Well, it only takes a little ploughing about through my back pages to find out who I think is the most under-rated artist in comics today. Duncan flippin' Fegredo. To use a beloved footballing cliche, he's got it all in his locker. I used to wonder if the guy would ever get an assignment in comics truly worthy of his talents. I'm not worried any longer - he's the new artist on HELLBOY now that Mike Mignola's passed the torch!
He's such a great choice for the job - like Mignola, Fegredo has an instinctive way of throwing ink around a page, can jump from realistic to expressionistic between or within panels, and both have a great way of articulating volumes with just a op-art starburst and some bold squiggles emanating from it. As I write this, I'm looking at the page of GIRL where Simone torches the scratchcard factory in Bollockstown (and, if you've never read Fegredo and Pete Milligan's GIRL, either hunt it down on Ebay or phone Paul Levitz and demand it be collected). It's a great page - the panel layout, the lighting, the special effects. It's a page that tells me Mignola and Fegredo are simpatico to the core.
Eisner Awards committee look out!