Today brings the first part of the first round of our March Madness tournament, affectionately called The Tweet Off. We’re figuring out who the best comic person is on Twitter, and we’re going to have the highly scientific method of ranking our 32 favorites by Twitter followers, and then having you the reader vote alongside both of us to decide each winner. Both Matt (@mattisnotarbot) and David (@slicedfriedgold) from Multiversity will be voting as well, with each day’s winners being announced the next day. The winner gets our love and adoration, and gets to move on to the next round. Lucky them.
Let’s get to the match-ups.
(1) Neil Gaiman (@NeilHimself) vs. (8) Jamie S. Rich (@JamieESRich)
Followers: 1,830,633 for Gaiman, 1,517 for Rich
Their Work: Umm…well, for Gaiman you might have heard of him. He’s the guy who created the landmark Vertigo series Sandman, and wrote such books as American Gods, Stardust, Coraline and The Graveyard Book. He isn’t so much a writer, so much as an icon. Meanwhile, Rich is the excellent writer of It Girl and the Atomics, You Have Killed Me, 12 Things I Love About You, and the upcoming A Boy and a Girl from Oni. He’s also a hell of a nice guy, a film reviewer for The Oregonian, and a man of discerning taste.
Sample Tweets:
The Vote: How do you vote? Gaiman or Rich?
(2) Scott Snyder (@SSnyder1835) vs. (7) John Layman (@TheMightyLayman)
Followers: 39,000 for Snyder, 6,356 for Layman
Their Work: In the straight up Batman flagship match-up, we’ve got Scott Snyder the writer of Batman vs. John Layman the writer of Detective Comics. Oh, and Snyder is also the writer of American Vampire, the upcoming Superman Unchained, the departing writer of Swamp Thing, and one of the nicest guys ever. Layman is the co-creator of the Eisner-winning Image series Chew and the writer of Mars Attacks for IDW, and he is one kick ass chap in his own right. He’ll probably be confused and amused by our usage of chap.
Sample Tweets:
The Vote: How do you vote? Snyder or Layman?
(3) Kieron Gillen (@KieronGillen) vs. (6) Faith Erin Hicks (@FaithErinHicks)
Followers: 20,141 for Gillen, 7,807 for Hicks
Their Work: Gillen is the writer of Marvel’s Young Avengers and Iron Man, as well as the upcoming (and returning!) Phonogram 3 with YA collaborator Jamie McKelvie and the upcoming The Heat from Avatar and Three from Image. Gillen clearly stays busy, but as a word scientist, it’s understandable that he’d like to do so. Meanwhile, Hicks is the creator of the delightful GN’s Friends with Boys and The Adventures of Superhero Girl, and the upcoming Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong. She is tremendously amusing on Twitter.
Sample Tweets:
The Vote: How do you vote? Gillen or Hicks?
(4) Hope Larson (@HopeLarson) vs. (5) Ron Marz (@RonMarz)
Followers: 12,582 for Larson, 10,070 for Marz
Their Work: Larson is known recently for her New York Times Best Selling comic adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, but she also created well-loved graphic novels like Salamander Dream and Mercury. She’s also one half of one of the comic power couples (oh my!) alongside her husband Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim). Ron Marz is a long-time comic writer, currently involved with Athleta Comics with Bart Sears and NFL player Israel Idonije, and he’s very well known for his work on series for Marvel, DC (Emerald Twilight!), Top Cow and more. He’s very outspoken about what he believes in on Twitter, which is endlessly interesting.
Sample Tweets:
The Vote: How do you vote? Larson or Marz?
