YOUNG AVENGERS MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION: NOT WHAT YOU THINK

Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, writer Allan Heinberg spent his childhood watching such super-hero staples as TV’s Superfriends and the ’60s Batman. As an adult, his writing career took him to Los Angeles, where he got his break writing for the Tea Leoni sitcom The Naked Truth on NBC. His success on the show led to work on a number of top-rated series — including Party of Five, Sex and the City and Gilmore Girls. He wrote and produced The O.C., a blockbuster dramatic series that showcased Heinberg’s interest in comic books and his admiration for many contemporary comics creators through the show’s main character. Heinberg’s love of the Marvel Universe as evidenced on The O.C. attracted the attention of Marvel Comics’ then-Editor in Chief Joe Quesada, who invited the TV writer to develop his first Marvel project, Young Avengers. The series was an unexpected critical and commercial hit that was nominated for Best New Series in both the Eisner and Harvey awards, in addition to earning an Eisner nomination for Heinberg as Best Writer. Young Avengers also won a GLAAD Media Award for its intelligent and thoughtful handling of gay characters on an ongoing basis. Heinberg has also written a relaunch of DC’s Wonder Woman and a JLA story arc with Geoff Johns, and served as screenwriter for the 2017 Wonder Woman movie. On TV, he has served as writer, executive producer, co-executive producer, consulting producer and creative consultant on Grey’s Anatomy.

Artist Jim Cheung began his association with Marvel Comics in the 1990s, drawing titles such as Black Knight, Force Works, Iron Man, Maverick and an extensive run on X-Force. He also did popular work on the CrossGen series Scion. In 2005, Cheung launched the critically acclaimed Young Avengers with writer Allan Heinberg. He went on to illustrate New Avengers: Illuminati with writer Brian Michael Bendis, and reunited with Heinberg and their signature Young Avengers characters in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade. Cheung’s modern-yet-classic style has made him highly sought-after for covers and event series, including contributions to Infinity, Avengers & X-Men: Axis and Civil War II.

Italian-born artist Andrea Di Vito’s work for Marvel Comics includes the limited series Annihilation and Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill; the one-shot What If Aunt May Had Died Instead of Uncle Ben?; and stints on series such as Captain America and the Falcon, Thing, Thor and Young Avengers. His first published work in the United States was a pinup in Marvel Shadows and Light.

Artist Michael Gaydos honed his craft at the Cleveland Institute of Art — going on to become an accomplished illustrator, painter and printmaker. Gaydos first collaborated with writer Brian Michael Bendis on the crime-noir series Jinx, followed by their critically acclaimed partnership on Alias for Marvel Comics. Gaydos’ work has been published by DC, Image, Tundra, NBM, Caliber and White Wolf — highlighted by turns on the famed anthology Negative Burn, The Crow and the original graphic novel Heaven’s War. In 2005, he reunited with Bendis to illustrate a milestone in Jessica Jones’ life: the birth of her baby in the pages of The Pulse.