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The Bleeding Cool Top 100 Power List 2017 Countdown: #21-25

Every year, Bleeding Cool 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 new batches every day.

Bleeding Cool 2017 Top 100 Power List (Background Image by Studio Matitanera / Shutterstock.com)

21. Tom Brevoort – Executive Editor and Senior Vice President of Publishing at Marvel Comics, overseeing Marvel's line, and as a strong public face of Marvel Comics in a way that his ex-editor-in-chief was never comfortable with being. One of the longest standing employees at the publisher, to all intents and purposes, he is Marvel comics.
22. Mark Millar – the man who sold his company to Netflix, their first purchase of content, for about the same amount of money that Disney settled with Jack Kirby's family for his life's work.  And Millar may be creating one of the greatest comic book reach outs of all time in the process. Because Netflix Comics is coming and he will be the gatekeeper.
23. Raina Telgemeier – The best-selling comic book creator in America, with her graphic novels constantly topping the bookseller lists as she owns Scholastic Book Fairs. Marvel and DC Comics don't come close to this comic book phenomenon. She may have had no new comic out in 2017, but one will be announced for next year. Booksellers and comic stores can't wait…
24. Geoff Johns – DC President – He may have left much of the comics behind, but Doomsday Clock is a monster and is laying out a future for DC Comics universe, while his work with the films, even after a poorer performance than expected for Justice League, continued to affect the comics that DC publishes.
25. Bob Harras – Editor-In-Chief of DC Comics, he has the reputation of getting the trains to run on time, especially when many of the comics are being published on a twice-monthly basis. Bob is the man most responsible for keeping that schedule going with minimal delays.

Previous listings:

26-30

31-35

36-40

41-45

46-50

51-55

56-60

61-65

66-70

71-75

76-80

81-85

86-90

91-95

96-100


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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