Welcome to the Comics Should Be Good 2022 Top 100 Comic Book Writers and Artists poll!
Welcome to our annual Top 100 poll! This year, you're voting on your favorite comic books storylines of all-time! It's time to vote for your top ten all-time favorite comic book writers and artists!
The first writers/artists poll was way back in 2006 (I did it on the CBR forums), and then the next ones followed in 2010, 2014 and 2018 on the main site. And here we are again! The first of the Top 100 polls to hit FIVE! When you do them every four years, hitting FIVE of them is pretty darn amazing, ya know?
Here's the deal. You folks have the chance to vote until 11:59 PM Pacific Standard time, September 30th. I'll tabulate all the votes and I'll begin a countdown of the winners starting some time in early October!
Sound good?
Okay, here are the guidelines!
1. Vote by e-mailing me your ballot at brianc@cbr.com. One vote per person! Put in your subject heading something along the lines of "Top Writers and Artists Vote." It doesn't have to be that precise phrasing, but something along those lines (but really, you might as well just use that phrasing. You just copy and paste it, ya know?). Just so that I know that your e-mail is your ballot for sorting purposes.
2. You're going to be voting for twenty people in total here. Your ten favorite comic book writers AND your ten favorite comic book artists. Vote for TEN each - less than ten writers and ten artists and I don't count your ballot. If you don't know ten comic book writers and/or artists, then you might want to wait for the next poll. Maybe check out the winners of this one for ideas of whose work to check out.
3. Rank your ten favorite comic book writers and artists from #1 (your most favorite) to #10 (your 10th most favorite). I'd prefer it if you actually numbered your entry, #1-10. It's easier for me to count.
Here's a template you can use as a guide. You can just copy and paste it into your e-mail (please vote in the body of the e-mail itself. I typically get about a thousand ballots cast for these things, so anything that requires extra work for me, like putting the votes in an attachment or something like that, is well, you know, extra work for me, so I'd prefer the counting to be as easy as possible, as just the cutting and pasting and then the counting itself is a lot, ya know?):
TOP TEN COMIC BOOK WRITERS AND ARTISTS
WRITERS
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10.
ARTISTS
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5.
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10.
4. Your top choice will be given 10 points, your second choice 9, etc.
5. This is for writers and artists who worked primarily in the field of comic books and graphic novels, not comic strips. Vote accordingly. There are many amazing comic strip creators out there, but this is primarily a comic book website, so it wouldn't be fair to the comic strip artists (you'd have, like, Charles Schulz #48 or something like that, and it would be ridiculous. So it is best to stick to just comic book creators). Manga writers and artists are eligible for the vote. They have showed up on our past few lists. I can't promise that they'll make this current list and I know that they probably won't be as high as they "should" be, and if you want to avoid them for the same basic theory as me excluding comic strip creators, and therefore not wanting an iconic creator being lower than they should be because most people aren't voting for Manga creators, then that's fine enough. That's your call. Let your conscience be your guide.
6. Vote for ten artists and ten writers. You have to have ten writers and ten artists you like! Less than ten artists and ten writers and I will not count your ballot.
7. I get that it is difficult to rank certain creators like Chris Ware, who both write and draw, but just try to do your best. So if you really like Ware, for instance, feel free to put him #1 on both lists.
8. Vote for ten artists and ten writers. Less than ten artists and ten writers and I will not count your ballot.
9. Plotters count as writers. So if you are just a fan of Keith Giffen's plots, feel free to vote for him as a writer. If you want to vote for Jack Kirby's plots or Steve Ditko's plots, go for it. Plotting a comic book is obviously writing a comic book, so Jack Kirby was absoltuely the writer on the classic Fantastic Four stories that he did with Stan Lee. Of course, also feel free to vote for Stan Lee.
10. Teams are a pain in the ass, but I think I'm going to go with you have to split them up unless they have ONLY worked as a team. So Giffen and DeMatteis don't count as one vote. I know it is tough to break them up if you like their JLI work, but do your best. If that means having one ranked #1 and one ranked #2 on your list, then so be it. Same with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Or Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Or Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. It's tough, but I have faith in you.
11. I'll make various other decisions in the interest of fairness. If you have questions and or requests for clarification, feel free to e-mail me your question (try to make the subject clear that it is a question and not a ballot, so I will answer it) and I will add extra clarification here for anything that confuses people.
Most importantly, have fun!
Now vote! :)