Who are your favorite comic book authors and why?

[DialHForHagai]

1. Grant Morrison - he seems to understand the medium on a whole other level. He's just brilliant. Everything isn't what it seems, but below the surface. See: Flex Mentallo.
2. Warren Ellis - also understands the medium on another level, and while he's also a great storyteller, he's also great at social commentary, criticism and so forth. See: Transmetropolitan, Nextwave.
3. Kurt Busiek - can find a new angle or spin on everything, mostly superheroes. See: Astro City, Superman: Secret Identity, Superstar: As Seen on T.V.

[Batmil]

1. Garth Ennis, everything I've read of him so far has just been absolutely stunning. He exactly fits my comic book needs.
2. Alan Moore, his work is so well thought out. The plottwist in Watchmen and the semi-open ending of the Killing Joke for example are really comic book brilliance. He really makes you rethink everything you know about a character.
3. Warren Ellis - like DialHForHagai said above me, he really writes a great story and I love his social criticism/commentary. Definitely one of the more involved writers out there. Planetary is one of my favorite books ever.

[PLEDGE]

I'll list my favourite writers in no particular order with my favourite story by them.

Ed Brubaker (Man Who Laughs)
Alejandro Jodorowsky (The Incal)
Alan Moore (Watchmen/V For Vendetta)
J.M. DeMatteis (Amazing/Spectacular Spider-Man)
Warren Ellis (Planetary)
Geoff Johns (Flashpoint/Superman)

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

Alan Moore- From Hell, LOEG, V For Vendetta, Top 10, Watchmen, The Ballad Of Halo Jones, Whatever Happened To the Man of Tomorrow?
Garth Ennis- Hitman, Punisher MAX, War Stories/Battlefields (it's really the same series with a different name), Preacher
Ed Brubaker- The Fade Out, Catwoman, Gotham Central ("Unresolved" is GC's actual best story; sorry, "Half A Life"), Sleeper, The Last Of The Innocent
Jaime Hernandez- The Death Of Speedy Ortiz, Wigwam Bam, Chester Square, Penny Century, The Love Bunglers (Locas is shot through with great work, but these are the cream of the cream)
Paul Chadwick- aw frell, the entirety of Concrete

[The Whovian]

2. Jonathan Hickman
Why? His run on Fantastic Four and New Avengers are the only ones I've been lucky enough to read so far but both were/are top notch.

Good man

[The Whovian]

2 Ed Brubaker. I wasn't planning on placing him so high but after carefully evaluating my favorite storues I realized dus how much I love his writing. His Sleeper, Criminal and Daredevil also rank very high in my favorites list.

His run on DD was amazing

[The Whovian]

Walter Simonson - This is solely based on his Thor work. A masterpiece!! The rest of his stuff is also good, but pales by comparison. (Can't wait for his Orion Omnibus in March!) The way he used the supporting characters in every issue of Thor, and how he did action and built up suspense is without equal in the industry.

Just curious, have you read his FF run or his current work on Ragnarok?

[The Whovian]

PAD--Any writer that can take b-list characters like X-Factor and Aquaman and make them interesting and a joy to read is a great writer. I'll read anything by PAD and 99% of his stuff l like (Supergirl, Captain Marvel and Fallen Angel just to mention a few). And I haven't even mentioned his legendary run on the Hulk yet.
Mignola--Hellboy and BPRD are unbelievable. Just unbelievable.
Hickman--the scope of his work on FF and the Avengers runs is simply magnificent. That's not even mentioning his work on all of his other books, most notable one of my favorites right now, East of West.
Brubaker--Loved, LOVED his work on DD.
Simonson--THE best Thor writer ever. And his work on other books like the FF, Orion and currently Ragnarok is brilliant.
Bendis--I've never laughed so hard and at the same time teared up while reading his Ult Spider-Man. Some of his stuff can be silly and over the top, but most of it is amazing (see Avengers).
Geoff Johns--His work on the Flash and JSA first and then GL is some of the best ever.
Grant Morrison--I'm including him on my list for the most part because of his fantastic run on Batman. I'm in the minority here on not liking his Invisibles and some of his other work, but based on his Batman work alone (along with some other books), I have to put him on my list. His JLA was very, very good too.
Scott Snyder--again, what he has done with Batman is truly awesome. He could have really screwed up the character but he's told some really cool stories and his characterization is spot on.
Busiek--for his work on Avengers and T-Bolts.
Byrne--if for no other reason that his brilliant run on the FF. One of my all time favorite comic book runs. Of course he's had some other cool books like AF as well.
Miller--for his classic run on DD and Batman (DK, not All-Star).
James Robinson--he wrote one of my favorite runs, Starman. Perfect, amazing and fantastic book.

[AstroWolfboy]

Just came here to see how many would pick Brian K. Vaughn and Brian Michael Bendis. Not Nearly as much as I thought.

[AJpyro]

Peter David aka PAD: Spiderman 2099, X-factor, Dark Tower
Neil Gaiman: Death, Sandman, Books of Magic
Simon Spurrier: X-men Legacy
Brian K Vaughn: Runaways, Ex Machina, Saga
Miller: Daredevil
Geoff Johns: Green Lantern, JSA
Bill Willingham: Fables
Jamie Delano: Hellblazer
Keith Giffen/JM Dematteis: Justice League International
Chris Yost: Scarlet Spider, X-force, X-23
Kieron Gillen: Young Avengers, Journey Into Mystery, Uncanny X-men

[Mike]

My Top 5:
Stan Lee -- I don't think anything really needs to be said
Len Wein -- The Hulk, Spider-Man, Swamp-Thing, The Fantastic Four
Roger Stern -- Captain America, Spider-Man, The Hulk, The Avengers
Bill Mantlo -- The Hulk, The Micronauts, ROM, Marvel Team-Up
John Byrne -- The Fantastic Four, Superman, Alpha Flight, Namor, West Coast Avengers

[Canucked]

Alan Moore
Mark Waid
Kurt Busiek
Johnathan Hickman
Brian K Vaughn
Nick Spencer
Robert Kirkman

[Dr. Jay]

Brian K. Vaughn--just kills everything he has done. Y the Last Man, Ex Machina, and now Saga. Probably the three best series in the past fifteen years. He doen't tell "continuing adventures", he tells stories full of impact and emotion.

Alan Moore--even today with his latter day lesser work, his stories have more ideas and logic than anybody else. I read his Crossed book and its obviously not his best work, but damn, if it didn't blow my mind by the end. Turned the whole zombie apocalypse thing on its head. And that's his "hack" work.

Matt Fraction--excluding his Marvel stuff. His independent stuff is light years ahead of his mainstream work.

[downinthezero]

Matt Wagner: Not everything he writes is great. (His recent Shadow: Year One has been one of the few books that I simply couldn’t finish.) However, almost all of his work tends to resonate with me. Grendel in particular has been part of my entire comic reading history. I started getting heavily into comics in 1986, at the ripe age of 10. Reading Grendel: Devils Legacy as a kid had a huge impact on me, and I can still pick up new nuances from it when I read it now at 38.

Warren Ellis: His work on Planetary, and Authority got me interested in superhero books again. Transmetropolitan got me thinking about politics. Lazarus Churchyard got me into cyberpunk. Those works remain eternal favorites of mine.

Mike Mignola: His research into various folk tales and monsters from around the world is inspiring. There’ve been plenty of times that I’ll read something in Hellboy, and be interested enough in the lore behind it that I’ll dig further into where he might have got his inspiration from.

Simon Roy: He hasn’t written a ton of stuff yet, but all of it is good. He ranges wide with futuristic sci-fi topics like his work on Prophet with Brandon Graham, or Jans Atomic Heart, all the way to the paleolithic supernatural tales in Tiger Lung. So far everything I’ve read by him has been really damn good.

Cullen Bunn might be on his way to becoming a new favorite. I’ve only had the opportunity to read The Sixth Gun and Harrow County so far, but I’ve been really impressed. Every issue of Harrow County is a joy thus far.

I keep thinking of non-american books that I consider a favorite, and I think of things like Akira, or Nausicaa, or The Metabarons. Otomo, Miyazaki, and Jodorowsky do incredible feats of worldbuilding in these epic and self-contained works.

[Balakin]

Matt Wagner: Not everything he writes is great. (His recent Shadow: Year One has been one of the few books that I simply couldn’t finish.) .

weird, the dislike Shadow Year one gets. I just freakin' love that book.