Going out on a Lim

I was just re-reading the Infinity Gauntlet#6, which by the way is a very good mini-series, and it reminded me how much I loved Ron Lim's artwork back in the day. Back in the 90's, Ron Lim was everywhere; He was on Silver Surfer, Captain America, Spider-Man, X-Men 2099, and even What If? for an issue or 2. He was everywhere, yet deserved all the work he got simply because he's a solid artist on who's on time. You can't beat those qualities in an artist, thus Lim was Marvel's golden boy for awhile.

My 1st exposure to Lim was his beautiful work on Silver Surfer and Captain America. Idk why I was initially attracted to his work other then that I found his art to be so clean and shiny, plus he could really draw.
I didn't have a lot of previous exposure to other artists' rendition of the Silver Surfer, but Lim's interpretation made a big impact on me, and was most likely the main reason for following the title for so long like I did.(And hey, Ron Marz stories were pretty darn good too!)
I know it's probably sacrilege to say, but I prefer Lim's Surfer to past artists like John Buscema and yes, even Jack Kirby. Yes, I know that'll piss a lot of Kirby fans off, but I really stand by Lim's interpretation.

Likewise, I really liked the way Lim drew Cap. Again, he was clean and very well drawn. If you haven't already, I highly suggest checking out Lim's run on Captain America. Runs like "Streets of Poison", and the 380's issues are truly works of art. So come for the Ron Lim art and stay for the Mark Gruenwald stories.












After Surfer, Lim did other work, like Spider-Man Unlimited(remember that experiment?) and X-Men 2099. I checked this one out mainly for the art, and while the stories were good, I just couldn't get into them like I could their current Namesakes.

Around that period of time, Lim did the artwork on the whole Infinity Trilogy; namely Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, and finally the Infinity Crusade. I liked the 1st two, but just could not get into Crusade. Yes the pictures were all pretty, but I just couldn't get into the Goddess. I preferred Magnus as the only legitimate evil side of Adam Warlock.

And while Lim did do some work for DC, like Green Lantern and The Rann/Thanagar War, I feel his best work was done at Marvel. If you don't believe me, just check out his artwork on Iron Man: Legacy of Doom and Anita Blake and tell me he still doesn't have it.

Overall, while I'm not sure where Ron Lim ranks amongst the best and brightest of comic book artists, but to me he's as underrated as Alice Cooper was. And that my friends is a crime!