Interesting, I don’t follow any of these writers. I’ve read a little of Bedard’s Batman stuff and enjoyed Mills’ Nemesis the Warlock back in the day, although I’ve always found his dialogue awkward. I don’t know the others’ work at all, but I’ve heard good things about Batgirl.

The only one of these guys I’ve even heard of is Mills (I have the Marshall Law tpb, but haven’t read it yet).

Thanks for including the sample pages Brian- I can easily imagine how difficult it is to find two pages that give you a feel for a writer (I immediately started wondering what two pages I’d pick for Alan Moore… maybe just the first two pages of Watchmen #1 or #4, or the first and last page of the Anatomy Lesson). Anyways, I’m sure I’m not the only person that appreciates it.

I enjoyed the pages from Tangled Web, but the pages from Batgirl and Young Avengers felt too derivative of Johns and Bendis, respectively.

Pat Mills as the big guy in 2000AD back in the day is of course both important and memorable, even if not a personal favorite…
Couple others I know by name but I’m not sure if I have read anything by them, the other two not even that.

I really enjoy Zeb Well’s writing. That Tangled Web issue is hilarious, and his Doctor Octopus and Dark Reign: Elektra minis rank among my favourite superhero comics of the last few years. I’d like to see him receive more high-profile work, and find an artistic collaborator.

I really dig Heimberg’s work on Young Avengers, but that’s all i’ve read from him.

I really think that Wells is underappreciated, and that’s why he mostly works as a Yes-man. He’s not among the writers i actively try to read, but when I stumble on his stuff, I rarely regret it. He’s got a great sense of fun, which makes him a really strong choice for Spider-man.

Yeah, I’d never even HEARD of Zeb Wells. The other people at least I’d heard their names, even if I couldn’t place them.

I know all of these writers and have enjoyed works of theirs, except I haven’t read Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl but have heard good things about it.

Pat Mills – very important name with 2000 A.D. and Judge Dredd.

Sad that Bedard’s excellent R.E.B.E.L.S. is no longer with us.

I would have loved to see some pages from Mills’s masterpiece, Charly’s War, if only to take a break from superheroes. Besides, he packed an awful lot of story into those pages, so it would be a good showcase.

I missed the actual voting!

Allan Heinberg is a favorite of mine. I’ve enjoyed everything he’s written so far.

Man, i voted for this so long ago, I had actually forgotten about it.

Oh yeah, Marshal Law! Excellent choice of pages there. Definitely more writing driven, since I wasn’t entirely sure that it was O’Neil art, at first. But the narration neatly encapsulates the theme of ML in just a few panels.

Not sure with the Batgirl page if Miller or the artist put in the bat-symbol in the steamed up mirror. Whoever it was, nice job.

“I immediately started wondering what two pages I’d pick for Alan Moore”

Two pages out of ‘Chrono-Cops’ would be the most complete two-page summary of Alan Moore that I can think of.

Though there might be a good excerpt in ‘Love Doesn’t Last Forever’ too.

Miller and Bedard are utterly underrated – well worth checking out work by both of them.

Must be where I’ve never been inside a proper comic shop, and the comic supply here has slowed down to a trickle in the last few years, but all five of ‘em are just below my radar.

Oh yeah, it should be mentioned that based on the pages here Zeb Wells did pique my curiosity (though I still remember with fondness the original appearance of the frogboy back when DeMatteis was writing Spidey, so that plays into it).

Thanks for getting to this Brian, hopefully my number 2 pick Alan Grant will make it onto this one…

Any chance we could find out who won the best Marvel run of the 80s vote?

Pat Mills should be way higher, disappointing to see him so early. If he, John Wagner and 2000AD were American they would be in the top 5 or 10. He is one of the most prolific writers around, the Charley’s War series, 2000AD, Judge Dredd etc.

Yay Pat Mills and Yay Alan Heinberg!

I have the first three, good comics all.

Pat Mills should be way higher, disappointing to see him so early. If he, John Wagner and 2000AD were American they would be in the top 5 or 10. He is one of the most prolific writers around, the Charley’s War series, 2000AD, Judge Dredd etc.

I dunno, I tend to look at these things with a glass half-full approach. We had over a thousand voters vote, and that they knew enough even to vote in a guy like Mills is impressive, I think. To wit, some of the people who are still to come would go higher in an objective “best writers” list, no doubt, but I’m just impressed to see them rank as high as they do in a subjective “who’s your favorite writer” list.

Magnificent writing. Inspirational. Hope to see my writing ranked just as well one of these days.

I dig both Bedard and Pat Mills, but I don’t think either made my list. I’m pretty sure John Wagner squeeked in at #10. If 2000ad stufff was more readily available on this side of the Atlantic, I think all those guys would rank much higher.

i wish i had been paying attention so i could have voted for allan heinberg.

Marshal Law is one of the greatest comics ever, too bad there were so few of them.
But then the last ones were random crossovers that just didnt measure up to the rest of the series, so it’s probably better that way.