Top 50 Comic Book Writers

[Captain Nostalgia]

I suppose your both right. It's hard to break a writer down as soley Marvel or DC in today's world.

I do like Mister Mets breakdown though. As I to classify Morrison, Gaiman & Moore as being primarily DC, with the others split, or more towards Marvel.

It is heavily biased towards American super hero comics though. I'm not seeing Judge Dread jump out on anyone's bibliography.

Anyhow looking forward to seeing whose next on the list, cheers.

[caj]

Updated 11.02.22

[Uncanny X-Man]

Loving that Chris Claremont and Jim Lee are both number 4

So top 3 writers: Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore I guess, not necessarily in this order.

[caj]

Sad that Len Wein probably won't make the list.

[Mister Mets]

I suppose your both right. It's hard to break a writer down as soley Marvel or DC in today's world.

I do like Mister Mets breakdown though. As I to classify Morrison, Gaiman & Moore as being primarily DC, with the others split, or more towards Marvel.

It is heavily biased towards American super hero comics though. I'm not seeing Judge Dread jump out on anyone's bibliography.

Anyhow looking forward to seeing whose next on the list, cheers.

I probably took the fun out of guessing by looking at previous lists, and determining who were obvious inclusions who hadn't popped up yet.

I am a bit surprised about Claremont over Miller, although he is quite prolific, obviously supported by the X-fans here and has had a reappraisal of late. I strongly recommend the Twitter account the Claremont run.
https://twitter.com/ClaremontRun

[Captain Nostalgia]

Sad that Len Wein probably won't make the list.

Agreed. He should have been at least in the 40's alongside Gerry Conway.

6. Mark Waid - I think Geoff Johns should be higher than Mark Waid, but to go back to my previous argument, Waid did switch over to being primarily Marvel (often seen by DC fans as the one that got away. He will always be remembered fondly for his epic 90's Flash run)

5. Frank Miller - I think you could make a very good argument that DC owes it's current existence to Frank Miller, considering that the only thing that turns a profit these days at DC is Batman related titles.

He changed the course of Batman with the Dark Knight that would turn the brand into a sales juggernaut. Sure, Batman had been moving towards a more darker tone since the 70's, but it was Frank Miller that took the character to the next level, and made the Batman we know today......not to mention he wrote a damn good Daredevil.

4. Chris Claremont - I can't argue with that. He basically set the X men on course to be the most dominant brand in comics for decades.

[caj]

Updated for the final time with #1-3.

[Captain Nostalgia]

That was a quality list I was happy with it, and surprised the top 3 were primarily DC writers....but maybe that's why I always liked DC?


Couple of notes:

Chuck Dixon should have been on this list. He's not on this list because of politics, and that's a load of BS. Do I like who he associated with, no. Do I think he should be cancelled because of it, absolutely not.

Shots go out to my favourites who didn't make the list, James Robinson, Kevin Smith, Brad Meltzer, Len Wien



3. Neil Gaiman - You know I've never read the Books of Magic, I should really check it out. Renowned writer, creator of Caoraline, enough said.

2. Grant Morrison- Oddly enough in all my decades of collecting comics I never crossed paths with Morrison, until lately with Green Lantern....I can't say I was overly impressed. I did enjoy the whole Blackstar gothic vampire part though.

1. Alan Moore - The man who created John Constantine. I own the first print of Killing Joke, have the Watchmen, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but his Swamp Thing was a little before my time. Another one I will have to check out someday.

Thanks to the person who posted this, I love comic book writers, cheers.

[Mister Mets]

On the whole question of who should have been included, we should first determine who should be excluded. Then we've got to consider others with a major claim to have written some of the best comics ever: Jodorowsky, Harvey Kurtzman, Al Feldstein, Herge, Osamu Tezuka, Brian Talbot, many of whom are excluded because their work is just not familiar to typical CBR posters who tend to follow post-silver age superhero/ superhero-adjacent (IE- Vertigo) comics.

Looking at the list, there aren't that many who were mainly outside of that genre: Jamie Hernandez at 45, Carl Barks at 41, Art Spiegelman at 39, Will Eisner at 35, and I think that's it.

[JackDaw]

On the whole question of who should have been included, we should first determine who should be excluded. Then we've got to consider others with a major claim to have written some of the best comics ever: Jodorowsky, Harvey Kurtzman, Al Feldstein, Herge, Osamu Tezuka, Brian Talbot, many of whom are excluded because their work is just not familiar to typical CBR posters who tend to follow post-silver age superhero/ superhero-adjacent (IE- Vertigo) comics.

Looking at the list, there aren't that many who were mainly outside of that genre: Jamie Hernandez at 45, Carl Barks at 41, Art Spiegelman at 39, Will Eisner at 35, and I think that's it.

I would have loved Bryan Talbot to have made both writer and artist list, but knew he wouldn’t make either, simply not enough American work.

Glad Alan Moore came top, for sheer variety of his work. (I wouldn’t see him primarily as a DC writer…his 2000AD work like Future Shocks, Ballad of Halo Jones, Time Twisters and indie work dwarfs his DC work in volume, though, of course, DC work was top quality.

[Mister Mets]

I would have loved Bryan Talbot to have made both writer and artist list, but knew he wouldn’t make either, simply not enough American work.

Glad Alan Moore came top, for sheer variety of his work. (I wouldn’t see him primarily as a DC writer…his 2000AD work like Future Shocks, Ballad of Halo Jones, Time Twisters and indie work dwarfs his DC work in volume, though, of course, DC work was top quality.

When I saw four Talbot comics on a best of list from a British magazine, I realized I've got a major blind spot with British talent who didn't come over to American comics (as well as some of the earlier work by major talent like Grant Morrison's Zenith.)

My comments on Moore being DC were more in a Marvel VS DC context.

That said, if all we had of Alan Moore was his DC work, he'd probably be in the top ten thanks to Watchmen, the most acclaimed Superman stories ever, the Swamp Thing run, Batman: The Killing Joke and assorted other classics.
If all we had of him was his British/ Indie work, he'd probably make the Top 50 with Miracleman, From Hell, Halo Jones, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, A Small Killing, Top Ten, Tom Strong and Promethea. I'll count ABC comics as falling in the British/ Indie category even if it was for Wildstorm.
V For Vendetta would be in both categories, since it started out in a British magazine but was finished by DC.

[JackDaw]

When I saw four Talbot comics on a best of list from a British magazine, I realized I've got a major blind spot with British talent who didn't come over to American comics (as well as some of the earlier work by major talent like Grant Morrison's Zenith.)

My comments on Moore being DC were more in a Marvel VS DC context.

I’m laughing at myself, because your comments reminded me he’d actually done a fair bit more DC work than I was crediting him with.

I always tend to forget Watchmen is DC, simply because set in separate universe. And “Killing Joke” had forgotten about completely!

[Mister Mets]

One placing that made me happy is JM DeMatteis in 22nd place. In the last few years, he has gone from underrated to properly rated. I'm quite pleased to see him with this level of recognition.

[CaptCleghorn]

I would have loved Bryan Talbot to have made both writer and artist list, but knew he wouldn’t make either, simply not enough American work.

The Tale of One Bad Rat was all I've read and that story is enough.

[Mister Mets]

It's interesting to see what happened compared to the 2018 list, to see how tastes have changed.

50. Carl Barks –197 points (1 first place vote)- Up nine

49. Brian Azzarello – 202 points (5 first place votes)- Off the list

48. Gilbert Hernandez – 205 points (1 first place vote)- Off the list

47. Gail Simone – 208 points (1 first place vote)- Up ten

46. Jaime Hernandez – 214 points (3 first place votes)- Up one

45. Matt Fraction – 223 points (2 first place votes)- Off the list

44. Keith Giffen – 230 points (1 first place vote)- Down 6

43. John Ostrander – 242 points (4 first place votes)- Down 3

42. Steve Gerber – 250 points (6 first place votes)- Off the list

41. Jeph Loeb – 253 points (5 first place votes)- Up 8

39 (tie). James Robinson – 255 points (4 first place votes)- Off the list

39 (tie). Greg Rucka – 255 points (3 first place votes)- Down 9

38. J.M. DeMatteis – 265 points (5 first place votes)- Up 16, good going JMD

37. Will Eisner – 268 points (6 first place votes)- Up 2

36. Gerry Conway -293 points (4 first place votes)- Down 13

35. Tom King – 302 points (10 first place votes)- Up 11

34. Paul Levitz – 304 points (5 first place votes)- Down 9

33. Rick Remender – 334 points (1 first place vote)- Down 13

31 (tie). Dan Slott – 345 points (4 first place votes)- Down 9

31 (tie). Scott Snyder – 345 points (5 first place votes)- Up 6

29 (tie). Walter Simonson – 383 points (6 first place votes)- Down 2

29 (tie). Len Wein – 383 points (5 first place votes)- Off the list.

28. Robert Kirkman – 394 points (1 first place vote)- Down 9

27. Jeff Lemire – 406 points- Same

26. Jim Starlin – 456 points (2 first place votes)- Same

25. Mark Millar – 488 points (3 first place votes)- Down 4

24. Steve Englehart – 521 points (5 first place votes)- Down 8

23. Jack Kirby – 553 points (12 first place votes)- Same

22. Denny O’Neil – 595 points (10 first place votes)- Up 1

21. Jason Aaron – 604 points (5 first place votes)- Down 7

20. Roger Stern – 623 points (4 first place votes)- Up 3

19. Jonathan Hickman – 675 points (13 first place votes)- Up 11, good going

18. Marv Wolfman - 725 points (6 first place votes)- Down 2

17. Peter David – 794 points (12 first place votes)- Down 4

16. Roy Thomas – 814 points (14 first place votes)- Down 3

15. John Byrne – 921 points (16 first place votes)- Down 1

14. Brian K. Vaughan – 997 points (10 first place votes)- Up 3

13. Garth Ennis – 1,070 points (15 first place votes)- Down 2

12. Ed Brubaker – 1,143 points (12 first place votes)- Down 2

11. Kurt Busiek – 1,253 points (19 first place votes)- Up 2

10. Brian Michael Bendis – 1,303 points (11 first place votes)- Down 2

9. Warren Ellis – 1,307 points (14 first place votes)- Down 9

8. Geoff Johns – 1,539 points (16 first place votes)- Down 2

7. Mark Waid – 1,727 points (31 first place votes)- Up 1

6. Neil Gaiman – 1749 points (18 first place votes)- Down 3

5. Frank Miller – 2,363 points (22 first place votes) Same

4. Chris Claremont – 2,898 points (77 first place votes) Same

3. Stan Lee – 2,954 points (179 first place votes) Up 4

2. Grant Morrison – 3,143 points (82 first place votes) Same

1. Alan Moore – 4,736 points (173 first place votes) Same

Newcomers...
Al Ewing in 44th place, Chip Zdarsky in 42nd, Spiegelman in 39th place, Tom Taylor in 36th place, JMS in 34th place, Kieron Gillen in 30th place.

Some changes can just come down to dumb luck, although in other cases it's understandable.

Warren Ellis had a major scandal. Gaiman had some smaller stuff, while Stan Lee got a lot of coverage after his death (and probably had bad coverage a few years ago with the sexual harrassment claims) so the swap makes sense.

This is a very X-Men heavy forum, and Hickman told some ambitious X-Men stories so his rise makes sense.

Kirkman may have a weaker reputation the longer we don't get regular new issues of Walking Dead or Invincible.

The biggest increase is DeMatteis and while I welcome it, I'm not sure why. Is is that he has different fan-bases (Spider-Man+ bwahaha Justice League + supernatural indie stuff) which leads to wide support? Or is there something I missed?