Top 5 Comic Writers

I've been on a roll lately devouring as many back issues of trades as I can from my local library.  This has led me to start to think through the question of what are the best comic book writers of all time.  As with anything, this is a very subjective exercise, but I highly recommend checking out anything you can find from these guys (and gals- not forgetting about you Gail Simone)

Honorable Mentions- Joss Whedon- His run on Astonishing X-Men was tremendous, Gail Simone- I liked her Birds of Prey stuff and I'm looking to find some of her Wonder Woman run collected somewhere, Geoff Johns-His DC Rebirth might be my favorite single issue ever, Greg Rucka- I weirdly loved his OMAC stuff leading up to Infinite Crisis, Brian Michael Bendis- I just read some of his Daredevil stuff, and I thought I was reading Frank Miller- which is high praise.

5. Jeph Loeb- Daredevil- Yellow, Batman- Long Halloween- Two spectacular books in a shorter career that was filled with spectacular books.  I'm always on the lookout for more of his stuff, since I liked these so much.  Hush is next on my reading list

4. Marv Wolfman- Crisis on Infinite Earths, New Teen Titans- A pioneer, Crisis on Infinite Earths may have had the highest degree of difficulty of any book, and he acquitted himself admirably. It had some flaws in my mind (not enough Batman and too much Superman), but it's a seminal work.

3. Stan Lee- Guy was a pioneer.  Sure Kirby probably deserves more credit than he gets, but without Stan, you're missing a big chunk of the Marvel universe.  In reading a lot of those old issues, some of it is comically dated, especially his treatment of women in comics, but it's dramatic, and above all exciting.  Without Stan, I'm probably not making this list right now.

2. Frank Miller- Comparing Frank Miller's Daredevil run to Stan Lee is like comparing Christian Bale's Batman to Adam West's- Both great, but SO different.  Miller took that character and reinvented it in ways that were awesome to read.  Born Again is an AMAZING book.  But then you also have Dark Knight Returns, which basically paved the way for Christian Bale's Batman.

1. Alan Moore- Watchmen- if he did nothing else, that's enough.  It is the most perfect graphic novel of all time, and I could not love it more.  Throw in the Killing Joke, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow (my favorite Superman story), and you have the clear undisputed number 1.