By Zack Quaintance — We’re approaching the end of our 2018 coverage, with only one more list to come (next week) after this one. As such, today we’d like to take a relatively brief look at some of the creators that made this such a special year for comics. The artists, editors, and writers below have not been chosen because they are the best at what they do, not entirely (although they are all excellent and many certainly fit that description), but instead because all of them did work that demands to be mentioned in any conversations about the past year in comics.

So, below you will find 10 favorite artists, 10 favorite writers, and six incredibly talented folks who can do it all. You will also find some names we fully expect to see on the bigger lists at this time next year, as well as a pair of editors who helped shepherd so many of our favorite 2018 books into the world. It is, simply put, an incredible time to be reading comics, and all of these lists could have been twice as long. But the hard decisions had to be made.

Without further adieu, here our the Batman’s Bookcase Top Comic Book Creators of 2018!

*SPECIAL NOTE: Deep apologies to our friends who are colorist and letterers; we didn’t have the bandwidth this year to take a deep dive into your work, but, rest assured, next year we plan to rectify this!

Top Comic Book Creators of 2018 - Artists

Bilquis Evely
Currently Drawing: The Dreaming

Fiona Staples
Currently Drawing: Saga (on hiatus)

Jon Davis-Hunt
Currently Drawing: The Wild Storm

Jorge Jimenez
Currently Drawing: Justice League

Juan Ferraya
Currently Drawing: Killmonger

Leslie Hung
Currently Drawing: Snotgirl

Mitch Gerads
Currently Drawing: Unannounced collaboration with Tom King (which is probably Sgt. Rock)

Raul Allen & Patricia Martin
Currently Drawing: Livewire

Sana Takeda
Currently Drawing: Monstress

Stephanie Hans
Currently Drawing: Die

Artists to watch in 2019: Jorge Fornes, Kate Niemczyk, Laura Braga, Lisa Sterle, Nicola Scott, Nick Robles, Ramon Villalobos, and Sean Izaaske.

Top Comic Book Creators of 2018 - Editors

Adrian Wassel of Vault Comics
Comics Edited: Deep Roots, Fearscape, Friendo, Submerged, These Savage Shores

Shelly Bond of IDW Black Crown
Comics Edited: Assassanistas, Euthanauts, House Amok, Lodger, Punks Not Dead

Top Comic Book Creators of 2018 - Writers

Al Ewing
Currently Writing: Immortal Hulk

Ann Nocenti
Currently Writing: The Seeds

Brian Michael Bendis
Currently Writing: All things Superman

Jason Aaron
Currently Writing: The Avengers, Conan the Barbarian, and Thor

Marjorie Liu
Currently Writing: Monstress

Nnedi Okorafor
Currently Writing: La Guardia, Shuri

Steve Orlando
Currently Writing: Dead Kings, Electric Warriors, Martian Manhunter

Tini Howard
Currently Writing: Age of Conan: Belit, Euthanauts, Rick and Morty

Tom Taylor
Currently Writing: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Unannounced DC Comic

Vita Ayala
Currently Writing: Livewire, The Wilds

Writers to Watch in 2019: Alex Paknadel, Leah Williams, Mariko Tamaki, Magdalene Visaggio, Mark Russell, Michael Moreci, Stephanie Phillips, and Zac Thompson & Lonnie Nadler.

Top Writers/Artists

Daniel Warren Johnson
Work: Extremity, Murder Falcon

Joelle Jones
Work: Catwoman, Lady Killer

Jeff Lemire
Work: Black Hammer (writer only...so far), Essex County, Royal City, Sweet Tooth

Liam Sharp
Work: Brave and Bold - Batman and Wonder Woman, The Green Lantern (artist only)

Mirka Andolfo
Work: Hex Wives (artist only), Unnatural

Tillie Walden
Work: On a Sunbeam, Spinning

Check out Best Comics of 2018, #1 - #5, Best Comics of 2018, #16 - #25, and Best Comics of 2018, #6 - #15! Also, Best Single Comic Book Issues of 2018!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.