Ordered with my favorite at the top. These are my favorite comic book writers. In this list, I'll focus on writers who I enjoy from the 90s, 00s and today. I'll make another list at some point which will have "Classic Comic Writers".
Good Stuff: Flash, Green Lantern, Teen Titans, JSA, Superman, Blackest Night, 52, Flashpoint, Aquaman, Justice League...
Why I picked him: Because he has the ability to take any character and make them cool, or at least make you care what happens to them. He also treats the DCU like a real place where people don't just "fade into limbo" and references old characters and events all the time. In the New 52, I am hoping he will try to keep the spirit of old DC alive.
Good stuff: Walking Dead, Invincible, Astonishing Wolf-Man, Tech Jacket, Capes
Why I picked him: He knows how to take a relatively simple or overused concept (zombie apocalypse, kid superhero) and keep your interest for 100+ issues! He does a good job at always keeping the stakes high, building out massive casts of likable supporting characters and always leaves you wanting more.
Good Stuff: Y: The Last Man, Runaways, Ex Machina, Saga
Why I picked him: I absolutely loved Y the Last Man even though I don't usually read non-superhero comics. I also loved the Runaways which is the first mainstream Marvel title I've read. The fact that he wrote some good episodes of "Lost" doesn't hurt his ranking either...
Good Stuff: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Outsiders, Titans, Batman, Batwing
Why I picked him: Usually adds an element of realism to his comics. He does it in such a way that it seems natural, rather than just being preached at (ex. Mia getting aids, Kyle's assistant is victim of hate crime)
Good Stuff: Kingdom Come, Flash, JLA, 52, Irredeemable, Incorruptible, Legion of Super-Heroes, Empire
Why I picked him: Does a good job at writing classic characters, but also has an extreme dark side which shows in Kingdom Come, Empire and Irredeemable. Basically he does a good job of following comic book conventions, but does an even better job turning them on their head!
Fun Fact: Mark has the distinction of being the only one on this list that I have actually met in person!
Good Stuff: Batman (animated series), Arkham Asylum and Arkham City (video games), Streets of Gotham, Zatanna, Gotham City Sirens, Detective Comics, Countdown
Why I picked him: I watched Batman cartoons written by Dini every day when I was a kid, and the first comics I ever owned were "Batman Adventures" which took place in the DCAU. This is probably the reason that Dini is one of the architects of the definitive version of Batman and his cast of characters in my head. From his cartoons, he created Harley Quinn, brought back Mr. Freeze and added layers of depth to most of Batman's villains. He provided the story/script for the greatest superhero video games of all time (not really debatable :-)), and he's also written a bunch of cool mainstream Batman comics.
Good stuff: Detective Comics, Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey, Green Arrow (Connor Hawke)
Why I picked him: The first "grown-up" comics I ever read were the Knightfall collections, which were mostly written by Chuck Dixon and Doug Moench. In addition to writing Batman in Detective Comics for almost the entire 90s, Dixon also built out his supporting cast writing the first 46 issues of Birds of Prey, the first 70 issues of Nightwing and the first 100 issues of Robin!
Good stuff: Shadow of the Bat, Detective Comics, Lobo, L.E.G.I.O.N., The Demon
Why I picked him: I'm not sure anyone else embodies the 90s at DC as much as Alan Grant. His work was always quirky, violent and had an element of humor. He's responsible for creating a number of classic Batman characters at the same time he was working on great runs of three other books!
Good stuff: Golden Age, Starman, Earth 2, JSA
Why I picked him: He's sort of hit and miss, but when he hits its amazing. I like pretty much anything he writes with Golden Age characters or new versions of Golden Age characters. But then his run on Justice League I didn't like as much. Earth 2 has proven to be the best Second Wave or later New 52 book and I'm sad to hear he's leaving it.
Good stuff: Suicide Squad, Spectre, Firestorm, Martian Manhunter, Hawkworld
Why I picked him: Suicide Squad is one of my favorite books. As if that wasn't enough to get him on the list, he wrote one of the most thought-provoking books in his 90s Spectre run.
Runner-Up
Good Stuff: JLA, Animal Man, Batman, 52, Action Comics
Why I picked him: One of the heavy hitters for DC. Almost everything he works on gets a lot of attention. I loved his run on JLA and Animal Man, but some of his newer stuff gets a little too abstract for me.
Runner-Up
Good Stuff: Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, The Movement, Welcome to Tranquility
Why I picked her: Gotta have at least one girl on this list! Seriously though, Gail writes great stuff. She is another one who does a good job balancing humor and really dark stories.
Honorable Mention
Good stuff: Swamp Thing, Red Lanterns
There are a lot of great writers in the New 52 (Snyder, Lemire, Venditti and Azzarello to name a few), so I figured I should give a shout-out to one of them. The reason there are not more New 52 writers on this list is that the list covers about 20 years and many of these writers have sheer volume of great comics on their side, even if they are not as active lately.
I picked Soule because he picked up the reigns of two tough books and knocked it out of the park (Swamp Thing and Red Lanterns). He gave characters distinct personalities and took the books in interesting directions. I'm sorry to hear that he's going exclusive with Marvel for a couple years... DC needs to learn how to hold on to these guys!
Honorable Mention
RIP
Good Stuff: Hardware, Icon, Justice League of America, Justice League (animated series)
Why I picked him: Responsible for building out most of the "Milestone" universe. While somewhat short-lived, these were enjoyable reading. My favorite works of his are actually his contributions to the DCAU.
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