Image via Complex Original
The first time the public ever laid eyes on Captain America, he was landing a right hook square on the jaw of Adolf Hitler in 1941's debut issue of Captain America Comics. Since then, Steve Rogers has evolved from a simple comic book character into a full-fledged pop culture icon. With his star-spangled suit and iconic shield, Captain America has been a symbol for American integrity, heroism, and grandeur for seven decades and attracted some of the best talent in the comic book business.
As the character of Captain America has gained momentum over the years, his books have become so popular that any comic book creator that works on a Cap story is instantly launched into the professional stratosphere. Artists from every generation have taken a shot at crafting a definitive look for the wing-eared Avenger, but only a handful have ever truly left a lasting mark on the character. With the big screen adaptation Captain America: The First Avenger hitting theaters this Friday, we’re taking a look back at The Top 10 Captain America Artists.
Written by Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)
10. Alex Ross
He doesn't do many full comic book interiors, but Alex Ross’ talents as a cover and poster artist more than earn him a spot on this list. His attention to detail and Norman Rockwell approach to Captain America perfectly reflect the idealism and innocence of the early days of the character.
Ross first broke through in 1994’s Marvels and his work on Cap played a big part in the story’s success. Instantly, Ross’ ultra-ideal version of the hero became the new standard in the industry.
More recently, when it came time for Bucky to assume the mantle of the Sentinel of Liberty, Marvel hired Ross to redesign Captain America’s costume. Ross, who has become one of the most daring and revered artists to ever work on the star spangled Avenger, modernized the costume, yet managed to create a look that was just as memorable and iconic as the character's original outfit.
9. Bryan Hitch
Bryan Hitch is one of the most unfortunate stories in all of comics. His chronic inability to turn his artwork in on time has severely limited his opportunities in the comic book world, yet when he does have time to draw to his fullest potential he is one of the best artists in the business.
Case in point: Hitch took about five years to finish just 26 issues of The Ultimates Volumes 1 and 2, but his work was so vividly detailed and cinematic that it shocked the industry. His real world approach to the characters fit in perfectly with the tone of the story and helped launch the Ultimate line of comics to the top of the sales chart.
Hitch redesigned many of Marvel’s A-list characters for the book, but none matched his updated view on Captain America. It was modern and sensible, yet still retained the fantasy and style that made the character survive for generations. His work on the character is the basis for much of what is seen in Captain America: The First Avenger and the upcoming Avengers film.
8. John Buscema
Known for his work on Avengers, John Buscema revolutionized the super team with his ability to tell a flawless story and his flare for action. He grounded Captain America in reality, while never losing the over-the-top action and fun of the comic book world. The result was a look that was mimicked relentlessly for decades in other books, video games, and cartoons.
In a story that became the highlight of his run, Avengers: Under Siege, Buscema captured the heartbreaking loss of Captain America’s prized WWII heirlooms at the hands of Baron Zemo. His storytelling was so well crafted and precise that no word balloons or captions were needed to understand the emotion behind the story. That is a testament to a classically trained artist at the top of his game.
7. John Cassaday
Much like Alex Ross, John Cassaday didn’t spend a lot of time drawing interior pages of Captain America. That didn't matter because his photorealistic art, and classic outlook on the character, separated his 2001-2002 work on Cap from any other artist at the time.
Definitively modern, yet with the classic beats intact, Ross' art exhibited the pure power of the character and also played up Cap’s patriotic nature with plenty of red, white, and blue imagery. Even though many of his Captain America pieces depict the brighter side of the character, Cassaday never abandoned the dark, isolated strokes that go along with Steve Rogers’ haunted past.
The result was plenty of Cap pin-ups that were capable of giving a grand sense of story and emotion even though they only existed as single images.
6. Steve McNiven
Cutting his teeth on Captain America in the pages of 2006’s Civil War, Steve McNiven brought a boiling rage back to the character that had been missing since the ‘80s. McNiven’s art combined the realism and kinetic energy of Bryan Hitch and the storytelling ability of John Buscema, into a style that perfectly fits almost any story.
His work on Civil War was particularly noteworthy because of the high emotions that he crafted within the book. Mark Millar’s script handled the characters well, but it was McNiven’s art that put the story over the top with every tortured thought going through Captain America’s mind at the time evident on his face. Every ounce of pain and doubt was painstakingly detailed by McNiven as Cap battled his onetime ally, Tony Stark, in front of a shocked nation. It was a high point in the creative evolution for the character without a doubt.
McNiven is currently contributing to Captain America in a big way as the illustrator behind Marvel’s most recent relaunch of the ongoing Captain America title. In his debut issue, McNiven somehow topped everything he did in Civil War with ease. No small feat.
5. Steve Epting
When Ed Brubaker began his legendary run on Captain America in 2005, Steve Epting was brought along as the artist to introduce Cap to a new generation of fans. Having worked with Brubaker before on DC’s criminally underrated Gotham Central, Epting was already accustomed to the types of scripts he would be working with and was instantly in his comfort zone on the book.
What followed was a stylistic change from Captain America’s typically brightly colored adventures, as Epting introduced a grittier and more real world approach to the character. He brought a cinematic style to Cap’s world that fell in line with recent Hollywood spy thrillers like The Bourne Identity and Casino Royale, while also keeping Cap’s fantasy elements intact.
It was never quite flashy, but Epting brought a level of understated beauty to the book that perfectly fit Brubaker’s rather bleak scripts.
4. Ron Garney
During the ‘90s when superhero art consisted of overexaggerated muscles and gratuitously large breasts, Ron Garney stayed the course and continued to draw comics the way they were meant to be drawn. He maintained the high level of storytelling and fantasy that others before him had perfected, and he quickly became one of the most well respected artists in the industry because of his near flawless technique.
Along with writer Mark Waid, Garney launched one of the all-time great runs on Captain America and helped define the character for an entire generation of readers. His style may not be as hyper-realistic or cinematic as some of the others on this list, but he always managed to portray the power and iconic motif of Captain America without a hitch.
His singular images and covers for Captain America capture so much personality that even readers who are completely ignorant to the character would feel an instant connection to him.
3. John Byrne
He's best known for revolutionizing the X-Men and reinventing Superman in Man of Steel, but John Byrne also had an incredible, albeit brief, run on Captain America in the early 1980s. Teaming up with writer Roger Stern, Byrne captured the classic look of the character that Jack Kirby introduced in the ‘60s, but he also brought along a style all his own.
Byrne was known for portraying superheroes at their most idealistic, but with Cap he added a great sense of torment and pain to the art. From solemnly contemplating America’s political landscape, to painfully deciding to decapitate Baron Blood in self-defense, Byrne’s Cap was a tortured soul underneath his glossy exterior. That added a layer of depth to the character that other writers and artists would build off of for the next few decades.
There is no telling just how great Byrne could have been on the character if editorial disputes had not prematurely ended his run, but the work that did come out shows a rendition of the character that has rarely been topped.
2. Jim Steranko
Jim Steranko burst on to the comic book scene in the late '60s by combining the psychedelic pop-art stylings of Andy Warhol with the over-the-top cartoonish elements of contemporaries such as Jack Kirby and Neal Adams. The result was a daring style that has never been replicated. Experimenting with full page spreads, photography, and quirky panel layouts, Steranko completely changed the comic industry during his relatively brief stint at Marvel.
Steranko often ventured into the world of the surreal and the experimental for his comic art, and injected the usually clean cut world of Captain America with some much needed style and sex appeal. He quickly earned a reputation for being the one of the first mavericks of the comic book world, and he introduced the industry to influences that they would have otherwise completely ignored.
Nothing that has come out since has even come close to replicating the stylings of the one-time magician and escape artist. He could out-surreal Dalí, school Lichtenstein on pop art, and even teach Jack Kirby a thing or two about composition. Jaws are still on the floor from Steranko's '60s revolution of sex and comics, and Captain America was one of the characters that benefitted most.
1. Jack Kirby
Could the number one spot go to anyone else besides “The King"? Not only did Jack Kirby create Captain America back in 1941 along with Joe Simon, but he was also the man who revived the character in 1964 with Stan Lee. Throughout the early years of Cap’s history, Kirby was the artist that gave the character life, personality, and his trademark penchant for action. His rendition of Cap was immeasurably powerful and the way he used his signature Vibranium shield was nothing short of dynamic.
Throughout out his early days as a propaganda figure, to his prime as a superhero along with the Avengers, Captain America always benefitted greatly under the pencils of Kirby. What he could do better than any artist at the time, or even presently, was to feature vibrant action, unparalleled imagination, and brilliant storytelling all within the same panel. While many artists are skilled at one or the other, Kirby combined all three traits expertly.
He could easily do anything that he wanted to with a set of pencils, and in the process went on to completely own the character of Captain America in a way that is still unrivaled amongst current comic artists.