Rob Liefield, creating rip-off characters

Now I know its done all through-out the comic industry, but he just seems to have a particular blatant way of doing it. I mean the list starts with:

Supreme

Glory

Fighting America

Vogue

....and really just keeps going. Its like he just doesn't have much in the way of creative juices, or is such a hard @$$ fan boy that he can't help but try and duplicate the characters he enjoys. I mean this type of stunted creativity does nothing for a shrinking market who's target audience is primarily tagged as "mature" in age. Anybody else see this ?

I'd also like to add that in his early Marvel days I enjoyed his artwork, but now...with so many great artists out there doing comics: His just seems disproportioned and blah
Post Edited:2007-07-18 16:08:36

Very well said. I do think a lot of people hate Liefeld because it is cool. He is certainly not my favorite artist, but he doesn't suck anywhere near as much as most people will try to tell you.

Shatterstar says:

Well for one, all those characters with the exception of Fighting American were created in the 90s, when the market was booming not shrinking and the primary audience was still teenagers.

For two, the Fighting American character was created in 1954, revived in 1994 by DC (not Liefeld), Liefeld got the rights when he started Awesome in 97, settled a lawsuit with Marvel because it looked like he was continuing his Heroes Reborn story with that book

I'm not sure who Vogue is supposed to be a ripoff of

..but Supreme and Glory are pretty much their own characters, inspired by other characters but only have superficial similarities with those characters.

Supreme = Superman Glory = Wonder Woman Fighting America = Captain America Vogue = Domino And superficial, I'd suggest actually understanding the meaning of the word....before using it. I'll take one example from the line-up: Wonder Woman = Daughter to an Amazon Queen who's father may well be some dark deity. An Amazon "princess" out within the world of man, she is capable of: Flight, Superhuman Strength, Superhuman Endurance, ect.. Glory = Repeat all of the same, save that Glory had a limited form of teleportaion orginally.

..Supreme pretty much shares a cape and being an alien in common with Superman.

Umm, lets see thats two. Appearance, hell yes.....save for white hair, which can be applied to Wonder Woman and Glory aswell. Add to this, many of the same powers....though not all of the powers that Superman possesses.

Alan Moore changed the character significantly to make him more like the Silver Age Superman, not Liefeld.

Yes, and at the point that Alan Moore was hired to revamp these characters....they really became more of an Alan Moore creation....and less of a Liefeld creation. This is also considered by many, to be the best of Supreme. That's why they were entitled : Alan Moore's Supreme / Glory. Much in the same way many refer to Frank Miller's Batman.

You could argue all of the Image creators ripped off other characters, go a step further all characters are rip offs of what guys like Kirby, Ditko, Everett, Shuster, etc did in the Golden Age.

Hmm... Spawn, blatant rip-off or similarity to whom ? Cyber Force / Wildcats, blatant rip-off or similarity to ? Its not nearly as easy to draw the lines from those mentioned above, to characters existing prior...or well established within the industry. Btw, Spawn was very much considered to be a landmark character in concept at the time.

..Also just because you don't like it doesn't mean it shouldn't exist, other people like his work.

Did I say that it shouldn't exist, how about creating a counterpoint to something I said, not something you created and labeled mine. Yes, other people like his work, but I'd wager more don't than do.

..If you don't like it, ignore it.

I do, aside from what I can't when browsing covers at my LCS.

Don't be a sheep and join in the conga line repeating complaints you've heard before.

Don't be a sheep? How about dont be an @$$ and paint your unconfirmed speculation as fact that belongs to me. Twisting your opinion into my motivation does nothing to strengthen your argument or position, its a weak grab at a one up in the conversation. Oh...and I dont have to be a sheep, in order to agree with a large number of people who share my opinion.

People complain about Liefeld's art being disproportioned

Yes, a lack of taste for his style seems to be a common denominator between a large number of comic book fans/reader that know of him.

..so is a dozen different modern artists' style but they don't get anywhere near the negativity

Hmm, ya think maybe its because on top of not liking his art....that he's largely painted himself as an @$$ within the industry? He was the one guy "bounced" from Image. This was done by the very same people that rallied with him to create the company, and served under his "leadership" as CEO. Pretty coincidental that the one thing all of those artists, writers and the like could agree on....was severing their relationship(s) with him. Add to that, that many of them haven't had much in the way of positive words for or about him since.

..in large part just because its fashionable to bash him.

Or maybe he's just reaping what he has sown ?

..Art is subjective, some people like the hyper-realism

Please elaborate on what exactly is "hyper" realism. Realism perhaps, but your addition of hyper seems like an attempt at flawing a style that isnt Liefelds....rather than correctly labeling an art style.

..Liefeld fans like action-oriented, dynamic art.

Thats your opinion, and your certainly entitled to it. Though, I'd say that MANY more people disagree w/you than agree. IMO, dynamic ? Maybe back in the 90's, but his style hasnt grown much when compared to those that he shared the Image foundership with : Lee, Marc Silvestri, ect..
Post Edited:2007-07-19 00:30:50

I'm picturing him bowing to a Liefield shrine every night cursing Rob for not loving him.

What's a Liefield thread without this pic

His industry thumping aside, Lifield is a theif, pure and simple.

How many times has he been caught drawing panels in his own comic

that came directly from another artist's source material, line for line?

Probably, too many times to count. Its one thing to use an image from Playboy

for source material, but its entirely different when you take someone else's

art, copy everything, and then slap on a different costume to call it your own.

Lifield is a hack, always was a hack, and will always be a hack. Nuff said.

It would be one thing if he gave credit where credit is due, but like the hack he is,

he never does.

Sling Shot says:

"My theory is that ShatterStar is Liefeld or someone close to him."

I was thinking the same myself.

Hah! Look at the tiny little box covering him up. Nothing to do with Liefield, that's hilarious!

What about cable and Lt Colonel Bravo? That's pretty blatant. And don't go off calling me a pissed off fan. I am a pissed off fan. :)