Yeah, Quitely's art is nice and detailed as all get-out, but it just doesn't say 'Superman' to me. Now if they'd teamed Morrison with Chris Sprouse I'd be bouncing off the walls. As is, I'm mildly intrigued by the title, at least enough to pick up the first and possibly second issues.
Chris Sprouse is a wonderful artist and his cute, retro art is absolutely a treat to see and read, but he has a few weaknesses that would disqualify him from illustrating Superman:
1)
All his men tend to look alike. This is also known as "John Byrne Syndrome." If all the men look alike, there's really nothing special about the Clark Kent/Superman identity at the heart of this whole story, because...well...ANYBODY looks like he could be Superman! Granted, many artists suffered from that same problem, but it's especially noticeable with Chris Sprouse; compare, for instance, how much his Supreme and Tom Strong look alike.
2)
Chris Sprouse doesn't draw good looking women. For instance: Look at SUPREME #15. Here we have the Adult League of Infinity: there's Witch Wench, with her black lipstick, slinky black opera dress and long black evening gloves, and Futurewoman, with her Emma Peel style catsuit. Yet, somehow, neither of them were really "hubba hubba" worthy. Perhaps it's an intentional choice on his part - and there is something to be said for the very grotesque way women have been portrayed as sexual objects in comic books read mainly by teenage boys, giving a comic book store an air of sleaze. I for one, have no intention of defending costumes put on with a glue pot; it's a gross, mysoginistic trend. But isn't there a pleasant middle between Image-Comics exploitation and Chris Sprouse asexuality? All I'm saying is, there's something wrong if you can't make Witch Wench look good.
If anybody from the ABC Line could do Superman well, my money would be on Rick Veitch, whose classy art that is able to represent aspects of comics history successfully, his ability to portray fantasy elements well, his elaborate and very rare covers, and his skill at art deco style machinery and technology makes him qualified. I would also recommend the very skilled Arthur Adams, but I've never seen how he handles technology; he may be all right for Superman or all wrong, depending on his style.
Where's Jerry Ordway these days, and why is he not on Superman? Last I saw, he did some great Tom Strong work with Michael Moorcock (!).
