No second thoughts

When writing that previous post on The Vault of Michael Allred, it got me thinking about that select group of creators whose work I will buy no matter what.

It takes a good period of stellar output with few to no bumps in the road to earn that kind of trust, but I have a list of my personal elites that could produce absolutely anything and I would buy it. I’m sure you all have yours, so please tack them onto this post in the comments.

Let it be made clear – no matter how it’s worded to sound like a negative chemical dependency, these addictions are due to quality that has endured, and are therefore among the utmost geek compliments.

So with no further ado, here are Jim Doom’s golden girls.

Michael Allred: I went into my lifetime fascination with Michael Allred on the previous post about his Vault series, but it never fails, if his name is on something, I’m buying it. Everything Madman, everything X-Force and X-Statix, the Dead Girl mini-series… The only thing I didn’t buy was the comic adaptation of the Book of Mormon. However, if two short-sleeved young men with ties on bicycles want to give me a free copy of that comic, I will gladly accept.

Ted McKeever: The first time I saw McKeever’s art, it reminded me of some kind of strange organic stained glass, with these bold two-dimensional shapes harshly separated from their surroundings but working with them. It was probably in Wizard in the early 90s, and I had no chance of ever tracking any McKeever work down until years later. Since then, I’ve completed the Metropol, Eddy Current and Plastic Forks collections, as well as having picked up numerous random issues of miscellaneous other comics, like Ultimate Marvel Team-Up. Supposedly he did a book called Metropolis combining Superman’s world with Fritz Lang’s, but I’ve never been able to find that.

Ed Brubaker: Criminal #1 was the first Brubaker book I’d ever read that I didn’t love. I’m still picking up Daredevil, Captain America and Uncanny X-Men, and he’s earned enough faith that if he hopped over to Dr. Strange or Speedball I’d probably follow along.

Leinil Yu: I’ve lucked out so far in that everything I’ve seen from Yu has been something I would have bought anyway – Superman: Birthright, Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine, that issue of New Avengers… It took me a while to start associating the art with the name, but now if I see something on the shelves that he’s done, I’m buying it.

Geoff Johns: His work on JSA was a big part of what got me into DC comics before Infinite Crisis time. Now I’m picking up things like Teen Titans and Green Lantern and taking a chance on whatever else he shows up on.