Day One gives us the writing stylings of 

12.  Greg Rucka  (Stumptown, Whiteout, Queen & Country, Gotham Central) 



To the best of my recollection I discovered Rucka when he started co-writing Gotham Central with Ed Brubaker.  It was the last Batman related book I followed and was a pretty decent police procedural with a bit of super-hero trappings.  I immediately sought out Whiteout and Queen & Country and loved both of them.  But it was first two volumes of Stumptown that really cemented his spot here.  Just a great pair of detective mini-series' with a well realized protagonist and a decent (if small) supporting cast.  Dex Parios and Portland, Oregon are simply a match made in noir heaven.  I will admit that the third volume didn't work super well for me though. 

I haven't followed Rucka's work at DC since Gotham Central, because mostly "Big Two" comics don't interest me any more.  And the more intimately they're tied in to ongoing events/continuity the less they interest me.  But his independent work continues to be high level.  I liked Lazarus quite a bit, though I kind of lost track of it.  And I liked the first volume of Black Magick.  

But he's here on that early noir work.  And I'd love a return.  

Yay! @slam_Bradley posts. Hopefully he can do recaps!

Random Thoughts on Day One.  Because it's a thing I do (at least until I run out of time) and apparently a few crazy people want me to do it. 

Warren Ellis - I suspect we will see him again on other lists.  In fact, I can guarantee it.  

Paul Dini - I honestly didn't even think of Dini.  He wouldn't have made my list.  But Mad Love is pretty brilliant.  And I remember liking the Zatanna series he did. 

Brian Michael Bendis - I haven't read that much of Bendis' work.  He started writing after I'd largely stopped reading super-hero books.  I did like Jinx and Torso.  And I liked the first couple of arcs of Alias.  So I'm not opposed to him.  But he's largely a blank spot for me in what would likely be considered his major work (outside Alias). 

Alejandro Jodorowsky - European comics are largely a blind spot for me.  I'm slowly fixing that issue, but there are so many comics and so little time.  I know that I should read The Incal.  Maybe this will get me off the stick. 

Max Allan Collins - I went back and forth on Collins.  I agonized.  Possibly more than anyone else on or off my list.  The thing is that I really love a lot of his work.  I'm currently reading the Nate Heller books and they are compulsively readable.  And as for comics I LOVE Ms. Tree and Road to Perdition.  The problem is that for every comic of his I love, there's one I hate.  I think his Batman run is among the worst ever.  Wild Dog was a pathetic slog.  If we were going to a top 20 or 25 Collins would make the grade.  But for me his worst work drags down his best a bit. 

Scott Gray - Day one and we get a writer that I've never encountered even in passing.  So, well played, driver1980.  

Nicola Cuti - I definitely find E-Man to be one of the books from that time period that remain readable.  I really liked Spanner's Galaxy when I bought it but haven't read it since that time.  

Roy Thomas - Thirty years ago Thomas would have made my list.  Probably fairly high.  Twenty years ago he might have.  But I honestly find a lot of his work a slog now.  Not that I've read much of it recently.  But every time I've tried I just can't make it through.  It was great in the era.  But I've moved on.  

James Robinson - Robinson was one of the last to fall off my list.  I love Starman and I really like The Golden Age (though I haven't read it in quite some time).  But ultimately I haven't read enough beyond those to allow him to hit the top twelve. 

Eddie Campbell - I think the only thing of Campbell's I've read was that four issue run of Hellblazer.  And it's been so long that I honestly don't remember it.  I keep meaning to re-read Hellblazer.  But it's a hell of a commitment.  

Jan Strnad - I first encountered Strnad on the odd issue of Dalgoda, but I haven't read those for eons.  I did like that first Sword of the Atom mini, but have no idea how it would hold up.  

John Broome - At this point I find most "Silver Age" DC books to be unreadable.  They just don't work for me at all.  But Broome was an important figure.  So good for him.  

Dan Slott - To my knowledge I've never read anything by Dan Slott.  I'm sure he's just perfectly lovely as a writer.  I just have very limited interest in current super-hero funnybooks.  

Tony Isabella - This is one of the fun things about this event.  Sometimes things come up you never would have expected.  I'm sure that Mr. Isabella is a perfectly lovely person.  I just have always found his work to be the definition of journeyman.  

Kurt Busiek - Busiek is another one that was on my longer list based on his work on Astro City.  I have not, however, read enough of his other work to be able to get him over the hump and into the top 12.  Astro City #1/2 is easily one of my favorite stories of all time though.  

Bill Willingham - I really liked the first 75 issues of Fables.  I thought it has seriously diminishing returns after that.  I really haven't read much else by him outside the Fables-verse.  He is definitely someone I have to separate the artist from the art though.  

Garth Ennis - We'll be seeing him again. 

Dan Abnett - Again, someone who I know the name, but have never read any of his work.  Resurrection Man came out when I was still buying some super-hero funnybooks but I never got around to reading it.  

Thanks for thinking of me, Confessor. 

I've been a bit busy lately and just didn't have the concentrated time I needed to do right by the writers I've chosen.

I will be around ASAP, though.

I'm around a sap.

There's a difference.

Yeah, I caught that right away - I figured you were talking about Slam...

Late to the party, but I'm finally here.

12. Doug Moench

Master of Kung Fu
 

Moench may have been the first writer for comics whom I encountered who looked at a comic story (with the peerless help of Paul Gulacy) as if it were a movie unspooling on newsprint so completely that he also incorporated a soundtrack, the Rumours album by Fleetwood Mac. He was also skillful at incorporating other strands of popular culture, from James Bond and Sherlock Holmes (Reston) to Marlon Brando (Larner) to Groucho Marx and W.C. Fields (Hackstabber and Warmflash) to Doc Savage and his band of adventurers.

I wouldn’t call Moench a quotable writer, at least not during the several years I read him on MOKF; he often used two adjectives where one or none would have been better, and he could get a little too heavy on the navel-gazing with Shang Chi, but he wasn’t a faux-poet; he wrote stories. They were full of plots and sub-plots and counter-plots, heroes – anti-heroes, really, and villains, complex villains, who spoke in distinct voices, conflicts that arose naturally as a result, and dialogue that moved the story along. Holding a Doug Moench comic, you could settle in for a nice long read, not a five-minute leafing-through from pin-up page to pin-up page.

For me, Shang Chi’s story culminated in the superb saga running from #s 45-50 (and which, truth be told, leaked a bit beyond those arbitrary borders) in which each chapter was narrated by a different character, which made for a nice twist on things. Moench weaves an epic tale full of epic themes (the conflict between father and son; the sacrifices required of a hero; the saving of a world, for starters), vivid supporting characters, and a protagonist who could and did actually grow and change over the course of the series.

If only other “world-builders” brought the same craft and commitment that Moench brought to Master of Kung Fu.