Best comic book writers

46 ELO points separate Alan Moore from Mark Waid at the top of the Screenwriters ranking, after 2571 duels.

Alan Moore dominates with 1350 ELO points and a 71% win rate across 51 duels, establishing a commanding lead over Mark Waid in second place at 1304 points. Frank Miller rounds out the podium at 1290 ELO, while Rick Remender and Stan Lee complete the top 5. The 46-point gap between first and second is the sharpest in the ranking, underlining Moore's authority among voters. The presence of Stan Lee at rank 5 with 1260 points confirms the enduring respect for foundational voices in comics, even as contemporary writers like Rick Remender claim space in the upper tier. At the bottom, three Brians occupy the final slots: Brian K. Vaughan at rank 15 with 1105 points, Brian Azzarello at rank 16 with 1101 points, and Brian M. Bendis at rank 17 with 1037 points and a 30% win rate.

This ranking synthesizes 2571 duels contributed by 58 players across 17 contenders, updated on 11 October 2026. The scale of participation reflects the Comics community's investment in debating the craft of sequential storytelling. Whether you champion the architects of the medium or the innovators reshaping it today, cast your vote and shift the standings.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →