In past years, I'd taken a look at the shoddy resumes of terrible writers like Gerard Jones and Neil Gaiman, who were both accused of sexual misconduct, but until now, I don't think I'd ever looked at the works of artists who were accused/prosecuted/convicted of similar offenses. So now, I thought it could come in useful to take a look at a number of panels from the portfolio of the disgraced artist Justiniano (whose real name is said to be Josue Rivera), the earliest comics contributor I know of to be arrested and convicted for possession of child porn, which was almost 15 years ago.
To be sure, figuring out the mindset of a corrupt artist can be trickier than that of a corrupt writer, since the artist's job is primarily to realize the visions of the writer for a comic, but of course there are plenty of artists who're as much part of the creative process in developing a story as there are writers, and can be just as responsible for certain ingredients going into the script, maybe even more. So I guess that's what I wanted to investigate here, and while some of the fishy going-ons in these samples could be more the responsibility of the writers, the artist still could be just as responsible for anything terrible that occurs in them. Justiniano, from what I know, originally began his undeserved career in 1995, and most interesting is that while he was in the business for 15 years, much of his pretentious resume was largely guest roles; almost none of his portfolio contains any regular runs, save for maybe 2 miniseries, which are decidedly some of the worst stuff I've ever seen, having reevaluated whatever artwork he did within that time. One can also wonder if the abusive mindset Justiniano went by that got him jailed for at least a few years explains why he signed almost his entire resume under a pseudonym. He began with at least 2 stories for Marvel, and much of the rest of his career in mainstream was for DC. So, let's take a look for starters at a panel he drew for Incredible Hulk #434, which had been written for over a decade by the late Peter David:
Now, I know David was, sadly, quite a leftist himself, and this looks rather oddly like an early insult to Donald Trump, but for all we know, even Justiniano could've been just as negative towards conservatives back in the day. Next is a fishy item from What If's 2nd volume, issue 69:
So there's an odd comment made about who designed the costumes in this tale, as though Justiniano was trying an absurd defense for how uninspired they really are, and a precursor to something else that came along a few years later, which is coming up next. But first, from Young Justice 80-page Giant, written by the aforementioned David:
Viewed in the context of Justiniano's offenses, one could say the irony here is that somebody may have to watch in horror at how Justiniano turned out to be somebody abusive to children. Something which, if realists want to prevent it, should not be just a distant memory, nor any of Justiniano's other insults to the intellect when he was working in mainstream comicdom. And then, look at how the dialect speaks of "evil preying upon the weak", and somebody having "no imagination". Because that can just as easily sum up what a scumbag like Justiniano was doing, and what he was like too. Now, for a 4-part miniseries spotlighting Beast Boy from the Titans, which was co-written by Geoff Johns and Ben Raab, and decidedly did no favors in the long run for Flamebird/Bette Kane. For example:
The story is weak, and decidedly so is the whole cliche of a woman who turns out to be a villainess being drawn as sexy, not to mention how the sexual harrasment scene in the story turned out to be a setup. Based on Justiniano's behavior, or viewed in that context, that's why it could be argued what he did here was almost like a bizarre denial that sexual misconduct exists, making it look like, not only do all women lie about being victims of sexual misconduct, but that such lies are routine, and this was about 4 years before the offensive Identity Crisis miniseries was published.
And here, what's annoying is how Flamebird's made to look stupid, as though she couldn't figure out the police won't take checks by masked superdoers if they don't have the actual identity and credentials of the signer. In other words, the writers and artist made Bette look like a bimbo, and certainly worse than "ditzy". Also, regarding the costume design, did I mention it looks like she's wearing trousers in this story? When George Perez designed her post-Crisis outfit in the late 80s, it had bare leg style. I guess this was Justiniano's way of virtue-signaling, by toning down how hot Bette could be under better creators. And then:
So first, Nightwing puts her down, and her way of proving she's up to the task of being a "serious" crimefighter is to design a more modest outfit - with decidedly unappealing shades of color, I might add - and she even has shorter hair in this redesign. This too, if to focus on the artist, reeks of another example of tasteless virtue-signaling. Obviously, even the writers have to shoulder blame for what I think is a most shoddy costume design, but again, if the artist has fault here, then this is quite possibly another example of how Justiniano sought to conceal what a scumbag he really was, an early example of wokeness, and for the time, it's amazing he still drew Bette as busty, because today, without a doubt, the disgraceful people now minding the store at DC would make sure even that was destroyed. Back at the time, I may not have particularly minded the costume design when I first saw it, but today, I think it's one of the most horrible I've ever seen, and an insult to the original creators of Bat-Girl/Flamebird. Next is another atrocious scene, along with one more panel:
Gee, that's all we need, a shoddy excuse to see Beast Boy hitting a woman, in a comic illustrated by a man who was arrested/convicted for child porn possession, right? As for that panel where Bette is helping unpack accessories and furniture, perhaps based on Justiniano's rancid behavior that got him jailed and destroyed his career, it could be argued he had no business drawing the alleged cousin of Gar staring at her rear, though even that's watered down, along with her hair. Also, the whole idea of Madame Rouge having a daughter who's as shape-shifting as she was is contrived, as the scene where Gar socks her is disgusting. I don't think the daughter character was ever seen again, but regardless of that, this was an early example of how DC was losing direction when Geoff Johns became a writer for them. Here's also a letter page from the miniseries:
What makes Justiniano's artwork here a "revelation"? His art for the time was otherwise uninspired and overrated. And neither Johns nor Raab did a good writing job here. The miniseries may have been reprinted as part of the subsequent Teen Titans series Johns also wrote, but today I'd recommend it not be reprinted for a long time so as not to finance Justiniano's wallet, and besides, IMO, nobody would be missing anything; it's just so tiresome.
Now, since the Titans are one of the items to which Justiniano had art credits, here's at least 3 panels from issues 3-4 of the 1999-2003 series for starters, which was initially written by Devin Grayson, and the 1st annual, which was again written by Johns and Raab:
Now, as you'll notice here, Starfire's wearing a less revealing outfit. How fascinating, viewed in the context of Justiniano's offenses, that one of the most beloved cast members of the Titans is being drawn with an outfit that conceals her legs and arms, if anything. It's certainly enough to wonder why Wonder Woman sometimes seems like the only DC superheroine whose hot outfit anybody in or out of the company is willing to respect and defend. This is also what some tend to call a form of virtue-signaling, and obviously, an attempt by the artist to hide behind "morality" while concealing his dark side. Oddly enough, when Johns and Mike McKone penned their shoddy take on Teen Titans in 2003, they actually had Starfire wearing the classic outfit, but by the following decade, DC were forcing designs similar to what Justiniano drew here onto her and the stories. Perhaps we have Scott Lobdell, another creator with a questionable record of his own, to partially blame for that.
Now here, we see a guy making a lewd-looking pass at whom I think is the "Joker's Daughter", and next comes a very questionable moment where sexual abuse is brought up, and there's 2 reasons why that part's been damaged: one is Justiniano's being the artist, but there's also Grayson's own embarrassingly bad subsequent story in Nightwing where she depicted a crook named Tarantula sexually assaulting the former Teen Wonder, although to Mrs. Grayson's credit, she did later apologize, unlike Brad Meltzer, who to date has never apologized for minimizing the subject in Identity Crisis. Next, from the Titans annual:
There's 2 reasons why this would-be "joke" tanks - one is because of the artist, and the second is because it also evokes an Islamic belief that it's okay to have sex with goats. Let's also recall Johns later came up with a Muslim character in Green Lantern, all written for the sake of making a political statement, so perhaps it's not too surprising he, along with Raab, would come up with a "joke" involving animals that doesn't hold up well when one considers what goes on in the Islamic world.
I don't like what reeks of an allusion to video games like Mortal Kombat either, and the way the Japanese guy is written calling Flamebird "stupid American" is decidedly also annoying. Also notice how the flat-tire sex jokes continue here. (Also, the way the name of the team uses logo-style letters in the word balloon was laughable long ago.) That aside, note how Justiniano's shoddy, poorly colored redesign of Bette's costume is also on display here, and funny how Flash and Arsenal are written insulting both the costume and her "new attitude", which in the following panels includes bleeped profanity:
Wow, so in order to depict her as more "serious", she has to be portrayed as more profane too? More of what the world needs, naturally. Johns, Raab and Justiniano's take on Flamebird is decidedly one of the worst. Now, here's some panels from 2 issues of the Flash's 2nd volume that were illustrated by Justiniano, 190 and 219. First:
Now, if we were to comment on Justiniano's behavior through this stuff, one could say he didn't listen to victims of sexual abuse when he hoarded child pornography that later got discovered after he accidentally gave a computer memory plug to a staffer at a funeral home. Also, if to comment on the premise of the Trickster himself becoming an FBI agent, even by the surreal standards of a fictional world like the DCU, that's still asking readers to buy a lot, based on all the criminal activities James Jesse performed in earlier stories. And the way the Pied Piper, Hartley Rathaway, is depicted calling upon rats as a backup is honestly disgusting. It should be noted this story alludes to the homosexual status William Messner-Loebs bestowed upon the Piper back in 1990, and one can only wonder if Justiniano took the job guest-penciling this issue as another way to virtue-signal from a leftist perspective. Now from issue 219:
In addition to crude and overrated the artwork looks here, a sign of how Justiniano's art was becoming more mediocre over time, we see for example the disgusting sight of how the Cheetah appears to have murdered a man for the sake of blood as a sacrifice ritual, and then, if we put in again in the context of Justiniano himself, that's awfully rich to depict somebody claiming he's not a villain, when the artist must've thought the same in his own insane way at the time, his criminal offense notwithstanding. Also note how this issue alludes to the repellent Identity Crisis and Dr. Light made out to sound like he's the victim, not Sue Dibny. And then:
How can the artist have committed a serious crime and thought he wasn't crazy? His brain clearly didn't grow with the rest of himself either. Not to mention that again, his artwork looks increasingly galling here too, as is the next panel:
Which again alludes disgustingly to Identity Crisis, and the way some heroines are dragged into the mess in the dialogue is also atrocious. So too is the following:
A few pages prior, Johns' shoddy caricature of the Reverse-Flash told Cheetah he was only seeking to make the Flash a "better hero", but here, this is the result of his causing a police car to explode, murdering 2 officers inside. And then:
An elderly woman is murdered by the Cheetah, making for another atrocious example of how death-violence was becoming much too emphasized at the time. This story was wrapped up in an issue of Wonder Woman it crossed over with. But even there, it was embarrassingly bad, and this story hints at how Justiniano was lending his "talents" to increasingly dark storytelling. On which note, here's another something horrific, a page from Day of Vengeance, which was closely tied to the Infinite Crisis crossover, and written by none other than Bill Willingham:
This is decidedly the only page I'll be posting here, because the way it forced Jean Loring into such a repulsive position - turning her into a much more twisted female version of Eclipso, was unbearably sick. I remember an Ohio newspaper writer saying it looked like one end of a conversation in which a woman is being sexually harassed. This is another example of the kind of increasingly dark and vile stories Justiniano was contributing to, and he must've really enjoyed what he was doing, based on how negative the scripts were to women. As for Willingham, this is exactly why, to date, I couldn't bring myself to buy Fables, because his willingness to write such repellent stories that contradict whatever positive messaging he allegedly had to offer in the Fables series. As a right-winger, one could say he gave the standing a bad name, and in an industry now dominated by leftists, he has to shoulder some blame for perpetuating some of the tactics they uphold, like insulting fanbases. How does Willingham feel about having worked with an artist who turned out to be a pervert? Who knows? All I know is that any continued refusal of his to apologize for participating in Dan DiDio's repellent conduct 2 decades ago speaks volumes. If there's something that shouldn't be reprinted based on the artist's offenses in real life, this would have to be it. Now, here's at least 2 panels from Justiniano's work on a volume of the Creeper back then:
Somehow, this reeks of more liberal propaganda, and honestly sounds stupid regardless. Yet that could explain why the disgraceful Justiniano took this art task.
And when this scene more noticeably makes it sound like the Creeper is some sort of a right-wing villain controlling a left-winger, that's got to be telling too. All that aside, it's disgusting. Now, here's some panels from a miniseries Justiniano drew called - are you ready for this? - Reign in Hell, and it was written by Keith Giffen:
Another disgusting example of where Justiniano was going in terms of art assignments, and the part about the lead "not getting married" decidedly speaks volumes too; notice how the girl's made to look like she's an idiot and the guy with the hat implies women are all jerks or worse. In context of Justiniano's offenses, that could be giving another vital clue what was wrong with him. Now, here's some panels from one of the last projects he worked on, some series DC published based on Will Eisner's Spirit, in a sad example of how a mainstream company that's no longer qualified to handle a famous artist's creations got their mitts on them...and has now tainted them with the art of a bad man:
There's something troubling about the above panels for starters when it involves "bratty" kids causing an annoyance with their sobbing.
And then, what's this? Some attempt to make it sound like the villain called Octopus is trying to brainwash the lady into something perverse? When an artist as awful as Justiniano turned out to be draws something like this, something is terribly wrong.
Oh, and is this some kind of subtle insult to Ellen Dolan, made worse by conveying it through the mouth of another woman? It certainly serves as an example of how profanity was really becoming used in ridiculous, heavy handed ways by this time.
"Through with female bodies"? Again, we have something that, viewed in context of the scoundrel artist, winds up being fishy.
And what's this, an attempt to disguise the artist's twisted mindset by having a woman be the one to do something potentially scummy? Well, it's certainly fishy and irritating viewed in that context. I know there were a number of Golden Age stories where Dennis Colt took on villainesses, but here, it all takes on a whole new meaning under Justiniano.
Now here, this is a rare example for its time where Islamic terrorism is alluded to, but they make it look like even Indians pull such monstrosities, for example, and that's offensive. Also disturbing is the realization the Octopus here could be a metaphor for the USA, which would make it another leftist example of claiming westerners sell and fund their own destruction.
Now it's not like the French are saints, but the way this story makes them out to look bad, as in the case of the lady crook, or just plain stupid, as in the case of the male detective, has gotten old and rotten 10 million years ago. And again, when somebody like Justiniano is the artist, what's seen here takes on a whole new meaning. Not to mention that by today's standards, considering what France has been victimized by today, that's another reason this story hasn't aged well.
Here's another something that's been massively damaged viewed in light of Justiniano's crimes. Also note how the broadcast is on "Pox News", apparently their idea of a stealth insult to Fox broadcasting, and the following character in the next panels reeks of a potential metaphor for conservative-run companies:
It wouldn't surprise me if the bigwig Dennis Colt is confronting were a metaphor for figures like Rupert Murdoch. Otherwise, chances DC would actually publish this drivel misusing Eisner's creation are minimal. And then, look how they bring up Andy Warhol's point about 15 minutes of fame. That's what Justiniano brought himself in the end when he was arrested for illegally storing child porn.
Anyway, it's been about 15 years since Justiniano's worthless career collapsed, and while I realize the above panels may not all entirely reflect his political outlook alone, since the writers obviously are the primary source of such viewpoints, it's still possible they could offer what to think about when it comes to Justiniano's twisted viewpoints, and could explain why he took the assignments in his shoddy career that was built almost entirely upon guest penciling, and became increasingly mediocre or worse by the time he was arrested. What he did to Flamebird - and especially to Jean Loring - is decidedly inexcusable. I find it embarrassingly bad that any artists on Deviant Art would draw illustrations of Bette Kane wearing the outfit Justiniano concocted, which pales horribly next to the design Perez drew for her in the late 80s, and hope there's artists out there who're willing to draw something dedicated more to Perez's designs. It'd also be highly appreciated if there's any artists willing to draw illustrations of Jean Loring dedicated to her image as a good girl too. Thank goodness what I've seen of Starfire on Deviant Art has more that's dedicated to Perez's costume designs for her from 45 years ago.
And let's hope we never see Justiniano trying to reenter the art profession again. He really was a bad influence, and his use of a pseudonym has to be quite telling too.
Labels: dc comics, dreadful artists, Flash, history, Hulk, islam and jihad, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, moonbat artists, moonbat writers, politics, Titans, violence, women of dc, women of marvel, Wonder Woman, X-Men
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