Art Style
Swan's artwork on Superman was a contrast to Wayne Boring, his Golden Age predecessor. Critic Arlen Schumer praises Swan's ability to depict "the spectrum of human emotion, from agony to anger, mournful to mirthful." As characterized by critic Paul Gravett, Swan's Superman made ". . . Krypton's last son in exile, the alien in our midst, into someone like us, who would think and feel as well as act, who was approachable, big-hearted, considerate, maybe physically superpowerful yet gentle, noble yet subtly tragic." In a similar vein, Swan biographer Eddy Zeno calls Swan "the Norman Rockwell of . . . comics."
With his frequent inker Murphy Anderson from 1970–1974 (and then again from 1988–1989), the pair's collaborative artwork came to be called "Swanderson" by the fans. (Despite his and Anderson's success together, however, Swan's favorite inker was Al Williamson, with whom he only worked a short time, from 1985–1986.)
Read more about this topic: Curt Swan
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