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Top five writers actively working today

Had a conversation on another thread about what writer is better than another. So I'm curious. What's your top five list look like. Limitation is "working today". I'll define that at as a writer that has had a title out in the last 3 months. Aug, Sept or Oct 2013.
Here is my list:
1) Mark Waid (Daredevil, Indestructible Hulk)
2) Greg Rucka (Lazarus)
3) Joe Hill (Locke & Key)
4) Brian Vaughn (Saga)
5) Brian Bendis (All New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men)

I hesitate to put Bendis on the list because I tend to rant about how over-rated he is but I have to concede his current X-Men stuff has been superb. Hickman (avengers) and Fraction (Hawk-guy) would make a top ten list along with Jason Aaron (Scalped) Andy Diggle (Uncanny has been super-solid) and maybe James Robinson (Earth 2)

Comments

  • RickMRickM Posts: 407
    Fables is one of the most well-regarded series of all time, yet Bill Willingham never makes it on the top writers' lists. Not sure why.

  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318
    RickM said:

    Fables is one of the most well-regarded series of all time, yet Bill Willingham never makes it on the top writers' lists. Not sure why.

    I don't read Fables. He didn't make my list. You can put him on Your list if you want.
  • playdohsrepublicplaydohsrepublic Posts: 1,377
    edited October 2013
    My list (and what I'm reading by them now)

    Mark Waid (Daredevil, Insufferable)
    Ed Brubaker (Fatale, Velvet)
    Brian K Vaughn (Saga, The Private Eye)
    Matt Fraction (Hawkeye, Sex Criminals)
    Greg Rucka (Lazarus, and eagerly awaiting v3 of Stumptown).

    This is a "no particular order" kind of list and very much of the moment.
  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318

    My list (and what I'm reading by them now)
    Mark Waid (Daredevil, Insufferable)
    Ed Brubaker (Fatale, Velvet)
    Brian K Vaughn (Saga, The Private Eye)
    Matt Fraction (Hawkeye, Sex Criminals)
    Greg Rucka (Lazarus, and eagerly awaiting v3 of Stumptown).

    This is a "no particular order" kind of list and very much of the moment.

    yeah. mine was "off the cuff" so to speak, too. You might get a totally different list were I feeling more introspective and less impulsive. or if it was a Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays...
  • luke52luke52 Posts: 1,392
    In no particular order...

    Brian K Vaughn - Saga's still the best book out there right now.
    Scott Snyder - Batman continues to be great.
    Matt Fraction - Hawkeye is great and I'm really enjoying Sex Criminals at the moment.
    Jeff Lemire - Animal Man's been getting some grief lately, but I'm still loving it.
    Greg Pak - Batman/Superman is great and Hus kickstarter book Code Monkey Save World is really enjoyable too.
  • Mark Waid (Daredevil)
    Jonathan Hickman (Avengers)
    James Robinson (Earth 2)
    Bill Willingham (Fables)
    Brian Bendis (New X-Men)

    And, because I couldn't squeeze them into the list...

    Kurt Busiek (Astro City)
    David Petersen (Mouse Guard)

    (In fact, since Robinson has left Earth 2, I might push Busiek upwards...)
  • John_SteedJohn_Steed Posts: 2,087
    My current (as of now) Top 5

    Jeff Lemire (Trillium, Green Arrow)
    Brandon Graham (Prophet)
    Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals, Satellite Sam, Hawkeye)
    Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead)
    D.J. Kirkbride (Amelia Cole)
  • GregGreg Posts: 1,946
    I have four, honestly can't say who my fifth would be

    Matt Fraction (Hawkeye, Sex Criminals, Satellite Sam)
    Jonathan Hickman (East of West, Avengers, New Avengers, Infinity)
    James Roberts (More Than Meets The Eye. Because he is on a licensed book, I don't think he's getting the cred he deserves. These are so far above and beyond your archetypical TF stories)
    Jim Zub (Skullkickers, Pathfinder, Makeshift Miracle, Samurai Jack)




  • KrescanKrescan Posts: 623
    Mark Millar (Kick-ass, Jupiter's Legacy
    Brian Bendis (Ultimate Spider-man)
    Gail Simone (Batgirl, Red Sonja)
    Christos Gage (Angel & Faith, Avengers Arena
    Kieron Gillen (Iron Man, Young Avengers
  • I might have to reconsider my list -- I completely forgot about Neil Gaiman. I don't know how I'll reconfigure it now.
  • John_SteedJohn_Steed Posts: 2,087

    I might have to reconsider my list -- I completely forgot about Neil Gaiman. I don't know how I'll reconfigure it now.

    Like I do with Alan Moore I tend to not use Neil Gaiman on "current" lists. He's comfortably parked in the pantheon only to appear on "all time best" lists.
  • Mr_CosmicMr_Cosmic Posts: 3,200
    1. Jonathan Hickman
    2. Matt Fraction
    3. Brian Bendis
    4. Brian K. Vaughn
    5. Waid/Brubaker/Aaron/Slott (Yes, I know that's cheating)
  • TorchsongTorchsong Posts: 2,794
    1. Kiyohiko Azuma (Yotsub@!) - Writes and draws the best comic on the planet. Period.
    2. Q Hayashida (Dorohedoro) - Writes and draws the best comic nobody is reading right now.
    3. Greg Rucka (Anything he writes) - Wrote Queen & Country. I buy anything else he does.
    4. Gail Simone (Batgirl, Leaving Megalopolis) - She's so good DC couldn't fire her on a whim.
    5. Adam Warren (Empowered) - Took a fetish and tossed it on its pert little derriere! :)
  • mguy1977mguy1977 Posts: 801
    edited October 2013
    1. Mark Waid (Daredevil)
    2. Brian K. Vaughn (Y The Last Man, Saga & The Private Eye (digital only))
    3. Bill Willingham (Fables) & I also read the spinoff title of Fairest w/ various writers/artist teams
    4. Ed Brubaker (Criminal, Fatale, Velvet)
    5. John Byrne (THE Superman writer/artist days have long since gone & now he is working over at IDW on what suits him just fine)

    Matthew
  • BrackBrack Posts: 868
    1. Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)
    2. ONE (One Punch Man)
    3. Mark Waid (Daredevil)
    4. Brian K Vaughn (The Private Eye)
    5. Jonathan Hickman (Avengers)

    Oda is miles ahead of the others though.
  • Mr_CosmicMr_Cosmic Posts: 3,200
    edited November 2013
    Brack said:

    1. Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)

    I just started One Piece (I'm on volume 5) and I'm enjoying it immensely.
  • John_SteedJohn_Steed Posts: 2,087
    Mr_Cosmic said:

    Brack said:

    1. Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)

    I just started One Piece (I'm on volume 5) and I'm enjoying it immensely.
    Finished #71 - still awesome.

    In Switzerland (and Germany) they sell the book at every news stand. And its common practice to leave the book at a public place as soon as one has read it. So hardly anybody collects them. It's just always around. The most read Manga in the German speaking world 1-2 million copies sold each year.

  • ChrisBeckettChrisBeckett Posts: 535
    edited November 2013
    In no particular order:

    1. Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Private Eye)
    2. Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT)
    3. Brandon Graham (Prophet)
    4. Los Bros Hernandez (Love & Rockets) ((yeah, this is a two-fer, but it's hard for me to separate them, and it allows me to give another spot to someone else)
    5. Andrew White (comics workbook, Black Pillars) - I'm guessing many, or most, here are unaware of White. He's only 22 and been putting out some fantastic one-page comics at the Comics Workbook tumblr - they're more poems than stories, but the way he manipulates words, colors, and imagery is impressive. And the 56-page first issue (of 2) of his Black Pillars was compelling stuff. If you really enjoy mainstream superhero stuff, his work is probably not for you, but if you enjoy indy books or are open to varying art styles - and his work isn't nearly as "off the map" as Frank Santoro, a favorite of mine and a mentor to White - then you'll probably dig it.

    Honorable mentions:
    a. Frank Santoro - Pompeii was the best book I read this year, but his output is too sparse to really put him into a "currently working" list
    b. Michael DeForge - His work is just so far above so many others working right now, but I can't say, personally, if it's his writing or his art (yeah, comics is a combination of both), and so he's kind of getting short shrift from me because it feels like his art overpowers the stories he's telling. Despite that, the guy is on fire. Again, not for those averse to odd/quirky/idiosyncratic styles.

    chris
  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318
    I'm learning some new names here and that is freakin awesome. I like trying new things.
  • In terms of writers whose work I'm most eagerly anticipating? Here are my writers and what puts them on my list:

    Mike Mignola (Hellboy, BPRD)
    Bill Willingham (Fables)
    Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible, both still deliver)
    Ed Brubaker (Velvet, Fatale)
    Tim Seeley (Revival is probably my favorite book right now)
  • John_SteedJohn_Steed Posts: 2,087
    edited November 2013
    Alan Moore: 'Why shouldn't you have a bit of fun while dealing with the deepest issues of the mind?'



    I absolutely adore his writing - even though he seems to grow grumpier the older he gets:

    "I haven't read any superhero comics since I finished with Watchmen. I hate superheroes. I think they're abominations. They don't mean what they used to mean. They were originally in the hands of writers who would actively expand the imagination of their nine- to 13-year-old audience. That was completely what they were meant to do and they were doing it excellently. These days, superhero comics think the audience is certainly not nine to 13, it's nothing to do with them. It's an audience largely of 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-year old men, usually men. Someone came up with the term graphic novel. These readers latched on to it; they were simply interested in a way that could validate their continued love of Green Lantern or Spider-Man without appearing in some way emotionally subnormal. This is a significant rump of the superhero-addicted, mainstream-addicted audience. I don't think the superhero stands for anything good. I think it's a rather alarming sign if we've got audiences of adults going to see the Avengers movie and delighting in concepts and characters meant to entertain the 12-year-old boys of the 1950s."

    For mo(ore) goodness read the entire piece >>>Alan Moore talks to The Guardian
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