Is Mark Bagley a Great Spider-Man Artist? 

I loved it when you said “a criticism of Bagley’s is that his faces often look too similar,” and used a panel of Supergirl and Power Girl. Who are basically the same person.

You forgot to mention the fact that Mark Bagley is one hell of a workhorse! The guy never missed a deadline in his entire career and that's why Marvel editors *love* him. That certainly made him stand out specially at a time when some of the "super stars" typically delivered 04 to 06 issues per year at best.

“Venom’s Spawn, Carnage” A singularly 90’s sentence

Mark Bagley was the artist on what I consider to be my first comic ever, and to this day, he’s still my favorite Spider-Man artist. Met him at NYCC last year, and it was really one of the coolest moments ever

“His faces sometimes look the same” *shows image of two versions of the same character*

As someone who’s currently in high school, one of my favorite things about Ultimate Spider-Man is that all the “dated” clothing of the teenagers in the books actually still seem fitting. 90s clothing is coming back in a big way. I see kids all the time walking around with Long button up shirts a lot of girls also wear overalls a lot. It’s cool to see how some things never change.

I knew Mark’s nephew as a friend back in the early 1990’s and got to meet Mark at his home studio. Mark was working on the cover for Venom issue #1 and had tons of magazines open to different pages. I remember he told me that when he has to draw lots of bystanders in the panels, he runs out of ideas for their faces and clothes so he picks them out of magazines to use for more diversity. Awesome nice guy who is as humble as he is talented.

"You caught me trying to throw out the garbage" idk why that made me exhale from my nose slightly more than usual

Mark Bagley was one of the best Spider-Man artists ever. His dynamic style made it appear the art was actually moving, almost as if Spider-Man would swing right from the pages. I also loved his run on The New Warriors and the Thunderbolts.

This is the best comic book show by far, love it, please keep it up

I love the work of Mark Bagley. He made me read comics again after I stopped as a kid.

Mark Bagley is one of my favorite Spider-Man artists. He and Brian Michael Bendis did an amazing job on Ultimate Spider-Man.

Hi Chris, regarding to Flarepie's artwork, it is Yu-Gi-Oh! and not Magic The Gathering. That's all, I love your videos by the way, keep it up! 😊

He will always be my favorite Spider-Man artist. He ability to express emotion is unmatched

Bagley is actually my favorite comic artist. Something about his work has always just clicked with me, and I think you hit it: he puts story and character first, and does it incredibly well. I read an interview with Bendis as a kid where he said he would often remove dialogue after seeing Bagley's work because whatever he wanted to say was already there in the art.

My first exposure to Mark Bagley work was The New Warriors comic and love it. Later his Ultimate Spider-Man and I think too it was his best. Good luck with the Clone Saga stuff , hope you can do it.

His artstyle is what I grew up with since his designs were used in almost all the promo art and he's for sure one of my favorites, I love his eyes the most in his spidey designs

Ultimate Spider-Man got me into comics back after the first Raimi film. I've always loved that original run and Bendis's continuation with Miles (at least until Cataclysm, I didn't like Peter coming back to life).

Ultimate Spider-Man got me into comics in general, and Bagley is definitely my favourite comic artist ever. I actually still have some Ultimate Spider-Man bedroom merch from when I was a kid, and it all has his art on it.

Bagely also worked on the comic adaptation of Robocop 2! Aside from creating Carnage, lets face it, he's easily one of the greatest Venoms artist of all!

13:46 To be fair to Bagley... Aren't power girl & super girl literally the same person just from different worlds 😂. So if any characters end up look exactly alike it would be them In any case Mark's work is consistently great, since he stays on a book it gives it a manga like sense of consistently. I would love to see Bagley do more grounded stories, he might do well on a romance title, or even something magical but without capes

In terms of Bagley's place in history, I think he's similar to Jim Aparo or Joe Staton. They are not the kind of spectacular artists who ever became the "hot" artist of the day, but they were solid draftsmen who enjoyed extended periods of major sales success and quietly turned out iconic versions of many classic characters. I'd much rather have a guy like one of them on a book for years than a flash-in-the-pan who's hot today, but who is out of the business in just a few years.

Bagley's one of the all time greats. A machine that can hit a deadline in an era when that's far from the norm and he's continued to grow and improve as an artist throughout his entire career.

I think a cool idea for a video would be one about every big Spider-Man artist or even any other characters

I'd been into Spider-Man since before I could talk, watching the cartoons & playing with the toys. When I was about 10, it was Bagley's art in Amazing that turned me into a comic collector. I'd read anything I came across before then, newspaper strips, The Phantom, Archie... anything. But Bagley's Spider-Man & Venom impressed me so much started hunting his art down specifically. I don't think he's the best artist, but he's certainly one of my favorites.

mark bagely is peak honestly I grew up in this era and remember fondly reading Ultimate Spiderman, as a young true believer I was always reading the first few issues and imitating the action in the same open room i read them. then jumped back on the book to read the next few pages. One of the KEY moments that inspired me to be a writer/artist in comics.

Mark Bagley is my favorite Spider-Man artist. Todd Mcfarlane is a close second, but Mark Bagley's art is just amazing. I love the way he draws Spider-Man with big eyes. It my favorite look for the character🤟

Bagley is a huge talent. He's Amazing. Hard-working, and ingenious!!! Bags, thank you.

I remember when Bagley debuted on Spiderman. I liked the artwork immediately, it felt somewhat refreshing, while at the same time faithful to Ditko's legacy. Probably I endured through the clone saga thanks to him, because the story itself was a mess and I didn't like the idea from the start. What a drag! It burned me out and I think it was after that saga that I stopped reading Spiderman. Looking forward to your review of it.

I love this channel. Learning comic history, comparing art techniques and notes, hearing great “wtf” moments. Great for background work!

Waiting all day at work to finally watch this ep! Bagley 90's Spiderman was my favourite back then. Many hours spent tryin to replicate his great spiderman /venom. Thanks for another great video about an artist who imo doesn't get as much credit as he should

Haha I like how creative you get with your opening segues. I never grew up reading super hero comics, so I enjoy all the stuff I learn on this channel

16:46 uh Chris that's a Yu-Gi-oh! playing card.

The Ultimate universe had a lot of issues, but the Bagley/Bendis run on Spider-Man is legendary. As a 90's kid who grew up on all things Spidey, their run on Ultimate came at the right time for me---it's still my favorite Spider-Man story out there. Those books felt decidedly worse without his art, and I don't think it's a coincidence the whole thing ended shortly after he left.

I loved Mark Bagley’s early work on Amazing Spider-Man. Great video Chris.

Yeah, Mark Bagley lucked out that I was 12 years old and never did manage to save up the $12.95 needed to order that Official Marvel Try-Out Book....lol

What I love the most about your videos is your analysis of the artwork. Too many comic book channels focus on plot holes an story, so it's nice to hear what I pay attention to when I attempt to become a better cartoonist.

Yes! Good history lesson on Mark Bagley! Any plans for Alan Davis?

Honestly he's one if my favorite artists period. Including artists in other genres. Really good understanding if anatomy and style

I haven't watched this video yet but I'm looking forward to it. Bagley may be the one artist who improved the most in the time that I've followed his work. His earlier stuff is very meh to me but he became IMO one of the best in the biz. I'm a huge admirer of him.

Bagley's greatest weakness is drawing faces at an angle. The eyes are often in the wrong positions. I otherwise love his art, but that has always bothered me!

Do an evolution of John Romita Jr. video.

Man, I loved the Thunderbolts! A fun series for the first 50-60 issues. The first dozen are great!

Bagely is easily one of the greatest Spiderman artists of all time. Its hard to believe he had to take up penciling after Eric Larson and Todd McFarlane( 2 other Legendary artists) and still was a success! Aside from John Romita Sr( another Legendary Artist), Bagely's Spiderman was the most commercially used Spider-Man! His Spider-Man alone was even used as reference for the Marvel vs Capcom games...starting with Capcoms "Marvel Super Heroes-War for the Gems!"

I love the fact that ultimate Spider-Man is set in its time right after the 90’s into the 2000’s as that was when I was born and it just lets me look back into the Spider-Man that influenced a lot of what I grew up with

Met Mark at a convention three years ago. Really awesome guy and basically told him his Spider-Man was the first Spider-Man I saw I comics and how important it is to me. When asked about my age, I told him and he told me "I have underwear older than you." Great dude and artist, and funny as well

Bagley's artwork on Amazing Spider-Man #400, along with the writing make it, in my opinion, the greatest comic book ever made. So much emotion in the art and words. "How does it feel....Almost like flying.." God, I'm tearing up just remembering the scenes of May and Peter on the ESB and her letting him know she knows his secret. Never should have been retconned, it was the perfect ending to that chapter of Spidey's life.

Ultimate Spider-Man comics were my favorites as a kid. Seeing Bagley’s work come to life in a video game was also spectacular ;) Definitely one of my favorite artists of all time!

I liked Bagley ! He reminded me of Ditko.

Bagley's Thunderbolts is one of my favorite superhero comics book series ever. I love the characters, the art, the action, it's awesome.

I literally grew up on Ultimate Spider-man and it was probably mostly Bagley's work on this series that inspired me with a dream to become a comic-book artist myself. Since then that dream has transformed a bit (now I'm more into CG and gamedev, but I still like comic style), and in this year I'm finally coming close to getting into industry. So yeah, thank you for this video, it was very inspiring and a bit nostalgic to listen about that in retrospective. Thank you for great content and keep up a good work!

I stumbled across Bagley's work on his New Warriors run and found it to be a refreshing oasis from the needlessly, over rendered trend that afflicted 90's comics.

Excellent video! To me, there's no question that Bagley is one of the best artists to ever draw Spider-man. Heck, he's one of the best artists Marvel has ever had.

I love Mark Bagley's work on the '90s Spider-Man titles. For me, Bagley is THE definitive modern Spider-Man artist, as his instantly recognizable rendition of Spider-Man defined the character for not just one, but TWO generations -- the '90s kids who grew up on the Marvel vs. Capcom games, and the fans from the early 2000s who got on board the Spidey train with Ultimate Spider-Man. While I think his '90s work is superior to his recent stuff, he's still my all-time favorite artist. I hope I get the chance to meet him someday.

Mark Bagley have introduced comic books to must comic book readers. My first comic was an Amazing spider man by Bagley. Bagley drawing Venom was so on point!

Mark Bagley is hands down my favorite artist of all time. His work is so dynamic and yet, has a sense of realism to it. Back when I sketched, my work was undeniably inspired by his, to put it nicely haha.

I loved Bagley in Spider-man and i never knew it! Just now watching your video i`ve learned his name. I mean, i recognized instantly it when i bought my monthly TAPM that it was going to be "that drawer" and i would cringe whenever it changed to any other. I loved the way bodies moved and looked, especially spider-man`s flexibility. It is engraved in my mind, really! Thanks for the video.

13:51 I know his faces sometimes look the same, but in that drawing they are the same character Supergirl and Powergirl are the same person, just from different universes.

I enjoy Mark Bagley! One of my favorite artists and my MOST favorite Spider-Man artist.

Mark's work on ASM in early 90s is what made me fall in love with comics. I bought New Warriors and followed him to Thunderbolts. Easily in my top five personal comic artists.

A consistent artist on a single book. Man, I'm old...

Bagley was a huge inspiration to me growing up and I love almost all of his work

That's a Yu-Gi-Oh card, mate. I'm such a nerd.

Bagley is one of my favourite artists and I was really happy to see him doing the new Spider-Man mini that released a few weeks ago

New Warriors was very influential to a teenage me when it came out back in the 90s. Thanks for featuring the Bag man!

I never realized that was how David Michelinie's name was pronounced...now i do.

That edit with the glass was so smooth

I just discovered your video series! Fantastic review! Very insightful and thorough. Mark Bagley was a big inspiration to me before I broke into comics with Image. Mark's style was clean, clear, great storytelling and you could LEARN from it! He also taught me that commitment to timelines and consistent production are every bit as important as work quality. Great job!

Mark Bagley was my introduction to Spider-Man artwork back in the nineties and one of the first art styles I tried to emulate. To this day, my work on face silhouettes and muscle definition is hugely influenced by his style.

I wasn’t originally a fan of Bagley when he started on ASM but his work on Ultimate Spider-Man blew me away. It looked like he really enjoyed what he was doing.

Bagley was just barely after my time originally reading and collecting. Thank you for highlighting him! I much prefer a proper illustrator versus the likes of McFarlane or Larsen. I will definitely pick up his New Warriors run, along with the Amazing Spider-Man run. Also, I now have a reason to buy post 2000 era Marvels. I will get some Ultimate Spider-Man! THANK YOU!!!!

Ultimate Spider-Man is one of my favorite comic book series. It was my childhood and brings a lot of nostalgia for me.

Mark Bagley was amazing, he was pumping out like 3 issues a month of Spider-Man for like 1.5 years during the 90's. What a boss. Weird story, growing up as a kid in GA during the early 00's, the HVAC contractor for our house notice I had a bunch of Amazing Spider-Man in my room. He asked who my favorite Spider-Man artist was, and I laughed and told him John Romita Jr., with Mark Bagley as a close second. He apparently serviced Mark's house, the next time he showed up with a bunch of 11x17 copies of Mark's pencils for the latest thunderbolts issue, and a signed TPB of the Carnage's intro. I was so thrilled! Like what a nice dude to do that for a random fan. I still have them 20 years later, protected in an art case. I stopped getting monthly issues in the mail after Bagley's and Immomen's runs on Ultimate Spider-Man.

Mark Bagley is the man! The eye shape, the perfect gymnast physique, intrigue shading, outstanding.

Yes, YES he IS *he says, responding to the question of this comic segment* ( LOVE your show, by the way, Comic Tropes!)

MB was the first comic artist I read every month on ASM. And while this might sound like damning-with-feint-praise, he was one of the best superhero artists of the decade.

Mark Bagley is my all time favorite Spider-Man artist, the definitive Spider-Man IMHO

Great stuff. Love Bagely. Ultimate Spiderman got me back into comics after 10+ years away.

For me there were two definitive 90s Spider-man Artists, Mark Bagley, and Romita Jr, maybe 3 if we include Sal Buscema, The Bagman was the man. I also liked his criminally brief Batman run with Dick Grayson under the cowl.

He does some pretty great, I remember he was one of the few artists I knew by name as I looked forward to his work.

Love Mark Bagley. I wasn’t aware of his early work from the 80’s. Now I have to check that out. Thanks.

Bagley can actually draw backgrounds really well. Wonderful and dynamic angles with a firm grasp of perspective with looking like a photo swipe or 3D mock-up. Hand drawn backgrounds are a forgotten art.

Never was a big fan of Bagley but given all of the big name artists who've missed deadlines more often than not over the years, I can definitely respect his discipline and work ethic. Nearly all of my favorite artists can/could do no more than a few consecutive books before tapping out.

Mark! I met u! U signed my spiderman 20 yrs ago (I'm sure u remember lol)! U inspired me to draw! Haha l love u, u are mine- and many others, I'm sure, FAVORITE SPIDERMAN ARTIST (& INKER- I learned what that was studying your work) EVER! Ty Mr. Bagley, for inpiring me to draw! I do music now, but your art certainly caught my eye & inspired me to draw, and, now, make music

I got to work his line as a volunteer in artist alley at NYCC a couple years ago.I had no idea he was the artist for one of my first Spider-man reads, "Ultimate Spiderman." vol 1 I googled him once I got home and still kick my ass for not knowing. Mark and his wife were very kind to everyone who visited and he even gave me a free poster of Mary Jane with autograph!

Great review, man i love the Thunderbolts concept

I tell you, watching a brand new Comic Tropes video during my break really takes the sting out of having to work on Sunday.

ive waited all week for this! always a good time. and Ultimate spiderman was my first run of comics ever i loved that run. good time to be 8 yrs old

Have been a fan of Bagley's work since I read the Saga of the Serpent Crown back in 1989! Followed him on Visionaries, New Warriors, Thunderbolts, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Trinity.

oooooooh, Astro City!!! That one is really, really good. You should review something from that title next!

I've always seen his work and didn't realize that it was drome by him. Thank you so much for this because my art style really resembles his. It's very cartoony and clean lines. It gives me hope of possibly being able to work for the big two some day!

I have not seen a single bad intro gag from you. Subbed.

Talking about clean style, Paul Smith X-Men run is super classic.

Mark Bagley is responsible for getting me into comics twice. When I was much younger the first super hero comic I read all the way through was Maximum Carnage. I still doodle pictures of Venom and Carnage in Bagley's style. And then years later, when I was struggling to get interested in any super hero comics they bring out Ultimate Spiderman. Living in the UK in a small town its hard for me to get monthly comics but I used to get Ultimate spiderman/Xmen from a newsagent near the college I was going to, and read it in the cafe. I even ended up getting a bunch of friends who never liked comics reading Ultimate Spidey, and everytime I got a new issue they'd beg to read it as soon as I was done.

Bagley back in the day was a real workhorse. An artist who didn't wow you with style, but who did his job in telling stories better than some of the more popular artists out there. I think the Larsen comparisons by some only work in the sense that they favored leaner forms and expressive faces, but otherwise, they were pretty distinct. Love this channel. One of the best out there.

Yes. Very Yes. Keep in mind that besides his long run on Spiderman, he had a nice run on the Thunderbolts AT THE SAME TIME. When most artists can't even do one monthly book on time. He was doing two!

Ultimate Spider-Man is still my favorite American comic series to this day. The story and art are done so well.

I've been a Mark Bagley fan for quite some time, especially when it comes to Spider-Man, even more so than Todd McFarlane or Erik Larsen. One issue that I wished you mentioned is an old "What if...?" issue (I forget the number), but it was "What if Spider-Man kept the black costume?" Where the Venom symbiote accelerates Peter Parker to old age, takes away the Hulk's powers, and the Black Cat has to make a deal with the Kingpin in order to destroy it. If I recall correctly, this is Bagley's first time actually working on Spider-Man, and while his signature style hasn't quite locked in yet, you can tell it's him.

I'm not too much into Bagley's style(s), but I do like his Venom quite a bit.

I’m humbled for your love of comics. Thank you for being so passionate! It always comes across all your videos