Whenever I think of my all-time favorite comic writers, three names pop in my head: Alan Moore, of course, and two lesser appreciated guys, Mark Gruenwald and John Ostrander.
Who are your favorite comics writers?
Grant Morrison, Bendis, Matt Fraction, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Ed Brubaker, Chris Claremont, Larry Hama, Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Jason Aaron, Neil Gaiman, J. Michael Stracynzski, Roy Thomas, Jeph Loeb (only w/Tim Sale. Strictly!) Darwyn Cooke, Greg Rucka, Barry Windsor-Smith, Dan Slott, and more that I’m forgetting at the moment.
Of the above list, I will follow a select few to whatever book they write, regardless of my previous opinion of the character/book. Those select few are:
Bendis, Morrison, & Fraction.
Been more than 10 years since I answered this one. My answers were based on what I was reading at the time.
Bendis’ work on Ultimate Spider-Man and his Avengers run hold a very special place in my mind. Great at dialogue, great at pacing. And he’s fun at conventions. He’s an easy pick.
Morrison’s grand opus of DC Comics, that culminated in Final Crisis is one of the finest arcs I can think of. Morrison’s DC comics work alone is incredible. Add in NEW-X-MEN, and he’s this… guru.
Fraction’s Iron Fist and Hawkeye were stellar, but he actually got better once he started working on Sex Criminals with Zdarsky. Once Fraction wrote from his own heart, he got sooo much better. His Jimmy Olsen book is goddamn gold.
Alan Moore’s mainstream work has an undercurrent of cynicism and anger that turns me off. The whole deconstructionism period is kind of about breaking characters and explaining why they’re silly. And there’s an anger in that. A resentment towards the characters he grew up loving, and it’s coming through in his recent interviews where he casts further scorn on the genre and characters that he is most well known for writing. His best writing was on his own titles, especially the ABC Comics titles like Tom Strong and the League. “From Hell” is his masterpiece in my mind. Alan Moore is always gonna be the best writer in comics. But a lot of his work turns me off. I read Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and his compilation of DC stories. I own From Hell because of how good it is. That’s enough for me.
Neil Gaiman has become so much more prominent in the years since he was regularly writing comics. Those of us that read him from the beginning told ya so.
Kinda meh on JMS these days. And he’s a dick at conventions. Like he’s a bit miffed about signing comics. He’d rather you ask him about Babylon 5 or something.
Jeph Loeb and the late Tim Sale remains one of the greatest partnerships in the history of comics.
Darwyn Cooke is severely missed. Parker is sooo good.
Paul Dini should write more ongoing books, because he’s a got a very enjoyable voice for his characters. Watch Batman: the Animated Series again. The Paul Dini episodes are the gems.
Preacher got made into a show. The Boys is the best show on Amazon Prime. It’s a shame that no one figured out how to correctly adapt his Punisher run before Marvel sent Frank Castle out to pasture. Garth Ennis is goddamn brilliant. Especially his later work, focusing on Punisher and Nick Fury. Fucking amazing.
Busiek and Waid are still easy picks for a good read.
Roy Thomas wrote my favorite era of Marvel.
BWS is still a god.
Larry Hama is a longtime favorite.
Claremont needs to learn to shut up and let his artists tell the story.
Jason Aaron is like the marvel architect these days, and we’re lucky for it.
Hickman is a beast too, for that matter.
Brubaker wrote the best Captain America run I can think of.
Haters of Geoff Johns need to reread his Green Lantern run.
King’s Batman was flawless.
Mignola has quietly built one of the best universes in all of comics.
And, lastly, Mark Millar. His early 2000s stuff has aged weirdly. He’s still writing the same bombastic, fun comics though. And he’s still fun to read. And you can’t look at the box office and tell me his ideas don’t make money.