rocket1312

Mazzuchelli is tough because Daredevil is one of my absolute favorite characters and Born Again is THE greatest Daredevil story. And Batman: Year One speaks for itself. I think I prefer it to Dark Knight Returns. But as good as he is, it's the writing that really draws me to those stories. And I don't know any of his work outside of those two. City of Glass is on my "to read" list though. Maybe someday, but for now, it's a no.

Neal Adams is incredible. He probably had more influence on my favorite artists than anyone outside of maybe Kirby. My problem with Adams is that DC's haphazard methodology for collecting Bronze Age Batman has prevented me from truly appreciating those stories. Adams is himself somewhat culpable due to his insistence on redrawing and recoloring a lot of his work. It sounds dumb, and if I had read those stories in their original form when I was at a more impressionable age I'm sure I would sing a different tune, but I'm going to have to say no. I'll probably regret it later, but this isn't a history class, it's my list and I have to own it

ddrknghtrtns

Yes to Moore and Adams.

Kurt D

I'll throw in for Adams at this point. His work is in its own sphere of greatness.
So far: Miller, Kirby, Moore, Adams

B5Erik

OK, Neal Adams is definitely on my list. Amazing artist, the only knock on him is that he didn't really have a long, unbroken run on any title. It was a couple issues here, 3 or 4 issues there, and a bunch of cover art. Still, the work he did was fantastic, and the stories he was a part of are iconic, so he not only gets a yes, but a HELL YEAH!!

David Mazzuchelli? Who?? (Looks him up...) Huh, not being familiar with him at all, that seems like an awfully small body of work to be nominated for All Time Great type lists. I haven't seen any of his work, so he means nothing to me. Zero impact either way.

So my list so far (with the right to edit reserved for later)...

John Romita SR
John Buscema
John Romita JR
Sal Buscema
Neal Adams

B5Erik

I've got all 3 Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams hardcover collections. (I got those only 2 years ago.) Great books. Do you have those? (I believe they're also available as TPB's.)

I've also got the Green Lantern/Green Arrow Hard Traveling Heroes HC collection. More great stuff.

His work on The X-Men is also legendary, and is available in Marvel Masterworks form in HC and TPB.

Bronkster

Neal Adams gets a from me!

fujishig

I'm gonna feel like such a weeb when we get to Japanese creators and I'm flinging people like Adams off for Tezuka and Oda and getting crickets from all of you. But I'm prepared for it!

B5Erik

For me, the two really unusual guys that would make my Top 15, and maybe Top 10 that would probably only show up on my list are a pair of inkers - Joe Sinnott and Frank Giacoia. They made everyone else's art look better. When I picked up an issue and one of them was listed as the inker I knew the art would look good.

rocket1312

Yes, I have the Batman books. I begrudgingly read them a few years back after waiting for DC to release those stories with their original coloring and no redrawn panels by Adams. They eventually did release the Brave and the Bold bronze age books with the original colors, but the Batman and Detective stories are still MIA. At least they were last time I checked. I love the stories, but by the time I read them, I had too much baggage built up.

GL/GA is a blindspot. I've read an issue here or there, but otherwise never committed to reading it in its entirety.

I have the X-Men stuff. It's great, but X-Men is eventually going to figure VERY heavily on my list and I just don't rank Adams high enough to go above some of my other X-Men favorites.

fujishig

Yeah, Adams had a good run but again that was slightly before my time so I rank Byrne, Cockrum, and even Paul Smith above him in that relative era (for X-men that is)

B5Erik

It seems like I'm in the minority, but I love the recolored pages. I never read most of those issues before having the book, so I wasn't invested in the original look of those comics.

rocket1312

I never read them either, but the coloring just feels so out of place to me. I understand that the original 4 color processing is incredibly compromised and most artists hated it, but to me it's like the CGI in the Star Wars special editions. It just doesn't belong.

Josh-da-man

The thing that really struck me about Adams' brief run on the X-Men in the late 1960s was how modern it looked. Seemed more like it was from the late 1980s. And then he went on to do those classic Batman and GL/GA runs.

I think Neal Adams really hurt his legacy when he started Continuity Comics in the 1980s. That publisher was just a constant shitshow. At that time, he was being overshadowed by creators like Byrne, Perez, and Miller -- and later guys like McFarlane and Lee -- doing huge projects at Marvel and DC, while he's trickling out really terrible indie superhero titles.

PhantomStranger

Neal Adams is in my top five, much less top ten. If it weren't for his seminal run on Batman, who knows if Batman ever goes on to become the world's most popular superhero. His art changed the game for everyone in his heyday. Yes, his creator-owned stuff isn't particularly good.

B5Erik

Yeah, his stuff post Marvel, post DC wasn't all that great, story wise and character wise, but that doens't come close to negating the monumental work he did for the big two.

The funny thing is, even though I read some of his X-Men stuff and his Green Lantern/Green Arrow stuff in the early 80's, I never even thought about him then as a current artist. He seemed semi-retired at the time, somehow.

His work from the mid 60's to the late 70's cemented his place among the giants of the industry. What he did on his own later didn't matter. It does bring up the, "What if," factor, though. What if Neal Adams decided to come back to Marvel to replace John Byrne when he quit the title? (Never would have happened, but what if?) What if he decided to do a run on Batman or Detective? So many, "What ifs," with Neal. Sadly, none of them came to pass, and he never came back to the greatness he achieved in the 60's and 70's.

But, so what? He's still one of the all time greats. Amazing stuff.

Trevor

Day Eight Response and Wrap—Up

At first, I thought it’d be a big reach for anyone to have Mazzuchelli in their top ten. I mean, he’s the artists on two books in my top five books of all-time, Born Again and Year One. That’s pretty darn impressive, no other artist has multiple books in my top twenty probably. But it’s just two books, he’s not had a ton of comic output, and I’ve read little to none of his other stuff. But apparently two of his other works are like ‘greatest book ever’ level for many people; so having three or four books in someone’s top ten could easily qualify someone. Those other two books are Asterios Polyp and City of Glass. I have both on order.

Neal Adams is a tough case. Now, I can ignore the poor quality of his recent work, and his sometimes strange beliefs, and his serious skills at asking for money. He’s like 80 years old after all. And his heyday where he kinda changed the industry was a bit before my time.

But his art for a few decades there was beautiful, and what he did for the comic creator community can’t be overstated. He does have an ego, and is good at taking credit for all the characters he had a hand in creating, but I don’t think he oversells himself when it comes to helping creators. His work in unionizing creators, getting original art to be returned, and getting credit to Superman’s creators are enough to make him a legend even without the art and creations.

For now, he’s in that growing group just outside my top ten.

My list so far:
Frank Miller
Jack Kirby
Carl Barks
Alan Moore

Trevor

Day Nine Choices
Let’s talk about Legends today.

Like Mike Mignola. Geof Darrow . Walt Simonson. John Byrne . Art Adams . Paul Chadwick. Mike Allred. Dave Gibbons.

And if you’re bummed you didn’t have Frank Miller on, here is your second chance!

I want to know if any of these creators who were part of Dark Horse’s Legend imprint are in your Top 10.

Neitzl

Walt Simonson - Yes! His Thor was incredible. Period. And I LOVED his X-Men/New Teen Titans crossover.
John Byrne - This is a given. I mean, Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four, West Coast Avengers, Avengers, Superman, Legends, etc. I grew up on Uncanny 120 and up. Byrne was a huge influence on me.
Mike Mignola - Yes!
Art Adams - I do like his artwork, but I can't include him in my top ten. Though he does have a special place in my collection for his New Mutants Special Edition and X-Men Giant Sized Annual.
Geof Darrow - The detail in his art is awesome, but I just can't get into his projects.
The other creators don't really do much for me.

My Top so far:
Neil Gaiman
Carl Barks
Walt Simonson
John Byrne
Mike Mignola
___________

majorjoe23

Simonson, Allred and Mignola all make it on for me. Allred is someone whose work I will always buy (except for that weird Mormon book he did, but I would probably still buy it if I found it in the quarter bins).

rocket1312

John Byrne is an unequivocal yes. I'm an X-Men guy and there's not much else to say. Even if he had done nothing else, he'd be on my list.

I love Art Adams. He's incredible, but he just hasn't produced enough work to be on any list.

Walter Simonson is really tough. Thor is obviously his magnum opus, but i have only read about half of it. It's great, but it's not enough to include him. Beyond that I've only read other Marvel stuff like X-Factor or FF. I'm completely unfamiliar with his work elsewhere. So a very difficult no on him.

The rest are all extremely talented guys, but guys with whom I have no real relationship. So no to all of them. Gibbons is probably my favorite from that group. Hellboy is a massive blindspot for me. Own it. Never read it. I once got a comic signed by Paul Chadwick when he appeared at my local shop in the early 90's. I had no idea who he was at the time. I felt bad for him because I assumed no one else did either. I was probably 13 and pretty dumb.

ytrez

Catching up.

I love Mazzuchelli, especially Daredevil: Born Again and Batman: Year One. I even enjoyed his Rubber Blanket. But ultimately, because he's not as prolific as the others on my list, he didn't make the cut.

Adams, on the other hand, was prolific and has done some great work including X-Men and Batman, but he's not really a favorite. I'm going to pass.

Mike Mignola - not a favorite of mine.
Geof Darrow - amazing, I love everything he does. Reluctantly though, he doesn't make the cut.
Walt Simonson - I want to add him so badly, especially because of what his Thor run means to me, but I've got to pass. Walt is probably #11!.
John Byrne - YES! He was so prolific during his heyday and everything from Iron Fist, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and more were great. He easily makes the cut.
Art Adams - great but simply not prolific enough.
Paul Chadwick - I'm a huge fan of his Concrete series but he doesn't break the top 10.
Mike Allred - I love Madman and his X-Force but not top 10.
Dave Gibbons - an absolute legend, just not 10 ten for me.

My list so far:
Jack Kirby
Frank Miller
Jaime & Gilbert Hernandez
Joe Kubert
Alan Moore
John Byrne

fujishig

Mike Mignola. Absolutely. From Cosmic Odyssey to Hellboy.
Walt Simonson. His run on Thor is legendary, but he probably just misses out. And while I can recognize his talent and the fluidity of his art, he was never really my favorite artist
John Byrne . His teaming with Claremont on Uncanny is iconic, and then he went on to prove that he can be just as good of a writer as an artist with his FF and then Superman. He's another creator that seemed to lose something as he ventured out into creator owned territory, and while I collected it, that Wonder Woman run suffered from some wonky art.
Geof Darrow .Art Adams: I am the biggest Art Adams fan you will see. But he doesn't belong in the top 10. Just too "slow" of an artist. Same for Darrow.
Paul Chadwick. Mike Allred.It may seem like blasphemy but I like Hellboy more than both Concrete and Madman. Both great artists and writers but won't make my list.
Dave Gibbons. Tough one but I don't think he makes it either. Obviously his seminal work is Watchmen and he's done a ton of other stuff but I can't think of anything besides that that really stands out to me.

Hokeyboy

Mike Mignola - huge fan but not in my Top 10. Still, I love everything about DC's Cosmic Odyssey mini from '88

Geof Darrow - see Mignola. Loved Hard Boiled but...

Walt Simonson - HELL yes. For Thor and Fantastic Four alone...

John Byrne - NO DOUBT. The man is kind of an an ass but X-Men, Fantastic Four, Superman, Avengers, Next Men... the list goes on.

Art Adams - nah

Paul Chadwick - nah

Mike Allred - big big fan but not Top 10

Dave Gibbons- so much great work. Watchmen of course, but also the Give Me Liberty books, Green Lantern Corps, and others. But not quite in my Top 10.


So for now it's:

Neil Adams
John Byrne
Neil Gaiman
Jack Kirby
Frank Miller
Alan Moore
Grant Morrison
Walt Simonson

It's going to be interesting once I have to start bouncing people off.

Kurt D

Byrne is a no-brainer. Simonson gets a spot for now. Love his work, but there may be someone else who comes along.

fujishig

I mean, gotta save at least one spot for Perez, right?