Who are your favorite comic book authors and why?

[awayne83]

Bendis is on my short list, for sure. While I don't disagree with a lot of people's qualms with his writing, the bottom line is when I look at my shelf there's a ton of stuff by him and I've enjoyed the heck out of most of it.

[John Aston]

Currently, I'm reading:

Ed Brubaker: It's the noir, man. In fairness to artist Sean Phillips, I include him as co-author in their many project.
Robert Kirkman: Between Walking Dead, Invincible and Outcast, I get satisfying reads with oddly diverse sensibilities.
Brian Bendis: However, I'm on hiatus with his Marvel work. Have been reading him since Jinx. Love his writing style especially on his personal work and single-character titles.
Mark Waid: Solid. Even on titles I have not interest in, he delivers. Going to miss his Daredevil.
Brian Wood: A very underrated writer. Look forward to another persona series after The Massive.
John Byrne: I've enjoyed way too much of his body of work to not include him. Rock solid super-hero storyteller.
Jason Aaron: His grittiness and gray characters in his personal work are the best. On the other hand, has a good sense of humor, too.
Frank Miller: Nobody comes close to Sin City.
Darwyn Cooke: the Parker series. Like Miller, he has a firm grip on making the comic medium work for him.
Terry Moore: Off the radar but top notch writer/artist on long form story telling especially on Rachel Rising.
Brian K. Vaughn: Chock full of ideas.
Warren Ellis: Love his swagger.
Matt Kindt: a complete genius.
Stan Sakai: can deliver a "PG" story that's actually compelling for all ages that isn't intelligence insulting.
Greg Rucka: When he's good, he's effing great. I'm missing his spy comics.


Writers who I enjoy but only certain things:
Neil Gaiman for Sandman
Alan Moore for V, Watchmen, Top 10, Tom Strong and From Hell
Garth Ennis for Preacher, Hitman, Demon and Battlefields
Chris Claremont for his X-Men run

[Joshua]

Garth Ennis is my favorite person in comics. I buy everything he does. Preacher, Hitman, Hellblazer, Punisher, Fury and the list goes on and on. I really liked Red Team that he did at Dynamite, too.

Alan Moore. I just think that he's one of the few creators that has always put out high-quality work. Yeah, Swamp Thing and Watchmen but his work on some of those 90's Image books are great. His Supreme is so vastly underrated. The ABC books were great, too.

I like a lot of creators from when I got into comics as a young kid. Anything Bill Mantlo worked on, I tend to like. Roger Stern's Marvel work. George Perez. John Buscema. Starlin. Englehart. Giffen, PAD.

[John Aston]

I dig Englehart, too. Love his Green Lantern run. Love his Silver Surfer issues. I'm warming up to his Avengers stuff through the Essentials -- he's not as refined, yet.

[Mr`Orange]

This is such a broad question that after three attempts to answer it and categorise my favourite writers I've decided to just list the ones where I will always buy what they release:


Kurt Busiek
Jonathan Hickman
Ed Brubaker

You know you will always get high quality work by these guys and there is an honourable mention for Kelly Sue DeConnick who is very close to joining these three.

[Thanos]

Jim Starlin - Thanos Quest, The Price, Dreadstar, and the Infinity Gauntlet
Mike Grell - Shaman's Tears, The Warlord, Green Arrow and Jon Sable
Keith Giffen - Lobo, Thanos
Neil Gaiman - Sandman, Death
Evan Dorkin - Milk and Cheese

[Batarang]

Nail Gaiman: couse SANDMAN... i love endless family, all these larger than life god like immortal beings and you go hell and beyond ! just brilliant. Truely epic.
Alan Moore : couse The Killing Joke... everyone loves him bacuse of Watchmen and it's a really solid piece but why i like Alan Moore is The Killing Joke... it's unbeliveble... mind blowing, kind of messed up (i really dig this ) one of the first Batman stories i have ever read... and when i read it for the first time like 15 years ago or so i thought '' wow... Batman is like the HBO of comics man ! Joker is solid villain... he really gave a damage to Batman and Batfamily... wow...'' later on as i read more Batman, i was like '' oh... only the killing joke is at that level, they tone it down later on... bogus !! '' and ofcourse they undone the killing joke... but eh... such is comics...
Jeph Loeb: couse The Long Halloween
Dawyn Cooke: couse The New Frontier
Frank Miller couse The Dark Knight Returns and Year One
Geof Johns: couse The Teen Titans and Green Lantern and Batman: Earth One
Chuck Dixon: couse Nightwing, i love his Nightwing run...
Paul Pope: couse Batman: The Year 100
Scot Snyder: couse The court of owls... such a good Batman story, classic Batman comics elements reinvented in a fresh and slick way...
Grant Morrison: couse his Animal Man, Batman run and All Star Superman... wow, just wow... best Superman story ever.
Mark Waid: couse Kingdom Come, one of best Superman stories, probably number two after All Star Superman of Morrison in my book...
Ed Brubaker: couse of his Iron Fist run... another wow... lol.. really really good comics.
Matt Wagner: Sandman... say Crime Noir, this is it.

[Abe]

A too long list to fit the demand of the first poster, but there's not that much names in each following categories :

1) The Classics - from Silver to Modern Age
-Stan Lee with Kirby Ditko or Romita Sr : FF, Spider Man, Dr Strange... Add everything you want to the list... including Kirby and Ditko alone and not in Marvel !
-Byrne with Claremont or alone : X-men, FF but I like also Alpha Flight or Namor - got to read his non-Marvel works too obviously...
-Miller - Daredevil, Dark Knight...
-Moore - Watchmen, Miracle Man..

2) The Moderns - I'm reading what they are currently publishing
-Mignola & friends ! for everything in the Mignolaverse... Hellboy is the only comic book I've read for years, and the Mignolaverse constituted my first "pull-list". It's the core of it till today.
-Hickman - Almost everything (except Secret Soldiers and Manhattan Projects), his FF run got me back to Marvel and his version of the JL in New Avengers made me buy a lot of DC ! Thanks Jonathan !!!
-Morrison -New X-Men (Here comes tomorrow) : almost the only Marvel book I bought between 1990 and 2010, Multiversity, FF 1234, Animal Man... Should re-read Final Crisis... and get me his Batman books...

And I know that I really should read more of those other contemporary writers :
-Brubaker - Books of Doom, Selina's big score...
-Busiek - Marvels - Justice
-Waid - Kingdom come
-Cooke - New Frontier

But why get stuck in the Silver Age and what followed ? So, going back in time..
The Golden Age : I need to read closely those great names : Bob Kane, Bill Everett, Jerry Siegel. I'm just collecting right now, not really reading, but I bet they are real geniuses.

But history starts before the Super-Heroes, so here come :
-Alex Raymond - Flash Gordon, since 1934...
-Windsor Mc Kay - Little Nemo in Slumberland - everything is in it. And the most part is more than a century old : since 1905. The Greatest !

And why stay in the US ? Other places, other geniuses.
From Belgium and France (where I come from)
-Hergé - Tintin
-Franquin - Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe, Les Idées Noires, Cauchemarrant
-Jean Giraud / Moebius - everything. (Jodorowski is not a necessity)

From Japan (France used to show anime on TV since the 70's ! And some of them were co-productions)
-Hayao Miyazaki - Nausicaa
-Katsohiro Otomo - Akira
-Shirow Masamune - Ghost in the shell

[Götterdämmerung]

Jim Starlin: His art and writing really made the Warlock saga unforgettable imo.
Marv Wolfman, though I really just admire his work on Tomb of Dracula, I thought that comic was simply amazing. My favorite in the 70s.

Just getting into Miller with Daredevil Born Again. I'm freaked out at how good it is.

Steve Gerber and Howard the Duck, nuff said.

[zevious zoquis]

I too love Mignola and all things Mignolaverse. I really enjoy his "universe building." It helps that i absolutely adore his art as well of course...

Others would be...

Remender's creator-owned stuff.
Eric Powell's Goon
Roy Thomas' Conan