Down But Not Out's Top 10 Favorite Comic Book Writers
(of all time!!!)  

#10. Scott Lobdell - This may seem like an odd choice, but for me, he's really not. I grew up with the X-Men of the 1990's and the writer I find synonymous with the titles from that decade is Scott Lobdell. Like Claremont some years before him, Lobdell had a knack for character development and emotion. I'll freely admit to getting misty-eyed because of several of his stories. But then again, I'm a wussy when it comes to that kind of stuff.

Particular works of interest: Age of Apocalypse: Alpha, Astonishing X-Men (AoA) #1-4, & X-Men #30

#9. Robert Kirkman - What's this? How can a comic book writer from the past few years become an all-time favorite? Have you read Marvel Team-Up? Have you seen who Robert has running around in that title? Have you actually read my column? If you've answered yes to at least two of those, then that question should be answered.

Robert Kirkman is the shot in the arm the comic book world that has been sorely needing; he's bringing back the old-school fun by writing stories that don't always hinge on the death of a major character or some other plot device that's become cliche. Nope, Robert's just writing fun stuff.

He's something of a cross between Stan Lee, Mark Gruenwald (spare me the Cap Wolf comments or I'll cry), and Peter David. There's a nice bonus in that Kirkman seems to have a love for Marvel's second-tier characters, which are some of my favorites.

Dan Slott gets an honorable mention in this slot too, btw!

Particular works of interest: Marvel Team-Up (current volume) #1 and up, Invincible #1 and up.

#8. Paul Chadwick - I'm still relatively new to Paul's work, but just from the limited amount of Concrete stuff that I've read, I can easily say that his is the best work I've exposed myself to in the past five years that I'd previously been oblivious to.

I remember seeing pictures of Concrete way back in the mid-90's in the pages of Hero Magazine (who remembers it?). I was intrigued, but not enough so that I'd buy a copy of his book. That's probably best, because I doubt I'd have been able to appreciate it as much then as I do now.

If you haven't read any of Paul's Concrete work, then you're missing out on something special. It's still one of those indie-type comics that's definitely not mainstream, so if you're one of those people that likes to think you're cool because you're into something no one else is, this is the perfect chance to jump in (and then hopefully grow up and realize just how stupid that attitude is. but hey, after you've figured this out and made it through the depression that will surely come, you'll have found a great comic that's arguably the best you'll ever read).

Particular works of interest: ANYTHING with the word "Concrete" on it! Wait, anything comic book-related with the words "Paul Chadwick's Concrete" on it. That'll do it.

#7. John Byrne - Let's get one thing straight, John B. is nutty. He's elitist-crazy. Okay, let's get something else straight, JB is a fantastic writer AND artist whose past work overshadows any of the trash that comes out of his mouth these days.

The man's work on The Fantastic Four is unbelievably good; it's six years worth of near-perfection. His work on The Thing solo title is so fun and humorous that it's almost hard to believe it came from the same guy that seriously argued over the proper use of "thought balloon." Let me not forget to mention Alpha Flight, one of my favorite books of all time. It's yet another home run for ol' JB.

I was never into his work over at DC, so I can't say much about it.

Particular works of interest: The Fantastic Four #232-293

#6. Gerry Conway - Gerry's the guy that killed Gwen Stacy and brought a whole new depth to Peter Parker/Spider-Man that had previously not been seen before. That's pretty damn impressive for a guy that was only twenty-one years old at the time.

Imagine that. You're twenty-one and you're writing one of the most popular comic books in history and you're not only doing it well, but you also end up bringing about a change that's still felt to this day.

Today a writer would be hung by the fans for doing what Gerry did in the 70's; he changed the status quo of Spidey. Sure, there were plenty of fans that didn't like the fact that Gwen died, but it's hard to argue that it wasn't a powerful story. And it's, like I said above, a story that is STILL felt to this day. Any comic fan with an ounce of knowledge about comics knows just how impressive this is; to have an act that occurred years ago still referenced? Outstanding.

Particular works of interest: The Amazing Spider-Man #121!

#5. Mark Waid - Fellow Alabamian Mark Waid has produced some pretty memorable work, most for DC Comics. He brought us Kingdom Come and as much as I like that, he'll always be more remembered for his fantastic run on The Flash. He took the character of Wally West, who was still a young and cocky guy, over from William Messner-Loebs and transformed him into the character we see today.

Sure, Geoff Johns has done a lot for The Flash, but I'd say he's done more for the villains of the book than the Scarlet Speedster. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm NOT knocking Johns' run on the title, because for the most part, it was great stuff.

Particular works of interest: The Flash "Terminal Velocity" from The Flash (v.2) #95-100.

#4. Peter David - PAD as he's affectionately called by his fans, is one of the more consistent writers in comics today. That's something I admire, because you pretty much know what you're going to get when you pick up one of his books: humor and intelligent writing.

David has had memorable runs on The Incredible Hulk, X-Factor, Aquaman, and Supergirl. Down But Not Out much prefers his short, but awesome run on Wolverine (v.2) and his lengthy work on Spider-Man 2099. When it comes to the latter, it's particularly impressive how PAD was able to take a character that could have been nothing more than a generic Spider-Man clone (ugh! I wince whenever those two words are in the same sentence!) and turned him into a character that stood easily on his own.

Particular works of interest: Spider-Man 2099 #1-44 and Wolverine #9 & 11-16.

#3. Doug Moench  - Doug Moench's a person I find hard not to put at the #1 spot on this list, simply because of his important work on so many of my favorite characters, especially Moon Knight (Moench's the only guy around so far that's done the character any justice). Kind of like Peter David, once you pick up a Moench book, you know you're in for a good story; he's just that consistent.

Now despite all his great work at Marvel, Doug is probably best known for his rather extensive work for DC on Batman. That's okay, too, because the stuff I've read from his multiple runs on that title is just as good.

Particular works of interest: Moon Knight (v.1) #1-15, Werewolf by Night #20-43,

#2. Chris Claremont - Len Wein and Dave Cockrum may have pushed the "All New" X-Men team together, but Claremont made them into who they are today; he crafted their personalities, the team dynamic, everything. Therefore CC is probably the most important writer to ever touch the X-Men.

You can say what you want about his current work on the X-titles, but you'd be hard-pressed to actually make a valid complaint about his original run. If you did make a complaint, though, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone that would actually take the time to listen to you; his work is just that untouchable.

Claremont with Frank Miller worked on the Wolverine mini, as well as launching the ongoing Wolverine title, Excalibur, and The New Mutants.

Outside of X-Men-related books, though, it's kind of hard to find anything that's as good. His Iron Fist work was good stuff, but nothing like what he would do with the X-Men later on.

#1. Stan Lee/Jack Kirby - Really, was there any doubt? Ya know, I'm gonna leave this one alone. If you don't know why they're #1 on this list, end yourself. Today. No, really. Right now.