Barbara Kesel is perhaps best known for her work in the CrossGen universe, having written First, Meridian, Sigil and other titles. With then-husband Karl Kesel, she co-wrote one of DC’s Hawk and Dove incarnations. At Dark Horse, she helped develop Comics’ Greatest World’s “Golden City” and wrote Aliens vs. Predator: Booty. Her other media tie-in projects include IDW’s Ghost Whisperer: The Muse and Tokyopop’s Legends of the Dark Crystal. Her editorial work on Dark Horse’s Hellboy: The Wolves of St. August TPB earned a Harvey Award.

New York Times best-selling author Mark Waid has worked for every major company in the comics industry in a nearly three-decade-long career, writing thousands of issues, including runs of Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, Ka-Zar and Fantastic Four. His other works of note include his collaboration with painter Alex Ross on Kingdom Come, which earned an Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. Waid enjoyed his greatest outpouring of critical acclaim with the Eisner Award-winning Daredevil — which included a revered collaboration with frequent artistic partner Chris Samnee. He later took on such diverse pop-cultural icons as Princess Leia and Archie, and ushered in a new era of greatness for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in All-New, All-Different Avengers. His Marvel work continued with Avengers, Black Widow, Captain America, Champions and Doctor Strange.

Chuck Dixon wrote several limited series for Marvel’s Epic imprint, the long-running ’Nam series and multiple Punisher titles. When he set the Punisher against DC’s grimmest character in the one-shot Punisher/Batman, Dixon set the stage for his writing tenure on virtually every Batman-related title: Batgirl, Detective Comics, GCPD, Nightwing, Robin and more. Dixon’s other Marvel work includes What If?, Marvel Knights and Hawkeye.

Brothers Ray and Ben Lai made their debut in comics as the artists on Sigil. Their unique collaborative style caught the attention of Marvel Comics, garnering the pair a regular assignment illustrating Thor.

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.

The comic-art career of Scot Eaton stretches back to the early ’90s, with work on Dr. Fate and Scarab for DC Comics, as well as a brief tenure drawing Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar for First Comics. After a run illustrating Sigil for CrossGen, he has worked steadily at Marvel. His credits include Rogue, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Black Panther, most notably the wedding of Storm and T’Challa. He has been a stalwart of the X-Universe, drawing New Excalibur, several chapters of the “Endangered Species” saga, X-Factor, X-Men: Legacy and Wolverine: Origins. Other Marvel credits include Doomwar, Iron Man/Thor and Secret Avengers.