It was a toss-up between Roy Thomas for his Conan work and Marv Wolfman for New Teen Titans -- two top-ten non-Kirby runs for me -- but since most of Roy's best Conan work was based on stuff from REH, John Jakes, etc., I went with the guy writing wholly original stories.

Len Wein. Loved his stuff.

CSC, fal de rol, hey nonny nonny.

Steve Ditko.

Gerber, baby.

If you would consider Wolfman Teen Titans as decisive for this poll, why wouldn't you include Frank Miller? His writing on Daredevil debuted the same year as Wolfman Teen Titans.

The poll question specifically excludes writer / artists... I just wanted to focus on guys who exclusively wrote, for whatever reason.

Oh, I didn't read that question above. I just read the thread title.

Okay, forget my Ditko write-in vote. And your rule precludes Jack Kirby as well.

I don't know, then ... Cary Bates?

Cary Bates is a good choice. I'll go with Len Wein, followed by Roger Stern and Paul Levitz in a tie for second place.

In deference to our Uncle Rog, I was reading almost no Marvel at all during the '70s and encountered his work first in the 1980s (which is the "Modern Age" to me).

Are we counting Bronze Age as 1970 to 1985?

If so, then Alan Moore.

No Archie Goodwin?

I remember liking Steve Englehart quite a bit. He was one of the first writers whose name I even
bothered to learn.

I don't have a name for all the ages that come after the Bronze Age, but for me the candidates for milestones that ended the Bronze Age:

1. Thor 337, with Beta Ray Bill smashing the classic Thor log (Simonson takes over).
2. Spider-man 252 (the debut of the black costume).
3. Secret Wars #1
4. Crisis on Infinite Earths #1.

If I divided in terms of what I "really" think of as the end of the Bronze age, it is

1. Byrne leaving X-Men in 1980 (FF starts in 1981).
2. Frank Miller taking over Daredevil in 1980.
3. New Teen Titans debuting in 1980.

Those three things feel more like things had changed for the next era.

I mostly go with Crisis since that blows up what I liked about the DC Bronze Age. Seems rather final.
We also get The Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns about at that point, ultimately "ruining" things as
everyone else tried to do the same sort of thing. Initially, "Cool!" but eventually, "Ughhh, what did you do?"

All of those titles really go towards changing the current look and feel of the current comics for me.
New Teen Titans just felt like Marvel book being put out by DC to me. And I couldn't give two sh*ts
as to when Byrne came or went. Miller on DD was wonderful stuff, though.

Watchmen and Dark Knight came out around the same time, and you could feel at the time that the art form and business model was changing. 1986-87 seems like a stop point for the bronze age.

Swamp Thing. The All-New,All-Different X-Men. Wolverine.
All from the pen of Wein.

In a shocking surprise twist, I also voted for Gerber.

Roy Thomas is a very close second, though. Gerry Conway is in third place thanks to Werewolf by Night (although Roy Thomas came up with that idea). I love all the people whose names appear on that list if I'm being honest. I don't dislike any of them.

I've actually been meaning to ask you what you consider the end of the Bronze Age. Conan #1 is the start of it for you, yes?