Your Top 10 Favorite Comic Creators?

1st of all, I searched for similar topics and couldn't find one. So if this has been repeated, be polite.

I'm curious to learn more about everyone's favorite creators. Plus I'm struggling with this question myself. Please list your Top 10 favorite creators of all time. I'm asking for 10 because everyone's top five will be the comic book legends we all know and love. I'm curious about the few creators that will linger around the bottom of your list. Plus give one to two examples of the creators work that made you a fan. Perhaps some interesting debates will pop up.

Here is an example:

1. Jack Kirby - Fantastic Four, Iron Man

2. Alan Moore - Promethea, Tom Strong

3. John Byrne - X-Men, Hellboy

4. George Perez - Teen Titans

5. Dennis O'Neil - Batman, Green Arrow

6. Art Adams - Godzilla, Monkeyman and O'Brien

7. Mike Mignola - Hellboy, B.P.R.D.

8. Scott Snyder - Swamp Thing, Batman

9. Len Wein - Wolverine, Swamp Thing

10. Brian K Vaughn - Y the Last Man, Swamp Thing

Remember that is just an example and not my list. I'm still working on that.

1. Grant Morrison (mainly due to JLA,JLA Classified+Earth 2, Seven Soldiers, Final Crisis, Batman, Animal Man, All Star Superman and Invisibles)
2. Jack Kirby (Fourth World stuff including Super Powers, Kamandi, Fantastic Four,
3. Geoff Johns (anything Aquaman, Flash, Hawkman, JSA, Action Comics, Justice League and Green Lantern related plus all of his events except Infinite Crisis)
4. Peter David (Aquaman, Hulk) 
5. Mike Mignola (Hellboy, BPRD and everything related to this universe)
6. John Ostrander (Suicide Squad, Spectre, Martian Manhunter but Suicide Squad alone is more than enough)
7. Alan Moore (Watchmen, WHTTMOT, LOEG, Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta) 
8. Robert Kirkman ( Invincible, Tech Jacket, The Astounding Wolfman, Guardians Of The Globe, the whole Invincible universe)
9. Mark Waid (Flash, Kingdom Come)
10. Mark Millar (Superman Red Son, Wanted, Kick Ass)

1. Stan Lee - co-creator of most the Marvel Universe
2. Jack Kirby - Stan's co-creator for most the Marvel Universe
3. Steve Ditko - Stan's co-creator for whatever Kirby didn't work on, including Spider-Man.
4. Chris Clairmont - re-imagined X-Men, making them the household name they are today. Created many of the X-Men characters, and fleshed out the ones that wear created before his run
5. John Byrne - Clairmont's co-creator for the earlier half of his run, also had legendary runs on Fantastic Four and Superman
6. Alan Moore - Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Batman, Swamp Thing
7. Neil Gaiman - Sandman
8. Jim Lee - X-Men, Wildcats, Justice League, Batman, Superman
9. Todd McFarlane - Spawn, Venom, Spider-Man
10. Ed Brubaker - Captain America

10. Warren Ellis - X-Force, Thunderbolts, No Hero, Authority

9. Alan Moore - Judge Dredd, Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Killing Joke

8. Frank Miller - Daredevil, Sin City, Dark Knight

7. Mark Millar - Judge Dredd, Ultimates, Kick-Ass, Civil War

6. Marv Wolfman - Batman, Teen Titans, Amazing Spiderman, Fantastic Four

5. Gail Simone - Birds of Prey, Batgirl, Secret Six

4. Chris Claremont - Uncanny X-Men

3. Brian Vaughn - Swamp Thing, Runaways, Y the Last Man

2. Garth Ennis - Punisher, The Boys, Hellblazer, Judge Dredd, Crossed

1. Christos Gage - Absolution, Avengers Academy, Avengers Initiative, GIJoe: Cobra

(Works listed represent my personal favorite series of the respective writers)

Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Aquaman, Justice League)

Mark Millar (Nemesis, The Ultimates)

Robert Kirkman (Invincible)

Daniel Way (Deadpool)

Dan Slott (Amazing Spider-Man)

Scott Lobdell ( Red Hood and The Outlaws, Teen Titans)

Peter David (Hulk)

Mark Waid ( Indestructible Hulk)

Peter Milligan ( Stormwatch)

James Robinson (Earth2)

Hmmm..creator..not necessarily writer/artist. Well, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel, John Broome and Gardner Fox created a ton of the characters that are still popular today. (Well, Kane and Finger, just Batman related stuff...but Batman is so huge he counts for like, ten creations.) Later folks that really changed how we think of characters/books include: Claremont and Byrne (X-Men, and Superman for Byrne) Frank Miller (Daredevil and Batman) Though Batman was redefined first by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, and Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers. O'Neil and Adams also re-defined Green Arrow and Green Lantern. Alan Moore with Swamp Thing. Neil Gaiman with Sandman. There are others, but those 10-15 guys (however many I mentioned) tend to be the most influential on characters I read a lot.

In no particular order.

• Jeff Smith
• Alan Moore
• Frank Miller
• Naoki Urasawa
• Neil Gaiman
• Hiromu Arakawa

Hmm... only 6? Better read more comics!

@mrdecepticonleader: I never thought about Finger. He was involved in the creation of Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Scarecrow, Joker, Green Lantern, Dick Grayson, James Gordon, Clayface and Batgirl. In his comicvine profile there is an interesting quote from Finger.

Kane had an idea for a character called 'Batman', and he'd like me to see the drawings. I went over to Kane's, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of ... reddish tights, I believe, with boots ... no gloves, no gauntlets ... with a small Domino Mask, swinging on a rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign ... BATMAN.

I really believe Finger should be mentioned as co-creator in current books.