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The Bleeding Cool Top 100 Power List 2017 Countdown: #81-85

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.

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

81. Jonathan Hickman. The belle everyone wants to the ball. Currently entertaining offers from Marvel and DC while continuing with his creator-owned work East of West, Dying and the Dead, and The Manhattan Projects. Which will he choose this coming year?

82. Matt Smith. Editor-In-Chief of 2000AD weekly and Judge Dredd Megazine monthly, a smorgasbord of hirings and discoveries — an engine for the future of the comics industry in one man's grasp.

83. Rick Remender. Writer of Black Science, Low, Deadly Class, Tokyo Ghost and more from Image Comics, he has shown a strong ability to get the best talents, strong sales and backed by media deals that will push his prominence even further.

84. Richard C Meyer. Owner, writer, and performer of the Diversity&Comics YouTube channel that caused plenty of hurt this year. Seen by many as the centre of alt-right comics hate speech, he has had the ability to get comic creators who really should know better, to engage with him, even if they are screaming for blood.

85. Shelly Bond. Running the Black Crown imprint at IDW, with a virtual rolodex to rival Karen Berger, but with a bigger promotional budget and a mission to bring back big names but team them with new talent. Has a lot of goodwill to spend on both. Along with Karen and Scott Dunbier, repeated proof of what DC Comics lost and others gained.

Previous listings:

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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