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Comics should never be thought of as a writer-focused medium, and in recent years, it's getting harder and harder to make that mistake. Visually groundbreaking new works such as DC Comics' Absolute line have made artists like Nick Dragotta and Javier Rodríguez household names in the comic book world, and according to storied artist-turned-comics-titan Jim Lee, that's a very good thing for the medium.

Lee recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about comic fans making their favorite artists into celebrities, a trend he recognizes from his own time founding Image Comics.

"Certainly in the ‘90s, artists and Image artist ruled the land," says DC's current President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer, and while the interim 30 years (I know, I can feel the age too) inspired a rise in the fame of comics writers such as Tom King Scott Snyder, whose Artist Alley tables at Comic Cons would go on for blocks at a time, the fanbase is now "getting back to a balance where both artists and writers are driving sales, driving fans."

This trend is "is good for the business, it is good for the artform," says Lee, and it's hard to argue his point there. The aforementioned Dragotta's Absolute Batman #1 (created with Scott Snyder) sold a staggering 2 million copies less than two months after its initial release, and has been reprinted no less than 11 times as of this writing. On the non-superhero side of things, artist Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses, which he co-created with James Tynion IV, sold 400K copies in its first six months, a titanic achievement for indie comics. Not only do these comics push copies, they also push the medium, delving into politically and socially relevant topics that art has a responsibility to address.

And by the way this trending is going, more artists with ever raising statuses will get to do more of that every day.

Need more? Here's our picks for the best DC Comics stories of all time, and here's a list of all the free DC comics you can look forward to as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day 2026 and Comics Giveaway Day 2026.