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The Decade According to Multiversity: Best Writer

By | December 10th, 2009
Posted in Columns | % Comments

The medium of comic books in many ways is one, in my mind at least, that is dominated by the writer working on the project. While artists, inkers, colorists, letterers, editors, and everyone else who works on a project definitely has a stake involved, writers dictate whether or not a project works more than anyone else. This decade has given us plenty of examples where the art is adequate or worse yet the story is so compelling the comic can still be a major success. The variable quality of the art teams associated with Peter David’s brilliant run on X-Factor is a great example. Yet, if a comic is poorly written, it is almost impossible to overcome.

To the four of us, these are the greatest architects of comic books of this past decade. While there are many, many writers we didn’t account for (believe me, I could go on for hours and hours about just the writers we left off the list), there just was not space for them.

As per usual, make sure to leave a comment and let us know who you think were the best.

10. Jeff Smith

8 (tie). Mark Millar

8 (tie). Bill Willingham

7. Ed Brubaker

6. Robert Kirkman

5. Warren Ellis

4. Brian K. Vaughan

David: So…I cheated on this one. Given that I’m the person who is actually posting all of these, I decided to go off the gameplan a bit and instead of writing about the top 3, I’m only writing about number four. Why the hell would I do that?

Well, it’s quite simple really. All apologies to the three men who follow, all three are titans of industry and extraordinary writers, but in my heart and mind there can only be one top writer this decade.

That man is Brian K. Vaughan.

Brian K. Vaughan wrote my favorite comic of the decade (second favorite ever behind Garth Ennis’ and Steve Dillon’s Preacher), my eighth favorite comic of the decade, another one that would have finished in the top 15, my fourth favorite original graphic novel of this decade, and a ton of other work. In fact, incredibly enough BKV had only written six issues of comic books before this decade had begun. So for all intents and purposes, he was entirely new as this decade came to be.

That nearly everything he touched since he started writing has been gold is an incredible thing, and one that comes seemingly very easy to him. Vaughan has astounding ability, as he imbues his characters with such humanity, humor, and gravitas that no matter how outlandish the characters or the situation they find themselves in may be, it feels completely and utterly real. Whether it’s an amateur illusionist and his pet monkey confronting the reality of the world as they knew it crumbling around them, a civil engineer dealing with newfound powers and the weight of the greatest city in the world depending on him, or a group of kids finding out their parents are supervillains, it’s all handled in such a way that you cannot help but be swallowed up by the story.

One of the things that Vaughan seems to understand that so many writers are confounded by is how far the presence of a little bit of heart and emotion in a story can take readers. All of his titles have healthy bits of it, even in the smallest of places. Even Ex-Machina, his look into the world of politics by way of the fantastic, is enriched by the fact that he said it was “born out of (his) anger with what passes for our current political leadership (on both sides of the aisle)”. So many titles posit emotion or heart in a title, yet very few writers actually successfully do so organically like Vaughan does.

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I guess you could say I connected with his writing in a way quite unlike the writing of anyone else from this decade. Specifically with Y the Last Man, I read that book and I see myself as Yorick Brown. The deep connection I feel is thanks to Vaughan’s enormous talent and effortless gift, and I hope after Ex-Machina ends in just three issues, that we’ll eventually see more from him. He’s too good to stay away from comics for too long…or so I hope.

3. Grant Morrison

Matt: I flat out 100% believe that Grant Morrison is the GREATEST writer of our generation, and perhaps one of the greatest comic writers of all time. The mans creative ingenuity and absolute wall breaking powers is undeniable, and his overall output for his entire career has been pure brilliance. However even on this decade alone he’s written an amazing body of work. Whether you’re looking at his brilliant redefining and controversial New X-Men run, or perhaps his reign in Batman (almost met with fair amounts of controversy) leading into Final Crisis, you’re looking at quite a beautiful line up, and we haven’t even begun to discuss his incredible work at the Vertigo imprint with We3, the Filth, and two volumes of Seaguy. Heck, his work has even made it to our lists with his work on All-Star Superman with Frank Quitely.

But perhaps the most brilliant thing for him to put out this decade was Seven Soldiers of Victory. I could write so much about this book, and I have in the past when I initially reviewed it, but this is by far the work that I will judge all comic books by in the future. I will flat out say without missing a beat that I believe this is a comic book that EVERY writer and EVERY fan needs to read, and I 100% believe it is better than the uber-popular Watchmen, which is hailed by most sources as the greatest comic of all time. No, my friends. It’s Seven Soldiers of Victory, and it was written in April 2005 to December 2006 by Grant Morrison. It’s impossible to say something is career defining work with Morrison because pretty much everything is, but Seven Soldiers? It’s career defining work.

It’s very hard for me to write about Morrison without sounding like too much of a fanboy. I mean, I named this blog after a proposed work that he hasn’t even started on yet. But I have an incredible respect for the man and the creative genius that defines his work. Honestly, if you look at his bibliography, you’re looking at some of the best comic books ever written without a doubt, and this decade alone featured some absolutely brilliant work by the man. Three cheers for Morrison, my friends. Three freakin’ cheers.

Gil: By far the most cerebral on the list, the man has had a hell of a decade. He completely reinvented two tentpole franchises for the big two, but also manages to keep his indie cred among the fans who usually shy away from the more mainstream titles. In New X-Men, he brought them to a whole new relevance, and saved the book from eternal mediocrity by introducing such concepts as secondary mutations and Cassandra Nova, the next step beyond mutants. In Batman, he put the Dark Knight through HELL, and still is, to an extent.

Brandon: For a time I didn’t quite appreciate Morrison. When he first took over X-Men and changed it to New X-Men I was a furious fanboy. I felt that
he was coming in and destroying all that I loved in one fell swoop. As his run went along I learned that everything in comics is circular and would eventually the costumes would return and so would the things I missed. In the mean time I learned to enjoy the great aspects of Morrison’s run on New X-Men and now when I look back it’s one of my favorite runs of the franchise.

Outside of New X-Men his runs on All-Star Superman and Batman and Robin have been some of my favorites. Throw in his contributions to 52 and he earns his spot on this list without a shadow of a doubt. One thing to note about Morrison is his epic fame of the decade is shared with his constant collaborator Frank Quietly. When these two pair it’s instant gold.

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Not everything was glorious though in the world of Morrison of the course of the last decade. In my opinion Final Crisis was a disaster as was Batman R.I.P. These two glaring missteps prevented me from placing him higher on my list. Granted they don’t touch the majority of his work, which was great, but boy did they suck. Not everything can be the best though.

2. Geoff Johns

Matt: The second biggest rising star of the decade is, quite obviously, Mr. Geoff Johns. While not quite as big as our number one spot, it is impossible to argue the tremendous impact the man has had on DC comics. Truly a fanboy at heart, Johns began his career at the beginning of the decade as a little known writer working on a somewhat obscure title Stars and STRIPE. Coming hot off the heels of James Robinson, he would go on to write JSA, Hawkman and the Flash, which would soon earn him a place as one of the more popular writers in DC, and before long he relaunched the Teen Titans with an all new version of the now insanely popular Conner Kent. But with 2004 and the rebirth of Hal Jordan, Johns would see a tremendous spike in popularity, and would soon go on to write some of the most popular books in the DCU, including the game changing Infinite Crisis, 52, the Justice Society of America relaunch, Action Comics and the New Krypton event, and Blackest Night.

It is impossible to deny the amazing work done by the man though. It seems that every DC book he touches turns into a brand new form of gold to his fans, and he has managed to bring many characters to brand new life, including turning Captain Cold into one of the more popular DC Villains after years of Flash obscurity and 100% reviving Sinestro. He’s started up so many series and events that are still being played out in today’s comics, and I’d say it’s fair to see if you see his name on any book, you ought to grab it. He is quite consistently voted our top writer month after month, and with his constant and consistent output I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone why. In fact, the week this article comes out is the first week where no Johns’ titles will be out! However, at the end of the month where all mainstream comics are put aside so that indie comics can flourish, what is the one book DC is going to be putting out? That’s right. Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night #6. And with Smallville currently on a bit of a break, what is the first thing they will be showing upon their return? A 2-hour Geoff Johns written “event.” Yeah.

With a new year and a new DCU in the future, it appears there is just no stopping Johns on his rise. While the interconnectivity of DC is a bit different from Marvel, you can bet that in no time flat Johns will be the main architect for the DCU soon enough, and who knows how many new titles will be launched with the new year? Johns promises that he’ll soon be making Black Manta in the same league as Cold and Sinestro, so could we be seeing Aquaman: Rebirth soon? And how about those Secret Origin titles? And don’t forget the Earth-1 announcement! The future decade is incredibly bright for Mr. Johns, and to the man who officially made me love DC comics I say congratulations and thank you.

Gil: Much like Bendis himself, Johns has been the architect of the DC Universe for the better part of the decade. Ever since he scripted the pages of Green Lantern and Flash, we’ve gotten a real sense of his eye for the past, while keeping it fresh for the future. He quickly became one of my favorite writers, and still is to this day. You can’t imagine how stoked I was to find his Avengers run without even looking that hard, and I don’t think you can comprehend how shocked I was when he replied to my tweet commenting as such. The man is a rock star, and he’s got to be the nicest guy in comics to boot (to the best of my knowledge, anyway). I can only imagine what the future holds for the man’s work, and I can’t wait to see if Superman ice cream finds its way into the pages of Secret Origin. Or maybe a 7Eleven Run? We can only hope.

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Brandon: The go to guy for DC in the 00’s was this man without a doubt. Whether it was doing a big even or working on some of the best characters that
DC has to offer, Geoff Johns has done it all. Even putting in a little time with the Avengers in the Marvel neck of the woods. Hell, the man even wrote for TV’s Smallville just to round out his list of accomplishments.

Chief among said accomplishments for me is his ability to put a certain shine on characters that others couldn’t get a handle on or just plain didn’t want to use. Over the course of the decade Johns was able to make Green Lantern, JSA and the Teen Titans relevant again. His knack for taking a character’s continuity and using it to enhance the character instead of hindering it is what has set him apart from many other writers of this decade. Instead of abandoning continuity to make a character more accessible he instead consistently used the continuity to build a rich world around the characters.

The only thing that eluded the might Geoff Johns this last decade was creator owned work. While it is a major criticism from many I don’t mind it as much. The man knows what he’s great at and sticks with it. If he branched out just to branch out everyone would complain that he did so. In time I’m sure Johns will branch out into creator owned work and wow the world. Much like Lebron James and the Dunk Contest he’s just waiting for the right time. Until then, Johns’ ranking on this list couldn’t possibly be number one.

1. Brian Michael Bendis

Matt: When we were getting all of our lists together, we were having a lot of discussions about who should be what, and if there were any people who automatically deserved of certain top spots. I quote David when he said, “Wow, if you look at Bendis’ Wiki, it’s essentially a best of the decade list in its own.” And I believe this statement holds up very true. He is one of the two biggest “rise to power” stories of the past decade, starting with Marvel at 2001 writing just Daredevil, and now he can do essentially as he pleases and shape the future of the Marvel U to his fancy. In fact, since 2004 he has been doing just that, with Avengers Disassembled leading all the way to Siege, which begins soon. We’ve got books like Secret War, House of M, Secret Invasion, and ongoing titles like New, Mighty, and Dark Avengers, Secret Warriors, and Spider-Woman, and supposedly even Alias is coming back. Oh, and don’t forget the newly relaunched Powers volume 3, which I’d be happy to argue is Bendis’ second most definitive work.

But, of course, the single greatest thing Bendis did at Marvel was helping to launch the Ultimate line, in which he helmed the critically acclaimed Ultimate Spider-Man (now Ultimate Comics Spider-Man). Bendis holds the reigns for longest working man in the Ultimate U and continues to be the biggest redemption from the disaster full Ultimatum. What is most important to note about Ultimate Spidey, though, is with this one book Bendis was able to introduce a brand new fanbase to the magic of comics and Spider-Man lore. See, the Ultimate books was Marvel responding to the influx of people looking for a new home in comics after enjoying the big screen adaptations, so allowing Bendis (who was still a newcomer to the Marvel offices at that time) to take on such a huge responsibility as not only an architect of the universe but also the writer of the FIRST book published was obviously a bit of a gambit. But none the less, Bendis came at it with such passion and grace that the book quickly became insanely popular for both new and old fans alike, and was the book that brought me personally back into comic books after several years of not buying anything. Bendis handled the brand new Spider-man with the love and care that only someone with a true passion for what he’s doing could accomplish, and has since gone on to take this one character to unbelievable heights in the series.

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So it is without a doubt in my mind that Bendis is the single biggest rising star of the past decade. From writing and drawing his own books to shaping the entire future of the Marvel comic universe, Bendis definitely a household comic books name. He’s so big at Marvel that they even have him coming in to do consulting work on the future comic movies, such as Captain America! And despite all of this, he’s still an incredibly humble and friendly guy, responding to fan e-mails and tweets on a regular basis and making himself very open and available to all of comic-dom. I applaud you heartily, Mr. Bendis.

Gil: Ah, the modern day Stan Lee. Bold words, no? And yet, it completely fits. Not since the heyday of the 60’s and 70’s has one writer had such a bold impact on continuity at large. The last 7 years of Marvel? Yeah, that was mostly him. What I like most about Bendis is his respect for continuity itself. Just look at his run on New Avengers. When Spider-Woman was over with the Mighty Avengers, she wasn’t in the pages of New Avengers. Even Wolverine, who usually finds himself in a thousand books at once, managed to not be in the most recent arc (at press time anyway) because of his commitments in the pages of the X-Books. Some people might not care, but Bendis does, and I love it. When it comes to Marvel, there is no better.

Brandon: What hasn’t this man done during the last decade? From creator owned work to mainstream superhero books Bendis has come, he’s seen and he’s bloody well conquered that shit. Coming into the decade many may have not known his name but once Ultimate Spider-Man hit the stands and blew up like Hiroshima he became a ruling monarch of Geekdom. Not to mention that he quickly became Marvel’s go to guy and the crown jewel of their creator stable.

Bendis’ run on Ultimate Spider-Man was what got me into Spider-Man in general. Before Ultimate Spider-Man my total knowledge of the web head came from the Fox cartoon. Outside of that I knew only the most basic of knowledge that any civilian would know. I had heard nothing good about Spider-Man and what had become a convoluted history/continuity/present thanks to the Clone Saga. Quickly after getting into Ult. Spidey I got into JMS’ Amazing Spider-Man and thus my love for the character was born.

Next on the list of Bendis and his golden touch was the Avengers. Before Disassembled I owned maybe four issues of Avengers. Mostly the issues I owned tied into X-Men in some way, shape or form. Once Bendis took over and made the team a who’s who of the Marvel U I was sold. It makes more sense to me for the team to involve the best there is to offer from the company. While over time this team format changed and evolved my tastes too evolved. I came to appreciate the history of the Avengers and now consider myself an Avengers fan. Before Bendis and this decade that was not the case. As much as long time Avengers complain about Bendis’ treatment of their beloved old school Avengers the point must be made that there has to be more like me. There has to be more readers new and old alike who came into the Avengers, thanks to Bendis, to see the New Avengers but over time found a fondness for the classic Avengers.

Outside of his fantastic Marvel work Bendis succeded in the private sector with his Powers title. While successful outside of Marvel and a great read it eventually folded into Marvel when the company effectively created an entirely new imprint called ICON to house the title. While others would eventually come to be on the imprint it all started with Powers. So thanks to Bendis Marvel finally branched out into creator owned work.

I guess my point is that if you’re a Marvel fan there are three guys you really must appreciate when it comes to the last decade. Joe Quesada, Bill Jemas and Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis though of the three has had the largest impact on the Marvel Universe and it’s catalogue of characters and the stories that continue to shape their lives.

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Viva La Bendis!

Individual Lists

David

1. Brian K. Vaughan
2. Brian Michael Bendis
3. Warren Ellis
4. Robert Kirkman
5. Ed Brubaker
6. Geoff Johns
7. Bill Willingham
8. Grant Morrison
9. Brian Wood
10. Jason Aaron

Matt

1. Grant Morrison
2. Geoff Johns
3. Warren Ellis
4. Brian Michael Bendis
5. Robert Kirkman
6. Jeff Smith
7. Ed Brubaker
8. Mark Millar
9. Brian Azzarello
10. Bill Willingham

Gil

1. Geoff Johns
2. Brian Michael Bendis
3. Warren Ellis
4. Brian K. Vaughan
5. Grant Morrison
6. Robert Kirkman
7. Bill Willingham
8. Bryan Lee O’Malley
9. Matt Fraction
10. Ed Brubaker

Brandon

1. Brian Michael Bendis
2. Geoff Johns
3. Brian K. Vaughan
4. Grant Morrison
5. Mark Millar
6. Robert Kirkman
7. Ed Brubaker
8. Peter David
9. Chris Yost
10. Craig Kyle

What do you think? Who is the best writer? Do you like our choices? Weigh in with this poll and in the comments!


//TAGS | The Decade According To Multiversity

David Harper

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