Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: Colors, erik larsen, spider-man, wolverine

Erik Larsen Says Colorist Who Poorly Recolored Marvel Comics Presents #48 Cover Should Be Killed

Superstar artist and image founder had some harsh words for the recoloring of comic book art on Twitter Sunday. Joining the likes of John Byrne and anyone with good taste, Larsen is not a fan of poorly-redone colors on older artwork, and he took to Twitter to say so, pointing to his cover to Marvel Comics Presents #48 as an example.

Larsen elaborates on his complaints about the image, going so far as to suggest that the texture applied to the water should warrant the colorist being "taken out back behind the barn and killed with a shovel." Tough, but fair.

Fellow comic creators weighed in on the issue.

With some wondering what Marvel was thinking.

And others adding to the critique.

As to the art's origin, it would appear to come from the Wolverine Poster Magazine originally published in 1995, though the colorist is not listed there, and unfortunately we do not have a copy available to verify.

What do you think? Is Larsen on the money? Should colorists be put to death for screwing up perfectly fine artwork?

While we don't advocate capital punishment for comic book artists, we do tend to agree that less is more when it comes to coloring, particularly older comic book art, which rarely benefits from the overly-rendered modern digital techniques (even as they have evolved since 1995) since that comic art was generally designed for flat colors, not unneccesary gradients, textures, and other additions. Take a look at the hatchet job done on Walt Simonson's Thor art on Marvel Unlimited for a particularly egregious example. Let us know how you feel in the comments.

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