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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 13, 2020 15:45:47 GMT -5
I’m surprised to see Roy Thomas this low on your list. Well, these are favorites, but, in terms of overall comics, I have many who rank ahead of Roy, for various reasons.. However, I am not a fan of ranking creators or books, as it is very much apples and oranges. If that surprises you, I have to warn you that a lot of the Bronze Age superhero writers do not turn up on this list, with only 12 spots. Not that their work didn't measure up; but, the specific choices provided me with material that was not only entertain but also thought provoking. Len Wein and Marv Wolfman aren't going to be here, even though I love much of their work. I think Marv is highly underrated on Daredevil and I enjoyed many of his other books. Same with Len. Len wrote some great little stories, here and there, at DC & Marvel, aside from Swamp Thing. heck, there is no New X-Men without him. Now, if we turned this into a Top 50 or 100 kind of thing, that is a different story, though I would be loathe to rank from best to worst, so much as, I thought of this guy first, than this one and this one and the next...until I was at 50. So, while I think Eliott Maggin is probably the best Superman writer ever, certainly the best to ever write Luthor, he won't be appearing, neither will Chris Claremont and, (sacrilege!) not Stan Lee. Heck, I'm a major fan of Denny O'Neil; but, didn't make the list because of space. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 13, 2020 18:44:15 GMT -5
For the first day of Classic Comics Christmas I give unto thee... Dan Slott on She-Hulk's Shoulders While I first encountered Slott in the pages of Batman Adventures it wasn't until I read his She-Hulk that I really stopped and took notice. I always thought of She-Hulk as a derivative female alternative to the Hulk and never paid her much mind but Slott really made her unique, relatable and fun. Rather than your typical, action orientated superhero comic Slott's She-Hulk was instead a comedic, slice of life book about She-Hulk practicing law around superhero issues. Want to sue J. J. Jameson for liable? Call She-Hulk. Skrulls impersonating your boss? She-Hulk. The Juggernaut gave you shellshock? Yup, She-Hulk. It was just an amazingly fun, tongue in cheek concept that I re-read atleast once a year.
So why twelfth place on my list? Although I absolutely adore his She-Hulk...I really haven't liked much of his work since but if you're only going to have one work to hit you can't go wrong with She-Hulk. |
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 13, 2020 18:54:16 GMT -5
12. Tony Isabella  (from The Shadow War of Hawkman #1) Hawkman wouldn't have made my list of favorite characters way, way back in the earliest days of this annual tradition were it not for Tony Isabella working his writer's magic to turn one of my least favorite DC characters into a favorite, back in May 1985. I was, at the time, familiar with Tony's name, as he had begun writing for the pros shortly after I began collecting comics, but in those days, I didn't pay as much attention to ranking favorite writers as much as following characters. If pressed, I'd have remembered Tony as the guy who turned Greer Nelson from The Cat into Tigra, the guy who'd created Black Lightning, a character I tried at his debut but didn't follow, but mainly for... It, the Living Colossus! "It" came along when I was the perfect age to enjoy it. This first installment is special to me, because I remember staging my own rendition of Tony's script recorded on my family's new reel-to-reel tape recorder...man, I wish I still had that tape! No, this is not the greatest example of Tony's work, but I don't think any prominent American comic book writer can beat Tony for kaiju appreciation. Tony ranks with me mainly for It and for Hawkman, but his second run on Black Lightning is right up there as probably the best of his work by most standards--even if it's not my specific favorite, it's great stuff! And we all owe him a debt of gratitude for preventing DC from publishing The Black Bomber...but darned if I wouldn't love to see the no-doubt long-buried unpublished first issue of that travesty to see what so appalled Tony to move him to his campaign to stop its printing (to paraphrase, he told DC that they'd be facing a mob with pitchforks if they published that...and he knew, because he'd be leading that mob!). Tony's standing has also risen with me for his online internet writing, and I always enjoy his reviews, his righteous progressive passion, and his appreciation for his fans. One of my biggest regrets was not being able to travel to meet him at a con in Pensacola a few years back...I even had myself a terrific custom t-shirt with the "It" logo. ("It" being possibly the only series conceived only to justify the use of a great logo design, "It" having been used on a one-shot adaptation of a Ted Sturgeon swamp monster story that sold through the roof but couldn't be continued).
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 13, 2020 19:24:19 GMT -5
12. Kurt Busiek Comics resume: Marvels, Avengers, Thunderbolts, Power Company, Untold tales of Spider-man among other books. Of all my picks this year, Kurt Busiek is the only writer that gained his prominence after the 90’s. On the strength of his more than solid runs on The Avengers and his own creation Astro City , he edges out another 10 or so solid creators that I sadly had to drop off my list. Kurt first got on my rader because of his groundbreaking Marvels mini series that made Alex Ross a superstar. But maybe he’s most famous for his creator owned Astro City series that he published with Image comics. In that series he takes the trope of giving the perspective of the person on the street popularized by Silver Age Marvel comics to another level. Much of his narration for AS focuses on the people of the city rather than the heroes that populate it. It was refreshing. While he had many good artists work with him like George Perez, Alex Ross and Brent Anderson, he never took a back seat to their work. His writing was a major factor in the sales of his books and not a result of having the “hot” artist working with him. I also liked that he had respect for the characters that he inherited. He always will get credit from me, for trying to resurrect Hank Pym in the pages of his Avengers run after he was made the wife beater of the comics world. The famous Astro City 1/2 issue " The Nearness of you" gives a peak into what happens to the regular person after a crossover makes his marriage to never have existed. It was a sweet and different type of ending to your oft repeated reset after a every hero in the universe team up.  And then Kurt could turn around and write punch ups with the best of them. Avengers # 22 ( 1998) I won't even mention the dream JLA/ Avengers team up also drawn by Perez.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 13, 2020 20:06:39 GMT -5
I don't think that'll be the last we'll see of Mr. Busiek
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 13, 2020 20:31:14 GMT -5
I’m surprised to see Roy Thomas this low on your list. Well, these are favorites, but, in terms of overall comics, I have many who rank ahead of Roy, for various reasons.. However, I am not a fan of ranking creators or books, as it is very much apples and oranges. If that surprises you, I have to warn you that a lot of the Bronze Age superhero writers do not turn up on this list, with only 12 spots. Not that their work didn't measure up; but, the specific choices provided me with material that was not only entertain but also thought provoking. Len Wein and Marv Wolfman aren't going to be here, even though I love much of their work. I think Marv is highly underrated on Daredevil and I enjoyed many of his other books. Same with Len. Len wrote some great little stories, here and there, at DC & Marvel, aside from Swamp Thing. heck, there is no New X-Men without him. Now, if we turned this into a Top 50 or 100 kind of thing, that is a different story, though I would be loathe to rank from best to worst, so much as, I thought of this guy first, than this one and this one and the next...until I was at 50. So, while I think Eliott Maggin is probably the best Superman writer ever, certainly the best to ever write Luthor, he won't be appearing, neither will Chris Claremont and, (sacrilege!) not Stan Lee. Heck, I'm a major fan of Denny O'Neil; but, didn't make the list because of space. Well said. I'm not criticizing your list , I just thought that you really liked Roy more given your coverage of All Star Squadron. As for me, While this is a favorites list, I have to consider historical importance as a factor for my choices. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 13, 2020 21:11:21 GMT -5
Well, these are favorites, but, in terms of overall comics, I have many who rank ahead of Roy, for various reasons.. However, I am not a fan of ranking creators or books, as it is very much apples and oranges. If that surprises you, I have to warn you that a lot of the Bronze Age superhero writers do not turn up on this list, with only 12 spots. Not that their work didn't measure up; but, the specific choices provided me with material that was not only entertain but also thought provoking. Len Wein and Marv Wolfman aren't going to be here, even though I love much of their work. I think Marv is highly underrated on Daredevil and I enjoyed many of his other books. Same with Len. Len wrote some great little stories, here and there, at DC & Marvel, aside from Swamp Thing. heck, there is no New X-Men without him. Now, if we turned this into a Top 50 or 100 kind of thing, that is a different story, though I would be loathe to rank from best to worst, so much as, I thought of this guy first, than this one and this one and the next...until I was at 50. So, while I think Eliott Maggin is probably the best Superman writer ever, certainly the best to ever write Luthor, he won't be appearing, neither will Chris Claremont and, (sacrilege!) not Stan Lee. Heck, I'm a major fan of Denny O'Neil; but, didn't make the list because of space. Well said. I'm not criticizing your list , I just thought that you really liked Roy more given your coverage of All Star Squadron. As for me, While this is a favorites list, I have to consider historical importance as a factor for my choices. As much as I like Roy as a writer, some books are more "me." All-Star Squadron was that kind of book, as it mixed history with superheroes; specifically, those heroes of the past whose adventures I hadn't really read.. I was always fascinated by the JSA characters, since I usually only saw them in the JLA/JSA crossovers. I read any comic with them I could get my greedy little hands on (which wasn't many, during childhood). So, to see Roy come out with a book that mixed those same fascinating characters with actual historical events, I couldn't help but love the book. Invaders was the same way, though it was looser on the actual history than All-Star Squadron. Also, since there were only a couple of actual crossovers, aside from covers, of the Invaders characters, Roy could pretty much make it up as he went, while with All-Star Squadron, he placed self-imposed limits of being true to his beloved All-Star Comics and mostly true to the other Golden Age appearances (though he massaged some time periods to bring characters together). On the other hand, I have never really collected the Conan stories. I've read some of them (I had the quickly out of print Essentials volume, along with a few here and there); but never had a great affinity for the material. i much prefer Leiber and Moorcock to Howard and enjoyed Mike Grell's more swashbuckling and lighthearted style on Warlord. I've read all of that. Heck, back in the day, I had probably read more Dagar stories than Conan. Man, if we had made this a Top 50 or something grander, I could have included Donald Glut and his Gold Key material! |
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Post by foxley on Dec 14, 2020 2:05:33 GMT -5
12. Bill Willingham Willingham is a writer I have mixed feelings about. I find his personal politics abhorrent. However, if he keeps his political views out of his work, he is an absolutely brilliant storyteller. (The train wreck that is DC Universe: Decisions shows what happens when he is allowed to use established characters as his personal mouthpieces.) Much of early work is out of consideration for this list as he did his own illustration for it. But he earns my no. 12 spot on the strength of one work: Fables. The central concept is both brilliant and simple: fairy tale characters living in hiding undercover in modern day New York. And from this premise, Willingham spins an engaging long form story. I'm sure I don't need to extol the virtues of Fables to most of the readers of this list. But the highest praise I can give Fables is this. Over the years, I have loaned the first 10 issues to a large number of people. And everyone of them, regardless of whether they were comic book fans or not, have loved them. And most have gone on to by the collected editions. And that is the mark of a master storyteller.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2020 3:44:17 GMT -5
12. Garth Ennis Preacher, The Punisher, Hitman, Hellblazer  In September of 1997 I had just turned 17 years old and started frequenting a new comic shop in my hometown that instead of emphasizing on the pop superhero books of the time, broadly displayed independent and Vertigo titles. Most other shops had a tiny mature reader’s section that featured a few issues, and while I’d been buying some Sandman hardcovers through the Science Fiction Book Club and picked up random issues of Hellblazer here and there, it was nothing like this. The floodgates were open and Preacher was my comic. I added it to my pull list and for the remainder of it’s run, I bought it monthly. Once I tracked down the first 28 issues across two trade paperbacks and 11 singles, I started to branch out and see that if I liked this guy Garth Ennis’s stories on Preacher, I’m sure I’d like to see what he was doing on his other book Hitman. That one was a little bit harder and it took lots of trips to other comics shops to find the first 18 issues. But I managed to get them all. It would go like this until I was able to read his collected Hellblazer stories, his Legends of the Dark Knight Batman stories, and even his Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe one-shot. Going forward, his comics would be a staple of my pull list for over a decade. It doesn’t always hold up as I get older (The Boys – I’m sometimes looking at you) but his black humor and ultraviolence were exactly what I needed when I was 17. Even though I still loved and read superhero comics, he was a master at sometimes poking fun at them too. And there is the very specific view of religion in many of his works. Without getting too deeply into it, I found a lot of food for thought in the pages of his comics. I haven’t read nearly as many comics by him in the last few years, but I’d like to crack open some more of the war books he’s done in particular, as I find myself liking the genre more as I get older. I also want to revisit his Punisher Max run, as I stopped halfway through and never went back. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 14, 2020 5:05:37 GMT -5
I thought about Garth Ennis but ultimately, I only really loved Hitman. I have the entire run of the Boys but It was a little over the top in places for me. Maybe too spot on realizing what the world would be like if Superbeings populated the earth.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,199 
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Post by Confessor on Dec 14, 2020 6:29:28 GMT -5
Nice to see you including Bill Willingham, foxley. He just fell off the end of my list, but, based on Fables alone (the only thing of his I've read), he's a brilliant writer. No entries from Slam_Bradley or Prince Hal yet?  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 14, 2020 7:55:31 GMT -5
I can see that this is going to be a particularly interesting list this year... no repeats into the 2nd page? (though there are quite a few people here that will be on my list later)
12. Dan Abnett
I first became aware of Abnett when he was co-writting with Andy Lanning... the do some great cosmic, but with re-juvenating Rich Rider and Guardians of the Galaxy and their re-boot of the Legion. Since their team broke up, Abnett has penned the very creative 'Wild's End' (a sort of combo between Wind and the Willows and War of the Worlds) and written Aquaman, both with were excellent.
While he's far from the first name that popped to mind when composing this list, he's never written anything that's disappointed me, and always done a good job keeping the characters he borrows in character and believable to what has gone before.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 14, 2020 7:56:20 GMT -5
Nice to see you including Bill Willingham, foxley . He just fell off the end of my list, but, based on Fables alone (the only thing of his I've read), he's a brilliant writer. No entries from Slam_Bradley or Prince Hal yet? Still under consideration for me..... does Fables alone get you on the list? We'll see! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 14, 2020 7:59:50 GMT -5
Bendis missed my list. I was even afraid his inclusion would be met with hostility. Bendis does what he does really well, IMO... I really have liked what I read of Powers, and his Ultimate Spidey is really good. The problem comes is the voice he used for Peter in Ultimate Spidey is the only voice he has.. he's not really capable of writing other characters, so we he shoe horns that into to others it's cringe-y. I was, at one point, mad at him about Avengers, but I've gotten over it. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 14, 2020 10:41:13 GMT -5
Nice to see you including Bill Willingham, foxley . He just fell off the end of my list, but, based on Fables alone (the only thing of his I've read), he's a brilliant writer. No entries from Slam_Bradley or Prince Hal yet? For the most part when I get on the internet on the weekend it's on my phone, which I don't find conducive to making long posts. I actually did try to get on using my laptop yesterday, but it decided to have a fatal software error so it's going to the doctor later this week. But I'll have days one and two posted in a bit. |
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