Top 5 writers, based on the criteria that I will at least try anything that the writer puts out there (and I'm a Marvel Zombie):

5. Grant Morrison - JLA, Animal Man, New X-Men, the Filth, WE3, all great stuff. Sometimes he takes the weird sci-fi angle too far, but usually, I love his work.
4. Mark Millar - Civil War may not have been the greatest. However, he has some other good work to his name: Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate FF, Wolverine: Enemy of the State, etc. My favorites were the Millarworld books: Wanted, Chosen, and the Unfunnies (which might actually finish up this year sometime).
3. Ed Brubaker - Two years ago he wasn't on my radar. His Captain America has been the best book going IMO during that period. Criminal is great too.
2. Brian Bendis - So many great books. A great guy to meet at a convention; he really loves comics.
1. Brian K Vaughn - if his name is on the cover, it will be good, period. If you read the first issue of Ex Machina and don't get excited when the Great Machine makes the save on 9/11, I'm really not sure what you're looking for in comics. Runaways, the Escapists, Dr. Strange: the Oath, and Y: the Last Man are comics worth checking out too.

I think a special consideration should be made for Chris Claremont. His early work on Uncanny X-Men was simply amazing: Days of Future Past, the Dark Phoenix Saga, the Brood storyline, etc. Also, there was the introduction of countless new characters into the Marvel universe. However, I can't read his current stuff at all. It's too bad.

Top 5 Authors:

Honorable Mention: Paul Levitz. Hasn't written anything notable in several years (and his JSA fill-in was kind disappointing) but what Levitz did on the Legion is my benchmark. So I'll go with modern writers for the rest of my list.

5) Bill Willingham - While Shadowpact didn't recapture the chemistry the team had in "Day of Vengeance," Fables continues to be a rewarding read. I just got around to reading "1,001 Nights of Snowfall," and besides that being a great read, it happens to tie in nicely with the current "Good Prince" storyline.

4) Dave Gibbons - Green Lantern Corps comes real close to feeling like a good old Legion book.

3) Will Pfieffer - The guy had the tough task of following Ed Brubaker on Catwoman, and he's found a way to make the book his own.

2) Geoff Johns - He's the guy I want to take for granted since he writes so much, but I considered Sinestro Corps, the JSA relaunch, Lightning Saga and going back a little ways to Rogue War, and I genuinely look forward to most of the stuff the guy writes. Particularly the JSA relaunch exudes everything I enjoy about DC: large team books that just give ample time to everyone and strong legacy storytelling.

1) Paul Dini - Making the one-shot story hip again in Detective Comics. Heck, his recent Joker story does wonders for two-part stories. And if you haven't checked it out yet, his Harley and Ivy TPB is out this week as well. A complete hoot.

Whatever, but you said it may have been because you were a dick to him. If the shoe fits Billy.

Yeah, Detective comics has been good. Though I agree with Billy, Grant Morrison has been beating him. Plus, cmon, Dini has been writing some crap lately. Madame Mirage or whatever wasn't that good, and Countdown sucks! He sould probably stick to writing TV, I think he puts more into it, because it seems he is half-assing Countdown.