artist right now and for the last 10 years, is Ivan Reis.
Would you tackle the art of Otto Schmidt?
Thanks so much for this! Love Garcia-Lopez’s art. Most amazing observation made about his Superman: After Christopher Reeve successfully played Superman people started commenting that Garcia-Lopez was modeling his Superman after Reeve…. until someone pointed out that Garcia-Lopez’s drew Superman in his comics with that same likeness years before Reeves movie! Garcia-Lopez really understands Superman! Lastly picked up We are Scarlett Twilight- loved it. Looking forward to the sequel!
Yeah, his Superman has yet to be matched. Somehow it looks like every good live action version of Superman at the same time- total perfection! And thanks so much for checking out Scarlet Twilight! Working on the sequel now!
Pretty sure all these characters were in place before Lopez- not taking anything away from his immense talent
Oh- totally, these were all characters with designs well established before he drew them. In fact, I don't think he changed anything on the characters in that first guide- just made the existing versions look as good as they ever have!
He made characters who could fly look like they were actually flying. His blouse-and-shorts era Supergirl looked fab, not at all girl-next-door. I read and liked Atari Force without knowing it was tied to video games, because I’d never heard of Atari or video games. Pong was merely the tennis game me and my best friend played in Woolworths after school.
100 percent- I don't think anyone's captured as much of how those characters move as he did, and his Supergirl is to me, the iconic version! So much nostalgia there. Came to Atari Force late, but it was amazing, the design was awesome. Pretty good story too.
Is it true that Jose Louis Garcia-Lopez is friends with Sergio Aragones?
I looked a little- couldn't find anything for sure. But I imagine they had a lot of friends/colleagues in common- it's certainly plausible to think they're friends!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 I love both their work so much. Garcia-Lopez's work is absolutely gorgeous, but Aragones's ability to tell stories with just pictures is almost unparalleled.
@@jessewilley531 Definitely! I never was as into the cartoonists as much as the illustrators when I was younger, it wasn't til I had to reproduce some simple styles at my first job how much goes into art like that!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 I started reading comics at around 8. But mostly Archie and Disney stuff at first. I got into superheroes around twelve. (Around 1992). My friends and I went to a lot of local shows a few times a year. We almost always brought between $50-$100 with us each time. The difference is... they'd go and get one or two big things (first appearance of Venom. a signed Youngblood #1, etc.) I'd ask the dealer 'your sign says, long box $25.' They'd say 'Yeah, which one do you want'. I'd say 'Make it $30 buy I want to be able to sift through whatever ya got'. Usually, they'd agree. (Of course, once they gave it to me he had to give it to everyone else. But those dealers often wound up with no quart or 50 cents boxes when they left, so he loses on that deal exactly?) I discovered a lot of great writers and artists that way. Jose Louis Garcia-Lopez, George Perez, Walter Simonson, John Romita Snr, Sergio Aragones, Fred Hembeck, and writers like JM DeMatteis, Paul Levitz, and Dwayne McDuffie.
Great video. Captain Lancet looks awesome.
Thanks so much!!! Phantom inspired a lot of his design!
Would like to see george perez or walt simonson
Both are on my list! Probably will get to Perez first! Been re-reading Crisis and Legion of 3 Worlds lately!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 How prolific was the late, great George Perez? He drew the Avengers and the Justice League AT THE SAME TIME.
@@tygrkhat4087 I've read that- it's hard to imagine! Takes me days to crank out a page of interiors, and a lot longer if it's a team book!
Ahhhhh, DC Finest, coming in November! Think I'll order Justice Society of America: For America and Democracy early next year! 😃✌👍
Hope you'll like it! Did a lot of research on old JSA when was trying to get a good mix of 40's and modern art for Scarlet Twilight (I didn't really nail it!). But those old JSA comics have great visuals- I think they did something really tough, balancing all those characters and colors and making it really shine. If they hadn't, I'm not even sure a lot of team books would have caught on the way they did!
JL Garcia-Lopez is such a powerful and dynamic artist. His characters are just full of life and action. When I got into comics, I saw him in Jonah Hex, and DC Comics Presents, the Batman/Hulk crossover, Atari Force, and other places. I didn't know he had a problem with deadlines, but that would explain why he was never on a title for very long. He's such an under-rated artist, so it's nice to see him get his due at this late date.
He's one of the best ever- and you're right, while his art has always been the public facing version of the DC characters (at least until they started mixing some Jim Lee in there), his name wasn't as related to the art as other pencillers. I think that's really changed the last 15 yrs! Also, I wouldn't say he had a problem with deadlines from anything I'd read- I think that quote was just acknowledging that he realized early on he wasn't going to be a Mark Bagely or JRJR book-a-month guy.
Oh my stars and garters,what a well made video,enjoyed it from start to finish.I'm familiar with Lopez's super-hero art,but,his non super-hero art is-FANTASTIC. Oh my. LOL.I once had the Modern Masters edition featuring him and his work,I'd like to get another hard paper back copy. Wonder if you'd do a take on-Jim Aparo-haven't seen any one do a feature on him. Again well done and keep'em coming-PLEASE.
Thanks so much!! Glad this gave you a look at his non superhero stuff! Twilight might have been the first book I saw he did interiors for- that cover was all over the free comics newsletters the shops gave out back in the 90s, and I always was looking for it! And my JLGL copy of Modern Masters is dog eared beyond belief, but is one of the books that's made it through every move. Oh- and an Aparo ep is definitely coming soon- the script for that one is half written already!!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 I enjoy learning about my favorite comic artists and the history of comics in general. I'm still hunting for a copy of Lopez's Modern Masters edition tho,have been recently buying other copies of them like : Mike Ploog,George Perez,Art Adams,John Byrne and a few others. I'm one happy camper. LOL. And glad to hear the good news on your production feature of Jim Aparo.
thanks for this video. I was a huge comic nerd in the 80s when I grew up, but here in germany the choices were kinda limited. Now I recently rediscovered my love for comics and there is SO much amazing new stuff out there. But I also crave that old style from my childhood days. So I was looking into what older artists I like and which comics I could look out for...and somehow landed here. Really enjoyed this, loved the Hulk version you showed and realized I really have to check out some older DC stuff.
Glad you liked it! That Hulk vs Batman is a great read if you can find it- even fairly early on in his superhero career, it's incredible stuff! His Superman and Batman stuff has been spotty, but DC's collected it into a few editions of just his art. Awesome that you're getting back into comics!!
@@benjaminmorsecomicbookarti3793 Yeah, also checked out your stuff and it REALLY looks interesting. I also love your style. And especially August looks like its right down my alley. Recession hit me hard but I will keep an eye on the kickstarter. :D Just bought a bunch of comics at a flea market and currently am going through the immortal hulk. So much stuff I missed out on. But 20 years ago I tried my best becoming an illustrator, but making a living from my hobby totally killed all the creativity and passion. Also I wasnt really that good to be honest. :D But yeah, gotta start drawing again too I guess. Just to relax the mind a bit. :D
@@reuterss306 Thanks so much for checking out my stuff!! Really appreciate it! Hope you enjoy Immortal Hulk- still have to check that out! And good luck with getting back into drawing!
Well done! I loved this video. You gave a snack-sized portion of a creator who has given us a "buffet" of work over the years. Your art selections made sense and your narration was well written and came across as informative and conversational. *I didn't know I needed a video series like this!* Here's hoping you profile Michael Golden. He's not as prolific as some, but I love his work. Cheers!
Thanks so much!!! Really appreciate the kind comment! And Golden is on my list!!!
45CAL Automatic
Steve Englehart wrote the Mister Miracle issues that Rogers drew. Michael Golden drew the Steve Gerber issues.
I think you're right! I'll have to check things like that for the next video and make sure I'm getting it from 2 sources to confirm!
:< D
He does predate both Superman and Batman.
He's also better
@@mungosmungo8694 Is he better than The Shadow? That's the real question and who Batman ripped off more.
is this a video about the Phantom or whoever Captain Lancet it. Dislike
Another batch of great looking comics! I can’t wait for the next Scarlet Twilight
Thanks so much, Jeff!
Totally looking forward to following Band of Bards. Also, can’t wait for Cobalt Crisis!
Wtf is wrong with the people in this comment section? "Ummm, they're ahem pistols not revolvers my good sir. I know it has absolutely nothing to do with the premise of the video but I like being a pedantic little sh!t because my life sucks and pointing out minor flaws makes me feel better about my f*cked up life." Also the other stupid comment asking you to do your research or whatever. Yeah don't point out anything you're talking about just throw out utterly unconstructive and vague criticism about researching. What they mean by that? Who f*cking knows? Because the intention isn't to actually have honest criticism but just to be a troll because they have nothing else in their life. Don't listen to these people because as I've pointed out it's not in good faith and it's not valid either. This was a good video and it seems like they were just wanting anything at all to complain about. Some people are just childish little sh!ts like that. Keep up the good work.
Please do ur home works before making..... thank you for making this video..but make it worthy
Yeah. Don't elaborate or anything so he can fix whatever you're talking about. Just throw out vague criticism about "research." Do you mind explaining that?
@@miked5814seriously no ..he must have known better...thank anyway