J. Scott Campbell’s Comic Art is Terrific, But is Too Good for Variant Covers

I think I’ll take the opportunity to highlight some of J. Scott Campbell’s latest art, featuring 3 examples he’s illustrated for the new Marvel Swimsuit Special, of Mary Jane Watson, Black Cat and Rogue: 

Now, let’s be clear. Campbell is a talented artist alright, and still is in over 3 decades since he debuted. Which is surely also more than can be said about Frank Miller at this point, recalling I saw some Wolverine art Miller did a few years ago that was very mediocre, and I hesitate to think what he’d do if given the same assignment Campbell’s gotten for the new Marvel Swimsuit Special.

But as I’ve argued before, illustrations like these, if anything, shouldn’t be put on variant covers, but rather, hung on walls in homes and galleries, and instead we have an example of something that, if bought by speculators, will quite possibly be stored away in dark vaults, almost entirely obscured from the public eye, and it could even be argued the speculators are demonstrating a form of shame that they even own this stuff if they keep it locked away from view. Why, whether or not these are mass production paintings, are they even that valuable that burglars would pilfer them? I don’t think so.

All I know is that it’s regrettable when talented artists keep letting themselves be taken advantage of for the wrong kind of projects, and even Stanley Lau‘s one of those. Seriously, professional artists have to start speaking up and addressing challenging queries as to whether it sits well with them their artwork is being produced for joke marketing.

Originally published here.