Top 5 Favorite Comic Book Writers

Hi, this is Kyle Higgins and you're listening

to the Geek Catch Radio Network. You are now

on the inside of what I like to call the circle

of trust. We are all connected in a great circle

of life. You know something Bert? I think you

and I are going in circles. It feels like we're

going in circles. The circle is not complete.

When I left you, I was but the third. Now I am

the last. Because it's a circle. Yeah, we heard

about the circle. Yeah, I swear. A million would

change. Hi, this is Chuck. This is Greg. And

this is Dan, and we are Talking in Circles, brought

to you by the Geekcast Radio Network, the podcast

that we'll be counting now. their top five favorite

comic book writers of all time. Yeah, it's quite

a task when you think about it. A lot of great

comic book writers out there. But, you know,

we're keeping our top five traditions alive.

As you know, I do love my top five. But before

we get to that, how's the week been going for

you guys? Week hasn't been too bad. I guess sort

of boring. And it's finally gotten cold up in

the area where I live, because we kind of had

some some above average temperatures for winter

so far but it finally started like getting cold

this week and I understand Dan, you're going

through quite a snowstorm down there where you

are. Yeah, yeah, we're getting kind of snow slap.

We're recording this a little early, but yeah,

I don't know if they have a name for it. If they

do, I don't want them to. But yeah, here in the

Baltimore East Coast, we're getting about 30

inches of snow or so. It is, in fact, called

Winter Storm Jonas. Really? Yes. My name is Jonas.

Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Because we felt

the need to start like naming winter storms for

some reason. It's too difficult to keep track

of it via date. Yes, that was a real song, by

the way, Dan. It wasn't, yeah. It's not Jonas

Jamieson, by any chance. No, it's Jonas by Weezer.

Okay, yeah, a lot of people say snowmageddon

or snowpocalypse. I like I like snow slabs I

think that's what it because it's what it feels

like especially with a being so cold and it'd

be so windy and it's insane because I live on

the sub level and Legitimately my dining room

window. I actually tweeted out a photo The snow

was like I couldn't open the window because a

halfway up the window was just all snow So and

it came on a weekend, so it's like I didn't really

even get out of work for it So it's just it's

just not fun My mom was very concerned that Connor

wouldn't be able to look out your back door there.

Well, we opened it up and you could look out.

He wasn't as interested as I thought he might

be. You know, he was like, OK, I see it, but

I'm good now. Tomorrow we'll get to go out and

play in a little bit of snow. It was too cold

today and too windy, so we didn't go out. And

what really sucks, I have snow outside my door

and I don't know where to put it because I'm

on the bottom level so I have to carry it up

a flight of stairs. Here's what you do, Dan.

You shovel all that up, you put it in your bathtub,

you buy a bunch of liquor, put the liquor in

the bathtub, have a party. That sounds like a

good idea. I see no fault in that whatsoever.

Except that trying to carry it from... outside

to through my hallway, I'm sure that my wife

would be like, why are you bringing a shovel

full of snow into the house? And I'm like, well,

here's the idea. It was Greg's idea. Oh, now

I understand. Some bars. A certain amount of

leeway, Greg. So I'm sure it'll go over. All

right. I think one person I listen to radio said

the benefit of it. That's one way to fight crime

in Baltimore City. Having 30 inches of snow,

you know, they'll probably be very little crime.

But. Probably won't have any stolen snow shovels

because they're already all sold out Well, I

was I keep my show snow shovel outside of my

door and I was actually I thought I heard someone

stealing it last night But it wasn't but anyways

enough about the crazy snow Greg, how's your

week been going? It's alright nothing spectacular

going on. I went on a couple of dates the one

I went to wasn't Wasn't really that looking forward

to the girl, but I was really looking forward

to the food That's my tip if you're gonna go

on a date and you don't want to get disappointed

look forward not to the person that you're gonna

be going out with look forward to like the activity

that you're gonna be doing or the food that you're

gonna be getting because that's that's a little

bit more Reliable, I think so. I had a very good

meal. I had a Lamb chili with donuts, but the

donuts were essentially like a fritter. So they

were more savory and not really sweet. And then

for my main meal, I had chicken and waffles.

Nice chicken waffles. Was it lunchtime? No, it

wasn't lunchtime. It was a dinner type of situation.

It's the place that we went to was it's called

the Mint and it's in Bethlehem, Allentown area.

Yeah, and the good thing about them too if you

leave your you know your number or your email

They'll actually contact you back afterwards

almost guaranteed. So that's another thing to

look forward to So but yeah, very cool. Very

cool today Like we mentioned we are gonna be

counting down our top five Favorite comic book

writers and I did actually want to talk about

before we get to that. I did read a comic book

and Greg I don't know if you read this or not.

I know you're a fan of the writer slash artists

Spoiler alert. He's not in my top five, but maybe

in a few years he could possibly be But this

hasn't done enough quite yet and that's Scottie

young I hate fairyland. Yes Issue four I believe

I think it's that you have do you have the special

edition ones where it says fuck fairyland? No,

I do not Have I have one of them? It's it says

fuck fairyland. I didn't get the first issue

on time So that one just says I hate fairyland,

but the the second issue I have it says fuck

fairyland and it's a very good series Yeah, I

don't know. I've read the first two issues so

far and For those like Scottie young has a certain

style to him that actually I love the style He

did rocket raccoon. He's he did all the Wizard

of Oz Comics, it's very graffiti style type of

artwork. If it was drawing his influence from

yeah, very urban hip -hop graffiti style, but

in almost but in some ways to like I feel it's

almost like a Especially the way you draw his

animations, very Looney Tunes -esque in a way.

Yes. I hate Fairyland. The premise of the book

is that this very young girl gets kind of wished

away to Fairyland and she's kind of given this

task. You have to find, I think it's a key, in

order to get back home. But the thing is, you

flash forth 37 years, she hasn't found it yet.

She has an age her body has an age but she has

so you have this 37 year old kind of haggard

woman in the body of a child who basically hates

everything because she's been stuck in fairyland

for 37 years and she's kind of become like a

massive murderer imagine like punisher as a baby

as a like a four -year -old girl who has even

less of a moral compass. So it opens up with

this narration of the moon talking about what's

going on. And then she proceeds to basically

destroy the moon and you see all the glory of

its blood and guts flying everywhere in a very

cartoonish manner. So I do think it is kind of

an evolution to Looney Tunes in a way, where

Looney Tunes had that cartoonish violence. It

has it as well, but with a little bit more blood

and guts. You know, the premise of it does sound

gimmicky, but I think it's a gimmick that works.

if you're a Scottie Young fan, like he has that

sense of humor. And I prefer Scottie Young when

he is writing and drawing his own stuff. I've

read a few, he's doing like Rocket and Groot

right now where he's writing, but he's not drawing.

And I don't like that as much, but I think seeing

his style all together is my favorite. But I

don't know what you thought of the series so

far. Yeah, I love it so far I love that very

cartoonish violence type of sense of humor that

he has going on and I especially love his artwork

that was he was one of the first people that

I got like a professional well -known comic book

artist artwork from I got it from his If you

watch his blog, he'll have stuff like daily sketches

out all the time and I got one of his daily sketches

back in the day before he was extremely popular

as he is and I have a a nice Sky Cyclops, 90

Cyclops sketch that he drew in color. It's it's

freaking gorgeous. I have it up on my wall. Yeah.

I just love the idea of like all these bright

and cheerful colors. And you just see this young

girl just there's these characters that look

kind of like Toadstool from Mario Brothers. And

she starts eating them and getting high off them.

It's just it's an insane book. I don't know how

many issues they plan on having this. I don't

think it's one that could go probably past like

10 or 12. at the most, but just because of the

Primus, there's only so much there. But it's

been a lot of fun. And I think that's kind of

the main thing. It's not a book that's really

out to change the world. It's just a really good

kind of crazy story. Yeah, it's one to have fun

with. I don't know if you guys read or watch

anything before you want to talk about before

we get into our top fives. I actually read a

book that would be of interest to our nerd core,

our audience. And that was, I read a Doctor Who

book called Shada. Did that also entice your

Who boner? It was good. I'm not sure if it got

me up, if it got me hard or not, but it was definitely

very good. So more of like a who chubby? On the

Whovian scale? You know, is that where it would

fall? It was a half a chub, it was a half a chub.

but it was uh had to deal with the the fourth

doctor he's a very popular doctor among whovians

and i like him just fine but i i never really

liked a lot of those older episodes because i

felt like they moved kind of slow and everything

and with reading this is a book it didn't really

feel that slow at all so it's actually like not

comic book it's a it was a book where did no

photos when It was actually based off a script

that from the TV show back in the day. And the

script was written by Douglas Adams. And they

kind of call it a lost episode because they filmed

parts of it, but it really never came out on

TV. They they did have something come out in

like ninety four for it or something, which is

well past when they actually did that. recording

of that episode. Somebody else came in and kind

of took the scripts and different information

that they've learned throughout the years to

kind of piece together how they think Douglas

Adams would have put it together and everything.

It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of craziness

that you kind of get from Doctor Who and from

Douglas Adams. As you may know, Douglas Adams

wrote Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which

is a crazy, wacky... their book and this this

follows in the same kind of frame you could you

could tell where he kind of got all of his stuff

for Hitchhiker's Guide and everything like it's

it's got that Doctor Who Hitchhiker's mentality

in both books back and forth it was it was a

lot of fun really interesting read if you're

into Doctor Who I definitely recommend it I got

this book on the cheap a couple years back and

I just haven't gotten around to reading it and

I got it for like Three or four bucks at a book

sale. It's a nice hardcover book, and I got it

for cheap I always wanted to read it and so this

gave me the opportunity So I would I would recommend

people definitely reading that one if they're

a who fan if they're not a who fan You may have

some issues with it, but but otherwise it was

a really good read awesome So we're gonna take

a quick break and when we come back we're gonna

be committing to an ultimate challenge as we

try to count down our top five favorite comic

book writers of all time. We'll see you in a

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Give Geeky with the Altered Geeks. Every Friday

on the Geekcast Radio Network. Alright and welcome

back and like I mentioned we're counting down

our top five favorite comic book writers and

Before we get to the countdown I know like this

is kind of a lot of challenges because there's

so many comic book writers out there It's a lot

of things to consider So Chuck before we get

to the countdown did anything you kind of use

to try to help narrow your scope down to just

picking out those top five people Basically,

what I kind of did was I picked like sort of

my favorite titles or favorite teams, things

like that. And I kind of looked at my favorite

runs of those. I don't know, for whatever reason,

I didn't really pay attention off of the top

of my head to know like, like, oh, yeah, those

are, you know, my favorite writers. Like I knew

a couple, a couple of my absolute favorites,

but I had to think about it a little more to

get my a couple of other ones. But I basically

looked at like, you know, I love the Avengers.

X -Men, Spider -Man, stuff like that. So I started

looking into some of my favorite stories of those.

I'm looking on my bookshelf with all my trade

paperbacks and hardcovers and stuff like that.

I'm like, oh yeah, okay, I like that one a lot.

So that's kind of my method, I guess. Very cool.

Very cool. Greg, how about yourself? Yeah, it

wasn't that hard for me in the respect that a

lot of my I haven't really paid attention to

the writer who actually wrote the book I'd be

like, oh that was a good story and then just

kind of put the book to the side but anymore

recently I've been paying more attention to the

writers and the artists to With their names on

the front cover and everything. So I Minds a

lot more current writers, so it wasn't that really

that hard there They're kind of at the forefront

of my mind, but it wasn't like going back and

researching really for me, because a lot of my

favorite stories have been in current and a lot

of like other publishers besides Marvel and DC

writers, to be quite honest, are on my list here.

Like you guys wasn't with us until like last

five years. I even paid attention to writers

I didn't really follow writers. I followed characters

I knew what characters I liked and those ones

I went to for the most part I think the people

that I really first started paying attention

to were the writers who brought back the DNA,

the brought back, uh, with annihilation and things.

Cause I started really loving everything that

they did. So, but what I use, honestly, this

was where the website comic book roundup really

helped me because with that you can create a

creative watch list where it will track kind

of your favorite writers and things like that.

So that was a big help for me because I can look

at the writers that I've really been reading

to. And like Greg, most of mine are mostly current

writers. I have not read, to begin with, a lot

of classic comics I have not read. But similar

to Chuck too, I also looked at what are my favorite

stories of all time, favorite comic book runs,

and often a lot of the times the same writers

did many of them, so that was a big help. But

that's kind of what I did to put this all together.

So if you're wondering, where are some classic

writers, like I said, I'm a newbie, I think,

in a lot of ways when it comes to comic books.

But Chuck, maybe we can let you kick. this off.

I don't know if you put yours in order or not,

but who's on the top of your list for your favorite

comic book writer? I didn't really put mine in

order. I thought I was going to, but it proved

more difficult than I realized. So I'm just like,

whatever, I'm just gonna pick five. So basically

I'll start it off with somebody that was probably

my favorite writer on the Avengers run. And it's

difficult because I had really three actually

probably four solid favorites on Avengers but

I picked this guy because he also did also some

some good Spider -Man work and that is Roger

Stern and if if you look back through toward

the history of Marvel he has a ton of great stories

in Marvel that he wrote for like I said both

the Avengers and Spider -Man he did Kang time

and time again story. He did the ultimate vision

story for Avengers. He was a big favorite of

mine from the Spider -Man stuff, like sort of

in the in the 80s and stuff. He he was a creator

of the character Hobgoblin. And I love those

old Hobgoblin stories. I have a lot of those

issues and. I love reading all the Hobgoblin

stuff. He also wrote the Nothing Can Stop the

Juggernaut story for Amazing Spider -Man. painting

and uh also a really great avenger story under

siege which a lot of people say is probably his

best story but that's when like seagull yes steven

seagull was you know in the navy now that's where

all the avengers just beat up fat steven seagull

that's steven seagull Because if he was thin

Steven Seagal, he could probably take them. But

yeah, yeah, maybe it would just continue chopping

everyone with his hand. I love watching all of

Steven Seagal movies. They're just like he's

the action star that moved the least like. I

love watching the Med TV skits where they make

fun of him. Oh, yeah. Will Sasso as Steven Seagal.

It was great. It's funny that Will Sasso's got

skinnier and then. He's kind of got better. It's

kind of got the opposite there. That's totally

true. But yeah, Under Siege was a great story.

It's when Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil

basically kind of just take down the whole Avengers

team. They kind of stormed the Avengers Mansion

and kind of try to take them down one by one

and stuff. That's a really great story. But yeah,

Roger Stern, a lot of great stuff, Avengers and

Spider -Man stuff. So I had to had to have him

on the list. I got to say, like I I was aware

of a lot of the stories that you talked about

again goes back to me saying that I did not pay

attention the writers that much but I Did not

anything I even heard of him before before you

you're bringing him up. So that's pretty cool.

I was looking I do Yeah, I do plan on getting

a they have an omnibus a Spider -man omnibus

by Roger Stern that kind of collects all the

works that he did for spider -man and I do plan

on getting that So is he currently still writing

or is he kind of gone by the wayside? I'm really

not sure, to be honest. I think they brought

him back at some point, I think, to write some

Spider -Man stuff a few years ago, but I'm not

sure what he's doing right now, exactly. I do

see he did do a Dark Man vs. Army of Darkness

miniseries for Dynamite Entertainment, so I don't

know. Oh, wow. There you go. Greg, I don't know

if you'd be interested in that, but Greg, do

you want to go next with who's top on your list?

I'm guessing you as well did not. Are you ranking

them or are you just going random? You know me.

I'm going random. It's too hard. It's too difficult

for me ever to rank The fate I just know this

is the group of my favorite This is the group

of mine not favorite not favorite top of that

list though Brian Michael Bendis I debated putting

him at number one as a joke just to piss me off.

Let's see what Greg does. It would probably work

out for a better ending than most pendant stories.

So there you go. But for my first person that

I'm going to mention here, he started off in

the big two. He wrote some, well actually he

started off in the world of illustration first

and then he kind of worked his way into writing

and everything and he had this big idea for a

story and the character first appeared when he

drew a convention sketch and that convention

sketch was of a character that definitely changed

and developed up when he came into comics and

everything, and that is Hellboy. Mike Mignola,

I think he is a fantastic writer. There's a lot

of deep history that he includes in his books

and a lot of mythology and stories of old that

he revamps into this new telling. And of course,

combine that with his great eccentric crazy style

that he has that I've heard been called German

Expressionism slash comic book style. And I think

you've got some great storytelling going on.

You get these nice. cool little details in the

background and everything. And his stories have

just always been fun to me. And I like the mythology

and I like these monsters that are essentially

our heroes going out there and kicking butt and

the different dimensions of the characters, psyches

and everything. You've got Hellboy is kind of

a working class, stiff kind of character. And

then you got Abe Sapien and he's a real smart

book. smart kind of guy and they just make a

fun pairing together and he's he's definitely

expanded that off into to different avenues of

having just Abe Sapien. And he's got he's got

a whole bunch of different stuff out there, but

he's definitely taken that world and definitely

expanded on it. And it's just great stuff. And

I've met him at a con and he was he was just

a great guy. For someone like me who's never

really read a Hellboy comic, do you think there

do you I don't know, this is kind of putting

you on the spot, but is there maybe a good spot

to start? Would you just say start with Hellboy

number one or? There's such a huge history there,

sort of like a current book I could pick up with

music and still kind of understand what makes

him such a great character. Think he could really

pick up any book to really get into Hellboy You

don't really need to start off with number one

But I would definitely recommend starting off

with that one and definitely see him kind of

develop over time and see where this whole overall

arcing arcing story is going but uh The books

that he writes are definitely could go is standalone

if you want them to be standalone but There is

an arching story overall, but you don't really

need to read them in order to kind of get it.

I don't think Good to know, good to know. All

right, like I said, I'm starting, most of my

writers, or actually all my writers are current

writers, and I, the one I'm starting with, I

feel like he's gonna become, he's just on the

precipice of becoming even more a top -notch

writer, and I say that as he just wrote the biggest

story for Marvel last year with Secret Wars,

and that's Jonathan Hickman. When I read his

stories, the person that honestly comes to my

mind is that of Christopher Nolan. They're thematically

dense, but there is also like an emotional cold.

to them in a way where you just you feel distant

but because you're an observer of these larger

-than -life situations that are going on the

kids run a new Avengers but it was so insane

in a way and a lot of times I don't know if I

fully grasp everything but I'm just at all what

I'm witnessing I love his East of West is probably

the thing I enjoy most of it is probably what

makes him at my number five I would highly recommend

that, and that's when I would say you kind of

have to start from the beginning. It's only been

around for, I think, the last three years. I

don't know what issue they're on currently, but,

you know, it's this futuristic dystopian world

that's also a Western and an alternate universe

with Civil War, and it's differently, and also

has this apocalyptic element to it. It's just,

it's a hodgepodge of all these different things

that should not work, but end up... Working really

well and also helps it. They're great art also

really he did the infinity recent big event that

happened a few years ago was like kind of the

next thing after Annihilation and war of kings.

I don't know truck if you read that at all It

also involved around Thanos and which one was

that the infinity? It's on my list the reason

I've hesitated so far is because I've heard that

you have to read his avengers run leading up

to that in order to kind of get infinity is that

true i would say so honestly because there's

a lot of new characters that are huge elements

of it and you probably i mean Maybe if you went

on Wikipedia or something like that, you can

get a better understanding of it. So maybe you

don't necessarily have to read it, but I would

work for word, but at least maybe get the synopsis

of it because he is one that I think you very

much need to like with Secret Wars. That was

a storyline that was going on for a few years

or at least or and I think you could probably

pick up Secret Wars number one and get it for

the most part, because after the first issue

becomes something new, but. I did really like

Infinity. He also had a miniseries a few years

ago called Shield, which looked at Shields completely

differently. It dealt with Leonardo da Vinci

and kind of used history. I read that. That was

a very cool story. Yeah. Yeah. So that was quite

good. And he had a great one. He had Secret Warriors

as well, which was not nearly, I think, more

Avengers level in the sense of Nick Fury, Cedric

Revengers that came out of Secret Invasion. And

also he had a pretty good run in Fantastic Four,

too. Those heroes that used to exist. but now

don't in Marvel. But because of that, I put him

at number five, and I do think he's actually

gonna become larger and larger as the years go

on, because I think Secret Wars was, for me,

one of the best big Marvel events that have happened

in quite a while. All right, I don't know if

any of you guys have, I know you said you did

read a little bit of him, Greg, with a shield.

I don't know if you read any other stuff. Yeah,

I did read Secret Wars. It ran a little bit too

long and it was a little bit too big of a gap

between stories, but otherwise it was pretty

interesting. Wouldn't say it is my most favorite

thing in the world though. I did enjoy that that

shield book that you're mentioning with Where

they're talking about how like back in the day

kind of shield stuff and with da Vinci and everything

Taking down Galactus and going to undertow was

kind of cool. So yeah, exactly I liked that story.

I wasn't too too fond of this recent secret wars

Thing but but otherwise, I don't mind Pikmin

really Awesome. All right, Chuck, let's bring

it back over to you. Who's next on your list?

OK, so my next one is actually another Spider

-Man writer. Nice, nice. I sense a theme here.

Yes. Well, this is the last one, I promise. But

do you guys remember back? Of course we do. But

harkening back to the 90s and the uber successful

Todd McFarlane. reimagining of, not reimagining,

but the new Todd McFarland Spider -Man series

that came out and all that stuff in the early

90s. I remember the illustrations more than I

probably remember the stories. Well, if you if

you wondered who the writer was during that famous

Todd McFarland era, it was David Michelin. And

he's Michelin Man. Yes, the Michelin Man. The

stories kept you safe. Yes, he could he could

change your tires just by throwing them at your

car I Tried that it does not work at all even

the windshield wiper that does not work either

Just end up pissing off everyone that's driving

by Turns out they try to chase you after you

throw them, but yeah, but now David Michelini,

um, he's probably quite possibly my favorite

Spider -Man writer, I think maybe a little bit

more than Stern. But he was a big reason that

that McFarland series was so successful. Everyone

loved McFarland's art, but some of the stories

are pretty great. And Michelinie was like a co

-creator on some of those super popular characters

like Venom and Carnage. He helped create those

characters. And it was it was also noted that

when McFarlane sort of broke off and went to

do some of his own stories without Michelinie.

Those narratives sort of suffered and they weren't

nearly as good as they were when they were with

Spider -Man. So you have Michelinie to thank

for that, but he's really, really good writer.

I just love some of his stuff. Like that whole

Maxim Carnage thing was like super confusing

sort of, but The couple of issues that Michelinie

did were pretty good. And he just had a big run.

I actually have an omnibus that for Spider -Man

that he did too. And I think there's like 30

some issues in there. And that's all good stuff

in there. Classic Venom carnage stuff and some

other some other great villains from the Rogues

Gallery. So good stuff. Nice. So. Being a Spider

-Man fan, what do you think makes a good Spider

-Man writer? What's the key to making that character

work? I know it's kind of a hard question to

throw at you. It's a little tough to explain.

I kind of liken it to Superman. It's like you

just have to get the character, which Zack Snyder

clearly is not. Everyone has their own imagining

of a character and what they should be, but I

think a lot of us have the same Idea of what

spider -man should be, you know, he should be

quick with the one -liners but he should have

sort of broad shoulders and he should have this

sort of complex where he feels the need to carry

the weight of the world on his shoulders and

everyone else's burdens and things like that

and just the way Just the way the person would

write the dialogue between him and his loved

ones or him and his villains. I just like the

way he does it. It's It's the best way I can

explain it, I guess. Interesting, interesting.

Have you read any of Dan Slott's run on Spider

-Man at all? I don't think so. I was looking

in some of the lists and stuff, and he was mentioned

a couple times, but I'm not really familiar with

his stuff. Yeah, he's kind of done it for the

last, I don't know, he's been on it for the last

maybe five years or so, and he's the one who

did the superior Spider -Man, which I thought,

I don't know, I would like to hear what you thought,

if you ever read that, your thoughts on that,

because I... I love that, also helped that, was

it Herberto Ramos, I know, was the author. Herberto

Ramos! Yeah, his artwork is phenomenal. Who's

doing X -Men right now, and I think. I'm not

sure if Chuck would really like him. He kinda

has a little bit more cartoony style, but I think

he adds a lot of energy to the character, though,

of Spider -Man. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely more,

I don't know. I do enjoy it, but cool. Very nice,

Chuck. Greg, let's move on over to you. What's

up? I have another one that is that used to be

essentially an artist on the books, but she started

off with her own stuff, really. And she wrote

her own stuff along with drawing it. But right

now she's currently doing a multiple series over

in D .C. and I think doing a great job on all

of them. There's a whole bunch of different Harley

Quinn titles that she's working on and. Uh, she's

working on star fire, which I, uh, is one of

my favorites up there now. Um, and that's Amanda

Connor. I met her at the Baltimore con and she

was awesome to talk to. So if you ever in person,

definitely go check her out and talk to her,

but definitely check out all her books too. Uh,

a lot of fun, crazy stories, uh, she has going

on. Uh, but she, she definitely gets a lot of,

uh, the emotional heartstrings of the characters

and everything. And she's definitely fleshing

out Harley Quinn to be a little bit more dimensional.

And she's definitely trying to make Starfire

less of a sex item and more into a sex item,

less dummy into a little bit more knowledgeable

about Earth and everything going on and to still

playing up the sexy thing, but I think she she

kind of toes the line and everything with her

characters. But she's a lot of fun. I highly

recommend if you like Deadpool. I think she's

been doing Harley Quinn and Starfire to the point

where it's kind of like Deadpool. But I think

it's it's better than Deadpool at this point.

Deadpool's. getting real crazy all over the place.

But yeah, that was a good place to leave it because,

like Deadpool, that was kind of an all -over

-the -place explanation of Amanda Connor. Man,

well, I have not read her stuff. I really need

to pick it up. I actually just, well, I shouldn't

say that. I started reading Harley Quinn and

Starfire. If you recommend them all, I have Starfire

loaded up ready to go up and not read it yet.

But I do love seeing more women in comics now

because I do think... they can represent the

female characters a lot better, like you've mentioned.

Not that it's impossible for male characters,

but I think it helps a great deal when you have

more diversity when it comes to comic books,

but not the need to get powerful. She definitely

has a great perspective that she's coming from

to write these stories, I think, so it's definitely

great to have her represent females in a great

way. Cool, very nice, very nice. So my next on

the list. The reason I asked you that, Chuck,

about what makes a good Spider -Man story is

because I also thought about that when it comes

for one of the comic books that my next author

writes, and he writes just currently for Star

Wars, and that's Jason Aaron. And he does a lot

of... He does my favorite book right now, which

is Southern Bastards, but I think what I love

seeing with him when it comes to something like

Star Wars, which I wasn't a huge fan of when

it first started, but I'm becoming more a fan

of, is just like you mentioned with Spider -Man,

he gets the characters and kind of the essence

of those characters and what made those movies

really great have really transitioned into the

recent stories of the Star Wars and that saga

and it's great getting that feeling again from

a comic. But I think what's really putting him

on this list for me is the comic book Southern

Bastards. which I named as my favorite comic

last year. It was like number two for me the

year before. It's an insane story that started

off as this like walking tall type of tale that

turned into something so more. And I'm super

impressed with his ability to build character

within one issue of a comic. And he's done that

time and time again, I guess with Scout, which

I have not read and I really want to pick up

after picking up Southern Bastards. And he will

take a character that's in the background of

one scene, do an entire comic issue about that

character. make him well -rounded and really

just make you feel for that character, either

hating them, loving them, or what have you. He's

also written a few other things. He did the Mighty

Thor or Thor, Thor God of Thunder, which I put

up there with one of my favorite Thor stories

of all time. It was this story with three Thors

from different time periods. You had a young

Thor from the Viking times. You had kind of current

day Thor and then like old Thor like Odin. level

Thor and Chuck. I think you would really love

that book because it really gets into like it's

very much the classic Thor hardcore mythology

and that and I think if I'm not mistaken you

would enjoy that element of it. He also did a

spin -off series during Secret Wars called Thor's.

I don't know Greg if you read that but it's imagine

a... I did read that. Yeah it's a it's a cop

drama but all with Thor's. It's just Thor characters

like everyone's a different type of Thor I heard

it was I heard it described as lethal weapon

with Thor's basically Yeah, let the weapon or

law and order with Thor's and it was I don't

know I thought it was a lot of fun. He did weird

world too and but yeah, so I've I love what he's

currently doing and He's kind of done done a

lot. He's doing stuff with Marvel an image right

now and I would highly recommend Southern Basterds

to pretty much anyone, but he made my number

four. I did kind of rank mine because I'm like

that. I'm that type of person. You do love your

top fives, Dan. I do, I do. I love ranking things.

I like ranking my favorite lists of all time,

too. This is number four. Wait till Dan gets,

if Dan had like five kids or something and he's

like, all right, I'm going to rate my kids top

five. Number one, Connor. That would not go well,

I don't think. Top five times that Carol was

super pissed at me. Top five times I had to sleep

on the couch. By choice, because sometimes I

just fall asleep on the couch. It's just what

I'm good at. We know you're good at it, Dan.

You've been there for it. They're also sharing

your skill in that area too, Dan. If there was

Olympics for sleeping, I think Chuck and I would

be on the All -American team. I fell asleep in

some of the most bizarre places. I'm not even

kidding. I'm a hunter. I go hunting a lot with

my dad and stuff. One time we went goose hunting

and I fell asleep lying on the ground in a cornfield.

Nice, nice. I've fallen asleep in the woods many

times leaning against a tree. Just random shit.

I think my biggest skill was falling asleep during

a root canal. That was my biggest skill. That's

hard to do. Yeah, that was I was I was I was

like during a time when I was crazy busy at work

I was getting very little sleep and uh I had

to get a root canal in in between a little legitimately

like left work out with a root canal went back

to work but during that time I just was laying

down i'm like this feels nice and kind of started

dozing off they had to wake me up it was kind

of awkward but one time in college I had uh I

was up late studying the one night and I was

really dozing off so I put my headphones on to

uh and I Turned like the music up as loud as

it would possibly go and I still fell asleep

Now this is morphed into the top five times we

fell asleep, but yeah, I should have a ranking

of that Maybe one day well, but before we get

to that let's continue with this list Chuck Who's

the next writer on your top five comic book writer

list? my next writer is someone that probably

everyone will recognize and that is the very

popular Mark Wade Nice he was I had him back

and forth with my number five number six. So

he's a very high animal mention for me Yeah,

and I felt I needed somebody could to kind of

represent DC for me for some Justice League stuff

And that is something that he was very famous

for his run on the jail a books in the 90s jail

a year one he worked on He also did JLA Tower

of Babel, which was one of my top five favorite

stories when we did that podcast episode. Batman

has contingency plans on how to defeat everyone

in the Justice League, and Ra's al Ghul sort

of hacks his computer and gets all those things,

and takes down every member of the Justice League,

and they end up kicking Batman out. But that's

one of my all -time favorite stories, and that

was done by Mark Waid. He also did a ton of Flash

stuff, and honestly, some of the best Flash stories.

That I of the more modern Eric sort of you know

born -to -run terminal velocity return of Barry

Allen stuff like that And there's so much flash

stuff there might there might be more flash stuff

than anything else that he's worked on but And

also some Captain America stuff, which I'm sure

you know Danny did a man out of time and a couple

of other big cap stories Yeah, yeah, I love man

out of time. It's one of my favorite cap stories.

I think it really gets to the heart of Captain

America like if someone asked me like I want

what's so great about Captain America That's

the story I would give them because I think it

represents exactly what why that character is

so important Yeah, and we also with Mark weight

like he was very influential in creating boom

studios or being part of that like he you know,

he was Did the irredeemable line that we we mentioned

previously? Uh, he currently is doing archie

right now and I think doing a great job with

that And he did kingdom come which is one of

my first personal top five favorite stories.

Oh, yes I forgot to mention that one. Yeah, so

that's why I almost put him on the list simply

for that story, which is phenomenal. Uh, so yeah,

he's He is certainly an icon when it comes to

comic books for sure. So yes, definitely. Yeah

And I walked right by him at the Baltimore Comic

Con. He was walking out on the floor just among

everyone and he walked right past me. I was like,

that was Mark Wade. Did you do what I did with

Eliza Dushku and just stared awkwardly? Well,

I waited until he got further away until I started

to stare, so. I was like, that's Mark Wade. I

kind of want to get something autographed, but

I don't want to be a jerk. He seems like I went

to the, when we were at Baltimore Comic Con,

I went to the boom pan and he was talking and

he was a very, very cool guy, very funny. So,

all right, Greg, moving on over to you. What's

next on your list? Next on my list we have the

writer that created one of my favorite storylines,

which I'm still trying to catch up and read all

of it. They're so vast, but great concept, great

stories, and he's always coming up with great

stories for it. And it's apparently going to

stop writing soon for it. And that is Fables

as Bill Willingham. Great stories, because the

art isn't really what does it for me in those

that series of books. It's the story. He handles

all these different characters, all these mythologies

and seamlessly ties them together in a nice little

bow for you and get this nice little package

that he gives you. So I highly recommend anything

by... Wait, what does he do? Shows his package.

Gives you his package. Yeah, he gives you his

package. Just making sure there... And then I

also had this... big book that I got at the Baltimore

Comic Con, which was like a whole bunch of different

comics that he wrote that is not fables, but

other stuff that he is kind of written. And all

that is really good, too. And I forget the name

of it. It's got this great illustration on the

front cover of it of a guy at a poker table with

a whole bunch of characters hanging out behind

him. And so if you find that book, I would definitely

check that one out. Sorry, I don't remember the

name of it right now. Interesting cool. Very

cool. Yeah fables is another one I have to catch

up with I I know I did get saga I did read that

and now it's one of my favorite books So fables

is now a big hole that I need to start filling

so I need to check that out with his package

Yeah, I he has the package that can fill that

void Alrighty, number three for me. I'm not sure,

this was one I think might be on someone else's

list, maybe, maybe not, I'm not sure, but we

talked about character and sometimes how it helps

knowing a character and understanding what makes

that character great, what shows a great writer.

Also, writers who can take a character in a new

direction and really, but a direction that makes

sense and honestly make a character more interesting

than ever before. And I feel Matt Fraction did

that with a character, his run on Hawkeye, which...

To me is one of the best runs this current generation

if you want to look in with you know The 2010s

what have you that his run on Hawkeye? You know

obviously it helps that that art in that book

was just on point issue after issue What the

story that actually introduced me? I think the

map fraction was his run on invincible iron man

shortly after the iron man book movie came out

I remember watching that movie me like man. I

want to Continue that high continue this awesome

feeling of watching this movie. What can what

book can I get in this? This is when invincible

Iron Man came out and much different Tony Stark

I think than the Tony Stark in the film, but

just as great He has almost it's almost a James

Bond s -ness to it in a way or I don't know It's

hard hard to explain. I just I find his writing

intriguing. I His run on sex criminals, which

is also a lot of fun crazy, unique, and that's

the thing I like about him. He's really great

at coming up with kind of unexpected ideas, and

he did Fear Itself, which was, I don't know,

not amazing, but I think the concept was cool,

and I thought it... at least was better than

most big event stories. I thought, you know,

there were some good moments into it. Jeez, and

I almost forgot what he also did for the immortal

Iron Fist, making Iron Fist back into being a

great character again. He was kind of gone away

and just nothing. And then he put this new martial

arts mythology into the character, which I don't

know if it was there before, but what he brought

to it, I thought was phenomenal and I've really

enjoyed. And I'm really looking forward to how

they use that for the series coming up But I

don't know if what you guys think of Matt fraction.

I know he's done a lot He's done a lot of Marvel

stuff. He sends them into stuff. So he's he's

been around I'm a big fraction fan as well a

little less lately. I haven't really been reading

a lot of his stuff What is he currently writing?

I know he's he's got sex criminals, which I've

been kind of on and off with it was definitely

an interesting concept for me But it was just

a little too far out there for me. I think but

what other stuff is what what what is on now?

What is he on right now? That's a good question.

He just finished. He just finished Hawkeye, I

don't know if he's currently which Hawkeye was

very good Yeah, I think that's kind of what put

him on here for me Let me see real quick Last

thing he did is really sex criminals is really

the the biggest thing. He has another series

to which I have not read called Casanova The

Casanova in odc ody see I read some odyssey and

I didn't understand it. I might just be dumb

though I've not read it all so I can't You can't

say anything, but it seems right now, he hasn't

released anything since October of last year.

But with the combination of sex criminals, Iron

Fist and Iron Man, it even had a pretty good

run on Uncanny X -Men as well. So all that put

him at my number three. All righty, we're back

over to you, Chuck. Who's next on your list?

Next on my list, another... Super famous writer

probably someone that you guys at least considered

putting on your list Since we're all X -Men fans

and that is of course Chris Claremont. Yes I

did consider. Yes. I know he's it's a little

cliche because everyone talks about Claremont,

but I think it's justified He I think he really

is the greatest X -Men writer Yeah, I only reason

I didn't put him on the list because I still

have a little bit of a sickening feeling about

him because he ruined one of my favorite comics

of all time. Exiles. Yeah. And he came on. I

knew where you were going, Dan. As soon as you

said, I was thinking about it. I'm like, he's

going to bring up Exiles. Yeah. Yeah. So because

of that, I just I couldn't I could see where

he was going. He just was I don't think I think

that was more Marvel. putting him in a spot where

he shouldn't have been because it didn't really

fit his style. But yeah, so that's that's that's

still a black hole in my heart that hurts a little

bit. But you can't you can't deny he's he's again

like Mark Wade, one of the most well -known comic

book writers of all time. Do you have certain

stories that kind of made him so hard for you?

Yeah, probably probably two of the stories that

he's most famous for Days of Future Past and

Dark Phoenix Saga. I really like those. And of

course, just the characters he came up with,

too. Looking at some of the characters that came

out of his mind. Rogue and Gambit, two super

popular X -Men characters. Everyone that's around

our age, I think, pretty much loves Rogue and

Gambit. We all love Rogue in different ways,

though. Emma Frost, Psylocke, another favorite

of mine, Jubilee, Mystique, Sabertooth. Jubilee

was a bit of a setback. Another reason why he

did not make my list. Not cartoon Jubilee. Maybe

she'll, you know, she'll be good in the movie

coming up. Apparently, she'll be in that. Yeah.

And they gave her the more, you know, the more

90s looking outfit, too, on that, apparently.

she's got the yellow jacket so yeah and they

even uh you know the little pink sunglasses or

whatever but yeah Claremont um you know some

great stories a lot of a lot of stuff on the

x -men really kind of developed that concept

of using mutants as the stand -ins for you know

various minorities and One of the biggest reasons

we all love X -Men and you know, he he really

developed that concept and ran with it and a

lot of people try to mimic it after that and

stuff like that. So really a cliche writer. But

it's as far as everyone mentioning him in a top

five. But I think he really is one of my favorites.

So I couldn't leave him out. Yeah, it's like

putting Spielberg on a top five director's list.

It's like, yeah, of course, he belongs there.

So there's can't really write. Yeah. Yeah. Very

nice, very nice. Greg, what's next on your list?

I think we've all seen this one coming, but definitely

Scott Snyder only has to be on my list. Didn't

find out about him really until like... past

year or two ago, so pretty much recent on my

list, I had to go back and read American Vampires.

I went back and read American Vampires thanks

to his run on Batman that is still ongoing. It's

kind of fell off a little bit for me, Batman,

but still really good. Definitely still reading

that and collecting single issues of that. But

which is his last current independent? Writing

that he did was phenomenal very scary kind of

creepy book a different take on witches Genre,

I guess I don't know but a different definitely

a different take on what you think witches are

and everything very creepy and His stories are

a lot of fun. Definitely a different take on

Batman with Jim Gordon taking over and donning

a mechanic mech suit, I guess you would say,

but still a lot of fun to read Scott Snyder.

And I checked him out at Baltimore Comic Con

and he was definitely awesome. And I'm very thankful

he did not call the cops on me. Did you ever,

you know, go find his parents' house by any chance

or no? No, I did not. I'm not going to find his

parents' house. I promise I am not going to stalk

them. I did consider Scott Sunder. I haven't

read enough of his run on Batman, but what I

have read, I really like to read Court of Owls

and Death of the Family. Court of Owls, Death

of the Family are very high up there on my list

and you should definitely start reading American

Vampires because that's really good writing and

then also on artwork is phenomenal. as well what

is your opinion on his the new Batman what you

know with Jim Gordon everything ah it's it's

definitely different but I'd like to get Bruce

Wayne back and everything because that's He is

Batman, if you ask me. So when they go to other

people and everything, it's it's kind of a bit

annoying. But I believe Bruce Wayne is going

to make his comeback. But it's definitely an

interesting offshoot, different interesting concept.

A little weird for me for Jim Gordon, who I think

is an older guy wearing the suit and going out

and fight crime. But he I guess he managed to

pull it off, if you ask me. But I think an interesting

take. I've liked it I I kind of like it, you

know when you have a character that like Batman

and Bruce Wayne if you you know Maybe for like

half a year a year where you take it away and

give it to somebody else for a little bit like

with Captain America They did that too. And yeah,

it is weird that like he did become like 20 years

younger somehow with the story Yeah, just just

shave your head people work out a little bit

more and she'll be awesome Yeah, but I've really

liked I thought it I was surprised on how well

it's worked and and I think he's been able to

handle it because I've seen Hit like Jim Gordon

as Batman pop up and like other DC stories and

I don't think anyone else can handle it Just

as well as he can so but yeah, I am ready to

see Bruce come back as well. So very cool All

right. Next on my you know what? I I think I

might Alright, I'm gonna flip this. So this is

technically my number one, but I will hold off

on my next one because You'll see why shortly,

but so this is really my number one, but I'm

gonna do it now and that's Ed Brubaker I have

when we put this together I said, you know one

thing we looked at one of my favorite stories

of all time to kind of put this list in and my

favorite comic book run of my favorite comic

book character is the Winter Soldier run and

That was done by Ed Brubaker. His run on Captain

America got me back in the comics, and his style

really fits my sensibilities. I love crime. It's

not... I do that every time. I love the crime

genre. I love classic noir, and he's done a lot

of stories along that line. Most recently, The

Fade Out, which I thought was amazing. It hit

all my sweet spots. It was in that genre. It

dealt with classic Hollywood during the Blacklist

period, and he was teaming up with Sean Phillips

again, who is, for me, a really underrated writer,

and I love it when they come together and do

comics together. They really have a... a great,

you know, back and forth when it comes to storytelling

because Sean Phillips has a really subtle way

of really conveying emotion and because of that,

he's done also his run on Daredevil was quite

good. One of my favorites. I wouldn't say maybe

he's the best writer of all time. I don't think

anyone on my list is necessarily that, but he's

the writer that best represents what I like in

stories in general. Like if he was coming out

with a movie, I think I would go out and see

it because his style fits what I tend to look

for in media and entertainment. So that's why

I put him at my number one or technically two

for here. But I don't know. But if you watched

Winter Soldier, you kind of saw a little bit

of his style and why I enjoyed him so much. And

you saw a little bit of Ed Brubaker in there

too. I think he was actually in the one scene,

right, Craig? Yep, he was. I noticed him in the...

He was one of the doctors that was hovering around

the Winter Soldier when he was in that chair.

He's a bald guy with kind of a goatee facial

hair situation going on. Very nice. Yeah, I knew

you were going to have him on your list, Dan.

Yeah, he actually was considering him too. And

I was like, well, Dan will definitely have him.

So. All right, Chuck, moving on next to you.

And I have a feeling who's coming up, but I could

be wrong. Yeah, I think I think your feelings

probably right. And I got to say, there's somebody

that I wanted to have on this list. Unfortunately,

he's going to be an honorable mention, which

is really sad. But I'll I'll explain that later.

But right now, I would have to say probably my

number one. favorite writer is Jim Starlin knew

it and that's that's any everyone's heard me

go on and on about him and all that stuff over

all these episodes but I love the character Thanos

I love all the Thanos stories of course Jim Starlin

created Thanos a lot of people would argue well

He really just knocked off Jack Kirby's character

Darkseid, which, yeah, he kind of did. He got

the idea from him, but really made Thanos into

his own character as time went on. And what he

did with that character, I think, is more than

enough to, you know, put those naysayers to rest.

But, um, you know, naysayers. Yes, those darn

naysayers. No one says that word anymore. But

yeah. Infinity Gauntlet's definitely my favorite

story. I even enjoyed Infinity War a lot. He

did a lot of art, too, during his career. As

I mentioned, sometimes when you get an autograph

by him, he'll do just a quick sketch on your

book or on whatever you're signing. If there's

some room there, he'll do it, which is pretty

cool. He's a pretty good artist, and he's doing

those original graphic novels now. I think he's

doing the... the writing and the art, the art

in those. But and I am a big fan of his art,

too, actually. But writing, he definitely did

all those Infinity stories, even the ones that

you've probably never heard of, like Infinity

Crusade and Infinity Abyss and all those other

ones that weren't. I've heard of them. Yeah,

weren't quite as successful, but still entertaining

if you're like a Thanos and not a warlock fan

and stuff like that. Also did some DC work. He

worked on the famous Batman death in the family

story where Jason Todd was killed He didn't make

that decision because that was voted on by the

fans He he kind of did it in a good way, you

know, I like the way he wrote that so yeah, Jim

Starlin big fan Yeah, I mean he helped, you know,

Jack Kirby definitely set the stage when it came

to the cosmic Marvel, but I think he Was the

next person to kind of evolve it further which

was uh, you know set to state, you know What

he did with Thanos and like you said, I think

yeah, it's not where the idea comes from. It's

how it's executed and Thanos I would say honestly

for me, maybe it has become better executed than

that of dark side But maybe that's the marvel

fan boring me. Yeah, and I will say not to kind

of Drag down what I just said about him, but

not everything he does is for me. Like some of

it gets pretty like out there And he'll even

tell you that a little bit. Some of his stuff

is kind of dark and out there. So not everything

may be to your liking, but the basic Thanos stuff

has always been a hit for me. All right, Greg,

moving on. What is next on your list? I think

we all know who I'm going to have next on my

list. I've been talking about him a lot during

the podcast, and that is Brian Kavon. read a

majority of the stuff that's come out in the

past two or three years from him. Love Saga,

very creative out there story, but it all makes

sense. It's just crazy idea, very creative. And

then he's also got that going on with currently

with paper girls where he has cliff shearing

on art and that's just beautiful all the way

together He does have some misses for me with

like United We Stand still very interesting concept

going on But definitely not crazy out. There

is some of the other stories that he has going

on He's the first panel I've ever seen at a comic

-con. Usually I just stick to the floor, buying

a whole bunch of stuff, seeing artists and everything

like that, but I was going to a San Diego Comic

Con and it was definitely on my list that I needed

to go see. the panel with him and Fiona Staples.

It was definitely a priority. So for me to do

that is pretty big to miss out on all the stuff

at San Diego Comic -Con and just go specifically

see his panel. But I think his his stuff just

kind of speaks for itself. Great characters,

great everything else that makes up a great writer,

which I am not since that was a terrible description.

Well, the reason I held off my number two, because

it is also Ryan K. Vaughn. So I figured I knew

it. wait on in tag team with you here on it.

I get the V. You could have the A if you want.

I'll take what I can get. Okay. One of our first

homework episodes, you gave me Saga and I was

hesitant, not hesitant, but I was putting it

off, reading it, and finally when I did. saw

whatever what else was saying and ended up really

loving it and still do. You know, like you mentioned

about paper grills and what I love about Brian

K. Vaughan. Is that there are a lot of comics

even you know, I said at Bruton Baker to Hickman

that they have a certain style to them Like if

I didn't even look at the cover, I know I'm reading

their comic book. Okay. This is this feels like

a Bruton Baker comic this feels like a Hickman

comic or a Jason Aron comic or close Clenderman

comic what's Brian gave on though? I feel like

his he's such a chameleon when it comes to being

a writer looking at what he's doing right now

He has paper girls. He has saga and he has we

stand our ground to me. They're so separate like

I if I gave those three comics to different people

I wonder how many would realize it's written

by the same person just because I think he challenges

himself to do a unique concept and stick to that

concept with paper girls it almost feels like

a updated or out more out there Steven Spielberg

1980s movie saga is this gigantic space opera

we see in our grounds almost more of a gritty

futuristic War worst scenario and then he's got

why the last man that he did ex machinima Machina

machina. I don't know how to say that. I'm sorry

And there's something else on there that I had

read too. That was that was really great. I really

liked why the last man Yeah, why the last man

on? Fantastic. I also love I don't know if he

read The private eye he did his digital comic.

He didn't know I didn't read that because I think

that was strictly Digital, but I think that's

coming out in graphic novel form pretty soon.

Yeah, it was strictly digital and it's I love

what I love to bond really great at commenting

on Today's like social culture. I think he does

that a lot with paper girls and he did a huge

amount with private eye what he kind of take

down a social media and away and the way the

internet in general and seeing a world without

that that is so focused on identity and so focused

on privacy, I would highly recommend that. I

know, if it comes out on paper for me, because

I know you guys aren't digital fans, I've not

read Ex Machina, maybe I'll need to put that

up there, and if he did, maybe I'll cry him on

my list, but I know he went away from comics

for a little bit and went into films, but I'm

glad he's back and really loving everything he's

doing, so. Agreed. Any other? Writers you guys

wanted to mention that didn't make your list

are mentions or anything of that nature. Many,

many writers, Dan. Yeah. Cameron Stewart, David

Fletcher. They they've done Batgirl and I'm blanking

on it. Blank and he's blanking. Batgirl and and

and and. Black Canary, I think it is. Respectively,

they both write for DC, I believe, anyway, but

great stories from them. I'm blanking on both

what they do. Yeah, I shouldn't have said anything,

bye. Chuck, any honorable mentions for you? I

think the one I have to mention the most is probably

Stan Lee, and it's sad that he didn't make any

of our lists, but... As far as a creator, I think

he's the best creator of all time by far. Yes,

definitely best creator But I'm just not a huge

fan of his writing style all the time some of

its really good sometimes like I remember talking

about some old this old fantastic four story

with the coming of Galactus and stuff and how

he really He really gets kind of into the emotions

and everything. He explores that part of it but

for the most part like I don't like his writing

too much because he tends to over explain everything

and there's huge gigantic comic bubbles, you

know, describing the entire situation when you

can kind of decipher that from the art. But but

he's still a very, very good creator. But some

other ones quickly. I'm sorry, I'm going to murder

this name because I don't really know how to

say it. I never have. But Fabian Nicieza. But

a very very popular writer for the X -Men in

the 90s Did a lot of stuff that was responsible

for them kind of developing rogue and gambits

romance and all that fun stuff Dan you probably

remember this this guy Dan Abnett. Yes, we did

some great work with Guardians of the Galaxy

and Nova in the early 2000s and stuff. That was

from some really great books that he did there

And also a couple of my other favorite Avengers

writers Roy Thomas who did some early Avengers

stuff helped create Ultron and Vision You know,

he did that famous story even an Android can

cry stuff like that and also Kurt Busiek who

did a lot of the Avengers stuff with George Perez,

which was pretty great And he also did Marvel's

which I think you're a big fan of Dan Yeah, that's

great. Mostly for the artwork. But yeah, yeah

Well, I mean you team up with Alex Ross, you

know, you kind of got a You go you you go and

I'll just yeah gonna bring your a game. Oh It

was Brendan Fletcher that did black canary. I'm

sorry close enough close enough. I See I had

Robert Kirkman first work in Walking Dead, but

also and I have not read invincible but he also

did this Marvel team up book way back when which

is Interesting. You can see it's a lot better

than it should be. It's the way I would describe

it. Garth Ennis. Mark Millar, he's hit and missed

for me sometimes, but he's currently doing a

book right now that I can't believe I'll talk

about next week called Huck that is... Don't

know it's like grown -up mark miller mylar Yes,

and I liked his uh chrononauts that came out

this 2015 he did kick -ass he did Kingsman he

I do feel like recently he's been making Comic

books just to make movies out of them, but hey

I liked Kingsman, but yeah, and you mentioned

Stanley. I've never I have not read a lot of

classic comics, so Really very very boring. Yeah.

Yeah, you know and then you have those like Alan

Moore stuff in the 80s and 90s and Frank Miller

again, like I I'm just going based upon what

I read so if I know it's probably some huge hardcore

comic fans are like Canadian legends that maybe

we didn't bring up or come up but it's really

just a personal list and a lot of that stuff

I have not read so I'd feel kind of just wrong

putting it on my list Alright, alright, anything

else you want to bring up before we bring this

episode to a close? Alrighty, well, we like to

hear what you thought of our list, maybe what

your favorite comic book writers of all time

are, and you can do so by contacting us in a

number of ways. We're on Facebook and Twitter,

just search Talking in Circles, GCRN. You guys

are also on Twitter, what are your Twitter names?

I am at Heroic Age Chuck. I am at the Crate Forge.

And I am at the Revolt. That'll be it for this

week. We'll be back next week. Same time, same

channel, same podcast feed. But for now, this

has been Chuck. This has been Greg or David Fletcher?

Brendan Fletcher? It's Brendan Fletcher, I think.

Yeah, sorry. The guy, the Encino Man guy? Is

that who you're talking about? I don't know.

No, Brendan Frazier? No. Why didn't you go with

the mummy? Come on, the mummy. Yeah, true, true.

Anyway, he got really fat recently. Probably.

There you go. And this has been Dan, and we've

been talking in circles. We'll see you next week.

He may have gotten fat. I don't know. I don't

know. I have not called him after some of his

recent flops. We can't really know. Where was

he doing recently? Uh, he was in, like, Furry

Vengeance. It's a really awful movie from a few

years ago, but I don't know. Hopefully not the

kind of furries that I've seen. Hopefully you

had a completely different movie. Probably a

different rating too than whatever it had. Yeah.