Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite writers. His strengths lie in the fantasy/supernatural/metaphysical arena, often drawing on mythology and folklore of the past in innovative new ways (but not in any tween vampire-romance ways, thankfully). In comics, his landmark series is The Sandman, a thought-provoking, supernatural/horror series about the avatar/god of dreams. I also have a soft spot for his miniseries Marvel 1602, which takes characters from the Marvel Universe and reimagines them in a 1602 milieu.