Top 5 Comic Book Writers and Their Top Run

List the Top 5 Comic Book Book Writers and Their Top Run.

You can just go with your top 5 favorite writers and your favorite run if you aren't familiar enough with comics to make an impartial choice.

If someone could quote this tag list since my tags don't work, I'd appreciate it.

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• Geoff Johns - Teen Titans
• Geoff Johns - Green Lantern
• Grant Morrison - JLA
• Grant Morrison - Batman
• Jeff Lemire - Green Arrow

This was off the top of my head. But I'll probably change it later

@supreme_marvel: Thanks for the list, but this is one comic run per writer, so you can still list two more writers.

Also, what would you put as the top Geoff Johns run? Teen Titans or Green Lantern since you can only pick one.

He's one of my favorites and those are a couple of my favorites along with his Flash run but I haven't decided yet.

@infantfinite128: Well Im unable to edit the post for some reason. Even though Johns' Teen Titans got me into reading comics. I'll go for Green Lantern. I was itching for each issue especially around Sinestro Corps War.

I'll go with JLA for Morrison. Loved his Batman. But I loved Arkham Asylum just as much as his Batman run.

Alan Moore - anything from the 80's honestly

Grant Morrison - Animal Man

Warren Ellis - Transmetropolitan & Planetary

Garth Ennis - Preacher, Hitman & The Boys

Bill Willingham - Fables

@supreme_marvel: Thanks. That Teen Titans run is a cool way to get into comics, but that Green Lantern run was huge for DC! Who was your favorite character from that run?

There's people who aren't into Morrison but like his JLA.

What did you like about it?

Pretty similar to this, except I'd probably replace Morrison and Willingham with two of these three: Neil Gaiman (Sandman, duh), Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men), Brian K Vaughan (Saga).

Neil Gaiman- The Sandman

Mike Carey- Lucifer

Todd McFarlane- Spawn

Stan Lee- Spider-Man

Robert Kirkman- Invincible

Chris Claremont’s Uncanny XMEN

Geoff John’s Green Lantern

Grant Morrison’ Justice League of America

Dave Michelinie‘s Amazing Spider-Man

Geof John’s Justice Society of America

….just 5 of my personal fav’s

I finished watching Teen Titans animated series at the time and I wanted to read more about Beast Boy. Green Lantern was great, Johns expanded the whole franchise massively. Funnily enough, I was there for the story, not the main character. I never actually liked Hal. I was and Im a Kyle Rayner fan. I was reading GLC alongside GL. I enjoyed the story of GL, but loved the characters of GLC more.

There's people who aren't into Morrison but like his JLA.

What did you like about it?

I love the creativity of Morrison. The guys a genuine genius for that. I love the inclusion of loads of different characters in the main roster. Nowadays its the same team over and over. I liked that we got to see Conner Hawke, we got to see a bunch of Billy Batson. Wasn't a regular thing at the time. Kyle Rayner was the GL. And Morrison always does Superman justice.

Claremont with Uncanny X-Men. Man basically invented nearly all of the modern mythos.

Geoff Johns with The Flash/JSA. Two great runs that sparked life into concepts that hadn't been the most respected. You could throw Green Lantern there as well easily.

Jack Kirby/Stan Lee with Fantastic Four. Lee is controversial to me as I feel like he gets a lot of credit for things he simply didn't do or was involved in, but his dialogue combined with Kirby's ideas and infinite imagination birthed the run that would overshadow DC's stellar work for the first time. It's THE turning point for Marvel.

Neil Gaiman with The Sandman. Don't really need to explain this one.

Alan Moore with, well, nearly everything he's written. He's a genius, and restricting him to one or two runs when nearly everything he put out was golden is, I feel, a bit insulting.

Got to pass,

I am/was one of those few people who never cared about who wrote or inked a comic. I was just interested in the story, that's it! So because of that I don't know any of the writers by name.

Art Spiegelman - Maus

Alan Moore - Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell & Promethea

Grant Morrison - Doom Patrol, Animal Man, Invisibles & JLA

Neil Gaiman - The Sandman

Garth Ennis, Preacher, Hellblazer, Hitman, Punisher MAX & The Boys

@theinsufferable: Thank you so much.

Why do you rank Alan Moore so high? I know many do, but I didn't know why.

And if you say anything from the 80s, then his Superman stuff matches Watchmen for you?

I didn't get the hype for "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" (Still enjoy it Moore than Morrison's"All Star Superman"), but I enjoyed his Swamp Thing Superman and "For the Man Who Has Everything."

Anytime.

Oh nice. Interesting that Beast Boy was the draw. How do you think he compared to the Geoff Jonhn's characterization?

Actually what did you think about the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon characterizations compared to the comics in general?

I preferred the cartoon characterizations for the Titans but preferred Deathstroke in the comics.

Also, I was with you on being in the GL run for the story. I wasn't a Kyle fan, but I preferred Guy and Jon in Peter Tomasi's Green Lantern Corps.

But, Geoff Johns' Green Lantern story was better.

And thanks for you thoughts on Morrison's JLA. I forgot Billy Batson was in it.

@theinsufferable: What was the peak of Claremont's X-Men? Both from an impartial and a favorite perspective.

They could be one in the same, but I preferred later X-Men stuff despite thinking the Phoenix Saga was his best work.

What did you like about Sandman? I read some of it where it was sympathizing with Lucifer, and I dropped it because I wasn't interested in anything sympathizing with the devil, but I know it's highly praised.

There was a Claremont vs Gaiman better writer poll on Comicvine and I was in the minority voting for Claremont.

Alan Moore - Watchmen

Kurt Busiek - Marvels

Chris Claremont - Uncanny X-Men

Frank Miller - Daredevil: Born Again

J.M. DeMatteis - Kraven's Last Hunt

@infantfinite128: Well, his peak is usually considered the period where he worked with Byrne. Dark Phoneix, Days of Future Past, and that Christmas story that was like Alien all directly followed each other, which was really something. And it's my favorite too, but there are many other notable stories too. The Morlocks, Rogue's story, Wolverine's adventures (before fighting ninjas in Japan became his everyday activity).

As for Sandman, I too read some of it without finishing it, but the fact remains that it became such a major hit that it's hard to mention anything else as his Magnum Opus. It has an interesting format. It's essentially like an anthology with some pretty different stories, in many of which the Sandman himself doesn't even have that big of a role. Plus, when you put it in the context of comics market at the time, it also marked the beginning of Vertigo, which later published some of the best comics of all time in a relatively brief span of time. And then there's other attraction like a host of good artists, Dave McKean covers, etc. Regardless of Sandman though, what I've liked about Gaiman is his versatility. He's been to many different media and he's been pretty good in most of them. He has written good comics, novels, short stories, children stories, non-fiction books (his Norse Mythology book is one of my personal favorites), tv series, and he's done a pretty good job in most of these mediums. So if I had to vote between Claremont and Gaiman as comic writers, I'd probably go for Claremont, but compared in terms of all their artistic endeavors, Gaiman probably wins.

@theinsufferable: Thanks.

What did you think of the Stardust movie adaptation? It's similar to the Princess Bride, but I enjoyed it more.

@infantfinite128: I haven't seen it, but if it's like Princess Bride, I'm definitely interested.

@theinsufferable

Regarding what you said about Sandman, how much does the time when a story was introduced affect your enjoyment of a story?

Some might say we should take in stories baring in mind the context for when they were introduced, but what about stories that are now more interesting given the new context of when they are read?

For an example, a lot of more wholesome comics that weren't so popular when they were released might be propped up when read nowadays because they provide a nice contrast to the degeneracy in current media.

@infantfinite128: Well, there's different views on the matter. To bring some theoretical examples, Historical criticism, which was one of the prevalent literary criticism theories in the previous centuries, put a lot of stress on the history of the story and the author in an attempt to capture what the author meant, while a theory like formalism tries to avoid anything outside the text as far as possible, while intertextuality believes that such initial authorial intention isn't even that important, and meaning should be derived by the readers synchronically, and therefore, meaning changes through time.

The jargon aside, I prefer to look at it in a case by case basis. There are works which are very hard to remove from the context of their time. Take Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns for instance. It's really hard to detach them from the atmosphere of the cold war, but then there are stories that aren't that tied a particular time. A lot of well-written science fiction stories from 50-60 years ago could still be adopted without anyone feeling it's particularly "dated".

So in general, I think it's better not to make an overall rule for it. If there are insights to be gained from the work's historical context, use it, if there aren't, don't force it.

@theinsufferable: I agree.

Also, I don't want to hype that Stardust movie up to be better than Princess Bride.

It's a 7/10 whimsical fantasy romance. Not going to knock socks off. But it's well made, simple tale.

It was more straight forward, and at the time when I watched it, I appreciated it for that.

@infantfinite128 said:

Oh nice. Interesting that Beast Boy was the draw. How do you think he compared to the Geoff Jonhn's characterization?

Actually what did you think about the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon characterizations compared to the comics in general?

I preferred the cartoon characterizations for the Titans but preferred Deathstroke in the comics.

Also, I was with you on being in the GL run for the story. I wasn't a Kyle fan, but I preferred Guy and Jon in Peter Tomasi's Green Lantern Corps.

But, Geoff Johns' Green Lantern story was better.

And thanks for you thoughts on Morrison's JLA. I forgot Billy Batson was in it.

Well when I watched the animated series, by the end of it I wanted Beast Boy and Raven to end up with each other. So I heard that was never a thing in the comics before I started reading them. So I didn't expect it to randomly start being a thing. Fortunately it did become a thing and they did get together in a pretty cool way too. BB was the leader at the time. So I pretty much got everything I wanted from it. The cartoon difference was what you expect really. Just very colourful characters, while in the comics it was more mature with some silliness. I feel was ideal for me.

My favourite thing about Johns' run was reading about Tim Drake. Who became my 2nd favourite comic character. He was so good in that run.

@infantfinite128:

People rank him high because Alan Moore basically revolutionized the comic book medium, he turned the once thought "low brow" medium into a serious form of literature (but one can argue that Spiegelman's Maus was the real turning point of comics at that time)

IMO yes, Alan Moore is a master of deconstructing superhero tropes, he done it well in both Watchmen & Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow

@supreme_marvel: Tim Drake is one of the most noble superheroes.

Did you read Chuck Dixon's run?

Now I want to know who your favorite is.

@killer94: Thanks. What did you think of Maus? I haven't read it.

What's your process for checking out a comic to read? So you know what's worth investing your money or time into.

@infantfinite128: It was great, an emotional autobiography of Spiegelman.

@killer94: Thanks

@supreme_marvel: That's awesome. I only read some of it, but now I want to get back to reading it.

What do you think is the best Superman run and best Captain Marvel Shazam run, so I can check them out?

I've read a lot of Superman, but not a lot of Captain Marvel.

I read him in Kingdom Come and J.M. DeMatteis' Justice League International.

The Captain Marvel stuff I enjoyed

JSA #1 to #81

Johns wrote a great JSA series [everything he writes I like]. Which got me to like a lot of them characters. Billy is in it for some time too. Mid way through the run, it leads into Infinite Crisis as well as covers one of its side-stories called Day of Vengeance. That was a great read. At the time I was reading everything DC. Street level, super powers, space, magic, godtiers etc. Reading more of the magic side was cool. I'd also recommend Countdown to Mystery. Its not Captain Marvel, also he might be in the beginning. Solid magical tale.

A 4 issue series by Winick and art by the talented Joshua Middelton: Superman Shazam: First Thunder.

Shazam! – The Monster Society of Evil.

Shazam - Power of Hope! This was a great read and an eye opener for me. Sometimes adults cant solve everything. I read it and enjoyed it, but years later I read it again and I realised how good it actually was.

The Multiversity - Thunderworld Adventures.

I'd like to recommend Superman Beyond. Its a tie in to Final Crisis story mainly about Superman, but it also has Captain Marvel in it.

The first issue of Trials of Shazam!

Luckily a few of these are no longer than 6 issues. Good quick reads.

My 2nd favourite comic story is JUSTICE. This is an epic story.

For Superman.

Johns also did great Superman stuff.

• Last Son of Krypton
• Escape From Bizarro World
• Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes

The regular Superman stuff you might have read

• Birthright
• All-Star Superman
• Man of Steel Volumes by John Byrne 1 / 2 / 3
• Camelot Falls Part 1 and Part 2
• American Alien
• Although not just a Superman story, but Superman is good in it Justice League The Sixth Dimension

Not a Superman story, but it is in Action Comics. Its Black Ring Volume 1 and Volume 2. It's a Lex story, but its an amazing Lex story. My favourite.

@supreme_marvel: Thank you so much for the list.

I bookmarked this page so I could reference it.

People here put JSA for their Geoff Johns nomination, you propped it up, and Geoff Johns is one of my favorite writers, so I want to get back on it.

I didn't know Captain Marvel was in it.

It's frustrating referring to Captain Marvel as Shazam. I don't like doing it.

I read all of that Johns Superman stuff. I was wondering if you were going to list John Bryne.

I was considering writing him as one of my favorite writers but I didn't have a top run for him. Was considering reading his Fantastic Four but now I want to get on JSA since you guys listed it.

Also, appreciate the Lex story recommendation. If it's your favorite, I want to check it out.

Eh, Moore primarily wrote comics in the UK until the mid to late 80s, then he became well known with things like Watchmen and V for vendetta. Frank Miller took Daredevil in a more serious direction in the very late 70s/ early 80s, as well as wrote The Dark Knight Returns around the same time Moore wrote Watchmen. Guys like Claremont, Marv Wolfman and Perez also dealt with some more serious themes in the comics they wrote in the early to mid 80s. Not to mention the influences from comics in the UK like David Sim's Cerberus.

Moore is definitely up there in terms of "top" comic writers but saying he "revolutionized the medium"?? Debatable.

Maybe Moore made comics more intellectually acceptable but I don't think he reinvented the wheel in terms of how comics are showcased. Even writers in the 60's were making fairly serious topics into comics, they just weren't as popular as Moore's produced work.

Cerebus is probably more revolutionary than most of these stuff. Indie in 70's? Check. Self-published and self-funded? Check. Serious topics? Check. Critiquing social topics and religion? Check. Deconstructing comics? Check. Entering public domain after its creators' eventual death, making it unique even decades after it ends? Check. But it usually gets ignored because OMG, IT'S SO MISOGYNIST.

Agreed. People always love throw around the word "deconstructed" because I guess they think it makes them sound smart, and while Moore's work in Watchmen was a deconstruction, it wasn't anything all that new for the super hero genre. The Wolverine mini series from 80s was a deconstruction of what was the Wolverine character at the time, as well as Miller's work on Daredevil stripped the character down to almost nothing, particularly in arcs like "Born Again". Then of course Claremont's New Mutants was about neophyte mutants with more peripheral powers dealing with more complicated and existensial threats, particularly when he worked with Sinkewiecz. It's maybe due to Moore making the characters in Watchmen have more realistic attitudes and behaviors in society but subverting common tropes in the super hero genre was something that had been going on for a while before Watchmen or V was released.

Yeah, possibly due to American attitudes at the time as well, as foreign stuff wasn't always as well accepted as US produced stuff. There was a lot of really revolutionary stuff that came out Europe around that time. Corto Maltese, Valerian and Laureline (now more know due to shitty American movie) and amazing artwork from people like Jean Girard (Moebius) which was just as creative, if not more than guys like Kirby. It's sort of lousy that European stuff wasn't pushed more in the US.

@cattlebattle: Yeah, they're probably more known or praised indirectly for the American stuff they influenced or created. Like when it comes to Moebius, his biggest acclaim is probably related to movies like Alien or Tron. And even in the case of those movies, no one is praising Moebius directly, it's just that everyone likes the aesthetics, and it has influenced countless movies that came after them. You can find the influence of Valerian and Laureline and other European comics in movies like Star Wars abundantly, but no one knows it unless they know Valerian and Laureline or the comics in question. Hell, even Jodorowsky's unfinished Dune movie is probably more well-known now than The Incal which he did with Moebius based on the same ideas and which was published.

Same.

Was considering reading his Fantastic Four but now I want to get on JSA since you guys listed it.

I'm trying to get into Jonathan Hickman's F4. I've not read much of F4. I genuinely think I've read more Doctor Doom than them. But I've wanted to jump into there and I've always heard Hickman's run is top tier. And if thats good I'll check out his Avengers.

Right, that happens to a lot things though. Like Starship Troopers is never really praised for influencing "Aliens" but it obviously does in a lot of ways. In the case of comics people will look at something like V for Vendetta or Dark Knight Returns and be like "OMG, look at these political themes they deal with!! It's breaking new ground!!" Meanwhile Euros are laughing to themselves in Judge Dredd for like a decade prior.

@cattlebattle: Yeah, even V for Vendetta itself was published in a UK anthology called Warrior before DC published it. Nowadays everyone praises DC for it (and that's among the people who aren't praising the Wachowskis for it).