Judge Parker artist Eduardo Barreto was recently been hospitalized. His son, Diego and former Judge Parker ghost artist John Heebink are pitching to give Eduardo time to recover. Diego’s work is running this week and John’s work will begin on February 15 and run for four weeks.
King Features comic editor Brendan Burford says that Eduardo is not officially being replaced. “[Eduardo’s] initial conversation with me indicated the he intends to come back. So I’m taking this week by week. If I need to pad out the weeks to give him more time to recover I will. He’s been such a great guy to work with and the readers have really embraced his work.”
That sentiment is also echoed by Judge Parker writer Woody Wilson. “He has done so much for Judge Parker. We’ve attracted more readers, the content is more compelling and he’s put a bit of panache and sexiness into the women characters. It’s inspired me to write better.”
This is the second time the artistic duties of Judge Parker have been handed over to ghost artists. Back in 2006, Eduardo was in a car accident and Rex Morgan MD artist Graham Nolan and comic book artist John Heebink stepped in during Eduardo’s absence.
Brendan did conceded that there exists the possibility that Eduardo may not be able to carry on with the strip at which point Brendan says he has two or three artists in mind who have expressed interested in working on a serial strip, but is not yet ready to rush in “pull the rug out from under Eduardo.”
Here is to a speedy recovery by Eduardo and a return to Judge Parker. He will be a hard one to replace, as his work on the Judge has been spectacular.
Yes, the strip has looked great since he’s been doing it. With all due respect to Mr. Wilson, I wasn’t a fan before Eduardo. I did think it looked different this week, but our newspaper reading has been screwed up by irregular delivery caused by snow.
Brendan, if you’re reading this – how about a collection of the strip since Barreto took over the art?
Mike…that would be a GREAT idea. Although, as I remember it, Barreto for the first year, tried to emulate the LeDoux style. He did a pretty good job doing that. Then about six months in, they let him go. And, it has been terrific ever since.
Eduardo has definitely brought a “Mary Perkins On Stage” Breezy but controlled professionalty and sexiness-perfectly placed black areas) look to Judge Parker, which suffered for years under the cardboard-cutout style of LeDeux. Baretto’s son’s work is so similar (and I mean that in a good way) that I didn’t consciously notice the difference. If we can’t have Baretto pere, I’ll take fils any day.
Mark…it would be great if Eduardo’s son Diego did the strip. His look is just like his Dad’s this week.
However, he declined to continue working on it. 🙁
So, John Heebink starts next week in the dailies. Check back and let me know you think of his work compared to the Barreto’s.
Has Heebink done anything I might have seen? I admit to not knowing the name.
The look of today’s strip is far too different. More effort should be made by the syndicate to make the strip look similar. This will turn off a number of readers.
#6: Mark, he has drawn Elvira and other quirky comics. His website has some samples of his work. http://heebink.com/
#7: Jeff. 100% agree. But, you go to print with what you got. I would hope that Brendan Burford is wise enough to continue looking for the right artist. Just in case Mr. Barreto cannot resume drawing Judge Parker.
Everyone has his own style, and I will give the man wiggle room for that, or we will all have to be like George Woodbridge of Mad Magazine and learn to draw like everyone else. Hebbinks is a fine mechanic. He uses a thicker line and the faces are a little more cartoony, but he’s OK. I won’t sit in judgement of a guy who has already done more in his career than I can hope for. The balloon letters are bigger and easier to read, which means he really had to sacrifice space in this day of “How small can we make the comics.”
Hearing of good things in terms of Eduardo Barreto feeling better. I believe he is out of the hospital.
However, he is far from resuming his art on anything. Much less the grind of a daily comic strip.
I hope the search for the new artist is in full swing. Not digging the look Mr. Heebink is giving Judge Parker.
Unfortunately, it will take George Perez or Jose Garcia Lopez to fill in Eduardo Barreto’s shoes, and I don’t know that either of those fine gentlemen would have an interest in drawing Judge Parker.
I wish Mr. Barreto a speedy and complete recovery. I really do prefer his art work to what we are seeing this week.