Most underrated cartoonist

[mamalips]

Who is your one cartoonist that you think doesn't get highly rated enough? 

Mine is Jeffrey Lewis.  Autobio/weird/sci-fi/travel/sex comics. Amazing cartooning. Worth getting hold of. These used to be really hard to get hold of but in the last few years Jeff has kept all the issues in print. He's better known for his music but his comics are really something amazing.

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[teemcgee]

I really liked that narrative Lewis was doing around his sexual struggles, something I think my younger self would have really sympathetically connected with. Is he ever going to conclude those stories - I think I got the impression somewhere that he had ended the Fuff series?

[mamalips]

He's finished up Fuff and made a collected version of all the issues in a wraparound comic bag. If shipping is a problem he always has them at his table when on tour. But yeah he didn't really finish up the sex stories. They were really good.


His new series Statics is coming soon. It's available to order from comic shops in the UK and US for pre-order with the code "FEB221460".

Note: I work in a comic shop so this is why I know all this. You'll have until February 20th to put in your orders and it will be out April Fantagraphics are doing the distribution for it but it's a self published comic, much like Floating World putting out Santos Sisters ..also out in the UK soon!

[GHO]

MK BROWN MK BROWN MK BROWN MK BROWN MK BROWN MK BROWN

[f]

justin green , joel beck, dan o'neill... willy mendes... just in terms of casrtoonists from the underground era that have been neglected in favor of crumb, wilson, etc... i mean, justin green is pretty respected, but my feeling is, he should be a household name, like crumb or spiegelman... .

[junkflower]

This is a dubious entry and region-specific, but as an American I gotta say- Hugo Pratt.

The Corto Maltese series is incredible and dense with philosophical and historical references, and on top of that, Pratt's art is like if Toth and Kubert had a baby and the baby was Jesus Christ- just unbelievable!

I feel like, in English, there was a lack of artists whose work could tie into traditional academic scholarship, so people ended up revering and making myths of these jilted outsiders like Kirby and Ditko (which ran in parallel to the traditional jilted feelings of... well, nerds). Pratt's work actually slots neatly into academic traditions in subject and approach, both as visual art and written literature and I think it's sadly revealing that there's not really any pointed interest in his work now that it's actually available (or, WAS- those IDW editions are already pretty expensive now)

[teemcgee]

I feel that European comic artists are singificantly underappreciated in the English speaking world in general, what with the likes of Blutch falling stillborn from the catalogue of NYRB - or say someone like Franquin - who is on a similar standing as Herge or Uderzo in the francophone world (and arguably some of his work is more readable for adults) but is barely known in England or the States.

I do think that perhaps there's a higher wall of appreciation/comprehension to surmount to connect with some of the classic works of European cartooning - the illustration can seem more static, conservative, stuffy even and often falls trap to the usual vice of overexplaining action through captions - say compared to manga, which on the surface has storytelling devices and modes of representatition that are more "alien" to our western ways of reading, but are drawn very dynamically and at a fast storytelling clip and are therefore more digestable to a media saturated public

[johnspark]

tim lane, patrick kyle, margot ferrick, cathy malkasian... all pretty successful/rated I suppose but I feel they are rather incredible storytellers who don't always get proper credit for their new and special ways of tellin stories

I've just begun to dive into ron rege jr and I'm too new to him to say but already I'm like...how is this stuff not more obsessively discussed! it's so obviously great.

[daisyjaberi]

I dont know if this person is "under-rated" but I think of Rich Tommasso.  spy seal wasn't something I gravitated to, but I like his moodier stuff like she-wolf and I was lucky enough to collect the old minis he used to self publish.  I was signed up for his patreon but then I stopped wanting to spend $12 a month, but it is the only Patreon I've ever subscribed to.  I just really like his line work, and the figures- It reminds me a little of Richard Sala mixed with Tim Lane or Burns.  

[junkflower]

Yeah! I've been creeping Tomasso's instagram for a year or two and am consistently astounded that people aren't more hype on him, but I think the style hes gravitated towards is now sorta out of fashion. Black Phoenix looks awesome.

[daisyjaberi]

Mar 16, 2022 18:40:36 GMT junkflower said:

Yeah! I've been creeping Tomasso's instagram for a year or two and am consistently astounded that people aren't more hype on him, but I think the style hes gravitated towards is now sorta out of fashion. Black Phoenix looks awesome.

thats a good point, the style ppl are into has changed alot and drifted from that sort of narrative.  I think it will come back because he is so good at composition and line work.  I don't like the digital coloring tho

[bug0hateme]

kade McClements, dude keeps making and he doesn't stop

[bug0hateme]

Clair Gunther, damn good

[bug0hateme]

Mar 28, 2022 4:35:20 GMT bug0hateme said:

kade McClements, dude keeps making and he doesn't stop

I still stand by this. Wine.

[dominocorp]

I thought of writing Berkeley Breathed as a joke but sometimes I think about how so many cartoonists read his books over and over as kids but he's the one no one ever really points to as a formative influence because he's so corny. And...he is, extremely so! But the ways in which he's good are underrated I guess.