Paul Ryan was one of the squarest artists to ever work at Marvel. Nothing about his art was particularly flashy or stylish. At the time of his greatest successes, he definitely felt out of step with his surroundings. But in hindsight he was a remarkably - almost supernaturally - solid draftsmen and storyteller. His figures had weight. His action sequences flowed logically. His women were sexy and his tough guys were surly. He never missed a deadline.
He knew how to draw and he did it well. He was a consummate pro who could make even the most absurd ideas plausible - stuff that gets snickered at now, like Sue Storm's Malice-inspired cut-out costume, or the Thing walking around with a face full of scars (after a nasty fight with Wolverine) for almost three years - he made it work. He was comfortable settling into long runs working with the likes of Mark Gruenwald and Tom DeFalco, fellow craftsmen who put a lot of effort into making consistently readable, quality books, month-in and month-out. He was a pro, and in the end what more could any of us ask for?
6 comments :
In a way it's a shame he did the bulk of his work for Marvel. His style never entirely clicked with me until I saw him on some fill in issues on Batman: Gotham Knights. His clean, clear style was a great fit for DC, very much in the tradition of Infantino. Seeing that very nice Superman cover makes me want to seek out more of that work.
I loved him on the two Gruenwald series he did - but now that Paul G. points it out --- Gru never really belonged at Marvel either...
Correction (before someone else jumps in) - three Gruenwald series. Ryan bailed out that bad karma Marvel has a lot with holding onto artists in limited series, taking over the last issues of Squadron Supreme, lasted all the way through DP6 and started Quasar. I sorta count the bookends as half points.
$#@! DP7
I first found Paul Ryan's work on Squadron Supreme, and it remains my favorite art by him. The battle issue, #12, was a fantastic piece of action choreography. Your first paragraph is a spot on description of his work. I was new to comics at the time, '91 or so, and I remember reading those Squadron Supreme issues and being all excited, then getting confused when I didn't see him get mentioned in the same breadth with all the other hot artists of the era. His work has aged better than most of that stuff.
Lovely remembrance. Thank you.
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