THOR MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION: THE SIEGE OF ASGARD

Writer J. Michael Straczynski made pop-culture history with the epic TV series Babylon 5. In 1999, Straczynski penned Top Cow’s Rising Stars, leading to an offer from Marvel to write Amazing Spider-Man, a title he revolutionized. “JMS” went on to write Supreme Power, Fantastic Four, Bullet Points, The Twelve and a fan-favorite revival of Thor. The latter helped inspire Marvel’s Thor feature film, on which he shares a writing credit. JMS’ screenplay for Changeling was directed by Clint Eastwood and starred Angelina Jolie, while his other movie credits include Underworld: Awakening and World War Z. For DC Comics, he has written iconic characters Superman and Wonder Woman.

An award-winning critic and journalist, Kieron Gillen wrote for organizations such as PC Gamer, The Guardian, Rock, Paper, Shotgun and WIRED before turning his attention to comics. His previous credits include the critically lauded Phonogram with frequent creative partner Jamie McKelvie, as well as Thor, S.W.O.R.D. and Generation Hope. Gillen relaunched two long-standing Marvel series in Uncanny X-Men and Journey into Mystery before again teaming with McKelvie for an acclaimed take on Young Avengers. Gillen turned his attention to Iron Man for Marvel NOW! and proved the perfect scribe to put carefully chosen words into the mouth of a legendary Star Wars villain in Darth Vader. Gillen introduced Doctor Aphra into the galaxy far, far away in those pages, and continues her adventures in her own series.

Cover artist Marko Djurdjevic has been a name to look out for at Marvel with covers for Daredevil, Wolverine: Origins and Thunderbolts. He has treated fans with extensive interior artwork in the pages of Thor and Dark Reign: The List — Avengers. The Marvel Art of Marko Djurdjevic contains his entire canon of Marvel cover art through publication, including all twelve of his gorgeous 70th Anniversary variant covers. 

Malaysian-American artist Billy Tan, having gained attention drawing projects including Tomb Raider and Tales of Witchblade for Top Cow, joined Marvel in 2004. He illustrated X-23 and Marvel Knights Spider-Man before a career-making run on Uncanny X-Men propelled him into the spotlight. Named a Marvel Young Gun in 2007, Tan went on to pencil New Avengers, Dark Reign: The List — Daredevil, Thor and the Shadowland miniseries. He later illustrated his first project at DC, Green Lantern. Tan lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and two children.

Like many British-born comic-book creators, Richard Elson has an extensive background in U.K. series such as The Beano and the venerable science-fiction anthology 2000AD. Elson is also recognized for his artwork on Sonic the Comic. His pairing with writer Kieron Gillen on Thor led to a subsequent collaboration on Journey into Mystery.