HOW?
Seriously, I'd like to know how Rob Liefeld keeps getting work in the industry. I'm sorry but his artwork is just god awful. Just look at the cover for me will you? Look carefully at how disjointed Deathstroke's shoulders are. Look how square that gun is. Look at the legs that make no sense. Look at how BORING THE DESIGN IS.
See, this is another problem I've recently realized with Liefeld, ESPECIALLY on Deathstroke. You know how some artists tend to be stuck in a bygone era? Dan Jurgens at times, George Perez at times, Norm Rapmund for sure on Batman Beyond;.... these are not great examples. There's some artists who were good back in the day because of the tone, but no longer really draw comics because the style is just outdated. That's Liefeld in a nutshell. I mean, certainly there's a nice wide variety of styles these days, some good some bad, but most comics I read give me some sense of an atmosphere. Liefeld's.... really doesn't. No, I take that back, when reading Deathstroke I DO get caught up in an atmosphere, and I'm not just saying "A terrible atmosphere huh huh huh," No, I'm talking an actual specific one. I feel like I'm playing a bad PC game from the 90's. The so-so games of my childhood, graphically limited, yet STILL too lazy to bother. There's an overwhelming sense that nothing is 'real,' even within its own world. Nothing is trying to create a world, it's just set pieces in a hauntingly empty desert. Many games back in the day had that feel, but plenty managed to creatively get past that, and some half-assed games even today manage to screw up that badly. But they at least have decent graphics; while Deathstroke is still 90's graphics, the first attempts at 3D not going well.
And if that wasn't bad enough, Liefeld isn't even CONSISTENT. Does he just not have an editor or something? Who the hell looks over his work and doesn't point out how many times Deathstroke's shoulder.... things.... change structure IN A SINGLE PAGE? How do you sit down to draw something and change the structure WHEN YOU HAVE A REFERENCE RIGHT THERE ON THE SAME PAGE?
And Lobo's hair is impossible and stupid looking, action sequences are dull, facial expressions are atrociously limited.... sigh.
But wait, does Liefeld write as bad as he draws!? Yes. The depressing answer is yes. Lobo now bears a weird resemblance to Wolverine. He's got the angry snarky attitude without a trace of the fun over-the-top-bastard that Lobo is. His facial features even bear a fleeting resemblance. Where he separates from Wolverine, and separates further from Lobo, is his sudden desire to destroy and then rule Planet Earth. Nowhere do I see the intergalactic money-loving fast-and-loose 'main man.' Instead I see..... Mongul, just about. So Lobo is Wolverine and Mongul rolled into one. Terrific.
And Deathstroke.... "I normally outthink most of my opponents, using their weakness against them. In Karlak's case, I have little to go on. He's all rage and fury. Sometimes my only alternative is to battle brute strength with brute strength." REALLY LIEFELD? REALLY? You point out that Deathstroke is a tactician, only to have him outright ignore that because 'he's got nothing to go on' because his opponent is 'all rage and fury?' NO. NO WAY IN GODDAMN HELL LIEFELD. Opponents full of rage and fury have PLENTY of weaknesses to rely on to use to outsmart them, that's why there's that term known as 'BLIND RAGE.' This dude's barely LISTENING to you, there's SO MANY THINGS you can do to use that rage against him. But no, we have to have a brute strength fight. BRILLIANT. NO REALLY. And the whole ensuing fight is a mishmash of jumbled nonsense, where various characters jump in and out for various reasons and in the end I barely understand anything about the flow of the fight. And why is Deathstroke DEALING with these impulsive kids? Last arc he straight up murdered a bunch as soon as he could because he was insulting by having to work with them.
In Conclusion: 1/5
LIEFELD. IS. A BASTICH. 'Nuff said.
