in retrospect, how did Rob Liefeld ever manage to hold down a artist job in the comics industry?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
I mean, fundamentally, he can't draw.

DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 27 October 2005 11:14 (eighteen years ago) link

Is is The Big Mystery to me, and a big part of the reason why I quit reading the things for the better part of a decade. Not Liefield specifically, but the whole Image pinups-not-storytelling movement.

I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 27 October 2005 11:18 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm trying to remember what the big deal about Liefeld was circa New Mutants/ X-Force/ Youngblood and it's still somewhat of a mystery to me, too. I seem to remember that his work on the "Hawk and Dove" mini was ok, but he had a good inker. I'm guessing a lot of the interest was, like, riptide from the Todd McFarlane explosion? Since it ties in to another ILC thread, I HIGHLY recommend checking out the hilariously OTM Liefeld Wikipedia entry before it gets censored. It features an image one of the UGLIEST pieces of art I've EVER seen, Liefeld's Captain America-with-man tits cover for the Heroes Reborn reboot.

ng-unit, Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Rob Liefeld obviously can draw; he just has the aesthetic sense of a dungpile.

Have you ever noticed that all of his faces look like his face?

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:04 (eighteen years ago) link

You can say that about a lot of artistes, tho.

David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:07 (eighteen years ago) link

I really hope Rob's not using himself as a model to illustrate limbs, tho - that'd be fucked up.

David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Also - Vicar, do you REALLY want e-mail notification?

David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:08 (eighteen years ago) link

"the neutrality of this article is disputed"

heh

Mark C (Markco), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:10 (eighteen years ago) link

He is married to Joy Creel, one of three triplet sisters who starred in two The Parent Trap broadcast TV sequel movies with Barry Bostwick and Hayley Mills.

!!!

Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:10 (eighteen years ago) link

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Liefeld_captain_america.jpg

I just really need to know how the inker/colourist feels about having to work with images like that.

Suedey (John Cei Douglas), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Liefeld marketed the action figure of Youngblood's archer character, Shaft, as "Rob Liefeld's Shaft: 7 Inches, fully poseable,"

Hahaha!

chap who would dare to spy on his best mate's ex (chap), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:35 (eighteen years ago) link

a wise comic fan once said to me that Liefeld was popular w/ teenagers cos he cld draw just a BIT better than they cld

Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 27 October 2005 14:54 (eighteen years ago) link

jesus that captain america picture is grotesque

s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:19 (eighteen years ago) link

It's also hysterically funny!

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:39 (eighteen years ago) link

OMG. Reminds me of Meat Loaf in "Fight Club."

I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:43 (eighteen years ago) link

Pehaps if Meatloaf had pec implants on top of his breast implants on top of his pec implants. And he'd just eaten a lemon.

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:48 (eighteen years ago) link

Just for kicks, try to piece together what it would look like if you took away Teh Shield. The chest is the least of it.

rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Maybe Cap just has gas. In his tits.

David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Vicar - do you REALLY want e-mail notification?!?!?

David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:51 (eighteen years ago) link

OH YEAH, the shield is definitely covering an ass out to THERE!

Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:51 (eighteen years ago) link

You've forgotten the patented Liefeld Back Arch(TM), roger! Cap has some breast implants up in that jive somewhere, ergo he's got a girly-back.

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:52 (eighteen years ago) link

oh yeah, it's totally hilarious! it's one of the most appalling pieces of comic art i've ever seen, actually. dude has a SHELF!

s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:54 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.seinfeld-fan.net/pictures/kramer/kramer027.jpg

Levels.

David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:58 (eighteen years ago) link

I once saw a version of this redrawn with no shield and in the nude.

I pray I never see it again.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 27 October 2005 15:59 (eighteen years ago) link

No way.

David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:03 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't think RL was responsible, though - more likely an anti-liefeldite.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Also - Vicar, do you REALLY want e-mail notification?

why do people keep asking me this?

DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:06 (eighteen years ago) link

Just checking.

(Are you sure?)

David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Notify!

Suedey (John Cei Douglas), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:14 (eighteen years ago) link

I once saw a version of this redrawn with no shield and in the nude.

Rob of Finland!

Tom (Groke), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:30 (eighteen years ago) link

bwahahaha

oh crap, coffee all over the keyboard again. Damn you, Liefeld!

rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Argh, I just got the worst mental image thanks to "Rob of Finland".

The Ghost of Some Things Shouldn't Bend Like That (Dan Perry), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:43 (eighteen years ago) link

a wise comic fan once said to me that Liefeld was popular w/ teenagers cos he cld draw just a BIT better than they cld

This is exactly it, combined with the fact that Rob Liefeld has the taste and enthusiasm of an eight year old boy. He can totally tap into a certain mentality and aesthetic like few other people. Unfortunately, this aesthetic is pretty laughable, but it's definitely the reason why he had so much early success.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Thursday, 27 October 2005 16:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Rob L is the dark side of thrill-power basically.

Tom (Groke), Thursday, 27 October 2005 17:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh yeah, definitely.

I just read that Wikipedia entry - it actually doesn't seem all that imbalanced to me.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Thursday, 27 October 2005 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link

i posted the nude liefeld cap on the ile thread about the hannity/liddy superhero book

_, Thursday, 27 October 2005 19:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Motion to adopt Rob as ILC's Official Ironic Mascot.

Leeeeeeeeee (Leee), Thursday, 27 October 2005 19:33 (eighteen years ago) link

I seem to remember that his work on the "Hawk and Dove" mini was ok, but he had a good inker.

I remember being really disappointed when the regular series came out and he wasn't the penciller! Admittedly, that was probably the last time I was disappointed not to be looking at Liefeld's art, but there really WAS a time when the McFarlane/Larsen/Liefeld style really seemed like a neat new thing (maybe it helped if you were 12 years old then). Larsen on Doom Patrol, McFarlane on Hulk and Amazing Spider-Man-- all good (the shiteness of "Spider-Man #1 by Todd McFarlane" (props to Mark Martin) probably put an end to this though, even before the Image era came along).

Chris F. (servoret), Thursday, 27 October 2005 22:55 (eighteen years ago) link

this maybe makes me like liefeld a little more. i think.

whatever, Friday, 28 October 2005 21:30 (eighteen years ago) link

So are all his good pictures copies of other peope's?

DV (dirtyvicar), Saturday, 29 October 2005 16:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Only, y'know, a bit wrong. I particularly like the one he ripped off from a porn mag, although that's a crime committed by many.

Vic Fluro (Vic Fluro), Saturday, 29 October 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link

Discovering Jim Valentino's work on "Normalman" after seeing his run on "Guardians of the Galaxy" was a huge WTF? moment for me, because he came from such a hugely different background than the rest of those guys. The Comics Journal article about Image linked in that Wikipedia entry is really illuminating and makes me wish that the writer would go back and update it.

ng-unit, Saturday, 29 October 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link

Lingerie catalog (I presume) != porn mag!

David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 29 October 2005 21:25 (eighteen years ago) link

Also, even though I find the whole Image school distasteful to the extreme, I can't resist reading about it for all of the schadenfreude goodness.

ng-unit, Saturday, 29 October 2005 21:25 (eighteen years ago) link

'porn mag' used as catch-all for lingerie catalog, lad mag etc.

Vic Fluro (Vic Fluro), Saturday, 29 October 2005 21:30 (eighteen years ago) link

eight months pass...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/Pandas/liefeldWTF.jpg

Cor-Ray (chaki), Saturday, 8 July 2006 04:06 (seventeen years ago) link

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j238/sage1701/liefeld.gif

Cor-Ray (chaki), Saturday, 8 July 2006 04:20 (seventeen years ago) link

DOOD YOU ARE KILLING ME

Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Saturday, 8 July 2006 04:25 (seventeen years ago) link

CAN NOT STOP LUAGHIUIUGNB

the eunuchs, Cassim and Mustafa, who guarded Abdur Ali's harem (orion), Saturday, 8 July 2006 05:02 (seventeen years ago) link

Jennifer Lopez bought and was intending to star in Shrink! in 2002.

(Deadpool is definitely repugnant.)

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Monday, 12 August 2019 20:19 (four years ago) link

ya oldsters

anyway, and i say this as a compliment, Joe Kelly deserves most of the credit for turning Deadpool from a = Deathstroke-ripoff to the fourth wall-breaking Spider-Man with a goofy cast of characters

Nhex, Monday, 12 August 2019 21:48 (four years ago) link

Deadpool has been given more interesting facets over the years but not interesting enough to actively elicit my actual interest. Like it's the one Marvel character I don't make any effort to keep up with.

Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Monday, 12 August 2019 21:55 (four years ago) link

I assume he at least partly owns all the stuff he says he still owns. And let’s face it, he can come up with new ideas with exactly as much value as the old ones in 15 minutes

remember when Liefeld justified taking a series that Loeb and Ian Churchill created away from Churchill
and licensing it to a publisher trying to rebuild his line after many creators had walked, including the entirety of an imprint under a salaried (?) editor
because said publisher had been exposed for ripping off artists by claiming that their work was substandard and therefore not paying for it
but publishing it anyway
and then threatening on the internet to sue people who talked about it

and Liefeld's justification was that Churchill had slowed down and wasn't following Liefeld's editorial direction
...out of resentment that Liefeld had stolen his original art...

and part of Rob's explanation on a fan board was

Awesome has a vast library of over 500 characters, we cannot and would not choose to publish all of our titles in the current tumultuous marketplace. Do not kid yourself, the industry is suffering terribly! The honest members of the big 2 companies will concede that this is a trying time for publishers. The numbers continue to sink.



just think, if only the market had ever recovered, Rob would be publishing five hundred comics a month, of at least the above quality, and could have sold more of them as movies. sad!

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Monday, 12 August 2019 22:31 (four years ago) link

#allegedly #iirc

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Monday, 12 August 2019 22:32 (four years ago) link

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/07/05/william-messner-loebs-comics-kiss-the-end-3/
good to see him working but does he have a home?

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 12 August 2019 22:40 (four years ago) link

remember when Liefeld

honestly, my knowledge is based on less-than-half-remembered Wizard magazine articles from 1995, articles about the number of pouches he’s drawn, and the occasional anecdote on ilx

the truly shitheaded moves are bad, the absolute consistency in being a deluded loon are funny

untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 12 August 2019 22:57 (four years ago) link

hey I guess Churchill finally got his art back from Rob (recently?) sometime in the last 18 years

The Coven: Issue 1, Pages 2-3
Pencils: Ian Churchill
Inks: Norm Rapmund
Media Type: Art Board
Detail: Cane bashes Abel over the head

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Monday, 12 August 2019 23:24 (four years ago) link

dammit the exclamation mark fell off

Detail: Cane bashes Abel over the head!

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Monday, 12 August 2019 23:25 (four years ago) link

Those “Shrink!” panels make me feel embarrassed to have ever read a comic book.

60... 90... 120 Minute IPA (morrisp), Monday, 12 August 2019 23:40 (four years ago) link

in 2012, 562 backers pledged $35,343 to help Rob give a free copy of the new Brigade #1 to 100,000 people by October 2013

every single comic that BACKERS and PLEDGES receive will come with a FOIL STAMPED BRIGADE LOGO! Yes, EVERY COPY! Shiny is always better, at least in my house and this will cement YOUR comics that YOU created via this pledge with a signature FOIL LOGO.

on June 8, 2019, Rob updated:

Delayed cover uploading shortly. Book on track to become the single biggest and most important of my career. Period

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 00:06 (four years ago) link

Only a true wordsmith could conjure up the metaphor of "cementing" a cover with a shiny logo.

60... 90... 120 Minute IPA (morrisp), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 00:09 (four years ago) link

as of two days ago, Rob is now "redrawing" this book that ppl gave him thousands of dollars for seven years ago, to remove the characters that he accidentally forgot he doesn't own

what a tragic and unforeseeable delay to this series which he absolutely definitely has completed, with presumably 68 subsequent monthly issues ready to roll out on the regular just as soon as he gets that first giveaway relaunch #1 out, which he IN NO WAY has failed to complete in the year's lead time he gave himself, or in the subsequent six.

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 00:37 (four years ago) link

Awesome has a vast library of over 500 characters

nb that in Shrink!, he ran out of ideas for superheroes after four, and just put a regular snowman in the fifth

also that fully half of the superheroes were called Mr. [Something]. golden age vibes or golden retriever brain? u-decide

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 00:49 (four years ago) link

could be 3/4, I’m just guessing he never actually came up with a name for the human torch guy. absolutely cannot rule out Mr Not Human Torch though

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 01:01 (four years ago) link

It seems like you dislike this man

El Tomboto, Tuesday, 13 August 2019 01:26 (four years ago) link

never met him

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 01:51 (four years ago) link

Rob's got a fake interview in the back of Major X #0 where he talks about how it's the most important and biggest of his career and was an idea he had when he was at Marvel the first time and they begged him to come back and do it.

It's a truly awful series, but despite stiff competition the art is by far the worst thing about it - full of static poses, brokeback and crotch shots for starters alongside Rob's well documented inability to draw feet, perspective or anyone holding nothing correctly, but the muscle definition is especially hysterical.

Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 08:07 (four years ago) link

It's honestly been somewhat impressive over the past three decades to watch someone so assiduously resist growth + improvement in their chosen creative field.

Like how hard would it have been to set aside a cumulative hour or two to really look at a foot.

Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 11:38 (four years ago) link

Ah, but...

Following the April 2012 release of DC Comics' solicitations for that July, which included Liefeld's covers for The Savage Hawkman #11, Deathstroke #11, and Grifter #11—all of which showed characters' feet—Liefeld, who had been criticized for avoiding drawing characters' feet, commented, "The Hipsters don't know what to do when I draw feet. It confuses them."[106]

SHANTY the golden fish portion (stevie), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 14:37 (four years ago) link

“The Hipsters don’t know what to do when I draw feet,” and other totally normal things to say.

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 15:12 (four years ago) link

The Hipsters will continue doing what they've always done, Rob: neither know nor care about your existence.

Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link

Or is that just his random catch-all term for people who acknowledge his absence of talent

Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 15:25 (four years ago) link

“The Hipsters don’t know what to do when I draw feet,”

new board description plz

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 13 August 2019 15:29 (four years ago) link

what other four-decade veteran of the comics industry could make an event out of rendering anatomy for the first time

he really is comics’ own trump

(Appears only as a corpse) (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link

Brokeback Crotchshots, in theaters May 2021

brigadier pudding (DJP), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 15:59 (four years ago) link

Rob is now "redrawing" this book that ppl gave him thousands of dollars for seven years ago, to remove the characters that he accidentally forgot he doesn't own

I'm, picturing him with a giant eraser going at his pages and it's making me giggle

“The Hipsters don’t know what to do when I draw feet” is some amazingly funny "I'm triggering the haters" dialogue and I agree it's board worthy

untuned mass damper (mh), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:04 (four years ago) link

I'm picturing him with a giant eraser going at his pages and then redrawing the exact same inept figure he drew seven years before.

Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:08 (four years ago) link

but with different pouches

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:18 (four years ago) link

different more

Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link

Why has he never just created a character like The Pouch, with every inch of human anatomy obscured by countless pouches? Play to your strengths, Rob!

Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:22 (four years ago) link

I mean, he kind of has, multiple times over

brigadier pudding (DJP), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:27 (four years ago) link

ha, i know y'all hipsters out there used to watching me.... but don't watch me... watch my feet

Good morning, how are you, I'm (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:30 (four years ago) link

I'm Drawing As Fast As I Can

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:31 (four years ago) link

(The Rob Liefeld Story)

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:31 (four years ago) link

POST FEET SWEATIE

(Appears only as a corpse) (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:31 (four years ago) link

the hipsters have lots of pouches these days, so we're really in a Liefeld or post-Liefeld world

untuned mass damper (mh), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:32 (four years ago) link

i haven't seen any giant ponytails emerging straight out of the top of otherwise shaved heads, but we are moving back to bushwick in a few weeks so i will keep y'all posted

Good morning, how are you, I'm (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:35 (four years ago) link

kudos doc casino on the footwork reference

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 16:48 (four years ago) link

Why has he never just created a character like The Pouch, with every inch of human anatomy obscured by countless pouches? Play to your strengths, Rob!

why must you constantly underestimate this man

quelle sprocket damage (sic), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 17:31 (four years ago) link

I love that the pouch gun is firing... a pouch

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 13 August 2019 17:32 (four years ago) link

that literally is the best Liefeld drawing I've ever seen

brigadier pudding (DJP), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 17:37 (four years ago) link

Agreed - tho the intersection of gun & left hand still isn't quite right.

60... 90... 120 Minute IPA (morrisp), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 17:57 (four years ago) link

that literally is the best Liefeld drawing I've ever seen


well it is composed entirely of the one thing rob has spent his entire career drawing

(Appears only as a corpse) (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 18:22 (four years ago) link

OMG, I...I honestly thought I was just being a wisenheimer.

It's simultaneously his best and most self-aware drawing ever.

Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 22:05 (four years ago) link

ten months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLFNU_-K54M
Only watched bits of it but was amused by Liefeld saying "you can have a sword and a gun!" reminding me of an image Sic posted above. He does an impression of Alan Moore talking about Pulp Fiction and a bit about Stephen Platt hating him now.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 22 June 2020 21:48 (three years ago) link

three years pass...

Liefeld memoir Robservations forthcoming. Or, y'know, at least like the first two chapters and then maybe a third chapter seven years from now.

God help me but I think I need to read this POS.

Great-Tasting Burger Perceptions (Old Lunch), Thursday, 4 April 2024 18:07 (two weeks ago) link

a+++++++++ title, quite possibly there are not enough plus signs in all of math to convey how stupid/roflmao/stupid that title is. like he's been jealously guarding this brilliant little nugget since elementary school and he's finally ready to share it with the world. bless that fucking dork.

"enthusiast" (cat), Thursday, 4 April 2024 22:10 (two weeks ago) link

ROBSERVATIONS

Lock human culture

chap, Friday, 5 April 2024 23:13 (one week ago) link

I've Got My Own Autobiography To Do

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 6 April 2024 15:59 (one week ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.