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So, Heroic Age. Showing off the all prettied up and squeeky clean Marvel Universe, eh? Got tired of the doom and gloom of how evil Norman Osborn was, right? Guess this doesn't apply to plagiarism.
Marvel released their solicit information for May 2010 and in it was a nice Greg Land variant for Avengers #1. Greg Land being Greg Land, it was obvious on first viewing he traced it. The most blatant offense, of course, was Iron Man's new armour.
See, Iron Man hasn't even debuted that shiny, new armour yet, so, clearly, there are only a handful of images, namely the initial concept art from back when it was first announced. Land, the consumate asshole tracer, cut and pasted Ryan Meinerding's concept art, tilted the head slightly and, viola!, he's got his Iron Man "drawn" for this cover. He was paid to do this.
The other image I bothered to find a decent representation from previous work, which was quite easy, was his Triple H tracing, which shows up in every damn issue and group pose cover he deigns us to trace. I just grabbed one of many examples and pasted a Hyperion on top of Thor to show how much thought went into the pose. Once I started looking for others, I decided I wasn't going to waste any more time on his sorry excuse for "art" just to further prove a point I'd already made abundantly clear with just the Iron Man tracing.
Good job, Marvel. Keep employing a hack that not only traces porn and other horribly inappropriate images, but also continues to trace other people's work and pass it off as his own. He makes a great impression on your new Heroic Age, too. Really drives home the point with his satirical artistic expression with this "intentionally traced" piece. Brilliant.
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27 comments:
What's really scary, is the thought of Greg Land doing multiple series. I think I'd have to stop paying attention to Marvel after that.
I don't have a problem with this one. I couldn't tell it was Land when I first saw it earlier. It's not as bad as others he's done. They're all just basic poses anyway. I'm not defending Land, but at least they have feet.
Land has done worse, but still looks pretty bad, the worse part is that John Romita Jr's cover isn't that good either (and I actually like his art), this doesn't seem to be a good star for the Heroic Age, at least in terms of art.
My brain. Hurts.
You know, the problem used to be that Greg Land appeared to trace.
Now, the problem isn't that it appears traced.
The problem is it appears traced and DOESN'T LOOK VERY GOOD.
Each of his figures in this picture look like a different artist has drawn them. Wolverine looks especially out of place.
Horrible.
Now, a bit of thought about this new avengers. Wolverine doesn't really fit as an avenger in an heroic age, does he?
Also, isn't the new avengers line up a bit - white?
Land's Wolverine looks different every time.
Also notice the hands of Spider-Man and Thor are the same hands, he just mirrored them exactly and in Spider-Man's case he moved the right behind the left.
I also have a strong feeling that Wolverine was traced from a Joe Madueria Wolverine.
That Cap one looks like it might be original. Have they released Bucky Cap as an action figure yet?
And of course, you ask someone at Marvel about Land they act like HE'S the victim and we're all bullies.
And when I say the variant covers I thought how awesome they looked... now I know why.
Not sure which is funnier: Land's tracing or the fact that in the "proof" picture, Wolverine is now sniffing Tony's iron clad posterior. That can't be good.
Land is pretty much ruining Uncanny for me. I met Dodson at a signing and mentioned that I liked him much better than the "other" Uncanny artist... he didn't have anything to say about that :P.
I really don't understand how no one at Marvel can see what is going on.
Also, WHO ARE THE GREG LAND FANS? Do they exist? Supposedly he's a "superstar" artist that brings in extra sales but...really???
@Onefinemess - To be fair, he didn't always do this. He referenced heavily and you can probably find them for older CrossGen work, but you can see its only a reference (I recall a Sports Illustrated cover compared toa Sojourn one and it's easy to see he used it,b ut you cant just line it up like this and theres noticable differences).
Also, there are many people that simply don't read blogs and forums and other sites. CBR or Newsarama wont do a feature exposing him for plagerising or call out any big name artist over it and Marvel continues to employ him and actually defends what he does, so many comic fans dont even realise what he's doing.
Just recently, the New York times began a public investigation into one of their reporters over plagerism and even created a panel of other writers to judge and review his work.
If Marvel or other employers or even comic unions (Comic Book Art Guild, etc) did any sort of policing instead of just taking whatever sells, more people would know about this.
Sadly, most people can't really tell without looking for it. The moment anyone is shown just one instance of his tracing, it's like they are finally seeing his work for the first time. Like, take that Avengers cover. that's a great Iron Man drawing. No one is going to complain about it. The thing most of the people viewing it without knoweldge of Land's tracing don't understand is that he didn't draw it, so it's just "good art" to them. Show them those two images side by side and the only reaction you can likely receive is "he gets paid for this?" or some variation of disbelief that he's allowed to do that and Marvel pays him for it.
It's weird because Land was good once upon a time back in CrossGen, so why isn't he trying harder with his most high-profile assignments? You'd think that being the regular artist for Uncanny X-Men would make him want to work harder, not fall back on more blatant tracing. I think it's possible that he's always been tracing his artwork, he was either better at hiding it or it was less scrutinized.
Well, if he's tracing, and still being paid well and the company actually defends him, then there's really no incentive for him do put out a job well done.
Now, sure, that's where character comes into play...
Greg Land has a fan page on Facebook, so apparently some people like him. And by some I mean 12, cause thats how many people are in that group. There are, however, 88 members to the group that believes "Greg Land Should be banned from ever touching pencils".
Before I read the article and just saw the headline image I thought this was going to be bashing including Wolverine as an Avenger, which should be done, since you blacked him out of the 2nd image. But you are dead on, when I first saw the cover I could have every character pose looked strangely familar.
@Chris: The FB stuff is hilarious. Think I'm gonna join that 2nd group, probably bring some folks with me.
re: His Crossgen work. Yes, I am aware that once upon a time, he could claim to be an actual artist. I think that makes the whole thing sadder, but no less obnoxious.
I've documented a few of the more annoying things he's done in X-Men, but there's really not much point. Almost every panel he does is offensive in some way. Either because a) portions are obviously traced, b) various states of pornface or c) people look exactly like other people (most likely traced from his small stash of ref material).
worth mentioning that I'm fairly sure that spidey is a movie trace and that wolverine has been used by him at least twice before
I think people overlook the fact that by swiping artwork in interiors, he's damaging how the story gets told. You just can't piece together a bunch cool looking poses in one pannel, the storytelling gets messed up.
That's even funnier than how how Norman Osbourne on Siege Heroes and villains (http://i.newsarama.com/marvelnew/jan2010/87_siege__storming_asgard___heroes___villains__1_female_loki_variant_.jpg) looks like Obama (http://www.jewsonfirst.org/images/obama8.jpg)
Me and my family laughed the whole day lol
Eh, whatever on the Greg Land thing. If it makes you saps feel better beating up on something, have at it. Be sure and sling some venom Liefeld's way, too.
By the way, LMAO at "plagerism".
@Gruff But Lovable Gus - Liefeld at least draws his own work. I can respect that. I don't like it, but I'll never complain about it. And damn, a spelling mistake on the internet. As long as it made you laugh.
All of this stuff is work made for hire, right? So Marvel owns it all, and if they want to let one artist copy stuff drawn by another one, that's their business, no?
@Hyman - He's traced other companies' work as well, such as Tony McDaniel's Nightwing (not refrenced, a straight up tracing). Also, photographers own the rights to the photos he references and traces. You have to pay for the right to reproduce them, as the guy who copied the Obama AP photo for those Hope campaign posters is finding out now. So, even if it was somehow conceivable that Marvel's contracts dictate they own the rights to all art and can freely allow others to trace it and get paid for it, that doesn't cover other companies' or photographers' that Land is tracing and reproducing works of without their consent.
I don't mind the tracing or referencing of photos. It's a technique. I think he pulls it off fine. I don't like the swiping of other artist's work or using the same reference over and over and over. That's just lazy and swiping others is just wrong.
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