Any Europeans?
Möebius, Joborowski, Peeters?
I've been thinking about this some more, just because the question of how to determine greatness interests me deeply.
With writers who primarily illustrated their own work (Eisner, Cooke, Tezuka, Spiegelman, Barks, etc.) how do we separate artistic innovations and storytelling from their skill as a writer?
Picking someone for a list seems to suggest one of two things.
Either they have a prolific output that includes several of your favorite stories.
Or their output is more limited, but of such high quality that what remains is among the best ever. Homer's reputation lies on two epics.
Granted, comics doesn't seem to have that many writers defined by one or two great works. Even the great writers who aren't as productive like Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman have over 100 issues worth of material. The writers who are judged primarily on the strength of one work (Sim, The Hernandez brothers, Barks) tend to stick with those characters for a very long time.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
I mentioned Pierre Christin, Rene Goscinny and Jean-Michel Charlier, in my post about under-sung writers. I'd also add Vittorio Giardino and Edward P. Jacobs (Blake & Mortimer). Peeter is harder to nail down, since the Cities of the Fantastic is very much Schuiten's thing. I haven't seen any English interviews or translations that break down how the stories are developed. Christin is a little more obvious in looking at his stories with Bilal and Bilal's solo work. Kind of like Lee and Kirby. Also, you can see similar elements when you look at Valerian, and see Christin's touches.
Definitely those 3 as well for me.
Never cared much for Milligan. None of his storylines really caught my attention and back in the day I used to buy all of Vertigo.
In my book Eisner has some of the most beautiful layouts and is a true master of the artform but his writing, well, IMHO was a bit lacking.
Really Hergé? I know Tintin was influential but one of the great writers?
I've never understood people's fascination with his stuff.
Stan Lee was much more than an editor for Kirby. Just see any of The King's stuff sans The Man. Something is lacking. Jack had wondrous imagination but Stan understood people. Stan on the other hand made magic with Ditko, Romita and others.
I think it's the opposite. Jack was the idea man, Reed. Stan was the heart and soul guy, Ben.
Goscinny should definitely be considered. Maybe I think less of someone like Barks because I grew up with Goscinny. The man co-created Astérix, Lucky Luke and one of my faves, Iznogoud. Brilliant and hilarious, definitely the one true monstre sacré of the French bandes dessinées.
Last edited by Mr.Majestic; 09-07-2016 at 12:55 AM. Reason: anal
1. Stan Lee
2. Alan Moore
3. Brian K Vaughan anyone?
I can only say the best that I've actually read, so here are my 3 favorites:
Greg Rucka
Ed Brubaker
Bill Willingham
Pull List: Barbaric,DC Black Label,Dept. of Truth,Fire Power,Hellboy,Saga,Something is Killing the Children,Terryverse,Usagi Yojimbo.
How can you expect me to name only three!? That is madness!
I mean there's Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Dan Abnett, Marv Wolfman, Neil Gaiman, Mark Waid, Dan Jurgens, Gail Simone, Brian Azzarello, Tim Seely, Tom King, Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, Chip Zdarsky, Robirt Venditti, Steve Gerber, Dennis O' Neil, Keith Giffen, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Seigel, Alan Moore, Jeff Lemire, Darwyn Cooke, Mark Miller, Frank Miller, Kevin Eastman, J. Michael Straczynski, J.M. Dematteis, Ryan North, Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Paul Levitz....
Yea, there's alot of writers I like.
Last edited by GreenLanternRanger; 08-31-2016 at 12:31 PM.
There's a Time For Peace, and Then There's a Time To Punch Nazi Scumbags in the Face!!
The Greatests (keep in mind that these guys are NOT my favorite comic book writers, as they are all off-putting to me for a number of reasons, but they are undeniably talented):
1. Alan Moore (WATCHMEN)
2. Stan Lee (MARVEL)
3. Dave Sim (CEREBUS)
My Favorites (so far):
1. Neil Gaiman (THE SANDMAN)
2. Grant Morrison (ALL-STAR SUPERMAN)
3. .... not sure ....
Stan Lee, Eiichiro Oda and Akira Toriyama
DC: Action Comics, Batman, Batman/Superman, Batman and Robin, Batman Off World, Detective Comics, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, JG: Flash, JL vs. Godzilla, JSA, Nightwing, Shazam, Superman, Titans, Beast World
Marvel: Amazing Spider-Man, Fall of the House of X, Fantastic Four, Resurrection of Magneto, Spectacular Spider-Men, Ultimate Spider-Man, WolverineL Madripoor Knights, X-Men
Its who can create characters successfully and who can take existing characters and re-invent them. Loving all the love for Stan Lee. For every Spider-Man, he's also got a Striperella. But I still think he's earned the respect he gets from hundreds of thousands of comic fans.
1) Stan Lee
2) Frank Miller
3) Brian Michael Bendis
My case for Bendis, because he hasn't been mentioned yet - his writing and take on the characters is so innovative and popular that its the basis for the entire MCU and his influence is everywhere in all comics.
Every day is a gift, not a given right.
I put my favourites:
-Alan Moore
-Garth Ennis
-Kentarō Miura
The best three writers, I don't know. Too much great writers to choose only three of them.
Last edited by Orujo-man; 10-26-2016 at 01:24 PM.