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Post by badwolf on May 17, 2022 9:13:50 GMT -5
Can't stand Bob Haney's writing.
Some of the others I am a little familiar with, but I wouldn't put any in top 10.
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Post by MDG on May 17, 2022 9:44:53 GMT -5
Of these, Aragones and Baker are probably highest on my list. In terms of "funny drawing" though--that is, a style that makes the joke even funnier--it's hard to beat Don Martin.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 17, 2022 9:54:57 GMT -5
Day Forty-Two ChoicesWell, here we are, our final slate. After today, we should all have a top ten list, even if you had to use one or more wildcards. Could have gone for hundreds of days with 10+ creators to discuss and consider. 100 comic fans with top 10 lists might have 800 different creators. But decided to end this exercise before it completely wore out it’s welcome. Some might say it did so 40 days ago….. Anyway, when it appeared that I was going to need 42 slates to comfortably cover the basics, it seemed perfect to end this on a Douglas Adams reference and close things out with humor. Thanks to Dizzy D for steering me there! Usual disclaimers that we have discussed a lot of humor creators already, and many of the below are not humor only, and many great candidates will not be listed until you make it so. Funny Books Sergio Aragonés has perhaps drawn more than any human ever. I can’t do him justice with a tiny blurb. Pretty much every issue of Mad has his work, Groo is wonderful, and he has so much other work too. His Poster Plague story directly led to the reason I’m in this hobby, Plop. It pains me to have him as my number 11, and if I made my list tomorrow I’d likely drop Moore or Miller for him. Bob Haney co-created characters such as Metamorpho, the Teen Titans, Eclipso, and Cain. He wrote a lot of stories over the decades, not necessarily meant as comedy, but he epitomized the saying, “comics should be ridiculous”. Kyle Baker worked hard to get into comics, interning at Marvel doing all sorts of odd jobs that led to steady work at both big two. He has worked a lot in cartoons and TV, and I think most probably consider that ~2005 Plastic Man run to be his crowning moment. Skottie Young is building an amazing resume. Just his Oz work and years of constant covers would be enough to make me mention him, but he has so many other titles that he has created or worked on. Mark Russell is likely too ‘new’ and not quite enough output to be considered anyone’s top 10, but I just wanted to shout him out. His DC work has gotten great reviews, and I love the couple recent Ahoy books I’ve sampled of his. So close out your top ten and let us know what comics make you laugh please. I kind of haven't kept up, but I wanted to mention a few of the folks from today. Sergio Aragonés - Would be super high on my list of top creators, but likely not top ten. But he raises an issue I've noticed with the lists and that's a lack of Mad Magazine alumni. I know that Kurtzman, Severin, Jack Davis and Woody were on the lists. And maybe Al Jaffee and Don Martin. But no Will Elder, Mort Drucker, Dick DeBartolo, Frank Jacobs, Larry Siegel, Antonio Prohías, Bob Clarke, etc. Every one would make my top fifty easily. Bob Haney - Man I loved him back in the day. A lot of his work doesn't hold up well for me now, but some still does. Kyle Baker - I'm not a huge fan overall, but his Plastic Man was great and really the only version that was a patch on Jack Cole's. Skottie Young - I really love Skottie Young. He's way up there. Mark Russell - I'm the guy. I'm the one who has to really sit and think about whether he hits the top ten. Right now...I probably put him at about 11 or 12. He and Brubaker are easily my two favorite current writers. Honestly, if DC had continued with their Hanna-Barbera books and I could have gotten something else from Russell in the vein of Snagglepuss or Flintstones he'd be there. And I LOVE the stuff he's doing for Ahoy and others. Not All Robots was brilliant. Honestly it's more about trying to figure out who he'd replace than about whether he should be there. Top Ten (Comic Books): Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Carl Barks, Darwyn Cooke, Warren Ellis, Will Eisner, Garth Ennis, Ed Brubaker, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman Top Ten (Comic Strips): Walt Kelly, Bill Watterson, Berke Breathed, Gary Larson, Milton Caniff, Bill Mauldin, Al Williamson, Charles Addams, Herb Block, Stan Lynde.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 17, 2022 10:03:54 GMT -5
I finalized my list(s) days ago. It/they remain:
Top Ten (comic books):
1. Carl Barks 2. George Carlson 3. Jack Cole 4. Robert Crumb 5. Will Eisner 6. Gilbert Hernandez 7. Walt Kelly 8. Jack Kirby 9. Harvey Kurtzman 10. Victor Moscoso
Top Ten (comic strips):
1. Milton Caniff 2. Roy Crane 3. Fred Gottfredsen 4. George Herriman 5. Walt Kelly 6. Gary Larson 7. Charles Schulz 8. E.C. Segar 9. Cliff Sterrett 10. Bill Watterson
Cei-U! Nuff said!
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Post by tarkintino on May 17, 2022 10:22:52 GMT -5
Joe Kelly: no.Sergio Aragonés: no. If anyone from the humor world--particularly anyone best known for their associated with Gaines, it would be the king of caricature art, Mort Drucker, who knew how to tell a story and populate his panels with a wealth of information you were not going to take in all in one viewing. The same applies to Al Jaffee. Bob Burden: no.Bob Haney: no, but he's in the top 30. Evan Dorkin: no. Ty Templeton: no.Kyle Baker: no.Skottie Young: no.Allie Brosh: nooooo.Mark Russell: no.
____________________________________
My list (Silver/Bronze/Modern): Comic book talent*
Stan Lee John Romita Sr.** John Buscema Neal Adams** Denny O'Neil Roy Thomas Marv Wolfman George Perez Gil Kane Jim Steranko Carmine Infantino. I'm adding the inexplicably overlooked Alex Ross - Ross was one of the most seismic forces to grace comics in--at least--two generations, and among his numerous achievements, was one-half of the force behind some of the best interpretations of superheroes in the form of Marvels and Kingdom Come. Comics have enjoyed some wonderful talents with the brush in the past (Wilson, Romita Sr, Adams, Mingo, Santos, Barr, Fernandez, Larkin, Norem, Fax, Steranko, et al.), but Ross' sublime talent took the medium's defining genre and applied a narrative realism to his scenes (from foreground subjects to paying attention to random background characters out of focus which built his "worlds") never attempted on that level. He's one of the few Modern Age creators to produce work that was not a prisoner of idiotic trends or questionable "creativity" (McFarlane, Lee, Liefeld, Larsen, et al.) and stands the test of time as truly great. In retrospect, there should have been a category for comic book painters, but a number were illustrators (Romita, Steranko, Adams, Santos, et al.), so there would be some appearing on more than one list. Comic strip talent:
Charles Schulz Alex Raymond
*Yes, there's more than ten individuals in my top ten, but their talents are so grand/historic, that none deserve to "just miss the cut," so I have a modified method of inclusion. **Both also had excellent comic strip runs
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 17, 2022 12:23:25 GMT -5
Of the day 42 picks, I'd say only Aragones is in my top tier, albeit not in my top 10. He deserves accolades just for Groo, but - as noted - he's done so much more. Of the rest, Mark Russell is a good writer based what little I've read by him, while Haney is someone who's done some enjoyable work, but neither of them are in my top echelons. I'm only passingly familiar with the rest. So I have to finally use a wild card to complete my top ten and add Roger Stern, who's penned some of my favorite comics stories: in his all-too-brief run on Captain America, as well as his runs on Avengers, Spider-man and Dr. Strange, to name a few, as well as Triumph & Torment, possibly the best Dr. Strange and best Dr. Doom story. (Otherwise, I wanted to give a shout-out to another writer who was never mentioned in this thread, Don McGregor, who comes close to my top ten.)
So my final list is: John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Alan Moore, George Perez, Walt Simonson, John Byrne, Alan Brennert, Will Eisner, Archie Goodwin and Roger Stern.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2022 12:41:54 GMT -5
Day Forty-Two ChoicesWell, here we are, our final slate. After today, we should all have a top ten list, even if you had to use one or more wildcards. Could have gone for hundreds of days with 10+ creators to discuss and consider. 100 comic fans with top 10 lists might have 800 different creators. But decided to end this exercise before it completely wore out it’s welcome. Some might say it did so 40 days ago… A lot of creators I like but aren't in my upper echelon though I can understand why they might be for others. Aaragones, Burden, Haney, Templeton, Baker, Young, and Russell have all produced work I enjoy (if you like Kyle Baker and haven't checked out King David or It Happened at Midnight, do so, and Skottie Young's Oz work with Eric Shanower is a sheer joy to read). So at the conclusion, my top 10 stands at... Moebius, Joe Kubert, Will Eisner, Frank Frazetta, Jeff Smith, Stan Sakai, Alex Raymond, Milton Canniff, Alex Toth and Darwyn Cooke (with Matt Baker at 10a). -M
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Post by Dizzy D on May 17, 2022 16:20:56 GMT -5
Day Forty-Two ChoicesWell, here we are, our final slate. After today, we should all have a top ten list, even if you had to use one or more wildcards. Could have gone for hundreds of days with 10+ creators to discuss and consider. 100 comic fans with top 10 lists might have 800 different creators. But decided to end this exercise before it completely wore out it’s welcome. Some might say it did so 40 days ago….. Anyway, when it appeared that I was going to need 42 slates to comfortably cover the basics, it seemed perfect to end this on a Douglas Adams reference and close things out with humor. Thanks to Dizzy D for steering me there! Usual disclaimers that we have discussed a lot of humor creators already, and many of the below are not humor only, and many great candidates will not be listed until you make it so. Funny Books Joe Kelly co-created Ben 10, has done a lot of ‘serious’ comic writing, but I imagine is best known for his more comedic Deadpool writing. Sergio Aragonés has perhaps drawn more than any human ever. I can’t do him justice with a tiny blurb. Pretty much every issue of Mad has his work, Groo is wonderful, and he has so much other work too. His Poster Plague story directly led to the reason I’m in this hobby, Plop. It pains me to have him as my number 11, and if I made my list tomorrow I’d likely drop Moore or Miller for him. Bob Burden is best known for creating and drawing Flaming Carrot off and on since 1979. Mystery Men, a part of that comic, was made into a pretty fun movie; and he and Art Adams made some wonderful Gumby. Bob Haney co-created characters such as Metamorpho, the Teen Titans, Eclipso, and Cain. He wrote a lot of stories over the decades, not necessarily meant as comedy, but he epitomized the saying, “comics should be ridiculous”. Evan Dorkin would make my list of funniest comic creators just for Milk and Cheese, but he has a ton of other good stuff too. Between his work and Scott Saavedra, I bought a ton of Slave Labor Graphics books back in the day. Ty Templeton’s 1980s Stig’s Inferno will always be a favorite of mine, but he’s been doing steady work in comics ever since. The last Marvel comic I read had some Ty cartoons in the back and they were the best part of the issue. Looks like all of Stig’s Inferno is available for free on his website. He’s fighting cancer right now, ugh. Kyle Baker worked hard to get into comics, interning at Marvel doing all sorts of odd jobs that led to steady work at both big two. He has worked a lot in cartoons and TV, and I think most probably consider that ~2005 Plastic Man run to be his crowning moment. Skottie Young is building an amazing resume. Just his Oz work and years of constant covers would be enough to make me mention him, but he has so many other titles that he has created or worked on. Allie Brosh has a popular webcomic, and keeps popping up on most best lists I’ve been googling. Have her book on order now. Mark Russell is likely too ‘new’ and not quite enough output to be considered anyone’s top 10, but I just wanted to shout him out. His DC work has gotten great reviews, and I love the couple recent Ahoy books I’ve sampled of his. So close out your top ten and let us know what comics make you laugh please. A lot of people I really like.
Dorkin was already in my Top 10.
Like Slam, Russell is very, very high on my list of current writers.
I've read little of Kyle Baker's work (missed out on Plastic Man, only read the pop-music review comics he did with Evan Dorkin and his Damage Control).
Skottie Young: I love his art, not sold on his writing. Ty Templeton: I like his art well enough, again not sold on his writing.
I love Sergio Aragones, but he doesn't make my Top 10.
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Post by commond on May 17, 2022 18:28:59 GMT -5
Shout out to Bob Burden, who never ceases to amuse me with his crazy one-liners. I used to love Groo as a kid, but I couldn't get into it when I tried it again a few years ago.
My top 10: John Buscema, Gene Colan, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Dan Clowes, Kentaro Miura, Takehiko Inoue, Chester Brown
I have two spots to fill. In time, they'll probably be filled by some of the amazing creators I sampled through participating in this thread -- Toth, Kubert, Wrightson, etc -- but for now, I am going to pick two personal favorites that won't make sense to anyone except me. After all, this was meant to be our top 10 creators, not the top 10 creators. So, I'll go with David Lapham for his wonderful Stray Bullets series that spanned the gap between my collecting days in the 90s and my re-interest in comics decades later, and William Messner-Loebs, for always writing beautiful comic book stories.
Final list:
John Buscema Gene Colan Jaime Hernandez Gilbert Hernandez Kentaro Miura Takehiko Inoue Chester Brown David Lapham William Messner-Loebs
Thanks for the fantastic thread, Trevor!
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