I alway thought Judge Parker was a dull and badly drawn also ran as far as soap opera strips go. It wasn't until I learned to appreciate the Milton Caniff influence style of Dan Heilman on his strip before this, The American Adventure, that I started to see how well drawn the Heilman years of this stip were. Okay, it is still dull as dishwater, but although it is not as impressive as the work of Alex Toth, it is up there with George Tuska as far as well composed and well drawn graphic comic story telling goes. The wya he places his figures, the way he uses his black, you'd almost wish the sories themselves were going somewhere as well.
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Heilman's style in the early Judge Parkers was a sort of cross between Caniff and Ken Ernst. The art really started getting stiff after Harold LeDoux took over.
When LeDoux retired about a decade ago, Uruguayan artist Eduardo Barreto brought a fresh appearance to the strip. (Around the same time, DC veteran Graham Nolan reinvigorated Nick Dallis' other creation, Rex Morgan, MD.) Unfortunately, Barreto fell ill and was forced to give up drawing Judge Parker, which was taken over by Mike Manley.
Yes and in a couple of interviews LeDoux started badmouthing Heilman as well, saying ge ws a lazy hack who let LeDoux do all the work and only inked it, but the strip's style stays he same until he left in the early sixties and then drops dramaticly.
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