NEW AVENGERS MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION: CIVIL WAR

Award-winning comic-book creator Brian Michael Bendis is one of the most successful writers in the industry today. In addition to an acclaimed run on Daredevil, he has helmed a renaissance for Marvel’s popular Avengers franchise and written the event projects House of M, Secret War, Secret Invasion, Siege, Age of Ultron and Civil War II. Bendis wrote every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man from its launch in 2000 before bringing his multiracial Spider-Man, Miles Morales, to the Marvel Universe for continuing adventures. He took on Marvel’s mutants in the pages of All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, and launched Guardians of the Galaxy into the stratosphere. Bendis shook up the life of Tony Stark in Invincible Iron Man and related titles, introducing Riri Williams as Ironheart, and then assembled street-level heroes Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil and his co-creation Jessica Jones in Defenders. His creator-owned projects include Scarlet with Alex Maleev, Brilliant with Mark Bagley, and Takio and the Eisner Award-winning Powers with Michael Avon Oeming.

Artist David Finch got his big break at age 20 illustrating Ripclaw for Top Cow Productions. Later moving to Marvel, his work on The Call of Duty and Ultimate X-Men helped establish him as one of industry’s top talents. “Avengers Disassembled” shot him into the rarefied air of comics’ most popular artists, and he continued the transition to New Avengers with writer Brian Michael Bendis.

Frank Cho’s quirkily irreverent Liberty Meadows strip became an international success during its 1997-2001 run. His Marvel credits include Marvel Knights Spider-Man with writer Mark Millar; Mighty Avengers with Brian Michael Bendis — as well as Shanna the She-Devil and Savage Wolverine, both of which he wrote and drew. With writer Greg Pak, he introduced a new jade giant in The Totally Awesome Hulk. Cho has won the National Cartoonist Society’s Award for Best Comic Book and Book Illustration, the Eagle Award, the Charles M. Schulz Award for Excellence in Cartooning, the Scripps Howard Award for Best College Cartoonist, and the Max & Moritz Medal for Best International Comic Strip.

Artist Steve McNiven parlayed a chance trip to San Diego Comic-Con into a position at CrossGen Comics, where he quickly earned a regular assignment on Meridian. When CrossGen ceased publishing, McNiven moved on to Marvel Knights 4 with writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Next, he joined Warren Ellis on Ultimate Secret. In 2006, McNiven and Mark Millar shattered the Marvel Universe’s status quo in Civil War. His next assignments included Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers and the initial story arc of Amazing Spider-Man’s “Brand New Day” era. McNiven and Millar reteamed for “Old Man Logan” in Wolverine and the creator-owned Nemesis, published under the Marvel Icon imprint. With Ed Brubaker, McNiven helped relaunch Captain America; his later Marvel work includes Guardians of the Galaxy with Bendis and Uncanny Avengers with Rick Remender. McNiven  cemented his reputation as one of the all-time great Wolverine artists on the climactic series Death of Wolverine.