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Top five writers actively working today
random73
Posts: 2,318
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)
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
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.
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.
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...)
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)
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)
Brian Bendis (Ultimate Spider-man)
Gail Simone (Batgirl, Red Sonja)
Christos Gage (Angel & Faith, Avengers Arena
Kieron Gillen (Iron Man, Young Avengers
2. Matt Fraction
3. Brian Bendis
4. Brian K. Vaughn
5. Waid/Brubaker/Aaron/Slott (Yes, I know that's cheating)
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! :)
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
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.
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.
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
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)
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