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Would “52″ qualify? It was basically a big maxiseries, not an ongoing.

I can’t see Slott’s She-Hulk making it that high.

I don’t think Brubaker’s Criminal gets there either.

I really hope Sin City doesn’t make it, though I suspect it will; just bad comics, in my opinion.

Good list Rene. I doubt Cerebus will make it. I can’t imagine it beating Love & Rockets. Sim you may recall barely made the top 50 writers. I suspect Love & Rockets and Bone were the non big-Two books with the best chance of making it high.

I also would bet against 52, She-Hulk, Criminal getting this high and at this point I find Animal Man unlikely.

sterg makes a good point about Batman, but we’ve already seen Alan Grant and Steve Englehart. O’Neil seems to be the only other likely candidate.

Other things I just considered: JMS. His Spider-Man would probably have been a shoe-in for top 100 before One More Day. Perhaps that affected things, because it seems like it wouldn’t get this high. Rising Stars I’d always thought was popular amongst people, but it also doesn’t seem like it would be this high.

How about Thunderbolts by Busiek? That seems like it should be a strong contender, even for top 25. I could see it being more popular than Avengers.

Also, Spider-Man by Dematteis. Especially if Brian combines people voting for Last Hunt with people voting for his later Spectacular stuff. It’s hard to imagine it beating Stern’s Spider-Man so much, but it’s possible especially as there was discussion of it prior to voting which might have made people think of it. It seems like it wouldn’t be a top 25 book, but I’m surprised at it not making the top 100.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=146270&highlight=writers

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=146275&highlight=writers

JMS’s run I think has too much against it. Sins Past and One More Day, but even before that, his emphasis on magic was divisive, and even the people who liked it weren’t crazy about it. I think his strength is that he captured Peter’s voice well, and depicted his relationship with Mary Jane and Aunt May beautifully, but I can’t see him in the list.

I voted for Rising Stars myself, but I can’t see it making the list either. Started really, really strong, but lost too much momentum later. More people are disappointed by it than love it.

Batman’s Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, perhaps.

Slott’s She-Hulk, the sort of thing that is praised by the Internet a lot, I still think it will appear. Same with Animal Man.

DeMatteis’s Spider-Man, I just don’t think so. He wrote some good stories, but his name isn’t strongly associated with the character, the association that exists is mixed. As many people hate his stuff as love it.

I love Slott’s She-Hulk, but I just don’t feel like I hear it being more beloved than Astonishing X-Men or Ultimate Spider-Man, both popular takes on A-list characters.

I’d love to see the Wolfman/Perez run on Titans. They did so much great work on that title, and they captured a great mix of character moments and crazy action sequences. I know it’s not hip to say this, but I also feel Wolfman wrote one of the BEST Dick Grayson’s ever. THIS, imo, is where Dick began to come into himself, become a man, and step out of the Batman’s shadow…even before he adopted the Nightwing identity.

Perez’s WW is also an underrated classic.

Can’t wait for the debate once we see if Morrison’s X-men outranks Claremont’s, or vice versa….:P

Technically, Peter David’s Hulk was disqualified for the same reason “Claremont’s X-Men” was– too long and varied. That means that people would have to pick their favorite artist. That would probably be either McFarlane or Keown (sp?). Could it be that these two choices cancelled each other out and this run won’t make the list AT ALL? That would be shocking, and clearly a glitch due to the phrasing of the rules.

Perhaps both of those runs were hurt by their association with the widely-derided launch of Image? Will the same bias doom Claremont/Lee X-Men? I, too, was certain that would show up, but now I’m beginning to wonder…

It seems like there about 30 runs left that are “certain” to make the list. So that means there will be at least five baffling omissions.

(Oh, and until we got up this high, I had blithely assumed that Starlin’s Dreadstar was still coming up. I guess it didn’t make the list at all, which is insane.)

I doubt that She-Hulk makes it. Ditto for Criminal.

I think JLA, Doom Patrol, New X-Men and Animal Man are all still coming (remember - this is CSBG).

I reckon Bendis’s Daredevil makes the cut.

Straczynski’s Amazing Spidey would be worth voting for as Straczynski/Romita Jr/Amazing Spider-Man, as awful things like Sins Past and One More Day happened after Romita left the book. When both of them were on it, the book was great (though it didn’t make my top ten).

Wouldn’t count on Cerebus showing up, but I’ve never read it myself.

I’d be surprised if Sin City makes it this high, but it’s possible. Ditto for 52 (again, it might get boosted by the Morrison factor).

I also expect (hope) that Ennis’s Punisher will still make it.

Other than that, I think your list covers most of the serious contenders Rene (though I believe it should say Brubaker’s Criminal, not Rucka’s).

Another serious contender Rene- David’s recent X-Factor. Recall Madrox’ high placing in the recent character poll. Plus I’d imagine it being more popular than his first run on X-Factor, as it’s newer and (in my humble opinion) better.

Oh and BDaly is right about Ennis’ Punisher. That’s an obvious shoe-in I think.

And I dearly love Moore’s Captain Britain, but I suspect it’s a bit too late to hope for that.

Marvel put out a trade of Moore’s Captain Britain just a few years back. I’d assume it would still be findable, but it seems to be out of print and Amazon has it selling for $60 used at the cheapest. Hmmm… That’s a shame. Good read.

But it’s the same reason I’m yet to read Miracleman.

@Chris 3:59

I think Brian already mentioned in the post for David’s first X-Factor run that the second run was under a hundred. Still good though.

Yeah, there will be a half-dozen runs left out that I just can’t believe are being left out.

In particular, I remember how acclaimed George Perez’s Wonder Woman was when it was coming out. A great many people that had never taken the character seriously, changed their minds because of that series. I don’t know why it didn’t rank higher.

I’m betting at this point we don’t see Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe on the list, which is a real shame. It got me into comic collecting in the first place, and holds up pretty well even today. I really thought it would at least make the top 100, but I can’t imagine it’s in the top 25.

“Technically, Peter David’s Hulk was disqualified for the same reason “Claremont’s X-Men” was– too long and varied.”

It was given a specific exemption, actually:

“There are three notable exceptions to this rule (so notable that really, this is only designed to apply to Lee’s Spider-Man and Claremont’s X-Men) - you can say Hama’s GI Joe, Gruenwald’s Captain America and David’s Hulk (and if Ennis has done 100 issues of The Punisher, then you can say Ennis’ Punisher, too).”

Huh? I didn’t see that. That’s bizarre. It seems utterly arbitrary. Is it based on some idea that these writers had a firmer hand or a more unified vision than Claremont and Stan? If so, that’s demonstrably untrue. David’s Hulk would almost always take bizarre right turns when he switched artists. Was it just to help those three get votes?

At this point I’ve given up hope that Gardner Fox’s Justice League of America or Jim Shooter’s LOSH will make the list. I had no hope for Spider-Girl when I included it, but figured I may as well make mine a personal list rather than basing it on what was likely to make the finals.

When’s the next one posted? The wait is killing me.

I was wrong to count out Cerebus and Animal Man, I guess. Good job to those who successfully predicted them!

I stole Rene’s list, deleted what just showed up, along with 52 and She-Hulk, which I’m not seeing show up. And put them in some approximation of a guess at an order.

Fantastic Four by Lee/Kirby
Spider-Man by Lee/Ditko
X-Men by Claremont/Byrne
Sandman by Gaiman
New X-Men by Morrison
Daredevil by Miller
New Teen Titans by Wolfman/Perez
Preacher by Ennis/Dillon
Captain America by Brubaker
Planetary by Ellis/Cassady
Fantastic Four by Byrne
Swamp Thing by Moore
Hulk by David
JLA by Morrison
Thor by Simonson
JLI by Giffen/Dematteis
Y the Last Man by Vaughn
Starman by Robinson
Sin City by Miller.

I find the last two the most uncertain at this point. And that’s only 19. What’ missing? O’Neil’s Batman? Perez’ Wonder Woman? Busiek’s Thunderbolts? Jim Lee’s X-Men? What do people think?

It occurs to me Steranko’s Nick Fury hasn’t shown up yet, but I’m not seeing it get this high. Which is a shame.

Good work, Chris. Those 19 will be there, alright. I still think the elusive one missing is 52, though. Top creators (Morrison and Johns), recent, adored by the Internet… the one thing going against it would be the lack of big characters, but we’ve seen that big name characters doesn’t necessarilty mean much in this list, with Animal Man and JSA scoring so high, and very few Batman books.

I guessed Sandman, Claremont/Byrne, Lee/Kirby FF, Moore’s Swamp Thing, Starman. I’m not quite certain that was the correct order, but those were the choices; Sandman was #1.

well chris i think that the one you´re missing is bendis daredevil!!! we love some more bendis here lol!!

top 5
1)lee kirby fantastic four
2)giman sandman
3)moore swamp thing
4)claremont/byrne x-men
5)daredevil miller
that´s mine rene, what do u think of my bendis daredevil prediciton?

one request for brian: would you make the huge list like u did with the top 100 caracters. that way we could see where our favourite runs ended up!!!
thanks so much

and i still want to see a top 100 one-shots an miniseries

Guillermo, now that you’ve mentioned it, Bendis’s Daredevil could well be the missing run from the Top 20. Perhaps even more likely than “52″, since it’s a top creator doing a top character.

So, we three are agreed on Sandman, Lee/Kirby FF, and Claremont/Byrne X-Men in the Top 5.

I agree on those three in the top 5. I assume Ditko’s Spider-Man is there as well. The 5th is questionable. Morrison’s X-Men is my prediction for that 5th slot (at this point at least).

I had bet on Miller’s DD come voting time, but separating his run into two parts has to hurt it, I feel. So I think Morrison something is more likely.

I’d agree Bendis’ DD has a good shot for that 20th spot, but I’d bet against it. Though don’t have a good reason why, so I could be wrong. I certainly loved that run. Though I’m digging Brubaker’s even more.

Heck, for all I know Rene is right about 52. I’m just not seeing it.

I’m surprised we haven’t see Byrne’s run on FF mentioned…there were some really good stories during that run, and the quality of the comic was rather high during that run. But I doubt it’ll be showing up…

Byrne’s FF will definitely be showing up, wwk5d. It is in the predictions’ list me and Chris Nowlin did. I’m betting it’s at least in the Top 15.

My guesses for the Top Five were:

1. Neil Gaiman - Sandman
2. Stan Lee & Jack Kirby - Fantastic Four
3. Chris Claremont & John Byrne - Uncanny X-Men
4. Frank Miller - Daredevil
5. Stan Lee & Steve Ditko - Amazing Spider-man

And Guillermo was right. Bendis’s DD made the list.

Yeah, good job on Daredevil. I was wrong again.

Rene, you were so close on your Byrne FF…#16 is pretty good for someone who online fans seems to dislike.

There were 2 series I really enjoyed but was frustrated by the problems with the scheduling, and in one of the cases, was unresolved. I loved Hepcats and Akiko, and wish they had gained larger audiences so we could’ve seen them on this list.

People have different ideas about what constitutes a “run”, but it seems to me it would only be a run if it takes place on a title that other creators have been involved with either before or after the run. The term always implied that it was one segment of a continuing series where a notable creative team was on the book.

Jeff Smith’s Bone I wouldn’t consider a “run” because it’s a self contained piece of work that he did from start to finish. It’s a stand-alone work by a single creator. It’d be like calling Stephen King’s work on one of his novels a “run”.

For this reason I wouldn’t consider Gaiman’s Sandman or Dave Sim’s Cerebus as a “run” either.

Twelve left as of this writing. It’s all hair-splitting now, but I’ll go with:

1. Lee/Ditko Spiderman — Too primal an experience to deny the top spot
2. Claremont/Byrne X-men — First big hit of the direct distribution era, the well from which all things “X” spring
3. Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four — Charted the Marvel universe from scratch
4. Gaiman’s “Sandman” — Perfectly contained arc yet amazingly expansive, fulfills ambitious literary aspirations
5. Miller’s first “Daredevil” — Modern’s era’s first auteur, revitalized graphic storytelling

Lots of great guesses for remaining runs, but no talk of McFarlane’s Spidey? Looks like a dark horse.