Bob Brown never got no respect

He died a long, long time ago, but I always felt Bob Brown never got any real respect as a comic book artist. He got into the business during the Golden Age, but I only really saw the work he did for Marvel and DC at the very end of his career - Batman comics full of unexpected warmth, and Avengers issues with tonnes of well-composed action.

But he was one of those artists who felt like a vital link between the stodginess of classic Sliver Age and the more dynamic modern art style of the likes of Neal Adams, Jim Aparo and Nick Cardy. He didn't really get what those kids were doing - he would be totally bamboozled by the direction comic art has taken since the 1980s - but his work was always just totally quality.

Was it the name? So nondescript, so easy to slip out of the mind. As somebody named Bob Smith, I feel his pain, and find it easy to acknowledge how hard it could be to stand out. Absolute genius might overcome that kind on bland anonymity, and while Bob Brown came close to that on occasion, it obviously wasn't quite enough.