Industry legend Chris Claremont is best known for his epic sixteen-year run on Uncanny X-Men. Claremont’s focus on the themes of prejudice and tolerance struck at the hearts of comics fans, and he built an unparalleled following during the next three decades. Under his pen, the X-Men franchise spawned a vast array of spin-offs, many of them written by Claremont himself. His other credits include Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Power Man and Spider-Woman. Claremont has returned to the X-Men universe in New Exiles, GeNext, X-Men Forever, Chaos War: X-Men and Nightcrawler.
Also renowned as an editor on both long-running and short-lived series, Jo Duffy has written runs of Power Man and Iron Fist, Marvel Team-Up, Wolverine and others. In addition, she regularly penned Marvel’s adaptations of Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian and Akira. Duffy wrote the New Mutants tie-in miniseries Fallen Angels and cowrote several Speedball stories from Steve Ditko’s plots. Her later work includes DC’s Catwoman and Image’s Glory.
Jackson “Butch” Guice began his Marvel career during the 1980s penciling Micronauts, New Mutants and X-Factor. He moved to DC for a fan-favorite run on Flash, subsequently illustrating nearly three years’ worth of Action Comics and participating in the “Death of Superman” event. He also co-created Resurrection Man and provided artwork for Birds of Prey. Back at Marvel, he penciled Captain America, Iron Man, Ultimate Origins and more. He has also worked on CrossGen’s Ruse, Dark Horse’s film tie-ins Terminator: Endgame and Aliens/Predator, First’s Badger and Nexus, and Valiant’s Eternal Warrior.
Two-time Emmy Award-winner Bret Blevins’ early Marvel work included adaptations of films such as The Dark Crystal, Krull and The Last Starfighter. Moving into the Marvel Universe, he drew Strange Tales’ Cloak and Dagger feature, and penciled much of Louise Simonson’s New Mutants run. In 1996, he moved into TV animation, storyboarding for Batman Beyond, Justice League and New Batman/Superman Adventures. He now divides time between oil painting and freelance storyboarding.
Eisner and two-time Inkwell Award winner Kevin Nowlan has been a mainstay in the industry for 35 years. Having made his Marvel debut on Doctor Strange in 1983, he then illustrated several stories in Moon Knight. His distinguished career includes credits as a penciler, inker, colorist, letterer and cover artist, demonstrating his complete mastery of the comic-book craft. Perhaps most notably, Nowlan co-created Jack B. Quick in the Tomorrow Stories series from America’s Best Comics.