Cosmic Madness 2019 First Round : Stan Lee Region
Welcome to the first round of Cosmic Madness!
And this here is the Stan Lee Region, one of our two regions devoted to comic book writers. Stan Lee is home to such luminaries as Grant Morrison, Jason Aaron, Tom King, Jonathan Hickman, and more!
All you have to do is pick which writers you want to win in each contest. The first round of voting will go from March 20-24, with the second round kicking off on March 25.
All the info you need, including the complete bracket and info about the contest, is available at Cosmic Madness HQ! Now GET TO VOTING!
Rick Remender
Remender is an American comic book and television writer best known for his work on Image Comics such as Deadly Class, Fear Agent, Black Science as well as Marvel Comics' Uncanny X-Force. While recently his Deadly Class book has been adapted to television and is currently in the middle of its first season.
Like many of the other writers on our list, Remender found success writing for Marvel but many now know his name from a stable of independently owned Image titles that continue to wow readers with the scope of what his is able to think up next. High school assassins (Deadly Class), tech addicted puppets (Tokyo Ghost), new-age underwater scientists (Low), and dimension-hopping astronauts (Black Science) are just a few of Remender’s creations over the past five years or so. A modern master of world building, Remender has just begun to make his mark on the comics industry and many of his fans are looking forward to what fantastical worlds he’ll come up with next.
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Jeff Lemire
Lemire is a Canadian cartoonist and comic book writer. He is the author of titles including the Essex County Trilogy, Sweet Tooth, The Nobody, and Animal Man. His recent work includes All-New Hawkeye, Green Arrow, Moon Knight, Old Man Logan, Thanos, Gideon Falls, Black Hammer, and Descender.
Lemire can write just about right any character in any style you want. Dark and gritty? Try Gideon Falls or Thanos. Action packed? Try Green Arrow or Old Man Logan. Fun and witty? Try All-New Hawkeye or Moon Knight. Even if you’re looking for vast world building, Lemire has crafted masterpieces in both Descender and Black Hammer. Lemire almost hurts himself in this tournament because instead of flashy he just gives you a consistently good books each and every issue.
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WHOM WILL YOU CHOOSE…
Grant Morrison
Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer and playwright and has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, with acclaimed runs on Animal Man and Doom Patrol. Since then he has written such best-selling series as JLA, Batman and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as The Invisibles, Klaus, Happy, WE3 and Joe The Barbarian. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning Seven Soldiers and All-Star Superman to the reality-shattering epic of Final Crisis, he has also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in Batman and Robin, Batman Incorporated, and Arkham Asylum.
In a tournament full of new school writers, Grant Morrison stakes his claim as an old school heavyweight. Of course he’s written all-time great books like Doom Patrol and All Star Superman but even now he seems to be putting together an instant classic with Liam Sharp in Green Lantern. While there seem to be many writers on our list that have contributed highly to the Marvel Universe, none have had as great an impact on what Morrison has done for the DC Universe. His Crisis events have shaped the foundation of everything you read from DC today and even Scott Snyder seems to be drawing quite a bit from Morrision’s style.
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Geoff Johns
Johns is an American comic book writer, screenwriter and film and television producer. He served as the President and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of DC Entertainment from 2016 to 2018, after his initial appointment as CCO in 2010. Some of his most notable work has used the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, and Superman.
For decades whenever DC needed someone to write good stories about someone other than Batman or Superman they turn to Geoff Johns. His work on Green Lantern and Blackest Night transformed not just Hal Jordan but every Green Lantern storyline since. While his Aquaman and Shazam books have set a foundation for the things you are just beginning to see on the big screen. Even team books like Teen Titans and Justice League have seen some of their best stories under the watchful eye of Geoff Johns and now the Justice Society looks like they are finally on the way back in Doomsday Clock. In fact any time there is a character that is in dire need of a new direction it’s Johns who revitalizes them while, mostly, keeping their history intact.
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WHOM WILL YOU CHOOSE…
Jason Aaron
Aaron is an American comic book writer, known for his work on titles such as Thor, Scalped, Southern Bastards, Ghost Rider, Wolverine and PunisherMAX. While his War of Realms event could already be the most anticipated book of 2019.
It’s a new era over at Marvel Comics. The likes of Bendis and Hickman had created the modern MU as we know it and then had the audacity to crash them all together and blow it up. Now Jason Aaron, due in part to his long standing and visionary Thor run, is attempting to bring the fun back to Marvel and stop all this needless Hero on Hero violence. His current Avengers run gets better with every arc and the intertwined Avengers One Million BC has readers excited for the even longer endgame. His Thor comics have transformed the character from a brute with a hammer to god worthy of that hammer. While the War of Realms promises to be the most fun you can have this summer. Even the fans of Aaron’s famous blood and grit stories like Thor: The God Butcher and Southern Bastards can rejoice because who else would Marvel let handle the return of Conan the Barbarian. Jason Aaron of course.
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Donny Cates
Cates is American comic book writer whose past works include Buzzkill, The Ghost Fleet, God Country, Thanos Wins, and Cosmic Ghost Rider. He's currently writing Guardians of the Galaxy, Venom and, probably, nine other things he can't tell you about.
Donny Cates has burst onto the scene over the past couple of months. Books like God Country and Buzzkill catapulted him onto Marvel’s Thanos title and Cates, in turn, created one of the most fun books of the year. From then on it seems like everything Cates touches turns to gold. The new Cosmic Ghost Rider character has become a fan favorite and the ongoing Venom title has explored the relationship between Eddie Brock and the symbiote like no book before it. Even his new Guardians of the Galaxy title seems to be an early hit and it seems like only a matter of time before he gets his chance to form a big blockbuster summer event.
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WHOM WILL YOU CHOOSE…
Jonathan Hickman
Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. All leading to the groundbreaking six-part miniseries, Infinity, before masterminding the crossover event to end all crossover events in Secret Wars.
While it can be tough to narrow down which Hickman book is your favorite, his attention to world building is unmatched. Just explaining the premise for East of West can take well over 10 minutes and Secret Wars was so inspired the Marvel Universe had to come to a halt for a YEAR just to tell the story. Books like The Nightly News and Black Monday Murders show just how deep Hickman is willing to go and his Fantastic Four runs show just how much attention he puts into not just the story but the characters themselves.
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Tom King
King is an American author and comic book writer. He is best known for writing The Vision for Marvel Comics, and The Sheriff of Babylon for the DC Comics imprint Vertigo, his 2017 hit Mister Miracle, and the "Rebirth"-era Batman for DC Comics along with the current Heroes in Crisis event.
If Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips Kill or Be Killed wasn’t the best book of 2018 then Tom King’s Mister Miracle was. It’s rare to find a book that can offer both serious and real moments and combine that with light hearted comic book fun and Mister Miracle did just that. His Vision book also brought the comic world something it had never seen before and his Batman offers a much different style than the Scott Snyder run that came before him. Each new issue/series from Tom King has a chance to feel like something completely new and that’s very hard to do among all the great writers of today.
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WHOM WILL YOU CHOOSE…
Check out the results for the Stan Lee Region so far!
And don't stop there! Be sure to vote in the WILL EISNER, BOB KANE,
and JACK KIRBY regions, too!