Does anybody besides me HATE modern comic coloring?

[LadyZod]

There's alot I like about the modern coloring and alot I just shake my head at.

The intention is good, it's the implementation that lacks.

Every comic colorist wants to be Alex Ross or Greg Horn... but a colorist IS limited by the penciller/inker.

Unless you're the guy drawing it AND coloring it... let everyone do their job. Let the penciller lay it out. Let the inker give the work depth. Let the colorist add color.

A colorist should not be responsible for the depth.

I think in a world where you've got pencillers that skip the inking process (Rob Liefeld, I'm talking to you, Mr. Up the Brightness/Contrast on scanned pencils... We're all onto you!) it's no wonder the colorist is confused as to their role.

But aside from that, today's art style does not lend itself to the same "flat" pantone coloring from yesteryear. Over-rendering NEEDS coloring that a little more. It just doesn't need over filtered effects.

[Bruce Banner]

I also prefer the old, vibrant colour techniques.
And I too would like at least some comics to go back to being printed on pulp style newsprint.

(I had a copy of Defenders # 1 in my hands yesterday at a comic mart, coincidentally!
Didn't buy it though... a little too expensive.)

[MIB41]

I really don't like the way comics are colored today. IMO, there's way too much emphasis on muted colors, special effects, and trying to make them look "real". I provided a perfect example below. The old four color cover just POPS! It's so vibrant. The new one is just blah to me. It's so overdone it even distracts from and covers up the original line work. Notice Dr. Strange's spell casting hand? You can barely even see it because the FX coloring covers it up. I really wish they'd go back to the old method. The books seemed to have so much more life to them.

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/n...comparison.jpg

Great example! Yes. Comics today are no where near what they use to be as an art form. Comics use to have so much pop to them when you saw them. Our heroes were anatomically correct and we had artists we aspired to want to be like. I was in a comic book shop the other day (looking at figures and secondhand product). While i was there I did my obligatory glance over at the wall of new issues. Uninspired and bland pretty much came to mind. Is it any wonder these companies need more funding than ever these days to stay afloat?

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I don’t INHERENTLY hate it, but I find too many books use the same techniques, and it makes everything look that much more the same. ‘Course, the old school stuff had the same problem.... plus it was all flat and garish, but a lot of that was because of the technological limits of publishing.

I was spoiled at a young age by access to a lot of European stuff. They seemed to use colour much better than we did, and would put more money into their stuff. (The French, especially seemed to love detailed and subtle colours.) Gave things differing textures; something else a lot of our stuff lacks.... and something the computer stuff seems to make worse. Everything looks like it’s made of plastic; clothes, hair, cloth, metal....

I think one of the problems with recoloured stuff is that they’re trying to add a complex palette to art that was never intended for such things. Heavier lines and bigger layouts were done to facilitate older printing. Adding multiple shades of colour to them looks weird ‘cos the components.... figures, backgrounds, props.... weren’t partitioned out for it. If you look at the Defenders cover, the Hulk has a hilight that runs through his figure.... a common technique with new colouring; it helps accentuate the rounded shapes making up the character.... but the technique is applies regardless of light source, or intensity. There’s a fire in the background, so you might expect the figures to be backlit.... and there’s also a Dr Strange spell brewing up, potentially creating a flare on the nearer aspects of the scene.... all of which are ignored by the new colours. ‘Course, they were ignored by the OLD colours too; but that’s ‘cos the scene is meant to draw the eye to the characters; it’s designed as if they’re standing in front of a backdrop, not an actual part of the scene. The bolder colours are effective ‘cos there’s no sense of subtlety to the scene.... they fit better with the pic. Adding subtle colours draws attention to the un-real aspects, and break the illusion. So; Strange’s spell creates a definite flash in the new pic, but there are no light effects on him from that flash.... it looks somehow “wrong.” In the older version, the spell is a more abstract visual effect; we have no expectation of a light effect, and it doesn’t seem “wrong” ‘cos it works.... subliminally.... according to it’s own visual rules.

Don C.

[VintageMike]

I don't mind it for new stuff..because it's new. Don't like old stuff because it's like a DVD with replaced music when you've seen the original..you know it's not right.

[Figuremod73]

agree. especally on kirby art

[actjac01]

The original cover, with the vibrant colors, really works for me as well. Giving the subject matter that POP that really makes the characters and the action leap off of the page, DEMANDING your attention. Very Marvelesque! The modern example, with the more so-called realistic, muted colors, tends to push everthing back, flattening it all out. Not very Excelsior to me at all, true believers! (Just opining.)