The Best Comic Writers? Artists.

So last night, ol' Alex and I were having dinner and a few beers. Talk turned, inevitably, to comics. We discussed Kyle Baker's great interview, linked previously here. Specifically, we started talking about a part I didn't copy and paste, wherein Mr. Baker talks about how he hates collaborating with writers. Writers unthinkingly as artists to draw things, that, if they drew themselves, they'd know not to ever do. Alex mentioned a try-out comic a friend had done for DC, written by Mark Waid. There was a bit in the script that said something like "800 people appear from another dimension. You're the artist, you figure it out." It might seem reasonable at first, but do you go to the TV repairman and ask for him to make your TV fly? Then Alex said, "Almost all great writers also draw."

I protested. At first. But then we looked into it. We started listing the best comic writers. We started with five. They were all artists. Then we went to ten. Artists still. More and more and more, all of them at least CAN draw, whether they draw comics or not. Many of them have laid out pages in at least sketch format when writing. Don't believe me? Check this list and TRY to deny it.

Alan Moore
Grant Morrison
Dan Clowes
Chris Ware
Frank Miller
Art Spigelman
Neil Gaiman
Peter Bagge
Mike Mignola
Jaime Hernandez
Gilberto Hernandez
Ed Brubaker
Charles Schultz
R. Crumb
Will Eisner
Dave Sim
Paul Pope
Darwyn Cooke
Kyle Baker
Matt Wagner
Mike Allred

You can even go down to the Willinghams, the Scott Morses . . .heck, I don't care for Bendis, really, but when he's on, he's on.

All these guys either are artists or have been before. Doesn't it blow your mind? This isn't to say it's impossible to be a good comic writer without being an artist. Garth Ennis and Bryan K. Vaughn are probably the best two examples of non-artist writers. When they bring their A-game, they're probably better than a few guys on the list above.

But the evidence is pretty overwhelming. Writers that can't draw at all tend not to be the best comic writers. You cannot deny, can you?