In Defence of Rob Liefeld

He doesn't need me to do this

Update on Spirit-Girl #1: We have ordered the ink for our printer. Some of it has arrived but we are still waiting on the rest. We are at the mercy of the vicissitudes of shipping. Our hoped for Canada Day launch is not to be. I will keep you updated as things move along. For now, please enjoy this article.

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This is a drawing by Rob Liefeld.

Go ahead, laugh a little. It’s ok. I’ll give you a minute. Here’s a few more Liefeld Cap memes.

Also, there’s a running gag that Rob can’t draw feet. Go and have fun with that one.

So it’s settled then. Rob Liefeld sucks. That works except for the fact that Rob is one of the most influential comic book artists of all time. And also one of the highest selling. So how/why did such a bad artist become such a prominent figure in comic book art? Are the fans just dumb-dumbs?

Let’s clear some things up. First, I want to highlight for you just how famous Rob Liefeld has been. Here he is in a Levi’s commercial that aired in the mid-90s. Note that this commercial doesn’t feature a Rob Liefeld cameo. The commercial is completely about Rob, the advertised product barely appears.

Rob was so famous in the 90s that hip hop royalty were going to his signings. Sales were through the roof, comic shops were making mint and so were comics publishers. In a different article I touched on the “Image Revolution” and how it shook the comics biz. Rob’s fame and the leverage it imparted him was instrumental in making that happen. How could such a bad artist ascend to these heights?

The secret is that Rob isn’t a bad artist. Rob is a good artist. People think he’s bad mostly because the internet told them to think so. In this podcast, Rob talks about never hearing he sucks until he joined compuserve. He describes his confusion when reading these anonymous comments. All evidence indicated otherwise; long line ups at signings, fan praise, consistently high sales, accolades from respected peers. But an egregore was aggregating. Rob Liefeld Sucks became an internet goblin who continues its mischief in internet land. Sometimes (rarely) making forays into real life. Like the time a guy went to Rob at a convention with a copy of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, insisting Rob read it (hey, if you want to be a jerk, that’s on you). All this while Rob and his family bounce from success to success, luxuriate in their mansion and exercise in the basketball court built in their basement.

Rob has been a comic artist for 30 years now. He has drawn thousands of panels leaving a permanent record behind. Think about your day job. How many of those days were good and how many were bad? What if we could air all your bad moments on youtube? Any rushed work in there? Something something glass houses.

Rob is nothing but an inspiration. He taught himself to draw in the middle of juggling construction jobs and delivering pizza. He had multiple jobs to help out his family while his Dad was in a brain tumour induced coma. Rob hustled and eventually got a job in comics. His work connected with the audience because he was the audience. Imagine you’re a 13 year old boy and what you are used to seeing is this:

A few years later you start seeing this.

You are jarred. The figures are huge, angry, scratchy, gritty. They have swords and guns. They are mean looking! You are entering your teen years and encountering artwork that expresses an angst and a power you don’t quite understand. You feel like something dangerous has entered your imagination’s landscape. This excites you!

Comic book creator/philosopher/analyst extraordinaire, Scott McCloud discusses this effect in the Living in Line chapter in Understanding Comics (must read!).

Rob made art for the people. I’ve noticed lately that the modern art is a psyop meme has been gaining steam. This is a drum I quite beating years ago because people weren’t interested (but since it’s bubbling up, I recommend this book to learn more about this topic). People are getting fed up of fakeness, and of being gaslit about it too. You may not like Rob’s art but it isn’t fake. At his best, Rob means every single line he puts down. In his podcast, Rob describes his craft as manual labour (he draws with his hands) and is decidedly working class in his mentality. He’s not making art to impress academics and curators. He’s doing it to impress the fans. He achieved that goal splendidly. The enduring success of his creations will outlive him and continue testifying this truth.

Two of Rob’s creations, Deadpool and Cable asserting themselves in cultural consciousness

I feel I have a made a good case for Rob - not that he needs me to, he’s got plenty of fans that do this already. But I’d like to add a few other notes in Rob’s favour.

Rob, after 30 years of being in the biz is still excited about it. His enthusiasm rivals Stan Lee’s, except that contrary to Stan, Rob means it. Being the son of a Baptist minister imparted upon Rob an evangelical spirit which he uses to praise the comics medium.

Rob, despite the world getting flipped upside down, still espouses good old fashioned values. He is constantly talking about how proud he is of his children and of his wife. He takes new artists under his wing to help them as they navigate the terrible labyrinth that is the comics biz.

Rob is one of the only industry leaders who spoke up about Ed’s death-by-mobbing. He delivered a heartfelt, broken-hearted eulogy to Ed. Most touching is his emphasis on how it could have been me. Rob understands being the target of internet ire and so can feel some of the pain Ed must have felt. They were friends and Ed was one of those artists Rob was mentoring.

People go on the internet and laugh about how Rob Sucks. All while Rob keeps making things his fans love. There are two paths here. Which will you walk?

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Additional research for your entertainment: