Comic Book Rant - Michael Turner Can't Draw

I hate Michael Turner. Seriously, I hate him. I'm sure he's a nice fellow, his family and friends love him, he pays his taxes, eats his vitamins and all that jazz, but the man can't draw to save his life. Human anatomy is a mystery to him and I cannot fathom (pun intended) how he manages to still get work in this industry.

"But Kirk, comic books aren't real. People can't fly or shoot laser beams out of their eyes. No one cares about realistic art in comics."

See, that's a fallacy. Basic anatomy and proportion do not require the comic to be super realistic. People like Mike Oeming, Francis Yu, Humberto Ramos and any number of other stylized artists do not draw "realistic" characters, yet I'm not bitching or complaining about their artwork. The reason? Even with their overly stylized artwork, they all show a basic understanding of anatomy and provide a consistent and identifiable groundwork for their art.

Their characters don't magically change proportions from page to page (or cover to cover in Turner's case). Their poses and panel layouts don't magically change shape so they don't have to draw certain basic body parts, like feet in the case of Mr Turner. They all maintain a certain level of basic artistic consistency that showcases a general knowledge of simple anatomy and proportions that Michael Turner does not.

Don't believe me? Hit the jump to see what I'm talking about as I do a rundown of the numerous covers Turner has churned out over the past couple years.

First off, credit to Joel Bryan of I Against Comics for the rightmost part of this image detailing the various problems with Turner's proportions. I'm not a professional artist by any means, but even I know the basics of human anatomy and anyone that looks at this image has to see that there's something wrong with it and, no, I'm not talking about the size of her breasts.

Just stand up and look down at your body. Note where 'landmarks' show up, such as the elbow and wrist, and how they line up with other pieces of your body, like the waist or hips. Armed with this simple knowledge, look again at this image of Power Girl. Her elbow lines up with her breasts. Her wrists are below her hips. The hair on both characters is about the only thing consistent between the two and even that looks like it was cut and pasted onto the characters. Wigs look better than those attempts at hair.

"Okay, okay, so what? A few pieces are off, it's his style."

Sure, elongated, lanky, stretched, misshapen bodies can be a style. Many artists distort physical features in their artwork. However, take a look at Black Canary. Her proportions, which are still wrong from an anatomy standpoint, are completely different from Power Girls and, again, I'm not talking about breast size. Where her elbows, wrists, hips and other body parts are located all line up in completely different spots compared to the other female in the same image! That is not a "style". That is an amateur mistake that would get most artists' portfolios thrown in the trash after the first couple pages.

"Okay, I get it already, he messed up on one cover. Big deal."

It wouldn't be a big deal if it was just "one cover". However, it happens on every cover. Take a look at this little annotated montage I've put together.

I count about 24 Marvel characters on this cover to an issue of World War Hulk. Most people have, roughly, two feet. Shocking, I know. However, how many are featured on this cover? Without seeing it, some might guess 48, two per person. Others might assume a few got cut off or hidden behind the action and guess 12-24 range. Would you believe there is only one foot on the entire cover? One. Even that solitary foot is cut off and barely visible from under Spider-Man's thigh.

I won't even go into the rather generic and featureless likenesses he has rendered of the various characters behind the Hulk. They resemble disproportioned blobs that are only recognizable by the colours and costumes of each character.

Also, check out the size of Hulk's head compared to the massive chest, arms and thighs (can't say legs since there are no feet).

Check out this beauty from Sub-Mariner #6. Obviously, there are no feet drawn. Heaven forbid. However, I draw your attention to his right arm. Namor is angled inward on the cover. His right arm is angled outward towards us, not quite head on, but definitely not angled inward. Also, it's currently bigger than Namor's entire torso.

Now, note the left arm in the background. Based on the elbow location of the right arm, standing straight up, the arm should bend just under his pectorals. Since the left arm is shown at a 90 degree angle, we must assume it is bending at the waist line, which is completely different from his right arm.

This Supergirl cover doesn't even try to cover up the fact he couldn't be bothered drawing the feet. He just ends the image at the ankle and submits it to DC. Don't even talk to me about the arms or legs.

Nice feet Superman! I think I'll just mash 'em together and have them "fade to black". Check out the angle of the chest in relation to the front on hips and legs at the bottom. And those forearms are ridiculous.

Yes, you can stylize super heroes with huge muscles and giant chests and so on, but when one arm is completely different from the other and the upper and lower torso doesn't connect properly, it stops being a style.

One foot visible from six people. Note Cassie's left leg compared to her right one. Also, check out Superboy's enormous forearm that connects to a wee little elbow. Starfire's torso doesn't look like it belongs to the hips and legs it connects to and the back just doesn't even match up with the hips. Her left thigh is thicker than her entire body. Even bent down, Superboy is barely taller than Starfire's hips? He's standing in a battle ready pose, not crouched like Kid Flash. Same thing with Robin.

Not even going to discuss anatomy or proportions here. I'm just going to point out how Turner decided to draw random grass sprouts, stuff you'd see in a child's drawing or some amateur doodle, covering the feet of Cable, Colossus and Rogue. Well, Rogue's feet are covered by random rocky hill cropping, but the point still stands. Iceman is conveniently tilted away from us so his ice platform covers his feet. Cyclops feet just disappear and never show up again and Jean's are missing behind her thighs for some reason. Excellent work all around. Seven people standing right in front of us, none of which are cut off by the bottom or side's of the cover, all lacking a basic human body part.

Two feet, both overlapping each other on Spider-Man, on this Civil War cover. Cap's legs and body are abnormally shaped, but hidden well enough behind that shield of his.

What happened to you Sue Richards? Did the Thing squeeze you too hard or something? Your waist and stomach area look broken. Also, no feet to be seen anywhere. Even Johnny, who is standing in plain sight of us, has no feet as they conveniently blend into his flames.

No feet. Anywhere. Even the giant leg of Deathstroke in the foreground lacks a foot. Don't even look at Hawkman's "legs" (I think that green smear is his legs). And Green Lantern's left arm? It ends at his knee if you line it up with the rest of his body. Also, what is Green Arrow standing on? Kyle is flat on the outcropping there. Ollie should be on the same plane as him or his positioning would be completely different. Finally, did someone squish Flash's left leg? I know that thigh is huge, but it doesn't explain below the kneecap.

Wow, he didn't even try to cover it up here. Just airbrush out everything below the knee please, thank you very much. Again, most people's wrists and hands line up with the waist or upper crotch area. Batman's arm, if he extended his fingers, would reach his knee. His left arm is longer than his right, which is closer to us! Yes, the Leaguers are progressively lowering as they fade to the background, but Batman is standing straight up and his wrist is even further down from the crotch, which doesn't angle downward with the rest of the Leaguers in his line.

Conclusion

Michael Turner can't draw. It's not a style. You can't blame it on the comic book medium not being realistic. It's terrible art that no one should be paid or hired to produce. I can't believe someone who doesn't know how, and openly refuses, to draw feet gets as much work as Turner. It boggles the mind. I'm not asking for much here, just some simple and consistent proportions, at least between characters on the same cover. Oh, and some feet. Most people have those. At least most people I know.

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