So what are we talking here? Just artist and writers, or do editors and publishers count?

Kirby and Lee will always be at the top then there's a whole lot of ways to go

Jack S. Liebowitz vision and savy maybe only reason DC exist today

(Liefield ... really? I'm happy creators finally were able to get some control of their products but you'd think these kids would know of something besides McFarland and others )

I've got to admit that I don't even know who Fox is?

I think that one could make an argument for modern people like Alan Moore, Frank Miller, John Byrne, and George Perez.

Lee and Kirby are must-haves.  Ditko is another possibility.

But for the sheer influence guys like Byrne and Perez have had for many decades means they should be considered, IMHO...

Fox is Gardner Fox of DC Comics,  He is arguable to DC What Stan Lee was to Marvel.

I was going to suggest Neal Adams as another possibility.  I'm not the biggest fan of his work, but I do acknowledge that he is one of the industry greats that influenced others.

I just Googled for lists of top writers, and this site I regularly go to (Mania) gave these top 20:

20. (tie) Mark Millar and Jim Starlin
19. Steve Engleheart
18. Warren Ellis
17. Mark Waid
16. Marv Wolfman
15. Peter David
14. Kurt Busiek
13. John Byrne
12. Gardner Fox
11. Garth Ennis
10. Geoff Johns
9. Chris Claremont
8. Len Wein
7. Neil Gaiman
6. Denny O'Neill
5. Grant Morrison
4. Roy Thomas
3. Frank Miller
2. Stan Lee
1. Alan Moore

Honorable Mentions went to the following:
Dave Sim – Creator of Cerebus the Aardvark

Carl Barks – longtime writer of writer of Donald Duck stories for Disney

Gilbert Hernandez – creator of acclaimed independent series Love & Rockets

Will Eisner – creator of the Spirit

Bill Finger – early writer of the Golden Age Batman and Green Lantern stories

J.M. DeMatteis – one of comics more underrated writers. Wrote “Kraven’s Last Hunt”

James Robinson – One of today’s best comic writers and a guy I can see making the list one day

Steve Gerber – One of Marvels best of the 70s and creator of Howard the Duck

Jim Shooter – The former controversial Marvel Editor-in-Chief was also a very accomplished writer.

Chuck Dixon – Long time writer of the Punisher and Detective Comics among others. One of the better writers when it comes to gritty crime tales

Keith Giffen – writer of the post-crisis more humorous Justice Leage, Legion of Super Heroes and many others.

Mike Mignola – Creator of Hellboy

Jack Kirby – Co-creator with Stan Lee on many of Marvels greatest characters. Created Kamandi, OMAC, and the New Gods titles at DC.

Roger Stern – Longtime writer on the Avengers, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Action Comics, etc…

You can read the list (and the comments by fans) here:

http://www.mania.com/top-20-comic-writers-all-time_article_115430.html

For artists, Atlas Comics made the following list (for American Comic Books):

10. Lou Fine
9. Bernard Krigstein
8. Steve Ditko
7. Frank Frazetta
6. Wally Wood
5. Harvey Kurtzman
4. Carl Barks
3. Neal Adams
2. Will Eisner
1. Jack Kirby

That list can be found here:
http://www.acomics.com/best10.htm

I post these not to start arguments (I by no means agree with everything on these lists; shoot - I didn't even KNOW some of these people), but to throw a bunch of other names out for the discussion.   

Limiting it to just four is really tough.  Too many greats get bumped off.   I would out guys like Cark Banks, or Wally Wood, or Harvey... you get  the picture.

Ranger wrote on Nov 25^th, 2010 at 1:07am:


John Byrne was #13 on the list of writers (above).

Ranger wrote on Nov 26^th, 2010 at 10:43am:


I can see that logic.  One thing that really works in Byrne's favor (for me, anyway) was the fact that he did some of that revisionist work for both Marvel and D.C., and on some of the most iconic characters of those companies.

And while I don't care much for the early writings of Stan Lee (who seems to have been aiming more at young kids as his target audience), there's no disputing the humongous influence he had on the medium.