5 Comic book writers you already love!

5 Comic book writers you already love!

With comic books becoming so ingrained into our culture over the last decade there are a few writers that you've never heard of who should be household names.

If I say J.K. Rowling you cannot help but think of magic realism fiction. Same goes for Douglas Adams and comedy sci-fi, Shakespeare and tragedy or even E.L James and trashy erotica. There are certain writers that are iconic to their particular genres and even the medium they work in. The same is true for any form of art and it’s creators, there are always a few that stand out from the pack. So what about comic books? I talk to a lot of fans of comic book movies and most of the time the only comic book writer they can name is Stan Lee. I have nothing against Stan Lee, he is one of he men responsible for bringing comic books into the mainstream but he is far from emblematic of the entire industry. However, there are five writers who I can almost guarantee you have interacted with before that you really should know.

5. Mark Millar

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Mark Millar is all about bringing super heroes into the real world. Known for writing Marvel’s Civil War and Old Man Logan arcs as well as his own independent books Kickass, Kingsman and Chrononaughts. Millar is not only a brilliant writer but also a revolutionary as he is helping usher in a change in the mainstream allowing creators to tell the stories they want to tell and to own their own characters. Though, like all the men on this list, he has his critics Millar thoroughly deserves to be a household name.

4. Grant Morrison

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Morrison is probably the most insane creator in this list and he probably has the least claim to fame. Grant Morrison specialises in the avant-garde and esoteric, his book Arkham Asylum led to the creation of the Arkham video game series which is fantastic! After Arkham, Morrison has gone on to help reinvent Superman, Batman and the X-Men into darker and more edgy versions of themselves. Although he hasn’t had a film directly based on his work, Morrison has written several series that have fed into the aesthetic style of modern super hero films.

3. Alan Moore

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The world of comics would not be the same without Alan Moore, he is the godfather of the industry, writer of V for Vendetta, Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Killing Joke. Alan Moore helped comic books to grow up across the eighties and nineties. However, it is true that Moore has began to become disenfranchised with the industry as the influence of the films have began seep into the books. Moore would tell you himself that he hates the majority of the films produced from his work however those films have become some of the most well known non-super hero films based on comics to date.

2. Frank Miller

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If Batman V Superman is the success we are all hoping it will be then we will have Frank Miller to thank for it. In the late eighties, Miller wrote The Dark Knight Returns which followed Bruce Wayne as he came out of retirement to deal with, among other things, Superman. Several of most eye catching moments in the Batman V Superman trailer are taken from Miller’s own work, which he both wrote and illustrated. Frank Miller also wrote the Sin City books and the 300 which have both led to extremely successful film franchises.

1. Neil Gaiman

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When it comes to prolific writers in the world of pop culture there is almost no one who can rival Gaiman for both quality and originality. Neil Gaiman started writing comic books under the guidance of Alan Moore which led to the creation of the Sandman series, a series so popular and out there that it led to DC Comics creating their Vertigo Comics line. Sandman is currently being adapted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt into a major motion picture whilst Gaiman’s other work in comics has left his own distinctive mark on the industry. In 1602 Gaiman attempted to tackle the entire Marvel Universe whilst in Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader? and Whatever happened to the Man Of Tomorrow? Gaiman dealt with Batman and Superman. If you don’t already have a book by Neil Gaiman I have to recommend you go out and pick one up.

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