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The Bleeding Cool Top 100 Power List 2017 Countdown: #51-55

Published Thu, 28 Dec 2017 10:00:59 -0600

Every year, Bleeding Cool Magazine runs its Top 100 Power List of members of the comics industry. And every year we get told how wrong we are. Somehow, it's always for completely different reasons and from completely different directions. Why was X in when Y was not? Why is Z is high when W is so low? And neither U or T should be on this list after that incident involving V…

But that's part of the fun. This attempt to list the most powerful people working in the English-speaking comic book marketplace is, of course, flawed. It is judged by all manner of attributes, the ability to influence what comics exist and sell, but also the willingness to use that power in the industry to affect things, and the ability to retain said power if a job is taken away. Which is why you will see a number of people on a higher spot than their bosses.

The Power List rewards those who combine roles, creator, publisher, distributor, retailers, those who are double and triple threats, and also where power is concentrated in one person rather than being spread out among many. Some powerful organisations or groups, where power is diffused amongst many individuals, drop down or drop out altogether.

It does not measure talent or likeability, and it does not intend to represent diversity. All it does is note power, used for betterment — or detriment — in comics.

The list was created in consultation with a number of senior figures in the comics industry, and I thank them for their help. Although because they all disagree, they'll all think the final list is wrong, too.

Watch for a new batch twice a day. Maybe more as we get going.

51. Scott Dunbier – Editor in charge of Special Projects at IDW and an engine in creating innovative comic book projects that all the other publishers try and copy. The Artists Editions continue to bring big bucks into the industry as well as celebrate and preserve the form and its history, but his relationship with artists established over decades can bring the most interesting names to projects.
52. Dan Slott – Writer of Marvel's most consistently successful ongoing series of late, Amazing Spider-Man and a strong comics community voice. Never knowingly underspoken.
53. Comicstorian– The identity if one of the most popular comic book YouTube channels going, funning readers this way and that. Most videos outperform the comic books that they are covering.
54. Donny Cates – The hottest comics creator of late, snatched from AfterShock and Image Comics success, with Marvel and DC fighting over him. Marvel won and gave him the keys to certain of their kingdoms.
55. Jordan D. White – Editor of Marvel's Star Wars line, still one of the strongest performing lines in comics industry, as well as other powerhouses such as Deadpool, with a powerful podcast to boot.

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