Yes, but in Sprouse's case at least his men look good! Byrne's men are not attractive and what's worse, his women look just like the men only with longer hair and thinner necks.
That's true - I'm not denying that Chris Sprouse is a clean, correct artist who is amazing to look at.
In many ways, the most compelling and distinctive woman that Chris Sprouse ever drew was Dhalua Strong, for the simple reason that she always had a slightly ticked-off expression, separating her from his other characters.
In my opinion, no artist was ever worse about drawing identical faces than Joe Shuster. I can honeslty say that without the text boxes I often would not have known who was doing what to whom.
With all respect due to the co-creator of Superman, I always thought there was something amateurish about Shuster's art. DC, apparently, agreed with me for decades, and for a long time refused to reprint any work by Shuster.
Jerry Siegel, on the other hand, was a wonderful writer, who made more additions to Superman than just about any other writer, and whose stories have incredible poignance (like RETURN TO KRYPTON) or imaginative power (Martian Ice Cream in the first Legion of Super-Heroes appearance).
I'll half-way disagree with you here, I think Chris' women are pretty. They are not "Va-va-voom" pretty, however, and maybe that's essential to modern comics. I think he draws females in the Curt Swan mode...pretty in a wholesome kind of way, but never in a million years what you'd call hot or provocative. And on Superman, I wouldn't mind that. I have never taken well to attempts to draw Lois Lane as a sex kitten.
I don't know - I always thought the Lois Lane that appeared on the Nick Cardy SUPERMAN FAMILY covers worked pretty well, though not everybody can draw women like Nick Cardy can.
If Sprouse has a "weakness" it's that his art, like Swan's and that of Dave Gibbons, seems to lack a certain "punch"...there is never the feeling of frenetic action (let alone giddy chaos) pioneered by Jack Kirby and so ubiquitous in this post-Marvel Age. He and Gibbons tap nicely into that polished, Silver Age DC look ala Swan and Klein or Kane and Anderson, but they seem out of place in an era of crash-bang action and violence.
This is true. The battles in SUPREME that were the most visually astonishing are the ones done by Rick Veitch - witness for instance, the two Supremas chucking lightning bolts at one another. The less interesting battle sequence in terms of POW was the Supreme battle against the escaped criminals in the Hell of Mirrors.
If I could include inkers, I would have to say John Totleben, who is one of the few artists that is best seen ONLY in black and white.