Best Comicbook Writer, All-time

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Best Comicbook Writer, All-time

 
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Jeremys Iron
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Best Comicbook Writer, All-time

Post by Jeremys Iron »

So today I got to wondering, who is the best writer in comic books all time? Now there are a couple of different ways to parse it. Quality, influence and the overall size and variety of their work are the three main criteria to me but that's not an exhaustive list. Certainly no criteria should be exclude from consideration, if you think it's important and it increases the value of the work then just make your case for it.

EDIT: :doh! Oops, damnit I forgot to add Neil Gaiman, he should have been on there. Well, I guess that's what the last option is for. :rolleyes

As for me, I choose: Warren Ellis as the writer I think is the best. Much of his work I haven't read but I chose him because everything of his that I have read is at the top of my list of favorite books.

He has an impressive body of work that includes the critically acclaimed Transmetropolitan which, to me, is the best series ever written. Admittedly I'm not that widely read. ;) He also wrote books that change the way we look at the superhero genre with books like The Authority and Planetary . Not to mention the many well received Marvel books he has worked on over the years, including Excaliber, X-Man, Thor, and Doom 2099. He has also successfully ventured into Horror and detective books with works like, Lazarus Churchyard, Hellstorm, Scars and Hellblazer.

Through his work (like the brilliant Global Frequency ) and his column/mailing list Bad Signal he has been exploring the limitations of the format. Also, he was one of the earliest and most vocal proponents of increasing and improving the output of TPBs and OGNs.

He writes sharp, witty, intelligent dialogue; deep, fully three dimensional characters; and his work is simply bursting with the some of the craziest, most brilliant ideas I've ever come across (maybe that's not saying as much as I think :?). In the end, every time I read his work I feel like I've gained something, I feel I'm better for the experience and that I've found is rare in this world.

Anyway, I don't know if any of that really does Ellis' work justice or if it even makes sense but there it is.

Tell us about your pick. :)

P.S.: I'm seven trades into Transmet and I really want to start a thread to talk about it. Would anyone else be interested in such a thread? :puppy
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Post by Bamfette »

how oh how could you leave off Neil Gaiman?? :o he is the writer that got me into comics. he can write a hell of a novel as well as a comic, and.... well. he's just cool. hehehe...

seriously, i have loved pretty much everyting i have read from him from Sandman (my first exposure) through to 1602 and American Gods. his stuff makes you think. i like that, he supposes the reader is intelligent enough to connect the dots.

I got him and Dave McKean to sign my Death: The High cost of Living TPB and Sandman Vol.1 in San diego last year and they are like my most prized items, and he is a really nice guy, too. very entertaining at all his panels. i need to track down Bachalo sometime to sign the Death trade as well, that would rock so much.
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Best Comicbook Writer, All-time

Post by Jeremys Iron »

Originally posted by Bamfette
how oh how could you leave off Neil Gaiman?? :o
Mainly because I'm a little dim. ;) One might say I'm a couple issues sort of a complete run. :smirk

Of course being the kind, generous, intelligent, witty, talented and beautiful mod that you are, couldn't you just edit the poll to hide my shame? :shame :blush
Please. :puppy

The really sad thing is that I knew I was going to forget someone important so I checked the list several times and hell I even checked a similar poll at another site just to be sure. But I totally must have skipped over his name, thinking I'd already put it on. Silly me. Gaiman should really be on there, on the popularity of Sandman alone. Personally I've only read 1602 and Sandman: Endless Nights but they were both superb and I full intend to read all the rest of the Sandman stuff one day. Well that's a lie...it will probably take more that a day. ;)
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Post by Bamfette »

there is no function in the forum itself to add poll options, but i think it is possible to add it via the database. I will ask our tech-god Bamf Bunny ;)
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Post by Northstars Love »

Originally posted by Bamfette
there is no function in the forum itself to add poll options, but i think it is possible to add it via the database. I will ask our tech-god Bamf Bunny ;)
Jill, are you using phpmyadmin? I'm wondering if it is possible to edit it from there. I know you can delete posts from there.

btw, it is hard to choose just one writer. I like quite a few of them. :)
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Post by Crawler »

Gaiman is my God. 'Nuff said. ;)
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Post by Bamfette »

Originally posted by **Northstars Love**
Originally posted by Bamfette
there is no function in the forum itself to add poll options, but i think it is possible to add it via the database. I will ask our tech-god Bamf Bunny ;)
Jill, are you using phpmyadmin? I'm wondering if it is possible to edit it from there. I know you can delete posts from there.

btw, it is hard to choose just one writer. I like quite a few of them. :)
yes, it can, Ken. i have done it before. but at the new server, i am not able to access the database, only Bunny is.... so thank you Bunny ;)
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Post by shakspear »

I would have to vote for Chris Claremont; his earlier stint with the X-Men got me involved in comics in the first place. I also love Alan Davis for Excalibur! That book rocked!
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Post by LadyErin »

Chris Claremont. One word :mags Have to say, love his work with Magneto!
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Post by The Drastic Spastic »

Alan Moore.

Gaiman is great but he's kind of... limited? All his stuff that I've read is totally goth. And I like goth a lot. But it's not everything. Alan Moore can write anything in any style and have it turn out fantastically. I've been reading a lot of Moore lately, enough to pick him out as the best comic writer ever, and there is still SO MUCH of his stuff I haven't read. It's simply amazing how many top quality stories he's turned out over the years.
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Post by Diablo »

Neil Gaiman is a genious.

But Alan Moore is my god. :)
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Post by Sorte Springer »

The greatest comic book writer and artist of all time is Denmarks Claus Delauran. Otherwise René Goscinny, and Enkil Bilal of France are geniuses in there different fields.
When it comes to British/ American writers I find it hard to choose between the ones listed in the poll, because they are all great. I think you forgot Barry Winsor Smith though, he is great to.

However, the greatest American writer/ artist ever in my opinion is Carl Barks, yes, the guy who did Donald Duck for a long time.
Writing stories that are worth reading even when you are a grown up, within the narrow limits of Disney cencorship, that really takes talent.
I vote for Barks.
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Post by SheCat »

Fabian Nicieza gets points for making me a diehard Belladonna fan, a lover of Sek, and a fan of Courier. Not to mention that I love his Gambit series. :D

I love most of Scott Lobdell's stuff too. Albeit, most of his action scenes have huge, gaping holes in the plot, but his day-to-day moments are great.

I'm not very educated in the world of comic literature, so those are my two picks.
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Post by Nighton »

I love Garth Ennis for Preacher, Grant Morrison form The Invisibles, and Warren Ellis for Transmetropolitan. But Frank Miller isn't half bad either. But one mustn't forget the wonderfulness of Jessica Abel's comics, nd Terry Moore must also be remembered. He is, after all, the creator of Strangers in Paradise. Dave Sim (who created Cerebus) and Jeff Smith (who created Bone) are also very, very good.
Of course, I love Will Eisner's comics too.
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Post by CurlyyHairGirl »

Chris Claremont. Hands down. He's always been my favorite, and started me on X-Men, so he will always be the greatest.

ps. John Cleese is writing for DC, on the whole British Superman thing.:LOL
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Post by Tracker »

I have to say Chris Claremont, like many of you, his writing is what got me hooked on the X-men, and comics in general.

Gaimen is one of my favs too, however, I really like his novels. Good Omens and Neverworld...'nuff said.
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Post by Winged Outlaw »

Alan Moore easily. He broke me out of X-Zombieism.
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Post by Gaz »

I wouldn't be able to just group all comic styles together and pick the best writer. I would have to make different catagories such as:

Super Hero: Probably Claremont, then Moore

Alternative: I'm caught between two local comic artists.

Dark: JHONEN!!!! Then Roman Dirge. His work makes me tingle with overwhelming cuteness

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Post by Paty »

:mags
Well, I will agree... picking just one is difficult. there have beeen a lot of writers that over the years influenced comics in many different ways. You have the real creators... those who brought to the comics industry new characters that lasted over the years and even over the decades.. then you have the steady, dependable writers who took a property and ran with it for years... sometimes creating things along the way. Youhave avant guarde writers who took the comics scene that had become dull and shook it up... put a different twist on a character and revitalized both characters and books. and you have writers who are proficient in other media as well as comics.
Sometimes it comes down to dates... who you are familiar with... who got you into and kept you into comics. Newer readers who haven't found and enjoyed the Spirit comics won't know who will Eisner is! One of the best writers in comics history doesn't write comics any more to any great degree...Roy Thomas! What about Stan the Man himself... without him and his writing on spidey, FF, X Men and others, we wouldn't have a Marvel comics today. DC has many wonderful writers...Neil Gaiman amoungst them.
there is a whole comic world out there beyond DC and Marvel, too...there are wonderful writers of classic xomic books like Asterix the Gaul or
Valerian...these are French comics that have run for decades. there are other companies in the US with terrific writes. Dark Horse, Top Cow, Image and Gen X.
I loved Gaiman's Sandman stuff, Dave sim's Cerebus, especially the earlier issues... Preacher, Hellblazer, and others... but for sheer, consistantly great writing...unequalled body of work and complexity with excellent character development I am gonna have to go with Chris Claremont. The man's output is phenomenal and good. He weaves wonderful stories, and even when he occasionally flags or tires... which can happen after eighteen years plus writing one book or series of books... the storylines continue with his usual complexity and interest. He can make a comic character someone you really want to get to know...one way or another...LOL... and come back for time and time again...over decades!!! that is excellent writing! And when he is not being harrassed and told how to write by folk so far his inferior it isn't even funny, there is no one better at writing comics in today's industry... at least in my opinion...LOL.

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