Oh no, not at all! I’m just saying that an artist’s influence usually isn’t on the same level as the writer or editor, especially nowadays in corporate comics. Artists may control the number of Ebay-able two-page spreads, but very few of them have the clout to, say, get a John Stewart ongoing greenlit. And the ones who could are usually too busy working on the high-profile stuff to take a risk on something that’s not a relatively guaranteed slam dunk in sales.

As for the impact of writers vs. artists, I don’t know that I’d put quite so much emphasis on the writers. I think it depends a LOT on the specific writer and his/her relationship with the artist(s). Depending on what the writer is trying to do, s/he may give more or less freedom to the artist to develop story ideas or new characters or what-have-you. Tom DeFalco, I know, took a lot of input from Paul Ryan on their collaborations to the point where DeFalco frequently insisted Ryan get a co-writer credit.

If I can drudge up some ancient history, too, you’ll recall that the first black superhero was introduced because the ARTIST wanted to do a black superhero. The artist doesn’t always have as much say in the plot direction and character design as Kirby did, naturally, but I wouldn’t dismiss them quite so out of hand either.

Writers generally assign race, gender and characteristics, while editors generally assign writers. Most artists simply draw what they’re told, taking liberties with things like framing and pacing, while ocassionally screwing things up thanks to a lack of research or an abundance of ignorance. (see Frusin below)

Most of the people you name here are strictly artists, with little influence over the characters and settings they’re depicting — especially those best known for their work for Marvel and/or DC — though I did have a major problem with Frusin’s take on the black soldiers in the first issue of Loveless, making them look vaguely simian, a baffling artistic decision that was a large part of the reason for me not picking up the next issue or any thereafter.

Also, culturally speaking, there’s a huge difference between South Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, Chicanos and Latinos, and the majority of artists in comics seem to have sprung from the first two groups.

PS: I Love Sergio Aragones!

I also would cite Sergio Aragones but he was technically born in Spain; he didn’t move to Mexico until he was only a year or two old.

Shhh…. ;-)