While this is by no means an all encompassing guide to comic art (as there are hundreds of artists at work in the field today), this list of 10 have earned a place in the upper echelon of the field for their outstanding contributions to the art form.

• Jack Kirby
  Arguably, the most influential comic writer/artist of all time. This web site is devoted to Kirby's vast amount of work, from his wartime creation of Captain America to his groundbreaking work for Marvel Comics in the 60's, his Fourth World work for DC Comics in the 70's and all projects up till his death in 1994.


• Steve Ditko
  Alongside Kirby, Steve Ditko's work for Marvel Comics in the 1960's set the standards by which most comic work today is compared. The co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange as well as the creator of such characters as The Question, The Creeper and Shade The Changing Man, established the reclusive artist as one of the legends of the comics field.


• John Romita Sr.
  The man some consider the definitive Spider-Man artist, John Romita was nervous about filling the shoes left by Steve Ditko when he departed Marvel Comics and the Spider-Man book. Whatever worries he had could be left behind as Romita helped bring the character to even greater heights of fame. This website showcases a selection of his pencil art from his initial Spider-Man run.


• John Romita Jr.
  The son of one of Marvel Comics most beloved illustrators, John Romita Jr. has carved out his own niche in the field as perhaps the best visual storyteller today. Not content to coast on his famous father's reputation, he continues to illustrate The Amazing Spider-Man in a style that he can call his own.


• Joe Kubert
  The artist most closely associated with war comics, Joe Kubert has illustrated the adventures of Sgt. Rock, Enemy Ace and The Haunted Tank for DC Comics. His legacy continues with his sons Adam and Andy. He also established Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, Inc. in 1976.


• Will Eisner
  Will Eisner is possibly the most respected man in comics today. His work on The Spirit is a masterpiece of sequential art, and his page layout techniques are textbook examples of dynamic storytelling. There are very few artists in the field today who don't owe a debt to this pioneer, who continues - in his 80's - to work today.


• Alex Ross
  When it comes to a realistic approach to the superheroic form, the name Alex Ross comes immediately to mind. His claim to fame comes from two highly accaimed mini-series, Marvels for Marvel Comics and Kingdom Come for DC Comics. Ross's paintings have brought much attention to comics as a legitimate art form, and his work has shown up on everything from book covers to designing the 2002 Academy Awards commemorative poster.


• Frank Miller
  Mention the name Frank Miller to anyone who's read a comic since the 1980's and he'll probably tell you about one or more of Miller's seminal works. Whether it's his award winning mini-series Batman - The Dark Knight Returns, his run on Daredevil, the Man without Fear, or his creator owned Sin City, Miller has taken comics to an edge not seen since the pulp magazines of the 1930's.


• John Byrne
  Having spent more than two decades in the comics field as both a writer and artist, John Byrne has worked on probably every major comic character to come out of "The Big Two", Marvel and DC Comics, as well as his own creation, The Next Men. Byrne was given one of the highest profile jobs in 1986, when he revamped the almost 60 year old Superman for today's audiences. It is considered a high mark run of stories and helped usher in a whole new generation of readers.


• Robert Crumb
  The unofficial king of underground comics, Robert Crumb brought counterculture to the masses (or at least the masses of comic book readers) in the late 1960's and early 1970's. He is best known for creating Mr. Natural and Fritz the Cat.



There are many more individuals whose work transformed the industry and inspired countless other artists as well as kids growing up wanting to illustrate the adventures of their favorite characters. (I know the art I grew up seeing in the comics is what inspired me to pursue a career in the graphic arts.) The roster of talented artists is almost endless: Dave Stevens, Gil Kane, Sal and John Buscema, Byrne Hogarth, Dave Sim, Jim Steranko, Neal Adams, George Perez, Dale Keown, Alan Davis, Gene Colan, Curt Swan, Mobius, Sergio Aragones, Carl Banks, Alex Toth, Bob Kane, Joe Sinnott, Wally Wood, Basil Wolverton, Mort Drucker and many, many more. These artists were my Van Goghs and DaVincis. All can be found on the internet on one site or another. But even better, their work can be found in collections of books, graphic novels, trade paperbacks and currently drawn comics today. Why not check 'em out?

Although primarily a visually oriented medium, comics exist to tell stories. These 10 writers are renowned for their skill and imagination in finding unique ways to breathe life into the four-color characters of the comics.

• Stan Lee
  If any one man can be said to have created an entire universe, Stan Lee would be that man. Probably the most well known comics writer in the history of the medium, Stan is the driving force and co-creator (along with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko) of the Marvel pantheon of characters; The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, The X-Men and hundreds more.


• Alan Moore
  The creative mind of Alan Moore was responsible for perhaps some of the greatest stories ever told in the medium of comics. His work on DC Comics' Watchmen mini-series is seen as a turning point in superhero comic evolution. No longer content with simple tales of morality, Moore wrote characters of depth and subtlety. Along with his V For Vendetta, Swamp Thing, and new works like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Moore continues to raise the bar for comics writers.


• Frank Miller
  The only man who made both the Top Ten Artist and Writer listings here, Miller has written some of the most influential stories of the 1980's and 90's. Miller singlehandedly made Batman a force to be reckoned with and he also resurrected Daredevil from obscurity. His work outside the superhero comic, most notably Sin City, continues to win accolades and brings new readers into the fold.


• Chris Claremont
  Although created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, if it weren't for this man, The Uncanny X-Men wouldn't be comics' reigning juggernaut. Claremont's 20-plus (and still going) years on The X-Men revived a dying concept and with some of the best characterization ever written in a comic, the book soared in popularity, where it remains to this day.


• Brian Michael Bendis
  Comics real life Superman, Bendis writes an incredible four monthly books, Ultimate Spider-Man, Daredevil, Alias and Powers. Although his genre work keeps him in the spotlight, his earlier crime fiction books Fire, Torso, Jinx and Goldfish are what put him there.


• Grant Morrison
  Weird. That's probably the best way to describe Grant Morrison's vision. Noone in the comics world comes close to the flat-out bizarre concepts that Morrison has written about in books such as Doom Patrol, The Filth, Animal Man, The Invisibles, Kill Your Girlfriend, and Flex Mentallo. On second thought, weird doesn't even begin to describe it.


• Peter David
  While a lot of writers do their best to show comics as a serious art form, David keeps the humor in. Having worked on Marvel's The Incredible Hulk for more than 10 years and writing what many feel was the definitive version of the character, David's sense of humor kept the book from growing stale.


• Neil Gaiman
  A best-selling author (Neverwhere and American Gods are just two examples), Gaiman entered comics history with his poetic, fascinating Sandman for DC Comics. Never had a non-superhero book drawn so much well deserved attention before. Gaiman's singular voice on the book was so prevalent, that when he decided to leave the book after 60 plus issues, DC let him end the series rather than try to continue in what was surely comics' toughest act to follow.


• Brian Azzarello
  There's a new voice in crime fiction. One that has captured readers because of it's dark grittiness and authenticity. Azzarello's 100 Bullets is a must read for anyone who avoids comics because they think they're for kids only.


• Marv Wolfman
  Horror comics, once a mainstay of the 1950's saw a resurgence in the 1970's largely due to Marv Wolfman's run on Tomb of Dracula for Marvel. He showed that a comic character didn't have to wear spandex to captivate readers. And more importantly, no writer had ever had the kind of success Wolfman did by having a loathsome, villainous monster as the lead character.



As with the artists, there are too many good writers to list here. But here are some you can look up yourself on the web or read their stories in various trade paperbacks and collections: Bruce Jones, Matt Wagner, Greg Rucka, Mark Millar, Garth Ennis, Roy Thomas, James Robinson, Geoff Johns, Len Wein, Jim Shooter, Dave Sim, Rick Veitch, Max Collins, Jeph Loeb, the list goes on. So go on...Go to the store already! Or the library! Or your nephews house! Anywhere comics may live. Try some, I guarantee. You'll like them.