Posted By Dan Greenfield on Nov 3, 2024 | 2 comments

Guy’s got the chops…

Artist Josh Adams, youngest son of the late Neal Adams, caused it a bit of a stir on Facebook recently when he posted some illustrations starring heroes that his father was known for: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Batman and Deadman.

They are, in a word, striking. You can see echoes of Neal in Josh’s art but he has a style that’s very much his own: clean, bright, with a strong hint of animation. If DC (or Marvel for that matter) wanted to work with Josh, I could certainly see it.

It’s not like he’d be riding his father’s coattails, either. Josh, 37, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning artist, formerly with Business Insider, and a graduate of the prestigious School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He’s also worked in comics before.

I was so taken with his DC heroes, I felt compelled to ask him about his style and his father’s legacy. And, it’s worth noting, that we are publishing this at the same time as we are an EXCLUSIVE INSIDE LOOK at the upcoming Neal Adams DC Classics Artist’s Edition from IDW. Click here to check that out.

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Dan Greenfield: Josh, tell us about your artistic career.

Josh Adams: A lot of my artistic career has been behind the scenes. Design work for TV series, storyboards, and honestly, so many weird, random things that I’ve forgotten more than I remember. My first actual work was for the Syfy Channel. I kind of went wherever I was needed. I enjoyed the variety and new challenges. Occasionally, I would stumble across something in my files and say to myself, “Oh yeah, I did that.”

I did make a few forays into traditional comics over the years on Justice Society and House of Mystery with DC Comics, and Doctor Who with IDW. I do love comics, but I think I kept it on this pedestal for so long and I really wanted to be ready for it. Which is the opposite of how I’ve approached every other art project I’ve done. Those, I just dive headfirst into regardless of how ready I was. That’s how I ended up spending the last five years of my career working with Business Insider on a series on non-fiction, current events comics that earned me my Pulitzer Prize.

Dan: These images are deeply connected to your father’s work. Being his son, what does that mean to you?

Josh: I don’t have a frame of reference for being the son of any other father, so it’s hard to say. I guess it’s hard to avoid an influence when it’s right there in front of you your whole life. Why wouldn’t I connect with the things he did? They were always around me! I guess that’s part of the answer. They aren’t just characters to me. They’re family.

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Dan: Your style echoes his, but you’ve adopted a more cartoony look, almost animation-style in feel. Tell us about that.

Josh: I don’t see it. I think, at the end of the day, you’re trying to do a job, or accomplish a goal. Rarely are you afforded the opportunity to sit there and ask yourself, “What style am I going to do this piece in?” It just happens. Sure, some clients want a specific style or close to it, and you try to conform to that need, but when you’re drawing for yourself, or drawing as yourself, you just do your best. Some of it is influence, some of it is just the nuance of repetitive efforts.

Dan: Besides your father, name some of your other influences.

Josh: I’m all over the board with influence. It’s also an impossible task to pinpoint your influences. You don’t get to actively decide who rubs off on you more than others. As a kid, I loved Jeff Smith’s Bone. I think that had more of an influence on me than I ever considered in the past. I really fell in love with comic art and storytelling as a teenager while reading the work of Stuart Immonen, Bryan Hitch, and John Cassaday.

At the same time I loved artists like Jamie Hewlett and Cam Kennedy. Of course, I was a kid of the ’90s so I was a huge fan of Bruce Timm’s designs on Batman: The Animated Series, and when I was maybe 11 years old, Ty Templeton taught me how to draw that style of Batman, so I had to have been influenced by that. But there are little things here and there that come from such disparate artistic sources that it’s impossible to nail down.

Dan: Do you have plans to venture into sequential art again or, perhaps, variant covers? This is lovely stuff.

Josh: I actually really want to get back into the mask-and-cape comics again. It’s where I always wanted to be and I’m hoping to get a shot again. I turned 37 this year and I’m feeling like I’m getting too old to be the new kid anymore. I’ve got some things to prove and I’m hoping I get a good opportunity to prove it.

Dan: Do you have any favorite Batman, Deadman or GL/GA stories?

Josh: Oh sure, lots. Batman #588-590 comes to mind, where the real Matches Malone gets killed by Scarface and Batman “kills” Scarface to avenge Malone. It’s just a great story. It’s not too long, and it takes Batman to the limit within the confines of the story while still being able to safely return him to status quo by the end of it. And Scott McDaniel’s art on Batman and Nightwing was just so electric. There’s another name that could be counted as an influence.

Dan: What other characters are you working on?

Josh: I’m in the process of working on my own creator-owned comics. Here’s a random piece from one I’m working on. That and knocking on some doors to see if anyone wants to work with me. I stay busy, though. I have a farm that I run with my wife. I still do all sorts of fun random art projects. But at the end of the day, comics are where my heart is.

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Want to see more? Naturally. Check out Josh’s website, whatwouldjoshdo.com. You can also follow him on Instagram @wwjoshd and X @joshadams.

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MORE

— Dig This EXCLUSIVE INSIDE LOOK at the NEAL ADAMS DC CLASSICS ARTIST’s EDITION. Click here.

— Why NEAL ADAMS’ GREEN ARROW Remains the Gold Standard. Click here.