Creator APB -- Artists Missing in Action

by Chris

We all have favorite creators that seem to disappear from the industry. There are a lot of artists I enjoy whose work I no longer get to see unless I pull out back issues from my long boxes. A lot of them I consider to be better than some of the people getting work today. Of course, some of them chose to leave the industry and pursue other paths. Some of those guys have come back, at least for a while, like Matt Broome on Rick Remender's The End League, and it's nice to see them working in the industry again. Here are a few others I'd like to see make a return. Yes, it's heavily weighted with early Image guys, but that's when I really started getting into comics, so they heavily influenced my tastes.



Stephen Platt -- Platt made a huge splash with his premiere on Moon Knight #55. Rob Liefeld snatched him up quickly after that. After several Prophet mini-series, five gorgeous issues of Soul Saga, and the Wolverine/Cable: Guts and Glory one shot, he disappeared from the industry. I hear he's doing storyboarding in the film industry these days. His hyper-detailed artwork just leapt off the page and I was always amazed at how many bullet casings he could squeeze into each panel. I would love to see him come back and do SOMETHING, even if it was just a mini-series. What I'd really like to see, though, is him finish up the rest of Soul Saga.

Jeff Matsuda -- Matsuda started out with Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios in the early 90s, moved on to Marvel, and his last work was on Kaboom with Liefeld's Awesome Comics. While his style evolved over the years, it was always energetic and nice to look at. His storytelling style was very kinetic, which
added a level of enjoyment to the books he worked on. Like Platt, I've heard that he currently does storyboarding for films. I'd love to see him come back and do another Kaboom mini with Jeph Loeb.


Greg Capullo -- Capullo drew close to 100 consecutive issues of Spawn. Not only was he dedicated and consistent, but his artwork was gorgeous. His Creech series just blew me away. Aside from the occasional cover for Spawn these days, he doesn't seem to be doing anything in the industry. I don't know if that's by personal choice or industry indifference. If it's the latter, it's a crime. He should be on a high profile gig somewhere.



ChrisCross -- Aside from a couple of fill in issues in 2007, ChrisCross hasn't had any serious work since his Firestorm relaunch. I suspect it might have something to do with his tirade about the coloring on that book. Still, this is ridiculous. His pencils were gorgeous and his storytelling was very good. I absolutely loved his run with Peter David on Captain Marvel. I always wanted to see him get a crack at a Spider-Man title. I think he'd be a perfect fit.



Scott Clark -- The original artist on Stormwatch, Clark's last major work was on the second volume of Alpha Flight. He was very good at action scenes, which fit perfectly with those two books. Not sure what he's up to these days, but I'd love to see him get some work, maybe on the new Stormwatch relaunch. I think he'd even be a good fit for the new X-Force book.





Some of the artists I was going to mention in this column have actually started doing some fill in or mini-series work, like Joe Benitez, Ryan Benjamin, and Joe Madureira. Before his run on Uncanny X-Men, Billy Tan would have been on the list, too. It's nice to see them coming back into the industry and hope they put more stuff out in the future. Which artists that haven't done any work in a while would you like to see come back to the industry?