List your most underrated/overrated comic book writer and artist

[Timothy Hunter]

Talbot did LOTDK Mask, which is a very underrated Batman story. It actually has two versions, the original published version and director's cut version in Batman Dark Legends TPB.

Do you know what the difference is?

[Timothy Hunter]

Overrated
Jeff Lemire
I used to think Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth was the best Vertigo comic since The Sandman, if not it was still easily the best post apocalyptic comic book I’d read, blowing Y the Last Man & The Walking Dead out of the water. The Nobody was also a great comic as well, but the quality of his works just got poorer and poorer as time went on, Sweet Tooth rapidly declined in quality, his run on Justice League Dark was underwhelming, his Teen Titans Earth One was terribly paced, his Constatine run is trash, and his Extraordinary X Men run likewise.

Ed Brubaker
Ed might write a very sturdy plot, but he is a poor character writer. Most of his work lies in the crime genre, so the majority of his protagonists are criminals, or “bad people”, and I have to tell you, his characters are terrible, his characters have absolutely no charisma, they are bland, uninteresting, unlikeable little brats, and it’s not like Brubaker doesn't try to make them sympathetic, he gives them missing siblings, dead loved ones, and I just don’t care, I’m rooting for the villain to kill the hero in his stories.

Paul Chadwick
I might be a little too unfair on Chadwick, because I haven’t read a lot from him, but his I felt his Concrete story was trying to be groundbreaking and innovative, trying to subvert a lot of the tropes of the comic book medium, but it just felt sappy and cornball.

[Kirby101]

Couldn't disagree more about Brubaker. Characters are his forte. And Velvet, Fatale and Fade Out are not about criminals. He writes more realistic and complex characters than almost anyone else around.

[Timothy Hunter]

Couldn't disagree more about Brubaker. Characters are his forte. And Velvet, Fatale and Fade Out are not about criminals. He writes more realistic and complex characters than almost anyone else around.

Maybe I should've explained myself, YES obviously Ed Brubaker doesn't Always write about criminals, I was just more or less saying that Brubaker writes these heavily flawed and gritty characters, but in my opinion forgets to give the audience a reason why we should root for these characters. It's just a personal problem I have, while I do like flawed characters, I just really can't relate to most anti-heroes. It's the same problem I had with Preacher, while Jesse Custer is a beloved character, he flushed a cat down the toilet, and that's irredeemable.

[Kirby101]

Well, not your cuppa, but not overrated.

[Crazy Diamond]

Overrated

Geoff Johns - He does a lot of the same things that writers like Bendis and Winnick do but somehow gets a pass for it. He also reduces characters to one trait and then hammers on it until they became little more than pale, flat shadows of themselves. It's like he wants the reader to take his point A to point B story very seriously but the dialogue and dumb shit happening on panel just makes me laugh instead.

Joss Whedon - Everyone has to talk in snark no matter the situation. He's supposedly great for his handling of women but they are mostly white action girls. Only thing of his I liked was Toy Story and that had several writers on it. It's not that I didn't want to like his work but there's something about how he writes that just gets on my nerves.

Darwyn Cooke - I liked Wolverine/Doop but The New Frontier was a big let down. It was a standard superhero story with a few "RELEVANT" moments that quickly got pushed out of the way to fight yet another generic monster. Also, I'm not a huge fan of DCs Silver Age so the nostalgia for it just went over my head. His art was alright but kinda...flat? It was like looking at vintage ads at times.

Dan Jurgens - Only liked this guy when he was writing Superman in the 90s and that seemed to be the only character he cared about because when he wrote Justice League it was a dull affair for the most part with the book being turned into "Superman and a bunch of losers nobody cares about". It was like the past 3+ years of JL never happened. Going back to standard superherocis was a huge step backwards which only hurt JL until Morrison came along.

Dan Slott - I liked Great Lakes Avengers. Everything else I've read by him was dull and obsessed with "fixing" things to how they "should" be. How sad.

Jim Starlin - He created Thanos. I'll give him that. His take on the New Gods was dire.

Gail Simone - I respect the work she's done behind the scenes to make the comics industry a better place for women but her writing doesn't do it for me anymore. I don't know if I just outgrew it as I read writers like Roberta Gregory, Alison Bechdel, Marguerite Abouet, and Marjane Satrapi.

I'll do underrated later.

[poorzero]

Bill Mantlo, especially his Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man work from the 80s. I think it's only overlooked because the entire era was an embarrassment of riches for Spider-Man. I'm surprised Ock/Owl Gang War hasn't been collected yet, at least not in color.

best answer, i think. as much as we may feel JMD's SPECTACULAR run is under rated, people still TALK about it. nobody talks about mantlo's spidey work, and it was incredible.

OVER.

matt fraction. good like, twice.
BKV. similar to OP, i would like him more if he weren't so overtly praised. he'd be fine if he were a punch-up guy on a network sitcom. he's not very good at making comics.
roy thomas. literal stan lee fan fic.
g. willow wilson. to echo what somebody else said; deserves a lot of credit for ms. marvel's success, but lets be honest - that is some roy thomas levels of playing it safe. should be considered more in with a dan jurgens. a dependable hand, i think.

UNDER.

alan moore: i think he's so incredible that it becomes fun to take shots at him. nobody has ever done it better, or at the least, brought more to the table (in the context of mainstream superhero titles). he really is underappreciated even considering all his accolades.
alex zalben. this guy wrote like six comics for MARVEL. they are all good and better than a lot of their 'critically acclaimed' titles.
every single artist. the fan culture is writer obsessed. these people do amazing work & we often don't care so much due to our love of the characters and continuity. i include myself in this.

[dancj]

Overrated
<snip>
Paul Chadwick
I might be a little too unfair on Chadwick, because I haven’t read a lot from him, but his I felt his Concrete story was trying to be groundbreaking and innovative, trying to subvert a lot of the tropes of the comic book medium, but it just felt sappy and cornball.

I agree. Concrete is just dull. I did enjoy the Vertigo miniseries he did with John Bolton though.

[dancj]

Well, not your cuppa, but not overrated.

Overrated basically means: Other people like them more than I do.

So "not your cuppa" and "overrated" are pretty much the same thing.

[dancj]

Overrated
<snip>
Darwyn Cooke - I liked Wolverine/Doop but The New Frontier was a big let down. It was a standard superhero story with a few "RELEVANT" moments that quickly got pushed out of the way to fight yet another generic monster. Also, I'm not a huge fan of DCs Silver Age so the nostalgia for it just went over my head. His art was alright but kinda...flat? It was like looking at vintage ads at times.

He's a great artist, but I do agree about his writing.

[zevious zoquis]

Overrated basically means: Other people like them more than I do.

So "not your cuppa" and "overrated" are pretty much the same thing.

Not really. "Overrated" suggests the thing is generally appreciated to a degree that it doesn't deserve. if one were to suggest that Brubaker is overrated due to not writing good anti-hero protagonists...fair dinkum. But saying he's overrated because you (not you specifically, just an example) don't like stories that feature anti hero protagonists isn't really a valid thing...

[Kirby101]

He's a great artist, but I do agree about his writing.

Have you read his Parker books?

And the thing about New Frontier is it was a "standard Silver Age" story at a time when comics became different and darker.
The reason it was so good was he was able to re-capture the spirit of the Silver Age while adding modern "relevant" elements.
The greatness in it is that it seem simple while actually being more complex.

[Timothy Hunter]

Overrated

Geoff Johns - He does a lot of the same things that writers like Bendis and Winnick do but somehow gets a pass for it. He also reduces characters to one trait and then hammers on it until they became little more than pale, flat shadows of themselves. It's like he wants the reader to take his point A to point B story very seriously but the dialogue and dumb shit happening on panel just makes me laugh instead.

Joss Whedon - Everyone has to talk in snark no matter the situation. He's supposedly great for his handling of women but they are mostly white action girls. Only thing of his I liked was Toy Story and that had several writers on it. It's not that I didn't want to like his work but there's something about how he writes that just gets on my nerves.

I sort - kind of - not really disagree with you about Geoff Johns, he's not like Brian Michael Bendis or a Judd Winick where everything they writes now-a-days is dreck, he's really a mixed bag, I found The Sinestro Corps War to be a failure in the scope it was trying to accomplish, his Justice League farcical, but I found Green Lantern Secret Orgin while not exactly necessary, since there was already a Hal Jordan Origin Story, very stellar, his Superman Origin Story, while being even more redundant than Green Lantern, a very sweet, wholesome story, and I found his run on Hawkman, a character I originally thought to be a joke, but have recently realized his narrative potential, so honestly Johns is a mixed bag.

Holy cow I didn't know Joss Whedon co-wrote Toy Story!

[Timothy Hunter]

Overrated
J Michael Straczynzski
J Michael Straczynskii is a terrible writer. While I pray his television work is better, the majority of what I read when it comes to Michael's comics work is complete trash. His Marvel Knights Squadron Supreme series, (I haven't read the MAX series) is wannabe Watchmen dribble. His Superman Earth One series took away all of the charm and personality of the character and made him into a bland, brooding simpleton. Superman Grounded thought it was groundbreaking and "Never been done before in the history of The Man of Steel" but in actuality just covered familiar ground and felt thoroughly unnecessary. His Before Watchmen Nite Owl, started out inoffensive but turned into a overblown mess, with a ludicrous anti religious message that would surely would make any atheist into a Christian. The only good work I have read from him is Before Watchmen Dr. Manhattan.

[Timothy Hunter]

Underrated
Mike Baron
He wrote the utterly fantastic science fiction superhero series "Nexus" with Steve Rude, which is sort of like Star Trek meets the Punisher meets The Sandman. Teeming with complex characters, I would highly recommend it. The reason why independent superhero comics from the 80's such as Grendel and Zot being well remembered while this comic is relatively forgotten I simply cannot comprehend.

Greg Land
While I don't particularly like his art style, I think he gets too much resentment, after all he might trace the characters in his story, but at least he draws backgrounds, which I can't say about many artists.

Steve Rude
While he is not exactly my favorite artist he's got his own completely unique style and you've got to respect that.

Gilbert Hernandez
While Gilbert Hernandez certainly isn't underrated when it comes to alternative comics (I just recently read Daniel Clowes's early issues of Eightball and it is obvious Clowes is doing a Gilbert Hernandez pastiche with his writing) but when reading a paperback collecting most of his short stories, I realized that his writing style would be perfect for a oddball mainstream comic book.