My Favorite Comic Book Covers and Creators

1. The Sensational Spider-Man 23 wraparound (April 2006) - Angel Medina; the best Spider-Man since Erik Larsen's (see #5); don't even try asking me about the recent artists on "Brand New Day" or Ultimate Spider-Man

2. Batman: Gotham Knights 59 (January 2005) - Jae Lee; I used to trace Hellshock covers in my high school art class, but then I kind of forgot about Jae until I saw this cover (the best serious take on Mr. Freeze, without making him huge or quasi-mecha); I used to think Jae was Jim Lee's brother

3. Identity Crisis 4 (November 2004) - Michael Turner, who passed away this year; most fanboys would probably include him somewhere on their top three list of comic cover artists; I just like the overall design of this cover; it could have been drawn by anyone (maybe) and I would still like it as much

4. Zoom Suit 1 (April 2006) - Billy Tucci; I don't know anything about this comic series and I don't care; I have a black and white convention poster of this cover signed by the artist, which I told him I prefer to the colored cover in stores and he agreed; it's such a great design by such a great artist

5. Amazing Spider-Man 327 (December 1989) - Erik Larsen, who recently stepped down from being president of Image Comics; this is my first Marvel comic; released after Tim Burton's Batman movie came out, right before I really got into comics, I bought it because it has my favorite superhero (Spider-Man) with my favorite supervillain (Magneto) drawn by my favorite artist to this day (Erik Larsen)

6. Kabuki 9 (September 2007) - David Mack; most. original. design. ever.

7. X-23: Target X 1 (February 2007) - Mike Choi; I probably picked this up for the artwork, but the story turned out to be really good too; contrast this cover's stark white background to the busy, colorful cover on issue 2 (which I might prefer, but I'm a sucker for detailed drawings floating in empty space)

8. Green Arrow and Black Canary 6 (May 2008) - Cliff Chiang, my new favorite for drawing superheroines; I met him at Comic-Con where he was selling limited prints of different heroines from Saturday morning cartoons (G.I. Joe, He-Man, Thundercats) and anime (Battle of the Planets)

9. Ghost 1 (April 1995) - Adam Hughes, who most fanboys probably think of in connection with drawing superheroines; I particularly liked Catwoman 46 and his Black Canary variant cover for Justice League of America 6, but Ghost is where I was first exposed to him and what I will always connect him to in my mind, at least until his All Star Wonder Woman is finally released

10. Se7en 5 (May 2007) - one of the most horrific images I've ever seen and yet I can't look away; you can't tell here because it's so blurry, but the movie's villain has made a M.C. Escher-like maze from strips of flesh on the "proud" victim's face; shudder

Favorite Artists:
1. Erik Larsen - I started Amazing Spider-Man when he took over after Todd McFarlane (improving "the look"); I've followed his work since
2. Neal Adams - my first trade was The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told and his entries were my favorites; then I found his X-Men Visionaries trade and learned that he created my favorite X-Man, Havok
3. John Byrne - She-Hulk in the FF; Superman revamp after Crisis...
4. Brian Bolland - Judge Dredd; I didn't start researching until after I got Batman: Cover to Cover and discovered his covers were my favorites
5. Skottie Young - I bought Cable and Deadpool recently just for his covers; next he's doing Marvel's new Classics Illustrated Wonderful Wizard of Oz and it's different from all you've seen

Favorite Writers:
1. Stan Lee - 'nuff said
2. Mark Millar - Superman: Red Son got me back into DC; Civil War, etc.
3. Ted Naifeh - discovered from the Polly and the Pirates #2 cover in Previews; now all Courtney Crumrin series are my favorites, but only one is on the top ten list down on the right
4. Brian Michael Bendis - fanboys' least favorite Ultimate Spider-Man issue is my favorite; he's known for his talking heads and it's an entire issue of Aunt May talking to her therapist
5. Grant Morrison - All Star Superman was the best series of 2007

Favorite Manga:
1. Masashi Tanaka - Gon, the most detailed, naturalistic art about a dinosaur
2. Amy Reeder Hadley - runner-up in the fourth Rising Stars of Manga Contest, therefore Tokyopop published Fool's Gold which probably led to Vertigo's Madame Xanadu now
3. Kaoru Mori - love her backgrounds on maid series like Emma and Shirley
4. Kiyohiko Azuma - writes about a kooky green-haired girl in Yotsuba&!
5. Osama Tezuka - I feel obligated as he's basically the godfather of manga

Many alternates: Basil Wolverton (Mad); Berni Wrightson (Swamp Thing); Carmine Infantino (Adam Strange); Damion Scott (How To Draw Hip-Hop); Dave Stevens (The Rocketeer); Ed Benes (Birds of Prey); Kevin Maguire (Justice League); Marc Hansen (Ralph Snart); Steve Ditko (my top four favorite characters: Spider-man, Dr. Strange, Blue Beetle AND The Question); Steve McNiven (Meridian); and Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise)