ROUND #2 MARVEL REGION
ROUND 1 is in the books! Lets check the results and go over the matchups for Round 2, starting with the Marvel region of our bracket.
Much as we expected, we saw Jack Kirby, John Buscema, John Romita Sr., and Steve Ditko take care of their matchups without much competition. The Gene Colan vs. Mike Ploog matchup was a close one, with Ploog winning by just three votes. Meanwhile, Dave Cockrum pulled it out at the buzzer against Walt Simonson.
The biggest upset of the first round was Gil Kane taking out the higher-seeded Joe Maneely. We might have had Joe a little high on our bracket—but come on, Stan Lee always told us Joe was his favorite Atlas artist!
Now, on to the Round 2 matchups. Voting is live below, and remember you can always vote on our Instagram Stories as well.
First up: a matchup between two legendary Fantastic Four and Spider-Man artist as Jack Kirby takes on John Romita Sr.
Next: the “escape artist” himself, Jim Steranko, goes up against Gil Kane, who honestly could have landed in almost any bracket. This one is a battle of longevity vs. pure creative force. There’s no denying Steranko was one of the greatest graphic designers of his time, but when you look at the body of work from Kane—from his DC sci-fi work to his dynamic Spider-Man page layouts and incredible Marvel cover work—it’s a tough matchup.
Up next: John Buscema takes on Mike Ploog. Buscema is one of the defining artists of the Silver Age, while Ploog might just be Marvel’s greatest horror artist, with unforgettable work on Ghost Rider and Frankenstein & throughout the bronze age
Finally: wrapping up Round 2, we have the original—and I’ll say it, the best—Spider-Man artist, Steve Ditko, going up against the man who helped save the X-Men. Before we had Claremont & Byrne, we had Claremont & Cockrum.
