At some point, “top X” lists will be relegated to one single role: listing for everyone else these lists so that they might be avoided. Every year — no, every DAY — it seems that some numbnuts are dead set on compiling a list of the top “arbitrary number” of writers/artists/directors/games/musicians/albums/rapists/dictators/etc etc in order to say… what, exactly? What the devil could these lists POSSIBLY suggest besides the compiler’s own (often exceptionally poor and uninteresting) opinion? If it’s not being compiled by an expert (somebody with a masterly and thorough understanding of the subject matter) then the list will tell you NOTHING; even then, it only says so much.

In the case of the Comic Book Resources two newest polls (One covering the top 50 writers the other covering the top 50 artists the lists betrays nothing but the prejudices of the readers of the CBR. I will refrain from turning this into an opportunity to hoist my list of the finest artists and writers on you (I don’t have such a list, especially not one determining the NUMERICAL VALUE [which is the worst of this!] of each writer and artist), as that would be more than a little hypocritical. Neither am I going to use it to rant about how idiotic these voters are; though the mind boggles to find that Mignola is below Miller, Millar, CLAREMONT, JOHNS AND STAN LEE! (a man who freely admits that all he did was write the dialogue for stories, and over-wrought, expository, clumsy BRICKS of dialogue at that!) and that Dave Mazuchelli is nowhere to be seen, that is a harangue for another day and time.

What concerns me is that this list was a POLL and NOT the well-constructed, well-reasoned list of a comics expert. There is little to no justification for the positions of these writers besides a consensus by whom? A bunch of nobodies and hobbyists. It’s fine that they have their opinions; it’s quite literally impossible to be human and NOT have an opinion! But for CBR to post this list up as if it means something is utterly absurd. That this list is supported by a website that is out to prove that “comics SHOULD be good!” and yet leaves the call to a public that, by consensus, believes Moebius [one of the absolute greats] is inferior to Frank Quitely [a fine but limited artist who can only draw ONE FACE and whose women are all TERRIFYING to look at]… well, it shocks the mind.

As it stands, these lists read like they were put together by hobbyists: well intentioned, moderately read so-and-so’s who know enough about comics to distinguish them from the everyday reader but not enough about comic books to prove that they actually have any passion for the medium. It boils down quickly to a popularity contest and a matter of name-brand recognition, which will always be the problem with such composite lists. There’s no honesty, no strong personal opinion, and no reasoning: just a bizarre consensus vote that proves little more than the fact that more people in this poll knew about/liked writer “A” than writer “B”; it says nothing about WHY writer “A” is superior to writer “B” (and if you don’t believe me, just take a look at the reasoning behind each of the polled’s vote: they are abysmal). Note that there are no writers or artists from anywhere beyond North America and England (besides Moebius, but I doubt that many of these finks could have told you the man is actually French); no reference to the French or Japanese or German greats; just English and American pandering all around!

Again, if I seem hypocritical for letting my opinion fly, I assure you I’m nothing of the sort. My problem is not with (again) opinions or even lists (at least, not the lists compiled by EXPERTS on a subject): my problem is with faceless, by-consensus-lists that don’t say anything and the manner in which sites like CBR, which are desperately trying to prove to anybody and everybody the legitimacy of the comics form (it’s in their tagline, for Christ’s sake!). Here’s a pathetic, sewn-together reference list of the “best of the best” compiled by people who have no business declaring who the best of the best are! It’s the sort of thing the webmaster wanted made so he could tack it on to the front page and show it off to anybody who had a bone to pick with comics in order to convince them that there were important names attached to the medium!

Except it says nothing about any of the names and does nothing to prove the quality of their work (they provide a few sample pages and passages here and there that aren’t even the artists’/writers’ best!)! There’s nothing demonstrating WHY these works are worth praise besides a few hastily scribbled notes (all of which refer to the fact that this is a READER’S POLL!)! It’s a joke, a travesty, a shameless sham, and is just plain rotten on the part of the people at CBR.