Fingers crossed for Kurt in this year (if 2020 was a person, I’d punch it in the face - twice). Best wishes to him.

#6 - Denny O’Neil (primarily Batman)

In the late 80s, a UK publisher called London Editions Magazines began publishing a title called Batman Monthly. It started off by reprinting “The Untold Legend of the Batman” and countless 70s stories. When I got to about 8-9, I started noticing names - such as Denny O’Neil. So in a period of about 2 years, I got to read a lot of stories by O’Neil (various UK annuals also reprinted 70s tales).

I love the fantastical elements of Batman as much as anyone. By all means, have him travel to other planets or fight Darkseid. But I love the solid detective stuff, the relatable character-driven stuff. Like Len Wein (who will be on my list), O’Neil’s Batman never disappointed me. Just as we look for quality assurance symbols on, say, clothes, food or tools, O’Neil’s name on a Batman book was a benchmark of quality for me. He is one of my favourite Batman writers.

Well, f***.

2020 is an unrelentingly hard year, isn't it? Here's hoping Kurt gets the best of care and can get back home soon. 

Coming in at #6, I give you Roy Thomas, of whom Kurt is a collaborator.

Roy's achievements have already been listed before this year, so I'll just focus on what makes him one of my favourites: the sense of history that he brings to his comic-book writing.

Roy always paid attention to the coherence of the make-believe worlds he set his stories in. He made them feel that much more real thanks to his attention to continuity, and often made links that enhanced the overall story. (I admit that toward the end of his most active years he tended to overdo it, but by then he certainly wasn't the only one).

His work on Conan the barbarian was more than just an entertaining and faithful adaptation of the works of Robert E. Howard; Roy definitely helped define the character and managed to turn a reaver and a slayer into an acceptable comic-book hero without betraying his roots. I'm convinced that second to Frank Frazetta, Roy is the one most responsible for Conan's place in popular culture. (It could be argued that Arnold Schwarzenegger was more important, but I'd say that without Thomas's comic-book work, the Milius movie would never have been filmed).

The other series of Roy's that I enjoyed tremendously was Arak, son of Thunder, at least for its first few years. The mix of history, myths and S&S action was a great, great blend and far more than just a DC version of Conan. But in both series, Roy paid attention to details and made things look real.

No wonder that he would edit a scholarly magazine like Alter Ego... Comic-books and history are definitely Roy's forte.

Well wishes to Kurt. Hope you get better there buddy!


#6- John Ostrander

Selected Works: The Spectre, The Kents, Martian Manhunter, Blaze of Glory, Star Wars: Legacy



I came into the works of John Ostrander by luck. My aunt used to give me stacks of DC comics from a friend of hers, lots of mishmash of their books. The ones that stuck out were the Batman, Flash and the Fury of Firestorm. This was during his run with Tom Mandrake. I never liked Firestorm as a character but this was interesting to me and kept on buying it. Became of fan of Ostrander's writing from there. Never really cared for Suicide Squad, even going back to it years later, but in 1992 Ostrander starts us The Spectre (my favorite DC character) and was amazed what did with pretty much a typical DC deux-ex-machina type of character. By refining Corrigan's mission, adding religion, world events, it was DC's best monthly that that should've been a Vertigo title. It was engaging, violent but the writing was extraordinary. From there The Ostrich was a must read and must pick up.

The Kents, Ostrander gives the Kent name a gorgeous and bloody history; teaming up with his Grimjack artist Tim Truman was a slam dunk. It's a book that should've succeeded but excelled more than it should.  Then he goes to Marvel and makes the best Marvel western in 40 years with Blaze of Glory, putting all the Marvel western heroes together for one final last ride into greatness. 

Over at Dark Horse, back when they had the Star Wars license, Ostrander was killing it with Star Wars:Legacy, which is one of the coolest SW books that was put out. Taking place 127 years after Return of the Jedi, more Jedi and Sith fighting. What made it engaging instead of being another lightsaber battle comic, Ostrander again using his theology background to give the Jedi religion a little more depth and meaning. 

I know mostly people here know of his DC works, and that's great but his Dark Horse output is solid; his Grimjack run is legendary. Only wish more people gave him a read, at least the ones outside of this message board  

6. Frank Doyle

From the mid 50's through the early 90's, Frank Doyle wrote roughly half of all Archie stories.

Like, for real.

Nobody knows how many Archie stories he wrote, but it's believed to be somewhere north of 10,000.

So it's hard to cite specific things. In general, he's responsible for a lot of the great, classic Archie stories. But he was also one of the primary writers on Jughead, my favorite Archie character and book. There he gave us not just some of the best funny strips, but he put some heart into it, like in the multi-part arc from the early 80's where Jughead questions why he isn't normal, decides he has to go after girls, and is gently told by Betty that it's okay to just be friends. He also have us Jughead's magic beanie pin, which, when he wears it, makes him irresistible to girls, whether he likes it or not.

Then there's the fact that Doyle also wrote most of my favorite Life with Archie stories, including classics like Nightmare Nursery, Culture Shock, Holocaust, The Thing in the Ghastly Green Box, and Twister.

Oh, and over in Betty and Me, he wrote the great "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper" ongoing satire of TV soap operas. 

Just as De Carlo was the house style for Archie artists, Doyle set the tone for Archie writers - except he was doing almost all of it himself. Just great stuff!

Just last week, I was making my way through the Best of Archie Christmas Comics anthologies from the 1950s up. It's one of the few times I've ever read classic Archie comics with the creator credits attached, and I noticed nearly EVERYTHING was written by Frank Doyle, regardless of decade. I'd had no idea.