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TOP 10 ARTISTS OF 2019′S REVIEWS

Believe it or not, it is harder to “rank” artists than writers, for comic-books. Most of the time, what you see is mostly a collaboration of many artists, and not always an ugly style is a bad thing. Art is subjective and that is why I am not doing a “bottom 10″ list of artists these years. It just wouldn’t make sense.

But because this year I took all sixty-something review that scored 10, while that is still a long list of artists, I was able to see which artists were more prominent in the material I read this year. This may or many not make sense to you, and it might not even make sense at all. But here it comes.

NUMBER TEN JERRY ORDWAY (1957 - PRESENT)

Jeremiah Ordway (born November 28, 1957) is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books.

He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985–1986), his long run working on the Superman titles from 1986–1993, and for writing and painting the Captain Marvel original graphic novel The Power of Shazam! (1994), and writing the ongoing monthly series from 1995–1999. He has provided inks for artists such as Curt Swan, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, John Buscema, Steve Ditko, John Byrne, George Perez and others.

Jerry Ordway was inspired in his childhood by Marvel Comics, and dreamed of drawing Daredevil, Spider-Man, and the Avengers. To date he has only worked on the latter.

Ordway attended Milwaukee Technical High School, where he took a three-year commercial art course, before joining a commercial art studio as a typographer in 1976. He subsequently worked his way "from the ground floor up at the art studio" between 1978 and 1981.

Ordway is married to Peggy May Ordway (b. 1959).

While Ordway’s work this year that made him into the list is “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, I think that I am doing a special mention for him. He was inker for that series (And this year, I will be separating pencillers from the rest), but Ordway’s pencils have so much personality, that you sometimes forget he is just inking.

NUMBER NINE GARY FRANK (1969 - PRESENT)

Gary Frank (born 1969) is a British comics artist, notable for pencilling on Midnight Nation and Supreme Power, both written by J. Michael Straczynski. He has also worked with author Peter David on The Incredible Hulk and Supergirl. He had a creator-owned series, Kin, which he wrote himself, published by Top Cow Productions in 2000.

Writer Geoff Johns, who has collaborated with Frank, has opined that Frank's rendition of Superman is the best of his generation and that the only other artist in the same league with Frank in this regard is Curt Swan.

Gary Frank began his professional career in 1991, illustrating covers and interior short stories for publications such as Doctor Who Magazine and Toxic!. This led to a stint at Marvel UK in 1992 as regular series' artist on Motormouth & Killpower. It was on that series that he began a long-running collaboration with inker Cam Smith, who would continue to ink Frank's work for many years. In 1992, Frank was recruited by Marvel Comics to illustrate covers for The Incredible Hulk, beginning with issue No. 400. Shortly thereafter, he was hired as the series' ongoing artist beginning with issue No. 403 (March 1993) and ending with No. 425 (Jan. 1995).

During his initial time at Marvel, Frank contributed covers, interiors and pin-up illustrations for various series, such as X-Men Unlimited, the Sabretooth Special, X-Men Classic, X-Men Prime, and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, among others. He drew covers for Acclaim Comics' Ninjak and Harris Comics' Vampirella.

In 1996, Frank and Smith were hired as the art team on DC Comics' new Supergirl ongoing series, which re-teamed Frank with writer Peter David. Frank's run as penciller ended with issue No. 9 (May 1997), although he continued to provide covers for the series until issue No. 21. Other assignments for DC included a Birds of Prey one-shot and the DC/Marvel Amalgam Comics one-shot, Bullets and Bracelets.

In 1997, Frank and Smith moved to Image Comics, where they, along with writer John Arcudi, were hired as the new creative team on the Wildstorm title Gen¹³, beginning with the epilogue story in issue No. 25. Their run on the series was praised for its dark, realistic style in both writing and art; however, the drastic change in tone and style alienated many longtime fans who had grown accustomed to the more fantastical and cartoonish approach of the Brandon Choi/J. Scott Campbell run. The Arcudi/Frank/Smith tenure on the series lasted two years, until issue No. 41 (July 1999). It was during this run, in 1998, that Wildstorm head Jim Lee moved his studio and all its properties to DC Comics. Therefore, issues No. 25–36 were published by Image and issues No. 37–41 were published by DC/Wildstorm.

Gary made it into the list because of his work with Geoff Johns on Justice League (including Shazam’s origin). But he could have been included for his work on Doomsday Clock as well.

NUMBER EIGHT DAVE GIBBONS (1949 - PRESENT)

David Chester Gibbons (born 14 April 1949) is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything". He was an artist for 2000 AD, for which he contributed a large body of work from its first issue in 1977.

Gibbons was born at Forest Gate Hospital in London, to Chester, a town planner, and Gladys, a secretary. He began reading comic books at the age of seven. A self-taught artist, he illustrated his own comic strips. Gibbons became a building surveyor but eventually entered the UK comics industry as a letterer for IPC Media. He left his surveyor job to focus on his comics career.

Gibbons was one of the British comic talents identified by Len Wein in 1982 for American publisher DC Comics: he was hired primarily to draw "Green Lantern Corps" backup stories within the pages of Green Lantern. Gibbons' first DC work was on the Green Lantern Corps story in Green Lantern No. 161 (February 1983), with writer Todd Klein, as well as the concurrently released "Creeper" two-part backup story in The Flash #318–319. Gibbons drew the lead story in The Brave and the Bold No. 200 (July 1983) which featured a team-up of the Batmen of Earth-One and Earth-Two. With Green Lantern No. 172 (Jan. 1984), Gibbons joined writer Wein on the main feature while continuing to illustrate the backup features. In issue No. 182, Wein and Gibbons made architect John Stewart, who had been introduced previously in issue No. 87, the title's primary character. Ceding the "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" backup features to various other individuals from No. 181, Gibbons last issue with Wein was issue No. 186 (March 1985). Gibbons returned to pencil the backup story "Mogo Doesn't Socialize" with Alan Moore in issue No. 188.

While Marvel Comics reprinted some of Gibbons' Marvel UK Doctor Who work, Eclipse Comics reprinted some of his Warrior work and Eagle reprinted various Judge Dredd tales, Gibbons continued to produce new work almost exclusively for DC throughout the 1980s. For the 1985 Superman Annual No. 11, Gibbons drew the main story "For the Man Who Has Everything", again written by Alan Moore.

During 1985 and 1986, Gibbons' artwork graced the pages of several issues of both DC's Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe and Marvel's The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition. He was one of the contributors to the DC Challenge limited series and in December 1986, he contributed to Harrier Comics' Brickman No. 1 alongside Kevin O'Neill, Lew Stringer and others. Between May and August 1988, he contributed covers to The Phantom miniseries, inked Kevin Maguire's pencilled contribution to Action Comics No. 600, and produced the cover to Action Comics Weekly No. 601.

He is best known in the US for collaborating with Alan Moore on the 12-issue limited series Watchmen, now one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time, and the only one to feature on Time's "Top 100 Novels" list. Gibbons' artwork in Watchmen is notable both for its stark utilisation of the formulaic comicbook nine-panel grid layout, as well as for its intense narrative and symbolic density with some symbolic background elements suggested by Moore, others by Gibbons.

Gibbons lettered Watchmen and it was his lettering style that later served as one of two reference sources used by Vincent Connare when creating the controversial font Comic Sans in 1994. Gibbons has commented that "It's just a shame they couldn't have used just the original font, because it's a real mess. I think it's a particularly ugly letter form."

Comics historian Les Daniels noted that Watchmen "called into question the basic assumptions on which the super hero genre is formulated". DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed in 2010 that "As with The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen set off a chain reaction of rethinking the nature of super heroes and heroism itself, and pushed the genre darker for more than a decade. The series won acclaim...and would continue to be regarded as one of the most important literary works the field ever produced."

Gibbons returned to Watchmen in 2008, producing the behind-the-scenes book Watching the Watchmen to tie into the release of the 2009 film. Watching the Watchmen is his take on the creation of the seminal work, and features a number of rarely seen pieces of artwork including sketches and character designs, as well as "stuff," he says "that I just don't know why I kept but I'm really pleased I did." Gibbons stated that "I'm basically thrilled with the movie, you know; it's been in the making for years. There have been proposals to make it – some I was excited about, some I was less excited about. But I think the way that it finally has been made is just great. I honestly can't imagine it being made much better."

Gibbons was present in many reviews this year, but he made it into the list because of his work on “Superman” and “Watchmen”.

NUMBER SEVEN BRIAN BOLLAND (1951 - PRESENT)

Brian Bolland (born 26 March 1951) is a British comics artist. Best known in the United Kingdom as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD, he spearheaded the 'British Invasion' of the American comics industry, and in 1982 produced the artwork on Camelot 3000 (with author Mike W. Barr), which was DC Comics' first 12-issue comicbook maxiseries created for the direct market.

His rare forays into interior art also include Batman: The Killing Joke, with UK-based writer Alan Moore, and a self-penned Batman: Black and White story. Bolland remains in high demand as a cover artist, producing the vast majority of his work for DC Comics.

Brian Bolland was born in Butterwick, Lincolnshire, to parents Albert "A.J." John, a fenland farmer, and Lillie Bolland. He spent his "first 18 years" living "in a small village near Boston in the fens of Lincolnshire, England," but has "no memory of comics" much before the age of ten. When American comics began to be imported into England, c.1959, Bolland says that it "took a little while for me to discover them," but by 1960 he was intrigued by Dell Comics' Dinosaurus!, which fed into a childhood interest in dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. Comics including Turok, Son of Stone and DC Comics' Tomahawk soon followed, and it was this burgeoning comics collection that would help inspire the young Bolland to draw his own comics around the age of ten with ideas such as "Insect League." He recalls that "[s]uperheroes crept into my life by stealth," as he actively sought out covers featuring "any big creature that looked vaguely dinosaur-like, trampling puny humans." These adolescent criteria led from Dinosaurus! and Turok via House of Mystery to "Batman and Robin [who] were [often] being harassed by big weird things, as were Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman [etc]." Soon, family outings to Skegness became an excuse for the future artist to "trawl... round some of the more remote backstreet newsagents" for comics to store on an overflowing "bookcase I'd made in school woodwork especially."

As early as 1962, aged 11, Bolland remembers thinking that "Carmine Infantino's work on the Flash and Gil Kane's on Green Lantern and the Atom had a sophistication about it that I hadn't [previously] seen. The young Bolland did not rate Marvel Comics as highly as DC, feeling the covers cluttered and the paper quality crude. His appreciation of the artwork of Jack Kirby, he says, only materialised much later "through the eyes of a seasoned professional." Despite such a variety of inspirations, Bolland credits his eventual pursuance of art as a hobby and then vocation to a primary school art teacher, who "evidently said all the right things to me."

Growing up as "and only child in a house without culture," (Bolland says that his "mother and father had no use for art, literature or music"), he embraced the late 1960s pop culture explosion of "pirate radio stations, music (particularly Frank Zappa...), drug taking, psychedelia, "peace and love," "dropping out," the underground scene, Oz Magazine," and other aspects of hippy culture epitomised by underground comix such as Robert Crumb's Zap Comix. Having taken both O-Level and A-Level examinations in art, Bolland spent five years at art school (starting in 1969) learning graphic design and Art history. Learning to draw comics, however, was "more a self-taught thing," with Bolland eventually writing a 15,000-word dissertation in 1973 on Neal Adams – an "artist [his teachers] had never heard of." He would later recall:

It was during this time that I discovered the sheer range of comics and their history. All the British stuff I'd missed was there to be discovered. I found the American greats, Foster, Herriman, Alex Raymond and Winsor McCay... Noel Sickles, Milt Caniff, Roy Crane, had all, I discovered, put down the basic building blocks of our "Art form". And there were the Europeans... Moebius, Manara, Breccia. Later the Filipinos—Alex Niño, Nestor Redondo, Alfredo Alcala, all were inspirational. None of this stuff was to be found in the art schools. During my five years in three art schools I never learnt a single thing about comics from any of my tutors.

Bolland was among the first British comics creators 'discovered' by the American comics industry, spearheading the so-called "British Invasion" in 1979/80. Bolland recalls that his big break came when Joe Staton attended the Summer 1979 Comicon, and, needing somewhere to work (on Green Lantern) while in the UK, arranged to stay with the Bollands. Staton called his editor Jack Harris and told him that Bolland, a big Green Lantern fan, would like to draw a Green Lantern cover; Harris agreed. He drew several covers for DC Comics, starting with Green Lantern No. 127 (April 1980), as well as some fill-in stories. These stories included, in 1980-1981, "Certified Safe" in Mystery in Space and "Falling Down to Heaven" in Madame Xanadu, DC's first attempt at marketing comics specifically to the "direct market" of fans and collectors. For editor Julius Schwartz, Bolland drew covers around which writers would craft stories, which included two Starro covers for Justice League of America No. 189 and 190 and Superman No. 422 (Aug. 1986).

Among his earliest interior work for DC was a chapter in Justice League of America No. 200 (March 1982) alongside artistic heroes Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino and Gil Kane, as well as Jim Aparo, George Pérez and Dick Giordano. This gave the artist his "first stab at drawing Batman." Bolland felt that "after my cover [GL #127] worked out the people at DC turned their gaze on London... and particularly on the group of artists at 2000AD who had been weaned on the DC characters." He recalled that, "after I was settled in at DC, scouts from that company came to our "Society of Strip Illustration" meetings to win over a few more of us," making a "formal invitation" at an SSI meeting, which saw "Dave Gibbons, Kevin O'Neill... [t]hen Alan Davis and Mark Farmer," following the artists "Alan Grant "went across" and, at some point, a certain tall hairy writer from the Midlands."

In 1982, DC editor Len Wein chose Bolland to be the artist on DC's Camelot 3000 12-issue maxi-series, with writer Mike W. Barr. The story, dealing with the return of King Arthur to save England from an alien invasion in the year 3000, not only "represents the single biggest body of work" by Bolland – and his only attempt to draw a monthly title – but was also the "first example of a DC (or otherwise) maxi-series." Bolland was not familiar with the Arthurian legends, and initially conceived Merlin as a comical character. The series was graced with considerable media hype, and Bolland found himself "whisked off to San Diego and places and made a fuss of." Bolland was allowed to pick between two inkers, but opted to ink his covers himself. Bolland was uncomfortable with having a third party ink his pencils, and later admitted that he put a high level of detail into his art for the series to leave as little room as possible for the inker to creatively reinterpret his work. However, "by the end I was quite pleased with the results." Reacting indignantly to being presented with Ross Andru layouts for the first two Camelot 3000 covers, he chose to ignore [the Andru design] completely and come up with my own unapproved design. Len Wein rejected it and told me to do the Ross Andru one. Grudgingly I drew the number one cover that made it onto the issue – but as a protest I reversed the letter N in my signature as a code to remind myself that my "artistic integrity" had been despoiled. I liked the backwards N enough to keep it from that day on.

Camelot 3000 had lengthy delays between its final issues. Bolland recalled that he and DC "talked quite a bit about how long it would take me to do the series," and because the series was inked by other artists, he started off "churning the pages out with great enthusiasm." As the series continued, however, Bolland became increasingly meticulous, "trying to make the pages look better and better". The added details he introduced into his artwork caused significant delays in the final issues of the limited series, causing issues #8–11 to be released on a quarterly rather than monthly status, and the final issue to be cover dated nine months later than the penultimate issue.

Bolland married his girlfriend, illustrator and sometime-collaborator Rachel Birkett in 1981. She later gave up illustration "to become a cook in a vegetarian restaurant, although she has since assisted her husband with his work, acting as colourist, inker, co-artist and ghost. The two have a son, Harry.

The Camelot 3000 limited series, which he created with Mike W. Barr, was nominated for the 1985 Kirby Award for Best Finite Series, narrowly losing to Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's Crisis on Infinite Earths. In 2002, he placed second behind Jack Kirby for the title of "Best Artist Ever" in the short-lived National Comics Awards.

Brian Bolland made it to the list because of... you probably guessed it... “Camelot 3000″ and “Batman: The Killing Joke”.

NUMBER SIX FRANK MILLER (1957 - PRESENT)

Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer best known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Sin City, and 300.

He is in both, Writer and Artist list, and, surpise, surprise, for pretty much the same stuff (”The Dark Knight Returns”, “Ronin” and also “Wolverine”).

NUMBER FIVE MIKE DRINGENBERG (1965 - PRESENT)

Mike Dringenberg (born c. 1965) is an American comics artist best known for his work on DC Comics/Vertigo's Sandman series with writer Neil Gaiman. Mike Dringenberg was born in Laon, France.

Dringenberg first work in the comics industry was the story "A Tale Of... Lenny's Casino & Grill" in Kelvin Mace #1 (Dec. 1985) published by Vortex Comics. His other early work in the 1980s for publishers such as Eclipse Comics included Alien Worlds, Enchanter, and Total Eclipse. He worked on Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters, a parody of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which itself was a parody of many then-current comic books, and Shock the Monkey. His mainstream work includes DC's Doom Patrol with writer Grant Morrison, where he co-created Flex Mentallo; the fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering; and White Wolf Publishing's card game Vampire: The Eternal Struggle.

Mike is in this list because of his work on “The Sandman”.

NUMBER FOUR RICK VEITCH (1951 - PRESENT)

Richard Veitch (born May 7, 1951) is an American comics artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics. Rick Veitch is from a large Catholic family of six children. He was raised in Bellows Falls, Vermont.

Veitch made his publishing debut in 1972, illustrating the underground comix horror parody Two-Fisted Zombies published by Last Gasp and written by his brother Tom Veitch. This one-shot was excerpted in Mark Estren's History of Underground Comix. It also, according to Veitch, proved to be his ticket to admission to Joe Kubert School.

Veitch then studied cartooning at The Kubert School, and was in the first class to graduate from the school in 1978, along with his future long-time collaborators Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben.

Veitch's next major project was an adaptation of the film 1941 with Bissette.

During the 1980s, Veitch became known as a distinctive fantasy artist and writer for Marvel Comics' Epic Comics line, for which he created three graphic novels, Abraxas and the Earthman serialized in Epic Illustrated; Heartburst published as a standalone graphic novel; and The One originally published as a six-issue comic book limited series. Heartburst was straightforward science fiction, while The One was an ambitious and bizarre fantasy-adventure involving monstrous superheroes, the Cold War, and spiritual evolution. During this period Veitch also contributed numerous self-contained comics short stories to Epic Illustrated.

Veitch's highest-profile title was DC Comics' Swamp Thing. His friends Totleben and Bissette had both illustrated the series since Alan Moore took over as writer. Veitch joined the team for issue #37 (cover dated June 1985), in which Moore's popular character John Constantine was introduced, and appeared regularly after issue #50. He also worked with Moore on Miracleman, illustrating the story that graphically depicted the birth of Miracleman's child published by Eclipse Comics in Miracleman #9 (July 1986).

When Moore left the Swamp Thing series after issue #64, Veitch took over as writer, dividing art duties between himself and Alfredo Alcala. His Swamp Thing stories took a similar approach to Moore's, combining horror-fantasy, ecological concerns, and an encyclopedic knowledge of DC Comics fantasy characters; he gradually turned his attention from the DC Universe to history and mythology, using time travel to introduce his hero to a variety of legendary figures. This was to conclude in issue #91. Difficulties arose after Veitch's plan for issue #88, a story in which Swamp Thing met Jesus Christ, was scrapped by DC President Jenette Kahn. Although DC had approved Veitch's initial script for the Jesus story, the topic was later deemed too inflammatory and was cancelled at the last minute. The publisher and writer were unable to reach a compromise; Veitch quit, and vowed never to work for DC until the story saw print. Though the story arc has still never been printed, Veitch eventually did return to DC.

After leaving DC, Veitch turned to the alternative comics field, where the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had provided the impetus for a black-and-white independent comics boom. After doing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles storyline for Mirage Studios, "The River", he began creating his own titles again, published by the Mirage spin-off Tundra Publishing.

Rick is one of the “revelations” of this year, to me. He was included in this list because of his work in both, “Swamp Thing” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. His TMNT story is one of my favorite TMNT stories of all time (even though it may or may not be canon).

NUMBER THREE JOHN TOTLEBEN (1958 - PRESENT)

John Thomas Totleben (born February 16, 1958 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American illustrator working mostly in comic books.

After studying art at Tech Memorial in Erie, Totleben attended The Kubert School for one year. He then spent several years working for comics editor Harry "A" Chesler, producing illustrations for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam; which never saw print. His first published work appeared in Heavy Metal in January 1979.

His first success in American comics, and still his best-known work, was as the inker of pencilled art by Stephen R. Bissette for the DC Comics title Swamp Thing, when the series was being written and reinvented by Alan Moore. Totleben and Bissette joined the series in 1983 shortly before Moore. Totleben's style was unusual for the time, and is still distinctive among U.S. comics artists, for its fluid layouts and heavily detailed rendering using a combination of stippling and hatching. He also painted covers for the series in oils and acrylic. Totleben inked the story in Swamp Thing #37 (June 1985) which introduced the John Constantine character.

As with most cases in this list, these artists can ink, color and pencil their own art. Totleben is another artists that made it into this list thanks to his work on “Swamp Thing”.

NUMBER TWO STEPHEN R. BISSETTE (1955 - PRESENT)

Stephen R. "Steve" Bissette (born March 14, 1955) is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC Comics series Swamp Thing in the 1980s.

Bissette was born and raised in Vermont, where he still lives, and was raised Catholic.

Shortly after the publication of his first work, Abyss (1976), Bissette enrolled in the first class of The Kubert School. Before his first year was completed, his work was being published professionally in the pages of Sojourn, Sgt. Rock, and Heavy Metal. In 1978, Bissette was among the Kubert School's first graduating class, along with classmates Rick Veitch, Tom Yeates, and others.

While still enrolled at The Kubert School, Bissette executed the logo for early New Jersey synth-pop band WKGB and drew the cover for the band's 1979 single "Non-Stop/Ultramarine" on Fetish Records.

His early work appeared in the pages of Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated, Bizarre Adventures, Scholastic Corporation's Weird Worlds and Bananas illustrating stories written by Goosebumps founder and author R. L. Stine, and he worked with Rick Veitch on the graphic novelization of Steven Spielberg's motion picture.

Bissette is best known for his multiple award-winning collaboration with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on DC Comics' Saga of the Swamp Thing (1983–1987).

Under the company name of Spiderbaby Grafix, he later published the horror anthology Taboo, the original home of Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell and Tim Lucas' Throat Sprockets illustrated by Mike Hoffman and David Lloyd. He created Tyrant, a comic book biography of a Tyrannosaurus rex, which lasted four issues. During this period, he edited the horror anthology Gore Shriek, published by FantaCo Enterprises.

Since 1991, Bissette has presented a lecture series on horror comics called "Journeys into Fear". Having since grown in scope into a five-part series, "Journeys into Fear" identifies 12th century Japanese ghost scrolls and the 16th Century Mixtec codices as early ancestors, and traces the genre from its roots in Winsor McCay's work such as Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. In 1996–1997, Bissette contributed five covers for a comic book series about another swamp monster, Hall of Heroes' Bog Swamp Demon.

Bissette subsequently worked with Moore, Totleben, and Rick Veitch on the Image Comics' limited series 1963, their final creative collaborative effort. From 1963, Bissette owns the characters Hypernaut, N-Man, and the Fury.

Scott McCloud's 24-hour comic project began as a dare to Bissette in 1990. Each created a 24-page comic in 24 hours. The 24-hour comics project evolved into a challenge taken up by numerous hopeful contributors, with several published collections, and inspired other time-limited creative projects. Bissette published the story A Life in black and white in his own comic book anthology SpiderBaby Comix #2 (SpiderBaby Graphix, 1997).

In 1993, Bissette and Stanley Wiater co-edited Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of the New Comics, which featured interviews with such notable comics creators as Scott McCloud, Harvey Pekar, Dave Sim, Howard Cruse, Will Eisner, Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman, and Robert Crumb.

Bissette retired from the comics industry in 1999, alluding to what he termed a "generational shift." He teaches courses in Comic Art History, Drawing, and Film at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont

Since 2005, Bissette has also edited and published Green Mountain Cinema, a trade paperback journal devoted to the independent cinema scene in his home state of Vermont, as well as five volumes of Blur, collecting his film reviews and criticism.

The Stephen R. Bissette Collection at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, houses Bissette's works and memorabilia.

Bissette is in this list because of his work on “Swamp Thing”.

NUMBER ONE GEORGE PÉREZ (1954 - PRESENT)

George Pérez (born June 9, 1954) is a retired American comic book artist and writer, whose titles include The Avengers, Teen Titans, and Wonder Woman. Writer Peter David has named Pérez his favorite artistic collaborator.

George Pérez was born in the South Bronx, New York City, on June 9, 1954, to Jorge Guzman Pérez and Luz Maria Izquierdo, who were both from Caguas, Puerto Rico, but who did not meet until approximately 1949 or 1950, after both had settled in New Jersey while searching for job opportunities. They married in October 26, 1954 and subsequently moved to New York, where Jorge worked in the meat packing industry while Luz was a homemaker. George's younger brother David was born May 28, 1955. Both brothers aspired at a young age to be artists. with George Pérez beginning to draw at the age of five.

Pérez's first involvement with the professional comics industry was as artist Rich Buckler's assistant in 1973, and he made his professional debut in Marvel Comics' Astonishing Tales No. 25 (Aug. 1974) as penciler of an untitled two-page satire of Buckler's character Deathlok, star of that comic's main feature. Soon Pérez became a Marvel regular, penciling a run of "Sons of the Tiger", a serialized action-adventure strip published in Marvel's long-running Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine and authored by Bill Mantlo. He and Mantlo co-created the White Tiger (comics' first Puerto Rican superhero), a character that soon appeared in Marvel's color comics, most notably the Spider-Man titles.

Pérez came to prominence with Marvel's superhero-team comic The Avengers, starting with issue No. 141. In the 1970s, Pérez illustrated several other Marvel titles, including Creatures on the Loose, featuring the Man-Wolf; The Inhumans; and Fantastic Four. Writer Roy Thomas and Pérez crafted a metafictional story for Fantastic Four No. 176 (Nov. 1976) in which the Impossible Man visited the offices of Marvel Comics and met numerous comics creators. Whilst most of Pérez' Fantastic Four issues were written by Roy Thomas or Len Wein, it would be a Fantastic Four Annual where he would have his first major collaboration with writer Marv Wolfman. Pérez drew the first part of writer Jim Shooter's "The Korvac Saga", which featured nearly every Avenger who joined the team up to that point. Shooter and Pérez introduced the character of Henry Peter Gyrich, the Avengers' liaison to the United States National Security Council in the second chapter of that same storyline. Writer David Michelinie and Pérez created the Taskmaster in The Avengers No. 195 (May 1980).

In 1980, while still drawing The Avengers for Marvel, Pérez began working for their rival DC Comics. Offered the art chores for the launch of The New Teen Titans, written by Wolfman, Pérez' real incentive was the opportunity to draw Justice League of America (an ambition of Pérez's which "seemed like a natural progress from the Avengers"). Long-time Justice League artist Dick Dillin died right around that time, providing an opportunity for Pérez to step in as regular artist. While Pérez's stint on the JLA was popular with fans, his career took off with the New Teen Titans. The New Teen Titans was launched in a special preview in DC Comics Presents No. 26 (October 1980). This incarnation of the Titans was intended to be DC's answer to Marvel's increasingly popular X-Men comic, and Wolfman and Pérez indeed struck gold. A New Teen Titans drug awareness comic book sponsored by the Keebler Company, and drawn by Pérez was published in cooperation with The President's Drug Awareness Campaign in 1983. In August 1984, a second series of The New Teen Titans was launched by Wolfman and Pérez. Moreover, Pérez's facility with layouts, details, and faces improved enormously during his four years on the book, making him one of the most popular artists in comics as evidenced by the numerous industry awards he would receive during this time.

Pérez took a leave of absence from The New Teen Titans in 1984 to focus on his next project with Marv Wolfman, DC's 1985 50th-anniversary event, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Crisis purportedly featured every single character DC owned, in a story which radically restructured the DC universe's continuity. Pérez was inked on the series by Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo, and Jerry Ordway. After Crisis, Pérez inked the final issue of Superman (issue #423) in September 1986, over Curt Swan's pencils for part one of the two-part story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" by writer Alan Moore. The following month, Pérez was one of the artists on Batman No. 400 (October 1986) Wolfman and Pérez teamed again to produce the History of the DC Universe limited series to summarize the company's new history. Pérez drew the cover for the DC Heroes roleplaying game (1985) from Mayfair Games:167 as well as the cover for the fourth edition of the Champions roleplaying game (1989) from Hero Games.

Pérez is married to Carol Flynn. He has no children. He has a brother, David, and a niece and nephew. He is diabetic, and has undergone surgery for diabetic retinopathy. In May 2017, Pérez was admitted to a hospital with chest pains and was diagnosed as having had a heart attack while travelling to New Jersey for a convention. He was subsequently released from the hospital after having a coronary stent fitted.

George was already in last year’s TOP 10 and he made it again this year, thanks to his work on “New Teen Titans”, “Crisis on Infinite Earths”, “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” and “Tales of the Teen Titans”, including “The Judas Contract”.

As I said before, most of these artists are pencillers, but most of them can do anything. Now, I have another list of artists coming up, that have a bit more “rigid” in what they do, but they also excel at it.

The artists in this list are only a small group, among all the other artists that could have made it into this list, some of them being: A. C. Farley, Bruce Timm, Bryan Hitch, Chris Allan, Jim Lawson, Chris Sprouse, Curt Swan, Dave McKean, Denys Cowan, Frank Quitely, Gene Colan, Jesus Merino, Emanuela Lupacchino, Jim Aparo, Jim Lee, Joe Quinones, Keith Pollard, Marcos Martin, Matt Hollingsworth, Paul Gulacy, Richard Pace, Leonard Kirk, Dan Jurgens, Sam Keith, Shawn McManus, Stephen Byrne, The Dodsons, Tony Harris, Stan Sakai and Bob Burden. Thank you all, and thank you to the artists of this list for making 2019 a better year for me.

#artists #comics #review #george perez #stephen bissette #john totleben #rick veitch #mike dringenberg #frank miller #brian bolland #dave gibbons #gary frank #jerry ordway #2019

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Survive & Thrive: Celebrating 50 Years Of Barbara Gordon and Batgirl

January 1967’s “Detective Comics” issue #359 introduced readers to Barbara Gordon, a character who would have a profound impact on its superhero comics — although certainly not in the way her creators originally intended. Described therein as a Gotham City librarian with both a Ph.D. and a brown belt in judo (not to mention a certain police-commissioner dad), Barbara’s homemade bat-costume came in handy when she tried to rescue Bruce Wayne from Killer Moth and his Mothmen. The encounter made her miss the Policeman’s Masquerade Ball, but it set “Batgirl” on the path of a decades-long crimefighting career.

RELATED: Robin & Batgirl Leap Into Action On LEGO Batman IMAX Poster

Indeed, whether clobbering crooks in a Batsuit or outwitting evildoers as Oracle, Barbara Gordon has taken the worst superhero comics have to offer and come out better than ever. Today we’re looking back on fifty years’ worth of resilience and adaptability.

THE NEW LOOK

Batgirl vs. Catwoman from the cover of “Batman” #197, by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson

When editor Julius Schwartz took over “Batman” and “Detective Comics” in 1964, his “New Look” included some significant changes. The familiar stylized work of artist Dick Sprang gave way to the more naturalistic approach of Carmine Infantino, who had designed the Silver Age Flash for Schwartz back in 1956. Likewise, writers John Broome and Gardner Fox (who had also worked for Schwartz on the revamped “Flash” and “Green Lantern”) refocused the Dynamic Duo on street-level crime and villainy, instead of the wild sci-fi and fantasy which had come to typify their adventures. Those otherworldly stories were meant to attract readers from the more popular Superman books, and so were a handful of other characters like Ace the Bat-Hound (shades of Krypto) and Bat-Mite (a counterpart, and sometimes foe, of Mr. Mxyzptlk).

When the stories shifted, those characters went away, along with female counterparts Batwoman and Bat-Girl. (Note the hyphen.) Batwoman — secretly heiress and ex-acrobat Kathy Kane — had been a regular member of the supporting cast since her introduction in July 1956’s “Detective” issue #233, appearing 38 times in just under eight years. Her final appearance was in March 1964’s “Detective” issue #325, two issues before the New Look began.

Bat-Girl (Betty Kane, Kathy’s niece) wasn’t as prolific. From her debut in April 1961’s “Batman” issue #139 until her last pre-New Look story in November 1963’s “Detective” issue #322, she had only six appearances in two-and-a-half years. (However, both Kathy and Betty resurfaced in the mid-’70s — Kathy in “Batman Family” and “Detective” and Betty in “Teen Titans” — and more recently, sort of, in the “Batwoman” feature and Grant Morrison’s Bat-work.)

Accordingly, while there were comics precedents for Bat-women, Batgirl’s story probably starts when “Batman” TV producer William Dozier thought a female crimefighter would help the show’s declining second-season ratings. Nevertheless, the no-hyphen Batgirl would show up first in the comics. Infantino designed her costume and Fox and Schwartz co-plotted “The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!” (written by Fox and drawn by Infantino and Sid Greene) for the aforementioned “‘Tec” issue #359. Played by Yvonne Craig, Batgirl made her first television appearance almost a year later, when ABC’s “Batman” started its third and final season on September 14, 1967.

By that time the comics’ Batgirl had proven to be pretty popular, with subsequent appearances in both Bat-books and a Supergirl team-up in September 1967’s “World’s Finest Comics” issue #169. She guest-starred in “Justice League of America” issue #60 (February 1968) and notched a couple more “World’s Finest” stories and another Supergirl team-up in “Adventure Comics” #381 (June 1969) before landing a semi-regular backup feature in “Detective” (starting with October 1969’s issue #392). Although the “Batman” TV series aired its final episode on March 14, 1968, Batgirl was still going strong in print.

THE BRONZE AGE

Batgirl tells Robin she knows his secrets, from “Detective” #526 by Gerry Conway, Don Newton and Dave Hunt

Nevertheless, just as Batwoman and Bat-Girl were too cartoonish for the New Look, Batgirl might have suffered similarly from her association with the “Batman” TV show. As Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams headed up the watershed “Darknight Detective” makeover of the early ’70s — and Batman started working solo — both Batgirl and Robin were relegated to backup features (although Robin still had “Teen Titans”).

When the “Detective” backups ended in July 1972’s issue #424, Batgirl dropped out of sight for a few years, except (oddly enough) for appearances in “Superman” issues #268 and #279 (October 1973 and September 1974) and “Superman Family” issue #171 (June-July 1975). Part of the reason for this was Barbara’s election to Congress in “Detective” #424, in the prematurely-titled “Batgirl’s Last Case” (written by Frank Robbins and drawn by Don Heck).

Fortunately, the “Batman Family” anthology kicked off in September-October 1975, with Batgirl and Robin the main attractions. Batgirl appeared in almost all of its 20 bimonthly issues, and when “BatFam” bit the dust in October-November 1978, Batgirl moved back to a regular “Detective” spot. Off and on, Batgirl was in “Detective” from December 1978-January 1979’s issue #481 to October 1982’s issue #519 — along the way, losing her Congressional seat in “Detective” issue #488 (February-March 1980). Readers also got to see her long-lost brother Tony (introduced ‘way back in August-September 1951’s “World’s Finest Comics” issue #53), but only briefly, prior to his untimely death (February-March 1979’s “Detective” #482). After this latest round of “‘Tec” backups ended, Batgirl was an occasional part of the Batman supporting cast (including the storyline which introduced Jason “Robin” Todd) through January 1985’s “Detective” issue #546.

For a character not normally associated with cosmic cataclysms, “Crisis On Infinite Earths” had a profound effect on Batgirl. Under “Crisis” creators Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, she compared herself unfavorably to BFF Supergirl, and ended up delivering the Maid of Might’s eulogy in “Crisis” issue #7. In real-world terms, “Crisis'” housecleaning apparently forced DC to choose which counterparts would survive: Supergirl or Power Girl, and Batgirl or the Huntress. Because Huntress was the daughter of Earth-Two’s deceased Batman and Catwoman, that choice seemed pretty clear; and Batgirl and Power Girl were spared.

Batgirl’s eulogy for Supergirl, from “Crisis On Infinite Earths” #7 by Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Jerry Ordway

Still, it wasn’t exactly a boon to Batgirl. When Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli revised Batman’s origin in “Batman: Year One” (“Batman” issues #404-07, February-May 1987), a subplot established that James Gordon and his wife Barbara Kean didn’t have a daughter old enough to be the future Batgirl (or, for that matter, a son old enough to be brother Tony). This forced DC to explain that Batgirl was really Jim’s niece, raised by him after her parents died — i.e., after “Year One” — and the two considered each other father and daughter from that point forward.

Moreover, Supergirl’s funeral might well have been Batgirl’s last major in-universe public appearance, because DC officially retired the character with 1988’s “Batgirl Special” (written by Barbara Randall and drawn by Barry Kitson and Bruce Patterson). Very shortly after the “Batgirl Special” hit the shelves, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s “The Killing Joke” followed.

ORACLE

Norm Breyfogle’s Oracle on the cover of “Suicide Squad” #49

Whatever one thinks about Barbara’s role in “The Killing Joke,” becoming the world’s greatest computer expert re-framed her character irrevocably. Seen originally as the anonymous “Oracle” (starting in January 1989’s “Suicide Squad” issue #23) and then behind the pseudonym “Amy Beddoes,” Barbara soon earned the reputation of being one of the smartest, best-connected crimefighters in DC’s shared universe. “Squad” co-writer Kim Yale simply refused to let “Killing Joke” be the last word on Barbara Gordon, so she and her husband (co-writer John Ostrander) transformed Babs into the kind of super-sleuth Batgirl never was. Paralyzed from the waist down but blessed with an eidetic memory, a librarian’s training, and virtually unlimited resources, Oracle used her incredible computer skills in “Suicide Squad,” the then-current “Manhunter” series (another Ostrander/Yale-written title) and “Hawk and Dove” (written by Barbara Kesel, neé Randall) before forming her own loose-knit group of operatives.

The first “Black Canary/Oracle: Birds Of Prey” special appeared in 1996, courtesy of writer Chuck Dixon — who, along with “Sword of Azrael” writer Denny O’Neil, had been using Oracle in the Bat-books since “Suicide Squad” folded in 1992 — and artist Gary Frank. A four-issue miniseries and a handful of one-shots followed (all written by Dixon and drawn by various artists), until “Birds of Prey” became an ongoing series in late 1998 (issue #1 was cover-dated January 1999). By then Oracle had graduated to Justice League membership (as of March 1998’s “JLA” issue #16), which, if nothing else, cemented her spot at the heart of DC’s superhero community.

Under Dixon and his artistic collaborators (starting with Greg Land), “BOP” was a reliably-entertaining mashup of espionage and superheroics, with a wide-ranging array of guest stars including Nightwing, Blue Beetle, a Guy Gardner clone and Power Girl. When writer Gail Simone and artist Ed Benes took over (starting in August 2003’s issue #56), the series found a whole other gear. Simone and Benes made the volatile Huntress — in the post-“Crisis” world, schoolteacher Helena Bertinelli — a regular castmember, and from the very first storyline demonstrated just how tough these characters were. Dixon wrote Oracle and Black Canary as seasoned professionals, and Simone built on that, diving deep into the pair’s relationship and expanding the cast to highlight other character interactions.

For the character of Barbara Gordon specifically, though, “Birds of Prey” meant about 15 years’ worth of being written either by Chuck Dixon or Gail Simone, with occasional stints from the likes of Terry Moore, Gilbert Hernandez — yes, that Gilbert Hernandez — and Tony Bedard. Those are pretty good caretakers. Oracle was always more than an exposition generator, but “BOP” showed how smart, devoted, stubborn and fearless she had become. From the identity’s “Suicide Squad” beginnings it was a rebuke not just to the Joker’s assault, but to those inside DC itself who considered her disposable.

BATGIRL RETURNS

Cameron Stewart’s “Batgirl of Burnside”

While Oracle was changing the way DC’s super-folk processed information, DC was trying to figure out what to do about Batgirl. In 1994’s “Zero Hour” event, Oracle came face-to-face with a time-anomaly Batgirl who might have foreshadowed Barbara’s relatively-speedy return to the role. Later, sometime around 1999 (according to an interview lost in the mists of Internet history), artist Alex Ross and writer Paul Dini wanted to heal Barbara Gordon with a Lazarus Pit. Ross’s redesigned Batgirl costume would have been very similar to the classic Infantino look, except with red highlights instead of yellow to symbolize her being “compromised” by the Pit. Bat-editor Denny O’Neil passed on Ross and Dini’s pitch, citing Oracle’s popularity.

Instead, 1999’s year-long Bat-event “No Man’s Land” featured two new Batgirls, the moonlighting Huntress and the assassin’s daughter Cassandra Cain. Cassandra emerged from the event with her own series (73 issues, 2000-06) but her story had a somewhat downbeat (although non-fatal) end. In the wake of Bruce Wayne’s apparent death, Cass passed the Batgirl mantle along to ex-Spoiler and ex-Robin Stephanie Brown, whose solo series lasted 24 issues (2009-11). However, once again DC had considered having Barbara (instead of Stephanie) return as Batgirl.

Of course, Barbara was healed and back in her Batgirl costume when the New 52 relaunch kicked off in September 2011. (At that time her 23-year Oracle career was longer than her original Batgirl stint.) Initially, Gail Simone wrote that volume of “Batgirl” and — as you might expect from someone who wrote Oracle for several years — was careful not to downplay Barbara’s past trauma or the lingering effects of her recovery. Simone left after three years on “Batgirl,” and the creative team of Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr remade Barbara into the so-called “Batgirl of Burnside,” brightening the book’s tone and emphasizing the character’s youth and optimism.

In a move which fans welcomed, Fletcher, Stewart and Tarr also hinted strongly that for this version of Barbara, “The Killing Joke” was merely a bad memory, implanted malevolently by a supervillain seeking to undermine Batgirl. However, the subsequent “Batgirl and the Birds of Prey” series (written by Julie and Shawna Benson) has kept “Killing Joke” in continuity. Despite that, and the departure of Fletcher, Stewart and Tarr, the current “Batgirl” creative team of writer Hope Larson and artist Rafael Albuquerque have maintained the character’s can-do spirit.

MULTIMEDIA MAVEN

TV’s Robin (Burt Ward), Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) and Batman (Adam West)

Since Barbara Gordon was born at least partially out of a TV producer’s necessity, she may be the highest-profile DC character with such a mixed-media pedigree. (She’s at least neck-and-neck with Jimmy Olsen, ported to the comics from the “Superman” radio show.) While the “Batman” TV series only ran for a little over two years, its success in syndication gave Yvonne Craig’s Batgirl at least a couple of decades’ worth of new viewers. Barbara Gordon (played by Dina Meyer) returned to live-action as Oracle (and, in flashbacks, Batgirl) for 2002’s short-lived “Birds of Prey” series on The WB. A few years prior in 1997, Alicia Silverstone had played Alfred Pennyworth’s niece Barbara Wilson, who ended up becoming Batgirl in the Joel Schumacher-directed “Batman and Robin” movie; but the jury’s probably out as to whether it was a proper Babs Gordon adaptation. By the way, we’re now curious to see whether Babs will make it into Margot Robbie’s “Gotham City Sirens” movie.

Starting in 1968 with the “Adventures of Batman” cartoon, Barbara and Batgirl have also appeared on just about every long-running Batman animated series (not including the team-oriented “Super Friends” or “Justice League” shows). She was a prominent part of 1977’s “New Adventures of Batman” and made several appearances on “Batman: The Animated Series” (voiced by Melissa Gilbert) and its successor shows (where she was voiced by Mary Kay Bregman and Tara Strong). In the second-generation future of “Batman Beyond,” Barbara (voiced by Stockard Channing and then Angie Harmon) had become Police Commissioner; and Batgirl and Oracle both appeared on the 2004-08 “The Batman” cartoon, voiced at various points by Danielle Judovits, Kellie Martin and Ellen Yin. Mae Whitman voiced Batgirl on the 2008-11 “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” series and in the current “DC Super Hero Girls”; and Alyson Stoner played her on “Young Justice.”

Batgirl also appeared in a number of standalone and short-form animated DC projects, from the Animated Series spinoff “Gotham Girls” and Lauren Faust’s “Super Best Friends Forever” to adaptations of comics storylines like “Under the Red Hood” and “Bad Blood.” Rosario Dawson will voice the character in the upcoming “LEGO Batman Movie.” (SPOILERS — she’s not in the “Batman ’66” animated homage “Return of the Caped Crusaders,” although she could have come in handy especially in its third act.)

Most recently, of course, Tara Strong returned to voice Barbara/Batgirl in July 2016’s animated “Killing Joke” (which also featured Animated Series vets Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill). This adaptation tried to mitigate the graphic novel’s treatment of Barbara by showing her in action as Batgirl, but its efforts were hamstrung by giving her and Batman an ill-advised sexual relationship.

THE SELF-MADE (AND REMADE) HEROINE

Robin guilts Batgirl into forgetting his secret identity, from “Detective” #489 by Jack C. Harris, Don Heck and Vince Colletta

This latest “Killing Joke” controversy followed 2015’s solicitation of a now-infamous variant cover for Fletcher, Stewart and Tarr’s “Batgirl” issue #41. Drawn by Rafael Albuquerque, who (as mentioned above) went on to draw the Rebirthed “Batgirl” series, the cover depicted a tearful Batgirl in her “Burnside”-style costume and Joker-esque lipstick, held hostage at gunpoint by the villain. When fans who objected to the variant cover were harassed and threatened over social media, upon Albuquerque’s request DC canceled the variant.

Regardless, the “Killing Joke”-related controversies are just some of the ways DC has both supported and undermined Barbara over the years. The 2011 “Batgirl” relaunch managed to do both, by giving Simone one of her “dream jobs” and “the reason [she] fell in love” with both comics and superheroes. Nevertheless, DC fired Simone abruptly (and somewhat mysteriously) towards the end of 2012, only to reinstate her less than two weeks later. Although Simone’s “Batgirl” work tended to be very dark, especially where long-lost sociopathic brother James Jr. was concerned, it struck more blows for diversity, including a crossover with Simone’s super-activist team book “The Movement.” However, ending Barbara’s Oracle career also made the DC Universe a little less diverse, and fans took note of that as well. Still, when Simone left “Batgirl” for good, fans worried that her successors wouldn’t keep transgender supporting character Alysia Yeoh, whom GLAAD described as “the first major transgender character written in a contemporary context in a mainstream comic book.” Alysia stuck around; but in 2013 Fletcher, Stewart and Tarr faced their own trans-related controversy, thanks to Batgirl’s horrified reaction to the villain Dagger Type.

This sort of back-and-forth was nothing new. In the 1970s, after the costumed Yvonne Craig starred in a public service announcement about equal pay and the comics’ Barbara Gordon fought for prison reform in Congress, Batgirl forgot Batman and Robin’s secret identities. It happened via a total mind-wipe in 1979’s “Detective” #489 (written by Jack C. Harris, pencilled by Don Heck and inked by Vince Colletta); and when Robin helped restore Babs’ memories, she chose not to restore everything, even though they still knew her secrets. A few years later, Batgirl revealed in “Detective” #526 that she’d re-learned their identities — “I’m not stupid, and I am a detective,” she reminded Robin — and wisely, the comics have spoken no more of it.

Similarly, after Barbara was spared a 1985 “Crisis” death only to be written out of 1987’s “Batman: Year One” and retired in 1988’s “The Killing Joke,” in 1989 DC revived the character “Crisis” sacrificed for her sake. Helena Bertinelli’s “Huntress” ongoing series (19 issues in 1989-90) was short-lived, but she went on to work frequently with the Bat-clan, and eventually joined the Justice League (twice) in addition to the Birds of Prey.

Despite all of this, and regardless of method or heroic identity, Barbara Gordon has never really gone away. If she was considered an artifact of the ’60s Batmania fad, she proved her staying power in the ’70s. In the wake of “The Killing Joke,” she was remade as an even stronger, and arguably more important, character. When other women took up the Batgirl mantle, she evaluated and mentored them. When she returned as Batgirl herself, she learned from her traumatic experiences and helped others do the same.

As it happens, long before Tim Drake and his two living parents entered the picture, Barbara Gordon was the most prominent Bat-character without a tragic background. Although the Silver Age was silent on what happened to Jim Gordon’s wife (apparently she died sometime after Tony and Barbara were born), Barbara fights crime simply because it is a chance to do good. From the moment in “Detective” #359 when she sees Killer Moth’s goons abducting Bruce Wayne, she springs into action without a second thought; and as the narration describes, “Babs Gordon is having the time of her life — fully alive to this new excitement and danger — and loving it!”

That sums up Barbara’s appeal pretty well. Like Bruce Wayne, she’s a self-made crimefighter; but unlike him and many of his associates, she didn’t always have exotic training or limitless resources. She became Batgirl virtually without anyone’s help, and she reinvented herself as Oracle when her old life had been ripped away. Even the “Batgirl of Burnside” modus operandi has a very DIY (or dare we say “artisanal?”) feel. Maybe Tim Drake should have sought her out — but wait, he couldn’t have, because clearly Oracle hid her real identity better than Batman and Nightwing did!

As Batgirl said at Supergirl’s funeral, “[a] hero is not measured by what her power may be, but by the courage she shows in living, and the warmth she holds in her heart.” Over the course of fifty years, Barbara Gordon has inspired fans of all kinds with her own courage and warmth. We salute her on her anniversary, and look forward to many more.

How are you celebrating Barbara Gordon’s 50th? Let us know in the comments!

The post Survive & Thrive: Celebrating 50 Years Of Barbara Gordon and Batgirl appeared first on CBR.com.

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