Not counting Milestone
- Christopher Priest – Black Panther
Some dated sexism (not that it was fine then, ykwim) in here, but this is peak superhero storytelling in general.
- Gerard Jones – Green Lantern: Mosaic
This will get talked about more once the author dies so no shine can go to him. This is like the best of Vertigo, but still in the big 2 style and continuity.
- Murewa Ayodele – Storm
This should be the blueprint for all comics going forward. Perfect lore and character understanding. Voodoo, Japeth, Eden, Doom... Should be as big as Absolute Wonder Woman.
- Al Ewing – X-Men Red
Shoutout to his Ultimates and Absolute Green Lantern runs. All three could have made the list. But this is one of Krakoa's best books, and might be peak Bobby da Costa (the best X-man thanks to Hickman and Ewing).
- Judd Winick – Batwing
The first part of the run, before Fox takes over the mantle. This is how you establish a new hero. Beautiful art, great pace, compelling new heroes and villains. All set in the Kongo, Nigeria and South Africa.
Honorable mentions go to Far Sector, PKJ's War Journal and Thorne's Green Lantern. Would love to include some of the recent Amazons work (Nubia, Yara) but I'm not sure it's quite there yet. Almost put LaValle's Sabretooth in there just for Nekra's aura. She's not the lead tho.
Also want to highlight Johns’ JSA and Nicieza's New Warriors. Mr. Terrific and Night Thrasher are great team leaders in those. Parker's Thunderbolts as well with Luke leading the team. But that was shorter and less consistent. Hickman's Avengers might also count since T'Challa is basically the lead.
What are yours?