Greatest cartoonist of the 20th century.....

[Angelcake]

I'd like to posse this question to everyone in internet land out there.....

I would like to hear your opinions on who was sthe greatest cartoonist of the 20th century, keep in mind that by cartoonist I mean both illustrated fiction AND animation.

My pick is Dr. Tezuka Osamu.

Why? Why not?!

For those of you who are new to anime and manga, Osamu-san created many of the cliches found in anime today.

Big eyes small mouth?
He did it first.

Giant Robots?
He did it first.

Fantasy stories in Feudal Japan?
He did it first.

His most famous creations include the thriller manga Dororo (the inspiration for the recent PS2 game Blood Will Tell), a medical drama called Black Jack, and the manga that would inspire one of my fav movies of all time, JUngle emperor Leo.....

.......oh yeah.....and he created a little character called Astro Boy....not sure if you've heard of him

Also, there was always a deep social message behind his work, Astro boy is a story about war, opppression, and technology, Jungle Emperor Leo is about the relationship between man and nature.

Of course, this is just my opinion. What's yours?

[ziritrion]

Tough question. I don't have enough knowledge to state a valid opinion about who the greatest cartoonist of the 20th century was, but I think that many people would disagree with your choice.

Yes, Tezuka is responsible of the massive commercial success of the comic and animation industry in Japan and its style (speed lines, extreme camera angles both in comic and animation, hyper-dynamic action, big eyes for more expressive characters, use of fewer lines for quicker drawing, etc.), but as I recall, Tezuka himself admired Walt Disney and was inspired by him. Soon enough, both American and Japanese industries took very different paths, but the origins are American. Walt Disney created a huge animation empire, although I believe that his movies were very monothematic ("The Jungle Book" was his best movie, IMHO.) Regarding comics, perhaps Will Eisner was one of the biggest icons, so I think that many would choose him over Tezuka. But it's still a very personal choice (I still haven't read anything by Will Eisner, any recomendations?)

My personal choices about great cartoonists and animators: Osamu Tezuka, Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo, Masamune Shirow, Brad Bird, Don Bluth (yes, I really like his work,) Art Spiegelman, Joe Sacco, Jeff Smith, Moebius, Alejandro Jodorowsky... I don't know, there are too many .

[go]

Hello Readers,
Of course I am biased but...
Stan Sakai was the greatest cartoonist of the 20th century and is the greatest cartoonist of the 21 century.
Best wishes to all!
go

[Steve Hubbell]

Greatest Cartoonist of the twentieth century?
- SERGIO ARAGONES -


(best comic creator? - Stan Sakai - )

[Tim]

I think it's a tough question. Greatest in terms of commercial success and influence, I think that the obvious choice would be Walt Disney.

Miyazaki has proven himself to be an absolute master of animation, though his success has been largely in foreign markets.

Will Eisner for comics is the guy who pioneered comic book style storytelling as a legitimate forum for serious subject matter. That's huuuuge (check out The Spirit...but read across time periods to get a real concept of Eisner's scope).

Seigel & Shuster...no small achievement in creating Superman. And what about Bob Kane?

Frank Miller? Dark Knight Returns is widely regarded (even by those outside of comic-dom) as a piece of literature. It's studied in college-level lit courses. And his Daredevil stories...

But I think I'm going to go with Stan Lee (I know I'm cheating here a little since he wasn't the artist for any of the books he edited/wrote/created). Not only did his style dictate the way comics would be written for half a century, but I think that the myths he created are going to live on in our society for a long, long time.

Bonus points to Stan Sakai for being my favorite.

[takematsu]

I notice no one's mentions Rob Leifeld.

OH OH OH! Right! GREATEST artist. What was I thinking of?

I incline toward Will Eisner for reasons given above. I would support Stan "The Annoying Old Man" Lee despite his current place in my world-view if he hadn't shared the century with Eisner; also-- I don't think Smilin' Stan did a lot of drawing. Siegel/Shuster and Kane had an influence in as much as they helped to define a genre, but it was a genre within the concept of sequential storytelling; they were also, on technical merits, less accomplished artists than Eisner.

Vis:



I can't comment on Tezuko Osamu's work, as I'm not very familiar with it; from the commentary of others, and reading a single issue of Black Jack, I think he probably has right to claim a chair on the same shelf as Eisner, but I don't know that he also wrote scholarly works on the theory of the form.

Sergio is very good, but there's that "defining a school of art" thing again. If Marginals had caught on, perhaps....

[Stan Sakai]

This is a real tough question, and one that is so subjective. Also, people may have different definitions for "greatest".

Walt Disney certainly made one of the greatest impact in the cartooning world, even being a major influence on other cartoonists like Dr Tezuka. Eisner certainly qualifies, though I think of his abilities more as a master storyteller rather than a cartoonist. Sergio, perhaps. But he has said a number of times that he is not an artist, but a writer who happens to draw. I don't think there is a definitive answer to this question.

I was at a party once and Mark Evanier mentioned that the best cartoonist in the world was there. We asked him who it was, since we were all cartoonists there. "Mort Drucker", he said. No one could argue with that.

[go]

Hello Readers,
My second choice (after Stan Sakai) for greatest cartoonist is Moebius.
Thank you all for the fun!
Best wishes.
go

[Todd Shogun]

Walt Disney - cartoon animation TV and movies
Jack Kirby - comic books
Charles Schulz - comic strips

[/quote]

[gunblade007]

well i have many favorite artist. my favorite computer artist is beckett magazine's jeff amano. i also like jon gray's artwork on archie comic's sonic the hedgehog. i love both andy's tails comics and mr.sakai's usagi yojimbo. i like travis hanson's bean's song, mike allred's x-static. and i also love commander mark since he help me learn how to draw when i watch his tv show. my favorite non-famous artist is my older brother chad and my favorite painter is my grandma.
-Joe:)

[ziritrion]

Oops, I forgot to mention Hergé, the creator of the Tin Tin comic books. I think he'd be a good candidate for greatest cartoonist of the 20th century too.

[Usagi]

Well I will have to go with my first love, and that is Walt Disney.- But not Walt Disney for Creating Micely Mouse....But Oswald the Rabbet Bosko, and the Adventures of Alice...I'll give Disney props for creating the first Animated Movie, Snow White. But Not best Cartoonset for the 20th Centry.

Tezuka' was influanced by Walt Disneys work, speacilly Bambi, So- half way across the world Osamu Tezuka started to create his own line of first Anime Cartoonistry from Japan.

Miyazaki is the God of Modern Anime Animated films, I love Studio Ghibli and his work, no mater what, always still makes me smile.- He will have a place always in the big book of fave Artists.

For Comics, I have to go with what I grew up with. Charles Schulz, Stan Sakai and Whom Ever created Bat man.....Thank you !!!-- I wont add to many Comic Artists because Im more fomillior with the mosr current wave, and not to much he classics.....but I love Bat man!

I guss I would have to really say, Waner Bros' they were the first to make young people laugh, though, in the begining, Walt Disney was with WB- untill he left, and created his own line of works- WB produced many of the first Cartoons we may still see on TV- and really, I tihnk, besides the showing of the spinning glapping horse, I would defonetly need to give them Props

[Redwall Templar]

This is a tough one no doubt.

Charles Shultz is still a favorite of mine to this day. I never found his strips funny in the comedic sense more so in the philosphical sense. Wisdom with humor.

I do like Frank Miller's style, especially Sin City. Though I think it is neck and neck with his own series of both his skills, I think he is a better writer than artist.

Sergio Argones no doubt is terrific.

And that reminds me, I think that the artist who created Asterix was/is excellent. I don't know his name and I don't even know when he was born or if he's dead. I just know that I like his style. Does anyone here know who that person is?

Mike Allred is a really good artist but his fatal flaw is that he never stuck with Madman and never stays on one thing for too long and seems to leave things unfinished.

Rob Shwab I think is an excellent illistrator, I mean was. I LOVED his Scud series. I so wish he'd been able to continue it. It was fast moving, easy to understand and dynamic.

(Of coarse Stan Sakai is always numero-uno)

[ziritrion]

The Astérix writer was Goscinny and the artist is Uderzo. Goscinny was also the writer of many more comics, like Lucky Luke, as well as writer of a few books (including "Le petit Nicolas," which is one of the books you'll probably have to read along with "Le petit Prince" by Saint Exupéry if you ever decide to learn French.) Sadly, Goscinny passed away in 1977, but Uderzo still chose to continue drawing Astérix with his own scripts, which unluckily aren't nearly as good as Goscinny's.

[Redwall Templar]

Wow thanks for the info Ziritrion. I may just have to go looking for some of that material now if any is available.