31 Days of Scans - Day 13

This was an easy choice. There’s an artist I’ve been a fan of since childhood, and even though it’s been awhile since he’s drawn a book I was really interested in, I’m always looking to see if he’s been attached to something I want to read.

So, Mark Bagley. I did a post about him many years ago, when it was announced he’d be leaving Ultimate Spider-Man, but that was 8 years ago, I think it’s fair to highlight him again. My desires with regards to an artist are pretty simple. I like clean linework, expressive faces and body language I don’t need words to interpret, and fight scenes that are easy to follow and have a sense of energy and motion to them. Cool panel layouts are nice, but not essential. First and foremost, I want the art to help tell the story, and I’ve always gotten that from Bagley. I suppose that seems like damning with faint praise, but I really feel he does all that well. And there are a hell of a lot of other artists that can’t manage it, and even fewer who can while sticking to a monthly schedule.

My introduction to his work was on the original New Warriors, where he and Fabian Nicieza had a two-year stretch together that cemented my affection for a lot of those characters (and both of those creators). Issue 2, to be exact, where Night Thrasher has a knock down, drag out with an old friend/enemy, Midnight’s Fire. Though I always had a fondness for the early part of the book, where the team is training/screwing around. Nova crashes into Speedball, sending Robbie bouncing into Namorita, who’s lifting a Nautilus for the hell of it. Marvel Boy tries to hold it up along with the vaulting horse he was already levitating, and it doesn’t work. I really like how casually Nita’s sitting there afterward, completely unharmed. I feel bad for Marvel Boy putting all that effort in for nothing, but the panel said a lot to me about her. Her complete ease and confidence in herself, as well as a little playfulness. Also the fact they’re still forming as a team, so Vance didn’t realize his effort was unnecessary, and Nita didn’t know how much of a strain that might be on him.

After that, Bagley took over on Amazing Spider-Man from Erik Larsen, and his Spider-Man is the one I most often see in my head (when I did the Favorite Characters post last fall, I said it was between him and Romita Jr., but really, it’s Bagley the majority of the time). It isn’t the most highly-regarded era, with far too much Venom and Carnage (though any Carnage is too much), the fake parents story, the Clone Saga’s beginning, that stretch where Peter starts thinking of himself as “the Spider”, but there’s still a lot I enjoy. The two-parter that starts his run, where Spidey and Nova team-up against the Tri-Sentinel. The Spider-Slayers story that featured plenty of Spider-Man fighting robots, and also got the Black Cat back into action (with a completely improbable costume, but young Calvin wasn’t complaining about that). The two-parter with the Hulk and Doc Samson. Peter’s reaction to learning MJ’s pregnant in issue 398. Aunt May’s death in issue 400, which is where the bit below is from. That shot of Ben Reilly, the guy who isn’t supposed to be there, who isn’t really May’s nephew, devastated at her passing and with no one to help him through it, and he just wants to scream, that got to me. None of those were revolutionary stories, but they were all solid Spidey stories that helped form my impression of the character more fully, and Bagley was a big part of that. A Spider-Man who is not a teenager, glad to be married, open with his emotions, be it happiness, sadness, or anger, who backs down from no challenge.

The seemingly endless Clone Saga (and similar convoluted nonsense in the X-books) combined with the rise of other interests to move me away from comics for several years. When I started up again, in the early 2000s, one of the books I picked up was Ultimate Spider-Man. Partially because it was Spider-Man, but in no small part because when I opened the book, I recognized the art I saw inside, and was glad to see it. Bagley’s art kept me on that book longer than I probably should have, through a lot of 6-8 issue arcs that only needed 3 or 4 issues. But I enjoyed how it looked, how Peter looked like a spindly kid (even after the spider bite gave him some musculature, he’s still noticeably shorter than a lot of people, and very thin), and how the fight scenes looked when Spider-Man actually got to fight someone. I don’t regret sticking around. There were some good points even in the latter half (after Gwen got killed by, sigh, Carnage), and I thought their last arc together, Ultimate Knights, was a strong ending point for their joint run (where Peter stands up to Daredevil, and starts making having ties to Nick Fury work for him when dealing with the Kingpin).

The other title of Bagley’s I’ve bought up for any extended number of issues was Thunderbolts, but I only got to that in the last few years, as a back issue hunt. Part of why I tracked it down was hearing good things about it, part of it was trusting Kurt Busiek, and later Fabian Nicieza’s, ability to write team books (from their work on Avengers and New Warriors, respectively). And part of it was the presence of Bagley. I normally like Patrick Zircher’s art, he did some excellent work on the Mystery Men mini-series with David Liss a few years ago, but I was always a disappointed when he stepped in for a couple of issues. I stopped picking it up after issue 50 (when Bagley left, for Ultimate Spider-Man, I think), but I’m thinking of starting up again, and we’ll see if I warm up to Zircher more when I know Bagley’s not coming back.

I seriously considered buying Justice League, simply because of Bagley, but James Robinson had a pretty bad stretch as a writer around then, and it sounded like a messy run (Blackest Night tie-ins among other unpalatable things), so I passed it up. Since he’s returned to Marvel, I’ve kept my eyes open, but he’s usually paired with writers – Fraction, Bendis – I’m not much interested in dealing with these days. I’m hoping for something, though I’m not sure what “something” will be.

Speedball punches Terrax like he told Robbie about his Penance phase in New Warriors #16, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler, obviously), Larry Mahlstedt (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), and Joe Rosen (letterer). Namorita cares not about your exercise equipment budget in New Warriors #2, by Nicieza, Bagley, Yanchus, Al Williamson (inker), and Michael Heisler (letterer). Ben Reilly proves even a clone. . . can cry! (with apologies to Roy Thomas) from Amazing Spider-Man #400, by J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Bagley (penciler), Mahlstedt (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), and Bill Oakley (letterer). Clint can’t resist telling people who he is, even if they already know, and it’s why they’re trying to kill him, in Thunderbolts #21, by Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Joe Rosas (colorist), and Richard Starkings and Siobhan Hanna (letterers). Spider-Man fights Doc Ock while some reporter narrates dramatically in Ultimate Spider-Man #21, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Bagley, Art Thibert (inker), Transparency Digital (coloring), and Dave Sharpe (letterer).