The Top 5 Comics Writers

Comics are a visual medium. For years, I'd keep buying a comic just to keep an unbroken string of issues. But after 30 years of that -- no more -- the artwork is more than half of the comic. That said, there are a few writers I will buy (almost) no matter how bad the artist because they're capable of writing a story that can prick to the heart. My 5 favorites are my favorites because they've written the best stories I've ever read in a comic format and some that are some of the best I've ever read - comic or prose.

1. Alan Moore is #1 for me. He's written several of my all time favorite stories and series: The Killing Joke, Superman Annual #11 (For the Man who has Everything), the 80's Swamp Thing run from issue #22 on. By volume and poignancy, he's number one.
2. Jim Shooter is my 2nd favorite. The Legion of Super Heroes has been a favorite series of mine for 40 years now, and the stories he wrote as a teenager helped get that ball rolling. His Marvel days were good quality like the Avengers Korvac saga. But the Unity series at Valiant, the Good Guys for Defiant, the Knights on Broadway for Broadway -- these were the best comic series I read during those decades.
3. John Byrne -- I can't remember a single story that Byrne wrote that moved me other than Xmen 137 when I was a teenager, but he has a knack for injecting vitality into a series with runs on Namor, Omac, the New Gods, Wonder Woman, Generations (World's Finest), Star Trek and many otherwise stale series.
4. Mark Millar -- too dark for some, but a homerun hitter with Kick-Ass, Wanted, Starlight, and many other contemporary series.
5. Kurt Busiek -- the Astro City Tales  did and do move me. The Confessor storyline once upon a time even started my waterworks.

There are honorable mentions like Straczynski, Mark Waid and others, but those are my top 5.