Bob Brown is one of those artists who doesn't get the love he deserves. Always classed with the "journeyman" artists, that brand is posed as a critique. You always know journeyman artists because they always hit their deadlines. Not every line is as elegant as the last, but it was delivered on time and it tells a story, which of course is the whole point. Brown worked a long time at DC on such things as Challengers of the Unknown (taking over after Kirby left it) and Tomahawk. He was a stalwart on Space Ranger (which he co-created) and many other DC sci-fi yarns. I first found his distinctive style on some Batman stories and while they never garnered the love that Neal Adams did, they were good stuff. I became a devout Bob Brown fan when he came to Marvel and had a powerful run on The Avengers and later on Daredevil.
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He had been drawing Rawhide Kid at Marvel just before he moved over to the Challengers, essentially trading assignments with Kirby.
ReplyDeleteI had not really remembered he did Rawhide Kid (the pre-Bart version) but you are right sir. Exceedingly astute.
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Nice to see Bob Brown on your list, a A very talented and sadly underatted artist. I picked up a batch of Challengers comics in Glasgow for £1 each a few years ago, I bought them initially as most had Neal Adams covers but was imprEssed by Bob's interior action art.enjoying your list
ReplyDeleteI was attracted to Bob Brown's work on the Avengers when he was part of the team that produced the Clash between the Avengers and the Defenders. He and Sal Buscema epitomized what it was to be storytellers first and flashy artists second. Both get dubbed as "hacks", but as I've said above, a hack seems to be an artist who hits his deadlines.
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