[Batman]

Darwyn Cooke





vs.

Mike Parobeck





Darwyn Cooke was a storyboard artist for the Batman cartoons of the 90s and animated the opening sequence of Batman Beyond. He broke into comics with a book called Batman: Ego. He has gone on to great success with the adventures of Batman supporting characters such as Slam Bradley and Catwoman and with books where Batman is one character in an ensemble, (New Frontiers,) or a team-up, (Batman/Spirit.)

Mike Parobeck is best known for his run from '93 to '95 on Batman Adventures, a book based on the very TV show his opponent was doing animation work for at the same time. He co-created the villains Mr. Nice, Mastermind, and the Perfessor. He died from complications of Type I Diabetes in 1996. He was a freakin' genius.

[Batman]

A few words about Mike Parobeck from other comics professionals:

Scott Peterson: "As the myriad professionals who love Mike's work know, his simplicity allows him to hide absolutely nothing--the anatomy and storytelling must be absolutely flawless, or it stands out like a beacon. And the amazing dynamism of Mike's stuff is likewise twice as difficult when overrendering and speedlines are disallowed."

Len Strazewski: "It was always great because he would spread pages out on the table, and we’d have lunch, and put the pages out and I always had the same experience. I would look at the pages and go, ‘Wow! Mike, this is very good! Tremendous! Where did you get this?’ And, he said, ‘Well, in your script.’ And I realized that I would write something like the Fly buzzes around the office building, and Mike would just, sort of, creatively interpret this stuff in such a lively and imaginative infused way that it was like, ‘yeah. I did say that, Mike.’ But there was no way that I could have visually conceived what he just did. We didn’t plot so much together – I mean, I wrote full script – but his ability to take a script and to just infuse it with his own style and imagination was tremendous."

Brian Augustyn: "It turned out that Mike was right all along and a genius after all. I'm glad that worked out in the end--especially as early critics became fans. And Mike did pave the way for a return to a more ‘cartoony,’ more fun art styles--and Mike Weringo, Humberto Ramos, J. Scott Campbell, Ed McGuiness, Mike Oeming and about half the working artists today have proven a lighter style to be popular and viable. Not necessarily that Mike directly inspired any of them, but his instincts and talent were ahead of their time, alas."

Mark Waid: "There are very, very few comics creators whose actual body of work is surprisingly small in comparison to their influence on those who came after them. Art Adams is one; Steranko is another. That's a good group to be in."

[Batman]

God damn it, a smite for Justin and a smite for Stu. Darwyn Cooke is good. Really good. Parobeck was a fucking genius!

Once again . . .

This is from one of his first issues of Batman Adventures.





That's one of the most exciting, dynamic two-page spreads I've ever seen.

This moody, cinematic sequence is from near the end of his run.







A few covers:

Anybody else want a smite? If not, VOTE PAROBECK, DAMN IT!

[The Canadian Content]

Unless someone can show me something less cartoony from either of these guys, I'm abstaining on this one.

[Batman]

Well, yeah:



But it's not Batman, so I'm not sure if it should count.

Also, it's less cartoon-y, but not that much less.

[Stu]

I wanted to get another scene from New Frontier where John and Slam Bradley run into church to find Batman fighting a whole cult on his own in a big melee, but I can't find it.

[Batman]

Somebody! SAVE PAROBECK!

please?

[The Canadian Content]

Sergei -- you vote for Kane, and I'll vote for Parobeck. Deal?

[Batman]

I'm tempted to say "Deal." But, Kane doesn't need my vote anymore to advance, as he did when you made the offer, so that wouldn't be fair.

Also, [super-irony] I'd like to keep my Showdown shenanigans free if possible.[/irony]

On the other hand, it's tied up now, and I'd hate to see one of these guys advance to round two based on a coin toss. Anyone want to vote for one of these two (PAROBECK!) based on their merits?

[Stu]

I'll beat you with LOGIC!!
If Parobeck's style for Batman was adapted from the animated series style, and Cooke worked on the animated series....then isn't Parobeck technically derivative of Cooke? AHA!!

[Batman]

Already refuted that a week ago:

sergeial said:

. . . Parobeck's style can't possibly be considered derivative of Timm's. He drew Batman Adventures based on Timm's character designs, sure, but he didn't copy Timm's art style. He didn't need to. His dynamic, cartoony, clean-lined style was already very much in evidence back when he was drawing The Fly.



The Fly debuted in 1991, Batman: TAS in 1992.

[Stu]

That would work if were just voting general artists. The Fly is not Batman, thus is inadmissable as evidence!

[Batman]

Sure it is. It's just like the old chestnut that Aparo copied Neal Adams style. He didn't need to be told to copy Adams, he was assigned to Batman because he was already drawing Aquaman and Phantom Stranger in a similar style.

Similarly, Parobeck didn't need to copy Timm's style, he was assigned Batman Adventures because he was already simpatico. I'm sure that Cooke already had a similar style in the 90s, too, back when he couldn't get an assignment in the comic book industry and was forced to turn to animation. The cartoony look wasn't popular back then in the "Image" crazy days.

Now Batman: TAS spawning Batman Adventures gave Parobeck a platform for his work that Fly and Justice Society never had. And he has Timm to thank for that. By the same token, though, it was Parobeck who proved that that style could work and be taken seriously in a comic-book format, and not just on the screen, which allowed for the success both Timm and Cooke found in the comics once their shows ran down.

[Batman]

HO YEAH! PAROBECK WINS!!!! He's probably going to be eaten alive by Neal Adams in round two, but at least he made it out of the first round.