I dunno, just curious who people feel are the real greats as far as writers go. I've seen many Top ___ Artist of All Time lists out there but not so much for the writers.

Also, I see a lot of people criticizing popular writers like Mark Millar and Grant Morrison. It seems like Stan Lee and Alan Moore are the only ones people can at least mostly agree on.

Who are the best of the best?

Top Ten Writers of All Time?

Carl Barks, for one.

My knowledge is limited to mostly the Big Two (and limited at that, as well).

But I would say some consensus picks would be Neil Gaiman, Will Eisner, Dave Sim, Howard Chaykin, and Frank Miller.

Definitely Will Eisner.

Probably Neil Gaiman and (heaven help us) Frank Miller.

Most probably recognize Dave Sim as significant, but he seems to have slipped in the estimation of many over the years.

Not sure Howard Chaykin is really THAT widely admired.

Dave Sim
Eddie Campbell
Seth

I'm going to say that Archie Goodwin and Robert Kanigher should be nominated, even if perhaps they don't make it. Cary Bates is a personal favorite, but that's an emotional pick. Chris Claremont and Steve Gerber should be considered.

For sheer craftmanship, it'd be hard to beat Alan Moore. For modern guys, Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis seem to have some meat to their stuff. Millar and Bendis seem more trendy than good (to me, anyway). I loved almost everything I've read by Neil Gaiman.

Gotta mention Stan Lee and Gardner Fox, of course.

Kurt Busiek gets a lot of love, too.

I am simply adding these to the excellent lists writers I've seen above.

Gardner Fox - He wrote and helped keep more comics going for NPP and A-AC during the war years and the silver age.
Robert Kanigher - Besides being the editor and main writer of the NPP war comics line, he helped created the silver age Flash.
Bill Finger - Co-creator and main writer of one of the most influential comics characters in the 20th century. This was reinforced when I was at Wal-Mart the other day and saw a 3 year old boy wanting a Batman toy, even though Spider-Man, Superman, Iron Man and Hulk toys were all over the place surrounding it.
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby - As a team, they increased the sales of most any comic they ever teamed up on. They were a writing team.
Stan Lee - He invigorated a company falling apart by writing superheroes to fit the way he wanted to read about them.
Art Spiegelman - Writer of one of the most powerful graphic stories ever written.

These were historically significant writers.

A LOT more. But these are the first that come to mind.

Personal favorites would include Jim Shooter (he revamped the LSH during the Adventure Comics era), Cary Bates (Flash, JLA, Captain Atom), Steve Skeates, Bob Haney, Denny O'Neil, Steve Englehart, Len Wein, Larry Lieber, Roy Thomas, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Mike Grell, Tim Truman, Mike Baron, Bill Willingham, William Messner-Loebs, Will Eisner, Mark Millar, Geoff Johns, Kurt Busiek, and more.

Stan Lee
Steve Gerber
Roy Thomas
Bill Mantlo
Jim Starlin
Paul Chadwick
Rick Veitch
Seth Guelph
Richard Corben
John Byrne

Those are my 'top ten', anyway.

Yeah, Jim Starlin, master of the space opera in comics. Roy Thomas, keeper of the flame.

Stan Lee
Will Eisner
Carl Barks
Denny O'Neil
Alan Moore
Grant Morrison
James Robinson
Bill Willingham
Ed Brubaker
Frank Miller
Robert Kirkman
(yes, I know it's 11 )

I want to include guys like Roy Thomas, Roger Stern, and Kurt Busiek on this list, but as excellent as they are to me, they're really more derivative than innovative. There's nothing wrong with it...on the contrary, they're among my favorites. The above writers, however, to me, helped redefine or push comics forward.

Stan Lee
Alan Moore
Roy Thomas
Neil Gaiman
Gardner Fox
Ed Brubaker
Frank Miller
Geoff Johns
Denny O'Neill
Chris Claremont

I can't really do a list of people I feel are the best, only my faves, but here I go--

Alan Moore
Stan Lee
Bill Watterson
Frank Miller (pre-2000)
Grant Morrison
Mark Millar
Garth Ennis
Erik Larsen
Warren Ellis
Ed Brubaker

Though I'm on record as disliking Moore's work, I have to agree with that. He has remarkable skill.

My childhood favourites:

Gardner Fox
John Broome
Robert Kanigher
Otto Binder
Stan Lee

And I'd also include Steve Ditko, Carmine Infantino and Jack Kirby as great/important writers because of their plotting, although their scripting can be a little strange at times.

From the last time this was asked:

1. Gardner Fox
2. Alan Moore
3. Steve Englehart
4. Archie Goodwin
5. John Broome
6. Arnold Drake
7. Len Wein
8. Stan Lee
9. Cary Bates
10. Alan Brennert

Important Writers

Alan Moore
Stan Lee
Neil Gaiman
Frank Miller
Jeff Smith
Gardner Fox
Chris Claremont
Brian Michael Bendis
Harvey Pekar
Dave Sim

Favorite Writers

Alan Moore
Stan Lee
Neil Gaiman
Jeff Smith
Ed Brubaker
Warren Ellis
Brian K. Vaughn
Grant Morrison
Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Wood

I'll stand by my list above. Pretty solid group.

Jonathon Hickman would be a recent entry, IMO

Kieron Gillen (Journey Into Mystery) and Jason Aaron (Scalped, Wolverine), and Scott Snyder (American Vampire, Batman: The Black Mirror) are three more names to watch.

I haven't read a lot of Gillen (I've heard good things about Journey Into Mystery, so I might check out the trade). Agreed about Aaron and Snyder. I'd add Lemire to that list, too.

Has anyone mentioned Matt Fraction yet? Curious -- his star seemed to be burning so bright five years ago. Have people already stopped caring?