Actually, a lot of those I listed I rarely hear comic fans & people in the industry praise. Like for example, when was the last time you heard anyone in a comics conversation talking about Steve Englehart? Or Gerry Conway? Bill Mantlo is the biggest example. He did a long run on the Incredible Hulk, was responsible for Bruce Banner's backstory with his abusive father, & even created Rocket Raccoon, but he is rarely ever talked about in comic circles, & should be, considering his skill & contributions, & his medical condition. I hope that the GotG movie give thanks to Bill Mantlo because of his creation of Rocket, & that proceeds from the film & the character itself can be given to his family for his medical bills. It'd be the right thing to do. On that note, Mike Mignola, who did the first Rocket Raccoon mini-series with Mantlo, gets praise for his art, but rarely praised for his writing, which really shines in folklore/horror-laden tales like Hellboy. Len Wein is seldom spoke about, or given any praise, even though he created Wolverine in his Incredible Hulk run, as well as other key characters to the MU & X-mythos such as Colossus, Storm, & Nightcrawler with Dave Cockrum in the historic Giant-Size X-Men, plus multiple notable contributions to the MU. Marv Wolfman is severely underrated; it's said between both Marvel & DC, he created almost as many characters as Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, but gets very little praise, & like Len Wein, very few writing gigs currently as well. Wolfman & Perez made the Titans a book that competed with the X-Men, creating characters like Cyborg, Starfire & Raven; he & Perez created Deathstroke & the Nightwing identity & he wrote one of the biggest events in comic history, Crisis; & at Marvel the guy wrote several books, & created characters such as Blade & Bullseye. His work with Gene Colan on Tomb of Dracula is hugely underrated. His creative ability doesn't get the praise it deserves in the 21st century, that was what I was thinking with all the writers on my list. But on my list, I think the most severely underrated is the late Mark Gruenwald. Besides Stan & Ed Brubaker, he did one of the longest runs on Captain America, doing several great stories like "The Captain" & "The Scourge of the Underworld", but even in conversations about Cap runs with other Cap fans he's hardly ever mentioned. Gruenwald also did the epic Squadron Supreme series, & was the first person to truly give Hawkeye a chance to shine solo in his first mini-series(where his art skills are severely underrated as well), & introduced Mockingbird into the larger MU by making her Hawk's partner & wife. He was also a master of using obscure characters & concepts & turning them into something awesome. He had a knowledge of comics history, character interactions & continuity that is unsurpassed. His love for the characters practically bled out onto the page, which makes sense his cremated remains were placed in the ink of the tpb of what he considered his greatest work, the aforementioned Squadron Supreme. And even according to people at Marvel, one of the best editors they ever had after Stan the Man himself. I'll even add another name to the list: Doug Moench. His work on Moon Knight was ahead of its time, gritty, gripping, visceral, hard-hitting stuff that still sets the standard for today's work with that character. He did some great Batman stories as well.
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