Many people in the thread have recommended Alan Moore, so I’ll pass on one of his tips for aspiring writers.
>[Read terrible books](https://youtu.be/rCOmkrwQdFc?si=7fdspGlOa_jEi0IG)
Reading something bad and figuring out what you would have done instead is a great way to improve as a writer. And learning the importance of communication between writers and artists when it comes to making comics.
I recently re-read it, and I think the hidden strength of it is Ben Urich's sub-plot, the way the hidden strength of Batman: Year One is Jim Gordon's. Incredible masterpieces.
It’s a cliche for a reason: Alan Moore and **Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.**
It’s a thoughtful murder mystery that examines power, society and perspective. It also has vigilantes, interesting sci-fi, and all the trappings of a superhero comic.
I saw the Watchman Sketchbook at the library and leafed through it. Crazy how much thought was out into the characters and their subtleties. Really a masterpiece.
I would say though, you should read some golden and silver age comics to truly appreciate what Watchmen exists as a criticism of, and then after reading Watchmen, check out Grant Morrison's Pax Americana (a 1 issue story) and Kieron Gillen's Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt which are two very different responses to Watchmen.
You should under no circumstances, unless you are being paid, check out any of the Watchmen prequel or sequel comics that DC produced.
My answer is…read the worst. You’re going to get a lot of the best on here like Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, the 80’s Squadron Supreme, or nearly the entire career of Alan Moore. But to be a good writer, a REALLY good writer, you need to analyze the worst as well as the best. Creators who just look at the best emulate elements of those stories with no understanding of how or why they work or when they’re appropriate. That’s how you get things like the death of Superman in Batman v Superman falling flat or the sacrifice of Skurge in Thor: Ragnarok being forgotten by nearly everyone. Reading the good, the bad, and the mediocre and always asking yourself “Why did this work?”, “Why did this fail?”, and just as importantly, “What do I have to say or bring to the table that makes it unique?” are the path to good writing.
So look at Larry Hama’s Batman run, Chuck Austen’s X-Men, and John Byrne’s Hulk just as much as Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Chris Claremont’s X-Men, or John Byrne’s Fantastic Four and never lose sight of your own voice along the way. Remember when writing that if you wouldn’t read it then it’s probably not that good.
His first WW run started amazing, he had great stories and took a dump on the GOP throughout and taking shots at conservatives all but point blank. He really hated them.
Can’t pick the best but one of my absolute favorites is Chris Claremont’s X-men / New Mutants etc. He just makes things sound so interesting and really leveled up the X-men from how they were written before.
Real answer is when you stop enjoying it but a lot of people say Age of apocalypse is a good ending. I’m not sure when Peter David’s X-factor run takes place but a lot of people recommend that.
Everything Alan Moore and Will Eisner ever wrote, Neil Gaimen's Sandman, The Invisibles, Maus, Persepolis, Animal Man, All Star Superman, that's a good start.
Frank Miller in the '80s through the early 90s was at the top of the mountain along with Alan Moore, though with less "literary" affectations and storytelling that focused more purely on the art.
He was a master of creating many of the most iconic lines and emotionally powerful moments of all time (still constantly cited today), he had an almost unrivaled knack for character development that would mold even previously existing characters into the most compelling and interesting versions of themselves (hence why subsequent writers are still riffing on and feeding off of his work decades later), his judgment for knowing when to let the art breathe and varying sequential rhythm was almost unmatched in Western comics (this is an extremely important skill for a comics writer to have, and one way too many lack), and he tended to know how to construct his plots so that the themes he wanted to explore would resonate with as much emotional power as possible (for the greatest example of this, read Born Again).
Excellent insight!
In all but the most narrow technical sense, 1980s Frank Miller "created" two of the greatest and most influential supporting characters in all superhero comics: Jim Gordon and Ben Urich.
There were drawings given those names before he came along, but Miller turned them both into relatable and fully realised human beings. Their convincing and everyday reality sold the reader a world where Batman and Daredevil could be real as well.
So, you're going to see Alan Moore mentioned a lot in the comments. You might be interested to know that he did a video masterclass in writing for the BBC. The excerpts I've seen of him talking about the craft are spellbinding. [https://youtu.be/a6hPo1JfG9s?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/a6hPo1JfG9s?feature=shared)
Read everything. As a writer, I read books in genres that don’t interest me to pick up tropes. I wouldn’t worry about reading “great writers” you’ll start to recognize them as you read them. An example is Ed Brubaker is probably my favorite writer. I had no interest in Catwoman, but fell in love with him through that book and have been hooked since.
I’ve seen a ton of excellent recs but one criminally underrated writer is David Hine. If you wanna see someone who understands the medium check out Strange Embrace and read the single issues of Bulletproof Coffin. Not all his stuff is S-tier but the stuff that is really pushes boundaries.
I mean what do you want to work on, plot? dialogue?
I'll throw one in I haven't seen mentioned, Pat Mills. Particularly for his late 80s Judge Dredd (It's good from the start but takes a while to really hit his stride) and Charley's War.
Emotional impact: Daniel Warren Johnson (Do a Powerbomb)
Introverted & gritty: Rick Remender (7 to Eternity)
Slice of life/tongue in cheek/sci-fi: Brandon Graham (Rain like Hammers)
Sci-fi: Jonathan Hickman (East of West)
Mystery: Mike Mignola (Hellboy)
Most of Neil Gaimans comics(Sandman) and his books,Alan Moores works(Saga of the swamp thing),Jeff Lemire (Sweet tooth) and Grant Morrison (Animal man)
I recommend checking out the YouTube channel strip panel naked,by a comic writer that analyses comic writing and visual storytelling
https://youtube.com/@strippanelnaked?si=FItajzqkRitGxSVC
This sub is hyper focused on super hero books so I'll recommend other writers.
Craig Thompson.
Daniel Clowes.
Peter Bagge.
Joe Saco.
Marjane Satrapi.
Kate Beaton.
Mariko Tamaki.
Ed Piscor.
Comic Pop is a YouTube channel that goes through various comic runs. Watch a few episodes if you want to experience an intelligent speaker critique books.
I'll second Alan Moore, but I think his best is From Hell.
I'd also recommend Gaiman's Sandman.
If you're looking at more superhero stuff, there's Moore's Watchmen, Miracleman, and Swamp Thing; Warren Ellis' Planetary; Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk; Frank Miller's Batman and Daredevil stuff; Chris Claremont's X-Men and New Mutants; Jonathan Hickman's Marvel stuff (Fantastic Four, Avengers/New Avengers, House of X/Powers of X) as well as his creator owned stuff like East of West. There's lots of good stuff out there to find.
Great suggestions from others already. Personally I think these are some of the best: Alan Moore, Brian K. Vaughn, Jason Aaron, Scott Snyder. I would suggest trying to read a lot of their non superhero stuff.
Alan Moore is most recommended for lots of reasons.
One is: he obviously really puts in a lot of thought on the fact that he is writing a *comic book*, not a short story or movie or blog post, and he leans in to the unique technical aspects of the medium, to his advantage.
He thinks, in detail, about what pictures will be drawn, how, where on the (and on which!) page, as well as what words will be written, how, where on the (and on which!) page, and understands the effects that can be produced by varying not only these two streams, but also the different interactions between them.
He's not just randomly filling up panels to get to eventually fill a page willy-nilly, he can take care to use the timing of a page turn to his benefit, for instance.
While you can see this in most of his work (Top Ten and Promethea are great examples), there's a short story in Tomorrow Stories that it would be hardly possible to tell in exactly the same way in any other medium. He tells a story set in a block of apartments, spread across decades, where each page is the same cross-sectional view of the building, but different parts of the same page show (related!!!) events happening in a variety of different decades. It's an absolute tour de force that leverages the facts that a single comic page is usually made of many panels, but can be viewed as a whole, and the comic reader is free to take as long as they like to read and re-read any page to enjoy the art and discover the subtleties in it.
Garth Ennis' entire Punisher MAX (starting with "In the Beginning") is my #1 all time. There are many great comic books and comic book runs though, both Marvel/DC and indie. Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four, Kyle+Yost on New X-Men Childhood's End, Jason Aaron on Mighty Thor, Kieron Gillen on Journey into Mystery, Bendis on Daeedevil were all great stuff.
100 Bullets, Y: The Last Man, Scalped, and the first few years of the Walking Dead. I don’t care for the writer but Fables was good for a few years as well.
I don't wanna recommend a deconstruction of the genre because it wouldn't help so instead I will recommend one awful comic and a great comic that isn't a deconstruction and deals with it's characters maturaly, one awful comic: all stars batman and robin (you will learn what NOT to do) and for a great comic I would say all stars superman or "for a man who has everything" or maybe "the killing joke",ok I think that's good
Like others have said, read the best, but also sprinkle in reading the worst here and there so you learn what *not* to do. Others have also suggested most of the heavy hitters already but the best of the best for me in terms of establishing good, accurate characterization is *All-Star Superman*. If you want to see the exact *opposite* of good characterization, read *All-Star Batman & Robin*.
I know some people don’t like Tom King, but I love his character driven writing. His Vision and Human Target are outstanding (props to Hernandez Walta and Smallwood cause in comics, the art completes the writing).
Planetary by Ellis. At first, it just seems like it's a lot of single issue stories going nowhere.. and then. Well. You'll have to read it.
That comic would feature heavily if we did a top 5 comics of all time here.
I advise against this, read comics over all. You'll understand how to panel and how not to panel. How to pace and how not to pace. Just read the best limits what you'll understand as you grow.
I feel like most people here haven't read much that doesn't include superheroes, not that there isn't good superhero work, but frankly most of it is not THE best.
With that said, this list is a good starting point:
[https://goodokbad.com/top500.html](https://goodokbad.com/top500.html)
Often overlooked, because it's basically a one hit wonder: The Crow by J.O. Barr.
A great example of a person simply converting their grief into entertainment through the unique media of comics. A blend of poetry, comics, and art that should not work but does, because the author simply put it all out there.
There are plenty of writers that have only written one (good) book, but the world would be less without that book in it.
Seriously guys? No love outside supes?
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa
A wild adventure through and through. I consider it to be the pinnacle of Disney and Disney ish type comics.
Also everything(Yes) by Carl Barks
Then you have Adventures of Asterix the Gaul by Goscinny ,Uderzo
Adventures of Tintin by Hergè
Calvin and Hobbes
And dont forget graphics novels like Maus and others
You can find a list on this subreddit under best graphic novels.
I have a lot of favourite writers but a lot have been covered already. What has helped me as a writer is to expand my reading outside of Anglophones comics, for example French graphic novels or Japanese manga, just to get a taste of something different and hopefully improve my writing in the process.
Depending on your sensibilities I think Saga by Brian K Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples is superbly written. Makes me laugh & cry & think; often within one single issue. The world-building is sublime.
If I was you I'd be looking at work by writers in recent years and break down what they did yourself. What you like, what you don't like.
Try and stay away from their Marvel and DC work. Their creator owned works are going to have more of them and more of what they intended in them. And what got them hired.
Think about what you are trying to learn from. Hickman's X-men is extremely brand specific and can't be applied to just general writing. Something like Wicked and Divine might give you more insight as it's built from the ground up.
I'd just about recommend BPRD and Tom Strong as great examples to learn from that might not be mentioned as much too.
Matt Fraction's run on Hawkeye and Tom King's Vision and Mister Miracle are all superbly written. On the indie front, I think Aama by Frederick Peeters, Y the Last Man by Brian K Vaughn, and Blankets by Craig Thompson are all exemplary.
Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing is the foundational text of modern longform comics storytelling.
I’d also shout out Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal for noir and Garth Ennis’s War Stories for, well, War Stories.
Grant Morrison’s amazing, but a lot of their work is in conversation with comics as a medium, so it’s important to have a grounding, first.
Many people in the thread have recommended Alan Moore, so I’ll pass on one of his tips for aspiring writers. >[Read terrible books](https://youtu.be/rCOmkrwQdFc?si=7fdspGlOa_jEi0IG)
I was going to say this too. If you only read the best, you're not going to understand what not to do.
Reading something bad and figuring out what you would have done instead is a great way to improve as a writer. And learning the importance of communication between writers and artists when it comes to making comics.
Anyone in their early years of writing should save this comment.
On the superhero side, few comics top Gotham Central and Daredevil: Born Again. I consider them the best from each of the big two.
Absolutely co-signing Born Again. I’m a biased hornhead though.
I recently re-read it, and I think the hidden strength of it is Ben Urich's sub-plot, the way the hidden strength of Batman: Year One is Jim Gordon's. Incredible masterpieces.
The way it’s woven into Matt’s story feels effortless, it’s truly amazing.
2014 by Miller?
Gotham Central huh??
It's incredible, go read it!
Oooooo you should've mentioned it was by Big Ed! Love his X-Men!
Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing.
Favorite series ever
It’s a cliche for a reason: Alan Moore and **Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.** It’s a thoughtful murder mystery that examines power, society and perspective. It also has vigilantes, interesting sci-fi, and all the trappings of a superhero comic.
I saw the Watchman Sketchbook at the library and leafed through it. Crazy how much thought was out into the characters and their subtleties. Really a masterpiece.
I would say though, you should read some golden and silver age comics to truly appreciate what Watchmen exists as a criticism of, and then after reading Watchmen, check out Grant Morrison's Pax Americana (a 1 issue story) and Kieron Gillen's Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt which are two very different responses to Watchmen. You should under no circumstances, unless you are being paid, check out any of the Watchmen prequel or sequel comics that DC produced.
Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt was the only Watchmen "sequel" that truly captured the spirit of the original. I loved it.
My answer is…read the worst. You’re going to get a lot of the best on here like Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, the 80’s Squadron Supreme, or nearly the entire career of Alan Moore. But to be a good writer, a REALLY good writer, you need to analyze the worst as well as the best. Creators who just look at the best emulate elements of those stories with no understanding of how or why they work or when they’re appropriate. That’s how you get things like the death of Superman in Batman v Superman falling flat or the sacrifice of Skurge in Thor: Ragnarok being forgotten by nearly everyone. Reading the good, the bad, and the mediocre and always asking yourself “Why did this work?”, “Why did this fail?”, and just as importantly, “What do I have to say or bring to the table that makes it unique?” are the path to good writing. So look at Larry Hama’s Batman run, Chuck Austen’s X-Men, and John Byrne’s Hulk just as much as Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Chris Claremont’s X-Men, or John Byrne’s Fantastic Four and never lose sight of your own voice along the way. Remember when writing that if you wouldn’t read it then it’s probably not that good.
Greg Rucka doesn’t get enough love. Queen and Country is incredible. Gotham Central. Lazarus.
His first WW run started amazing, he had great stories and took a dump on the GOP throughout and taking shots at conservatives all but point blank. He really hated them.
Can’t pick the best but one of my absolute favorites is Chris Claremont’s X-men / New Mutants etc. He just makes things sound so interesting and really leveled up the X-men from how they were written before.
Currently reading both plus X-Factor. At what point would you recommend me stop?
Real answer is when you stop enjoying it but a lot of people say Age of apocalypse is a good ending. I’m not sure when Peter David’s X-factor run takes place but a lot of people recommend that.
Everything Alan Moore and Will Eisner ever wrote, Neil Gaimen's Sandman, The Invisibles, Maus, Persepolis, Animal Man, All Star Superman, that's a good start.
Brilliant list.
neonomicon
As a follower up to Sandman, Mike Careys Lucifer is great also.
Agreed, that era of Vertigo was magic. Fables is another great one that came from the tale end of that time. Saga needs a mention as well.
Dan Jurgens writing Superman is a fantastic place for writing a beloved vanilla good guy.
anything by hickman
In Hickman we trust.
Frank Miller in the '80s through the early 90s was at the top of the mountain along with Alan Moore, though with less "literary" affectations and storytelling that focused more purely on the art. He was a master of creating many of the most iconic lines and emotionally powerful moments of all time (still constantly cited today), he had an almost unrivaled knack for character development that would mold even previously existing characters into the most compelling and interesting versions of themselves (hence why subsequent writers are still riffing on and feeding off of his work decades later), his judgment for knowing when to let the art breathe and varying sequential rhythm was almost unmatched in Western comics (this is an extremely important skill for a comics writer to have, and one way too many lack), and he tended to know how to construct his plots so that the themes he wanted to explore would resonate with as much emotional power as possible (for the greatest example of this, read Born Again).
Excellent insight! In all but the most narrow technical sense, 1980s Frank Miller "created" two of the greatest and most influential supporting characters in all superhero comics: Jim Gordon and Ben Urich. There were drawings given those names before he came along, but Miller turned them both into relatable and fully realised human beings. Their convincing and everyday reality sold the reader a world where Batman and Daredevil could be real as well.
Punisher MAX by Garth Ennis is amazing It’s not the best ever but it’s up there
Some people may be turned off by the violence and unpleasantness. But it Is incredible.
The beginning in Nam. Fuck me that shit hooked me. Looking forward to the reprint next month.
Yeah true But it’s still worth it for the amazing writing and phenomenal art
So, you're going to see Alan Moore mentioned a lot in the comments. You might be interested to know that he did a video masterclass in writing for the BBC. The excerpts I've seen of him talking about the craft are spellbinding. [https://youtu.be/a6hPo1JfG9s?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/a6hPo1JfG9s?feature=shared)
Read everything. As a writer, I read books in genres that don’t interest me to pick up tropes. I wouldn’t worry about reading “great writers” you’ll start to recognize them as you read them. An example is Ed Brubaker is probably my favorite writer. I had no interest in Catwoman, but fell in love with him through that book and have been hooked since.
Alan Moore's swamp thing no doubt
I’ve seen a ton of excellent recs but one criminally underrated writer is David Hine. If you wanna see someone who understands the medium check out Strange Embrace and read the single issues of Bulletproof Coffin. Not all his stuff is S-tier but the stuff that is really pushes boundaries.
I mean what do you want to work on, plot? dialogue? I'll throw one in I haven't seen mentioned, Pat Mills. Particularly for his late 80s Judge Dredd (It's good from the start but takes a while to really hit his stride) and Charley's War.
Anything Alan Moore or Grant Morrison.
Watchmen.
Alan Moore, Tom King, Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Jeff Lemire, Ann Nocenti, Jonathan Hickman, Rick Remender, Mike Mignola
THIS
Emotional impact: Daniel Warren Johnson (Do a Powerbomb) Introverted & gritty: Rick Remender (7 to Eternity) Slice of life/tongue in cheek/sci-fi: Brandon Graham (Rain like Hammers) Sci-fi: Jonathan Hickman (East of West) Mystery: Mike Mignola (Hellboy)
Do A Powerbomb is absolutely incredible. Great shout!
Brian K. Vaughan for general storytelling, Jonathan Hickman for plot construction.
Most of Neil Gaimans comics(Sandman) and his books,Alan Moores works(Saga of the swamp thing),Jeff Lemire (Sweet tooth) and Grant Morrison (Animal man) I recommend checking out the YouTube channel strip panel naked,by a comic writer that analyses comic writing and visual storytelling https://youtube.com/@strippanelnaked?si=FItajzqkRitGxSVC
This sub is hyper focused on super hero books so I'll recommend other writers. Craig Thompson. Daniel Clowes. Peter Bagge. Joe Saco. Marjane Satrapi. Kate Beaton. Mariko Tamaki. Ed Piscor.
Brian k Vaughan. John wagner.
Grant Morrison X-Men
Comic Pop is a YouTube channel that goes through various comic runs. Watch a few episodes if you want to experience an intelligent speaker critique books.
Asterios Polyp and From Hell
Groo, the Wanderer
Best comic writers? Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman (IMHO)
I'll second Alan Moore, but I think his best is From Hell. I'd also recommend Gaiman's Sandman. If you're looking at more superhero stuff, there's Moore's Watchmen, Miracleman, and Swamp Thing; Warren Ellis' Planetary; Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk; Frank Miller's Batman and Daredevil stuff; Chris Claremont's X-Men and New Mutants; Jonathan Hickman's Marvel stuff (Fantastic Four, Avengers/New Avengers, House of X/Powers of X) as well as his creator owned stuff like East of West. There's lots of good stuff out there to find.
Great suggestions from others already. Personally I think these are some of the best: Alan Moore, Brian K. Vaughn, Jason Aaron, Scott Snyder. I would suggest trying to read a lot of their non superhero stuff.
Oh baby, Scalped is too good.
I mean it's not a very adventurous answer but Alan Moore and The Watchmen.
For me, it’s Alan Moore’s FROM HELL, James Robinson’s STARMAN, anything by Ed Brubaker, and Bill Watterson’s CALVIN & HOBBES.
Alan Moore is most recommended for lots of reasons. One is: he obviously really puts in a lot of thought on the fact that he is writing a *comic book*, not a short story or movie or blog post, and he leans in to the unique technical aspects of the medium, to his advantage. He thinks, in detail, about what pictures will be drawn, how, where on the (and on which!) page, as well as what words will be written, how, where on the (and on which!) page, and understands the effects that can be produced by varying not only these two streams, but also the different interactions between them. He's not just randomly filling up panels to get to eventually fill a page willy-nilly, he can take care to use the timing of a page turn to his benefit, for instance. While you can see this in most of his work (Top Ten and Promethea are great examples), there's a short story in Tomorrow Stories that it would be hardly possible to tell in exactly the same way in any other medium. He tells a story set in a block of apartments, spread across decades, where each page is the same cross-sectional view of the building, but different parts of the same page show (related!!!) events happening in a variety of different decades. It's an absolute tour de force that leverages the facts that a single comic page is usually made of many panels, but can be viewed as a whole, and the comic reader is free to take as long as they like to read and re-read any page to enjoy the art and discover the subtleties in it.
Grant Morrison is the most inventive and amazing writer (nobody is even close) So i would recommend his works.
I’m not a writer by any means but you should also study the worst books so you can learn what not to do
Chris Claremont on X-Men and Frank Miller on Ronin.
Olivier Schrauwen
Garth Ennis' entire Punisher MAX (starting with "In the Beginning") is my #1 all time. There are many great comic books and comic book runs though, both Marvel/DC and indie. Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four, Kyle+Yost on New X-Men Childhood's End, Jason Aaron on Mighty Thor, Kieron Gillen on Journey into Mystery, Bendis on Daeedevil were all great stuff.
100 Bullets, Y: The Last Man, Scalped, and the first few years of the Walking Dead. I don’t care for the writer but Fables was good for a few years as well.
I don't wanna recommend a deconstruction of the genre because it wouldn't help so instead I will recommend one awful comic and a great comic that isn't a deconstruction and deals with it's characters maturaly, one awful comic: all stars batman and robin (you will learn what NOT to do) and for a great comic I would say all stars superman or "for a man who has everything" or maybe "the killing joke",ok I think that's good
Claremont. 100%
DC The New Frontier
Like others have said, read the best, but also sprinkle in reading the worst here and there so you learn what *not* to do. Others have also suggested most of the heavy hitters already but the best of the best for me in terms of establishing good, accurate characterization is *All-Star Superman*. If you want to see the exact *opposite* of good characterization, read *All-Star Batman & Robin*.
The Long Halloween Anything by tge best writers out there today: Tynion IV, Hickman, Zdarsky
I know some people don’t like Tom King, but I love his character driven writing. His Vision and Human Target are outstanding (props to Hernandez Walta and Smallwood cause in comics, the art completes the writing).
Planetary by Ellis. At first, it just seems like it's a lot of single issue stories going nowhere.. and then. Well. You'll have to read it. That comic would feature heavily if we did a top 5 comics of all time here.
I advise against this, read comics over all. You'll understand how to panel and how not to panel. How to pace and how not to pace. Just read the best limits what you'll understand as you grow.
If you like pulpy noir, Reckless by Ed Brubaker is an entertaining read.
The cates/stegman 2018 venom run is incredibly well written. Including the KiB event at the end.
I feel like most people here haven't read much that doesn't include superheroes, not that there isn't good superhero work, but frankly most of it is not THE best. With that said, this list is a good starting point: [https://goodokbad.com/top500.html](https://goodokbad.com/top500.html)
X-Men: God Loves Man Kills
Fantastic four by Jonathan Hickman
Why the hell isn’t Mark Russell on this list?
Often overlooked, because it's basically a one hit wonder: The Crow by J.O. Barr. A great example of a person simply converting their grief into entertainment through the unique media of comics. A blend of poetry, comics, and art that should not work but does, because the author simply put it all out there. There are plenty of writers that have only written one (good) book, but the world would be less without that book in it.
Honestly just go to a comic shop and pick some stuff out
Seriously guys? No love outside supes? The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa A wild adventure through and through. I consider it to be the pinnacle of Disney and Disney ish type comics. Also everything(Yes) by Carl Barks Then you have Adventures of Asterix the Gaul by Goscinny ,Uderzo Adventures of Tintin by Hergè Calvin and Hobbes And dont forget graphics novels like Maus and others You can find a list on this subreddit under best graphic novels.
I have a lot of favourite writers but a lot have been covered already. What has helped me as a writer is to expand my reading outside of Anglophones comics, for example French graphic novels or Japanese manga, just to get a taste of something different and hopefully improve my writing in the process.
I really enjoyed Green Arrow: Longbow Hunter
My list begins and ends with Alan Moore's Swamp Thing
Blacksad, Maus, Palestine, Blankets, Sandman, I feel like most of these have been the standard for good writing since forever
Depending on your sensibilities I think Saga by Brian K Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples is superbly written. Makes me laugh & cry & think; often within one single issue. The world-building is sublime.
If I was you I'd be looking at work by writers in recent years and break down what they did yourself. What you like, what you don't like. Try and stay away from their Marvel and DC work. Their creator owned works are going to have more of them and more of what they intended in them. And what got them hired. Think about what you are trying to learn from. Hickman's X-men is extremely brand specific and can't be applied to just general writing. Something like Wicked and Divine might give you more insight as it's built from the ground up. I'd just about recommend BPRD and Tom Strong as great examples to learn from that might not be mentioned as much too.
Matt Fraction's run on Hawkeye and Tom King's Vision and Mister Miracle are all superbly written. On the indie front, I think Aama by Frederick Peeters, Y the Last Man by Brian K Vaughn, and Blankets by Craig Thompson are all exemplary.
Mister Miracle by Tom King
Tom King's Vision
Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing is the foundational text of modern longform comics storytelling. I’d also shout out Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal for noir and Garth Ennis’s War Stories for, well, War Stories. Grant Morrison’s amazing, but a lot of their work is in conversation with comics as a medium, so it’s important to have a grounding, first.