John Paul Leon. This’ll be a painful thread but worth doing to highlight that he might not have been JRJr or Bagley level prolific, but he had a good output of always remarkable work.
2nd job. Static (93) similar looking to early Quesada (Mignola infl.?). Dynamic and fun. 1/x
From McDuffie to Milligan on Further Advs of Cyclops and Phoenix 1-4. JPL’s art took a huge step in the direction of his photo-journalistic style. Someone obviously saw a fit with a Victorian London with JPL’s style and it’s a great looking book. 2/x
A two issue Batman/Anarky story in Shadows of the Bat with Alan Grant. Again, JPL’s style it still evolving here but all the elements are there. Look at that great Anarky face bottom right. 3/x
Also 1995, Superman Man Of Steel Annual 4 with Louise Simonson, and Dennis Janke on inks. Some mad looking stuff in this comic but all great looking. The Simonson connection on display 4/x
A really nice notable mention. Batman Chronicles 5 with a story written and pencilled by JPL’s brother in arts, Tommy Lee Edwards and inked by JPL and letters by John Workman 5/x
Logan Path of the Warlord.I’d say the worst comic that’ll appear on this list Marvel’s colours and format make the book unreadable and the story doesn’t help. But squint and you can see the great JPL & Martinbrough line work.Not recommended though there are no bad JPL books 6/x
Perhaps as an apology for the outrageous colours on the previous outing, this short Wolverine story is written by JPL with Alex Leon and left as it should be in B&W. Great looking stuff 7/x
1997. John Paul Leon’s second period kicks off in earnest. 12 issue inked by a Bill Reinhold and Shawn Martinbrough. Steven Grant story and Matt Hollingsworth colours. Features a GREAT two part Batman story. Never Collected!!! 8/x
1999. Earth X with Krueger & Ross l. Bill Reinhold on inks. An even grander 13 issues. A whole reimagining of Marve l comics. Everything from WW2 to gods and Galactus. I think Leon pulled it off better than Ross could’ve with his documentarian approach. 9/x
X-men (vol 1) 127 by Morrison, inks by Sienkiwicz. There’s a parallel universe where this whole run is by Quitely, Kordey and JPL.
A quick step back a couple of years. 8 pages in Grendel B,W & Red #1 in ‘98 with Matt Wagner. A grim story by most measures but so gorgeous. 11/x
I found out about this LATE. JPL returned to Static Shock in 1999 for four issues with Dwayne McDuffie. It should go without saying that from hear on out, we've got fully formed JPL so it all needs to be sought out. Amazing stuff 12/x
X-Men 131 by Morrison and JPL with Sienkiewicz inks. Such a great looking book. Don’t know if the colourist changed or just calmed TF down but it’s easier on the eyes. 13/x
Weapon X 14. JPL inked by Tommy Lee Edwards on a Mr Sinister story. Great looking book with colouring taking a big step forward 14/x
After Alan Moore left Tom Strong, they ran loads of short stories by some great teams. Issue 25 was a one-off by Johns with art by JPL and colours by Dave Stewart. 15/x
I struggled to find colour pages from this issue though it might be for the best.JPL inked by Tom Palmer (uncredited,on the cover at least).A good done in one issue featuring the death of Jack Monroe. I love Palmer but the pairing doesn’t quite work for me.Still. No bad JPL. 16/x
Wintermen 1-5 + Special. There was a terrifying pause of 3 years between Winter Men 5 and the finale. By Brett Lewis with JPL, this book feels like the start of the 3rd period of his career; the use of white as much as black as a design element. Economical and beautiful. 17/x
Mike Carey’s Hellblazer run was marked by some great one shot fill-ins including JPL on 229. Constantine at his best in a great domestic level horror story. 18/x
Same month as HB, Apr 07. Midnighter 8 is another great done in one with Christos Gage. I’d say it plays to JPL’s strengths but I’m not sure he had any weaknesses. 19/x
Feb 2008. JPL steps in to replace rM Guera for issue 12 of Scalped with Jason Aaron. Such a perfect fit. 20/x
Step back a year. 2007. Just discovered and ordered this. Ex Machina Special #3 written by BK Vaughn. Coloured by JD Mettler so it has a very specific look. I have the next one. 21/x
Ex machina Special #4. Vaughn again. Look at the cartooning on the splash page. Not something we see anywhere else in JPL’s work. Amazing. 22/x
Bit of a weird one. Four four page chapters of a Tao story with Christos Gage.l spread across the following:
Wildcats Vol 3 7
Gen 13 vol 4 27
Authority Vol 5 7
Stormwatch PHD 19 23/x
May 09. Jeph Loeb’s mate off Lost gets to write a comic so they give him the best artists for the job. Jesse Alexander gets to do an oversized Sgt Fury story with JPL on art and colours. Starts small but giant war machines come in. Great book. 24/x
Sept 2011. Spirit 16 from DC. Written by David Hine. Every page is a Spirit splash page. Not much more to say. Gorgeous and inventive. 25/x
Feb 2012. A guest spot on Jeff Lemire’s Animal Man to draw the Animal Man the Movie issue. A lighter and more open touch on this job 26/x
Apr 2012. Rocketeer Adventures Vol 2 #2. John Paul Leon and Walt Simonson. A really nice 8 pager. There are some great stories in these books. JPL’s documentarian approach makes the character sing. 27/x
Nearly missed one. Aug 2000. Batman Gotham Knights 6. B&W back up with Walt Simonson. Very black! Also some white. 28/x
Dec 2009. Vigilante 11. Wolfman writing, Simonson pencils/layouts and JPL finishing. It’s a great looking job (lurid colours not withstanding) and weird as it’s a real hybrid of the two artists. 29/x
29b/x Too much of this Simonson/JPL not too show a little more.
Animal Man 20. Animal Man the movie the sequel with Jeff Lemire and JPL art. 30/x
Aug 2013. Batman Incorporated Special. A really nice short written and coloured by Nathan Fairburn and drawn by JPL. 31/x
Oct 2014. Detective Comics 35&36. Written by Benjamin Percy and coloured by Dave Stewart. JPL is on fire in this great two part story. Batman is obviously a character he was born to draw but his bringing to life all the Airport stuff is really impressive.This is a must have.32/x
Jan 2015. Vertigo having a go at some anthologies did C M Y K, one colour every three months. Tom King did a great story with JPL and he also tweeted the whole story here so I’ll glom onto that for this entry: 33/38 https://twitter.com/tomkingtk/status/1388972754691665925
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