3. Amanda Conner
It's quite a rare thing for a female comic book artist to knock out flawless visions of superherione awesomeness as much as Amanda Conner does. Conner manages to combine sexy, funny and quirky within her work and few artists out there, whether male or female capture as much spirit in their works. For me Conner's work on Power Girl is what turned me on to how good she was. She took a character that for many years has felt a little out of place in the DC Universe. Not quite totally out of date and never really modern enough to stand with the big guns. The killer combo of writers writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray with Amanda Conner providing the artwork was more than enough to change all that. Power Girl became more than a "look at the chick with the big rack" joke in comic books. she became fun to be around, smart, funny and just adorable thanks to the great writing and Conner's visuals. She didn't stop there though. Her take on Silk Spectre made for a great 60s trip that also made Laurie Jupiter suddenly feel like a teenager in ways even the original Watchmen didn't achieve. Supergirl, Black Canary and Terra have been toyed with and she even made Wonder Woman suddenly feel like fun again. Also for those who want to see a darker side of Conner's work, The Pro, telling the story of a super powered prostitute is Conner at her quirky best. Conner does things to superheroines that many artist cannot, she combines sexy with down to earth girl next door qualities and still manages to make it funny and I just can't get enough of it.
Recommended Works: The go to for Amanda Conner's awesomeness is of course her run on Power Girl. Her character work between Power Girl and all that she crossed paths with made for the finest comic in the DC run pre-DC52 for me and it was a shame to lose the reinvented Power Girl post DC 52 with that not so great one in the Power Girl/Huntress book that's currently on our shelves. Additionally her two art of books are also a joy to flick through. Conner is an artist who seems to grow with every project, making female led stories as enjoyable as they always should be. She's a master at making you re-fall in love with character you liked anyway and that takes some real talent.