GRCT readers top 25 writers

Yesterday I decided to ask something of our twitter following.  It was a seemingly simple question, ‘Who are your three favourite comic writers’.  Seemingly simple, but for many very very hard.  How can you judge that sort of thing?  Did we mean of all-time or recently?  Were we really limiting people to three?  There were quite a few responses, however, and I thought it would be interesting to compile them all here.

By no means do I think this is in anyway an exhaustive poll.  It was a small sample, with 53 responses, and they all follow the Girls Read Comics Too twitter.  There were responses from fans, other bloggers and some creators.  A few people are clearly popular, but then they are also high on at least my list and those following our twitter and blog likely have convergent interests.  But, here it is.  A list of the 25 top comic writers popular with Girls Read Comics Too readers, and a bit of info about each of them.

Caveat: I don’t know a lot about some of these writers.  Please, feel free to leave a comment and share some infor and books you think I should read!  I’m always open to new comic experiences!

Perhaps not unsurprisingly, Gail Simone topped the list (and she topped it by a fairly large lead) and was folowed by Greg Rucka.  No other writer even came close.

• Gail Simone – On both C’s and my top 3, Gail is definitely popular with our readers.  Writer of Birds of Prey, Secret Six and Welcome to Tranquility I’d recommend you grab all three.  No, really, you should.  Go now.  Don’t even read… Wait, never mind, read the rest of the list first.
• Greg Rucka – Dear Greg, please write more comics.  Recently loved his Stumptown series, and his Batwoman run on Detective Comics collected in Batwoman Elegy is a must have.  As is Queen and Country.  Oh and Gotham Central is the perfect book for people who love dark detective stuff and know nothing about the DCU.  Honestly, it’s what got me into it.
• Grant Morrison – I am the worst person ever to write about this man.  The only Bat comic I read is Batgirl, and…  I hear he’s popular!  Currently on about 17 Batman titles.  Okay, that may be a tiny exageration.  He has also written Doom Patrol, Seven Soldiers, All Star Superman, and a whole heap more, but whenever I hear the name, I think Batman.
• Geoff Johns – Chief Creative Officer for DC, and a pretty damn talented writer to boot.  He’ll always be synonomous with the Flash to me (with amazing Francis Manapul artwork) but is known for his amazing work on Green Lantern, with the JSA and JLI, and so much more.
• Alan Moore – He did write things other than V for Vendetta and Watchmen, much to the surprise of some!  I’ve always been a fan of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Promethea, as well as his Captain Britain work.
• Brian K Vaughan – I was first exposed to BKV’s work with Runaways, a series and a group of characters I’ve loved.  Also a huge fan of Pride of Baghdad and Y: The Last Man, I’m finally working  my way through Ex-Machina.
• Jimmy Palmiotti – My first exposure to Jimmy was with Painkiller Jane, a book he created with Joe Quesada back in his event comics days.  He’s now firmly in my personal top three writers, with books like Jonah Hex and Freedom Fighters keeping me happy on a monthly basis.  Plus there’s always his Terra mini and Power Girl run (along with Justin Gray) which I believe any girl reading comics should give a chance. I say this often, but ifyou aren’t reading Jonah Hex, you should be.  Go.  Now.  Buy this trade.
• Matt Fraction – He brought back Kitty Pryde.  Do I need to say more?  Alright, I suppose I should.  Writer for Uncanny X-Men and Thor, my favourite thing by him is his Casanova series for Image comics.
• Warren Ellis – Probably best known for Transmetropolitan, Planetary and (in part due to the recent movie) Red, Ellis is a fairly prolific writer.  I loved his work on the Authority and Desolation Jones.
• Brian M Bendis – Another writer I am so not qualified to write about.  He writes the Avengers – extensively – from what I can tell.  Powers is a great book (in both incarnations), and I have to say, I prefer his creator owned stuff. Recently, he’s also put out this book Scarlet that just might be one of the best things in comics right now.
• Bryan Q Miller – Batgirl.  Stephanie Brown Batgirl.  Over a year of it, and every issue near-on perfect.  Her attitude, her growth, I’m loving it all.
• Neil Gaiman – Possibly best known for his creation of Sandman, Death and the other Endless, but my favourite comic work by Neil?  1602.  Go look it up.  You won’t be sorry.
• Ed Brubaker – I love Sleeper and Criminal, and I also love what Ed did with Greg Rucka in Gotham Central.  He’s also very well known for his work on Daredevil among others. Currently the only books of his I keep picking up is Secret Avengers.
• John Ostrander – How can you not love them man who gave us Amanda Waller (the wall!), and helped turn a crippled Batgirl into the powerhouse that is Oracle.  Check out his time on the Suicide Squad.  It’s a lovely book full of amoral characters.
• Peter David – I remember discovering that Peter David wrote comics, and not just Star Trek books.  (Shush, like every other teenaged girl who watch ST:TNG I owned a copy of Imzadi).  HAving him then write what ended up being one of my favourite series X-Factor?  Wow, it’s good.  Noir mutant detectives.  How can you go wrong?
• Chris Claremont – My firstcomic was by this man, as were many afterwards.  He’s why I’m a Kitty Pryde fan to begin with, and I’ve always enjoyed it when he’s gone back to write her.
• Darwyn Cooke – Not only is Darwyn an amazing artist, he’s an amazing writer as well.  Check out his Spirit series, or The New Frontier, or my favourite, his adaptations of Richard Stark’s Parker novels.
• Herge and Jaime Hernandez – If you haven’t read Love and Rockets, I’m not sure why we’re friends.  Really, though, go buy it now.  Then look up their other work.  You’ll thank me.
• Jeph Loeb – The man in part responsible for Batman: Hush.  I also enjoyed his Batman/Spirit crossover with Darwyn Cooke, but I haven’t been exposed to much else by him.
• Jim Starlin – I’ll admit it, I don’t know anything here.  But man has Jim Starlin written a lot for both Marvel and DC.  C’mon folks, help me out here!
• Mike Carey – The Unwritten is one of the best and most inventive titles to have come out of Vertigo in a long time.  I’d also recommend the Vertigo book Lucifer, his work on Hellblazer and Red Sonja, and a lot of his X-Men work.
• Mike Mignola – Another artist and writer, MIke is likely best known for his Hellboy work.  And he should be, it’s a good book.  You should also check out BPRD, the Hellboy spin-off of sorts.
• Paul Dini – Creator of Harley Quinn, the man who wrote a lot of Batman: The Animated Series, and more recently the writer of the Zatanna ongoing.
• Phil Hester – Oooh, he created Mia Dearden along with Kevin Smith.  See, I learn things with these lists!  Another artist and writer I don’t know nearly enough about.  Help a gal out, readers!
• Robert Kirkman – Anyone in the comic world who hasn’t heard of Robert Kirkman in the past few months has been living under a very large rock.  The Walking Dead.  Heard of that?  Yup, Kirkman’s creation.  I’d also recommend Invincible, and a lot of his Marvel Team Up work.

There you go.  25 writers in a list.  It’s not an exhaustive list nor am I in any way claiming that this is the final word on the top writers in comics.  I will say that I was surprised my some of the inclusions and some of the ommissions, but that the readers of our blog have very good taste.

Have a top three and haven’t shared it with us yet?  Feel free to do so in the comments!  We’d love to hear it.