TWCL

[Casual Notice]

Okay, you young whippersnappers! I know in your tiny little undeveloped minds you believe that all of history began on your birthday, but the fact is that nothing you do or have is possible without the work and contributions of those who went before. Here, then, is a list of people who made comicking (and webcomicking) what it is today.

Feel free to add to the list. I may come back and add why you should remember these people, but I want to give you all a chance to check them out for yourselves, so you really know.

• Seigel & Shuster and Bob Kane—Between them, they created most of the major conventions in modern superhero comics.
  
• Will Eisner—Spent most of his career with both middle fingers raised in salute to the Cmics Code Authority. A catalog of all the ways The Spirit got away with ignoring the CCA would take more space than is available on the internet.
  
• Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko—Created the so-called Marvel Age of comics (also called the Silver Age). Lee's writing and Kirby and Ditko's art retargeted comics for a crowd of children that was growing up. Other elements, such as (more or less) consistent continuity and believable (for the form) characterization changed the way comics were viewed (by those who bothered to read them--everyone else still thought they were kddy books for kids).
  
• John Romita, Neal Adams, others—Created the Spandex Superhero. I can't honestly say who was first, but at some point between 1968 and 1975 this group of contemporaries all decided they couldn't be arsed to put actual clothes on superheroes who were much too busy punching people in the face. Considering this was about 10 years before Lycra Spandex became publicly available, it amounted to painting logos on the heroes' naked bodies.
  
• Chris Claremont , Len Wein, Dave Cockrum, John Byrne—X-men. Everything you think you know about superhero comics came about because these guys took a goofy team comic about pretty private school students with powers and turned it into a freak show that developed in the most punchtastic soap opera in history. Every bizarre question in the Marvel Universe has its roots in an X-Men comic or spinoff (for instance, why is Captain Britain's twin sister Japanese? Read the X-Men).
  
• Bill Sinkiewicz (sp)—Blurred the line between art and comic art. His run on the New Mutants was just this side of Abstract Expressionism. His Elektra mini-series was insanity having an orgy with delusion and Schizophrenia.
  
• Alan Moore & Neil Gaiman—More or less created the Vertigo imprint, notable both for being adult-theme comics and for the amazing strides they made for artists rights to their intellectual property.
  
• Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins—As soon as Penny Arcade started making money, these guys started treating it like a business. Their dedication to that business and improving their product is why PA is still on top when others are gone.
  
• Chris Crosby and Darren Bleuel—Created Keenspot, the first of the online comics communities.
  
• Fred Gallagher—His Megatokyo jumped from inconsistent online comic to publication on the Tokyo Pop imprint to other things...I don't know, I've never been a big fan.
  
• Todd MacFarlane—Started the school of "Tiny lines and dots drawn with an engineering pen".
  
• Wendy and Richard Pini—WaRP Graphics was an indy imprint that wasn't underground. The Pinis' reprint contract with Marvel helped shape the artists' rights debates of the eighties.
  
• Jean (Moebius) Giraud, Richard Corben, Robert Crumb, others—You didn't have to be insanely stoned to enjoy Heavy Metal and the other pseudo-underground magazines that anthologized the works of these men, but it made many of them easier to understand (especially the giant leather hats).
  
• Warren Ellis (awaiting expansion by poster)
  
• Grant Morrison (awaiting expansion by poster)
  
• Colleen Doran (awaiting expansion by poster)
  

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it will serve for now. You other oldies should put on your wifebeaters (and probably pants) and add to the list to make it more accurate.

EDIT: Corrected and expanded.
EDIT 2: Added reasons they're notable, deleted some, grouped others. Will add other suggestions when time permits.
_________________
What I lack in sincerity, I make up for in sarcasm.
S*P*Q*R

[iaviv]

You misspelled Will Eisner! Such blasphemy!
I would add Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Robert Crumb, Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison.
_________________

[Alien Shores]

How about Wendy Pini and Colleen Doran?

[Casual Notice]

Yeesh! I meant to add the Pini's and it went right out of my head.

Added all of the suggestions except Robert Crumb.
_________________
What I lack in sincerity, I make up for in sarcasm.
S*P*Q*R

[Alien Shores]

Oooh, and Neal Adams!

This is a great idea, by the way.

[ttallan]

I would add Scott McCloud, Phil (and Kaja) Foglio, and Jeff Smith. Oh, and Art Spiegelman.

EDIT: I wasn't going to get into manga, but honestly, Osamu Tezuka has been such a huge influence he really belongs on the list.
_________________

[Clint Wolf]

George Herriman
Hal Foster
Milton Caniff
Los Bros. Hernandez
Carla Speed McNeill
Dave Sim (yes, he's crazy now but so is John Byrne)
Jim Steranko
Chester Gould
Charles Shulz
Bill Watterson
Walt Kelly

Seconded on Osamu Tezuka. For that matter, Georges Remi/Herge deserves a spot.

Also Winsor McCay
_________________

[Uncle Greedy]

Missing:
Gilbert Shelton
George Metzger
Fred Schrier
Richard Corben
Vaughn Bodē
Lyonel Feininger (Missing him would be a crime, his comic works are really important besides his Bauhaus fame, and the first, maybe even the only serious artist that went into comics)
George Herriman
Crepax
Druillet
Frank Frazetta (actually the founder of all fantasy art as own genre)
Spain Rodriguez
William Gaines & Co
Aley Raymond

and although I don't like Robert Crumb's stories to much, he is to important to be missed.

[Clint Wolf]

I forgot Lee Falk on my list. Every spandex-clad superhero owes a debt to The Ghost Who Walks.
_________________

[sailorptah]

Reading down the original list, my only thought was, "But where are all the newspaper cartoonists?" Glad to see people bringing up their names in the replies.

A couple more to add:

Harold Gray
Allison Bechdel
Gary Larson

And, if we are indeed going international (albeit while Westernizing the name orders):

Riyoko Ikeda
Naoko Takeuchi
Rumiko Takahashi

[ewomack]

I would add B. Kliban to my list, though he's not for everyone...

Plus, Windsor McCay - especially his "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend."
_________________
Ed Womack

[Traegorn]

Casual Notice wrote:

Added all of the suggestions except Robert Crumb.

Why? He's kind of important.

I'd add Eastman and Laird, just because of their importance in the ownership of character rights

...and how has no one mentioned Bill Finger?

[vaslittlecrow]

Sergio Aragones
_________________
Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.

[Clint Wolf]

This morning I woke up with another name slapping my brain around for not being put forth: Carl Barks.

Carl Barks absolutely should be on the list, especially because (in the U.S. at least) a lot of people don't know who he is, even though they'll all recognize the characters he created. Seems like he's much more known on the world stage than he ever was in the homeland.
_________________

[vaslittlecrow]

Clint Wolf wrote:

This morning I woke up with another name slapping my brain around for not being put forth: Carl Barks. Carl Barks absolutely should be on the list, especially because (in the U.S. at least) a lot of people don't know who he is, even though they'll all recognize the characters he created. Seems like he's much more known on the world stage than he ever was in the homeland.

I absolutely second this!
_________________
Visit Catnose Comics and Velvet Rasputin to see my comic art and graphic novels.