His art for Silver Surfer (no idea if it’s been collected) was also very good, and I recall liking his Spider-Man art during Civil War, but buyer beware, it was Civil War and written by Straczynski.

At DC he drew a JLA arc written by Kurt Busiek. His art was up to par but the story suffered from decompression — it was six or eight issues that should have been three or four at most.

If you’re getting the sense my admiration of Garney’s art comes largely from his Captain America work, you’re not wrong, but it really is that good. If CAP was all he’d ever drawn, I’d still think he’s one of the best superhero artists of the past 20 years.

I was enormously disappointed in the Ron Garney book too. I definitely think some of Garney’s work is exceptional, but Baker’s egocentric presentation (note how much of the ink is spent on Bill Baker and how great his name and rep and lofty goals are? Talk about “Special!”) and the poor design of the book were a real kick in the teeth to what could have been a great exploration of a good superhero artist’s approach and career.

I didn’t know it was a Baker production until I got it in an order from an online retailer. From past experience, if I’d known Baker was involved, I would frankly not have ordered it to begin with. Baker’s too busy promoting himself and trying to be clever to ever actually provide the sort of insight I crave, like the very best of the Comics Journal interviews from years past.