101 Cartoonists Everyone Should Know

This week, I have something special to share with you.  I’ve compiled a list of approximately 101 cartoonists out there that everyone should know and whose material that they should read.  I examined many forms: comic strips, graphic novels, superheroes, alternative, underground, manga, etc.

Before I give you the list, I should emphasize that this list is by no means comprehensive.  If a prestigious contributor to the field of comics is missing from here, it is not because of malice that I didn’t include them.  Listing every single cartoonist, both of extraordinary talent and significant contribution to the field of comics, would be a whole blog in itself.

I’m just going to give you the names.  It is up to you, loyal readers, to seek them out on the Internet and look at their work.  Open up another tab or window in your browser, enter their names into search engines like Google, Bing, or Hotbot, and look for them.  Who knows?  Maybe you’ll find something new to read or someone you want to inspire you.  But enough chit-chat.  Let’s get this list started.

1. Herge
2. Osamu Tezuka
3. Scott McCloud
4. Moebius
5. Albert Uderzo
6. Jack Kirby
7. Charles Schulz
8. Elzie Crisler Segar
9. Robert Crumb
10. Jack Davis
11. Eichiro Oda
12. Rumiko Takahashi
13. Al Jaffee
14. Kyle Baker
15. Will Eisner
16. Joost Swarte
17. Bud Fisher
18. George Herriman
19. Charles Addams
20. Steve Ditko
21. John Buscema
22. Frank Frazetta
23. Walt Disney
24. Carl Barks
25. S. Clay Wilson
26. Heinrich Kley
27. Tom Hart
28. Walt Kelly
29. Jaime Hernandez
30. Matt Madden
31. William Hogarth
32. Peyo
33. Sergio Aragones
34. Stan Sakai
35. David Petersen
36. Tom Bunk
37. Rube Goldberg
38. Spain Rodriguez
39. Matt Groening
40. Mike Judge
41. Go Nagai
42. Art Spiegelman
43. Scott Adams
44. Al Capp
45. Chester Gould
46. Bill Griffith
47. Jim Davis
48. Bil Keane
49. Winsor McCay
50. Bill Watterson
51. Mort Drucker
52. Dan DeCarlo
53. Kim Deitch
54. Harvey Kurtzman
55. Jeff Smith
56. Wally Wood
57. Stan and Jan Berenstein
58. Frank Miller
59. Bob Kane
60. Dave Sim
61. Mike Mignola
62. Dik Browne
63. Ken Akamatsu
64. Ernie Bushmiller
65. Hiromu Arakawa
66. CLAMP
67. Masashi Kishimoto
68. Mort Walker
69. Jason Little
70. Kenichi Sonoda
71. Peter Madsen
72. Naoko Takeuchi
73. Peter Kuper
74. Yoshihiro Tagashi
75. Akira Toriyama
76. Eric W. Schwartz
77. Sal Amendola
78. Jessica Abel
79. Lynd Ward
80. Richard Scarry
81. William Blake
82. Rodolphe Topffer
83. Max Ernst
84. Frans Masereel
85. Dan Clowes
86. Gustave Dore
87. Gahan Wilson
88. Doug Sneyd
89. Chris Ware
90. Yoshihiro Tatsumi
91. Katsuhiro Otomo
92. Gilbert Hernandez
93. Kevin Eastman
94. Peter Laird
95. Gilbert Shelton
96. Gary Panter
97. Reed Waller
98. Terry Gilliam
99. Harvey Pekar
100. Larry Welz
101. Fred Perry