George « Pacesetter » Pérez, born June 9, 1954. Along with John Byrne, he was arguably the most popular and influential artist in American comic books in the 1980s. His family moved from Puerto Rico in the 1940s. Like many of the immigrants from Puerto Rico, they were poor and settled in the Bronx, New York City where there was and is a large Puerto Rican community. George Pérez often visited a comic book store called « Mike's Comic Hut ». He became fascinated with comic books and their illustrations.
George Pérez's early work included Sons of the Tiger - a serialized action-adventure strip published in Marvel Comics' long-running Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine and authored by prolific comics writer Bill Mantlo. He and Bill Mantlo co-created the White Tiger, a character that soon appeared in Marvel Comics' color comics, most notably, the Spider-Man titles. He came to prominence when he started illustrating The Avengers for Marvel Comics, starting with #141. His early style seemed very much influenced by Jack Kirby, one of Marvel Comics' leading creators from the 1960s, albeit with more realistic anatomy and a penchant for making his worlds seem bright and beautiful. In the 1970s, George Pérez illustrated several other Marvel Comics books, including Fantastic Four, where he began working with Marv Wolfman, and Creatures on the Loose featuring the Man-Wolf.
George Pérez soon moved over to work for DC Comics. Following a popular stint on Justice League of America, his career took off with the launch of The New Teen Titans, written by Marv Wolfman. This incarnation of the Teen Titans was intended to be DC Comics' answer to Marvel Comics' increasingly popular X-Men comic, and Marv Wolfman and George Pérez indeed struck gold. Moreover, George Pérez's facility with layouts, details, and faces improved enormously during his 4 years on the book, making him one of the most popular artists in comics. Marv Wolfman and George Pérez followed this with DC Comics' 50th anniversary event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which purportedly featured every single character DC Comics owned in a story which radically restructured the DC universe's continuity. George Pérez was inked by 2 of the best inkers in comics at the time : Dick Giordano and Jerry Ordway. After Crisis on Infinite Earths, he inked the final issue of Superman #423 in September 1986, over Curt Swan's pencils for part 1 of the 2-part story « Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow ? » by writer Alan Moore. Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, George Pérez and Greg Potter were responsible for relaunching Wonder Woman, tying her more closely to the Greek gods and jettisoning many of the extraneous elements of her history. George Pérez at first worked with Len Wein on the stories, but eventually took over the full scripting chores. While not as popular as either The New Teen Titans or Crisis on Infinite Earths, the book was a very successful relaunch of one of DC Comics' flagship characters, and many fans agree that his run on Wonder Woman is one of the finest moments in his career, a stint that would last 5 years from 1987-1992. He returned as co-plotter / penciler with The New Teen Titans with #50 (in December 1988), the series again being renamed, this time to The New Titans, as some of the characters were no longer teenagers. The New Titans #50 tells a new origin story for Wonder Girl, her link to Wonder Woman having been severed due to retcons in Crisis on Infinite Earths. He remained as penciler with the book through to #55, 57 and 60.
George Pérez would be involved with Superman in various times over his career. In 1983, he designed Superman villains Brainiac's new robot body and Lex Luthor's trademark battlesuit - a heavily-armored, flight-capable suit with kryptonite fixtures embedded in its gauntlets. He provided inks / finishes for the lead story in Action Comics #600 in 1988, over John Byrne's pencils which featured Superman and Wonder Woman teaming-up. From 1989-1990, he later had a stint working on Superman, writing and penciling Action Comics (and providing cover art for every issue he worked on). George Pérez had first worked on the second annual issue of Action Comics (published in 1989) before taking over that title when it was brought back as a regular monthly series with #643 (in July 1989). Due to an already heavy workload while doing both Wonder Woman and Superman at the same time, he left Action Comics with #652 being his last.
Unfortunately, it was during this run in 1991 that George Pérez hit a snag working with DC Comics. He has stated that since the storyline's inception (which ran through the Wonder Woman comic and crossed over into others), he had trouble writing the War of the Gods storyline, mostly due to editorial problems. He felt that DC Comics wasn't doing enough to celebrate Wonder Woman's 50-year anniversary. To make matters worse in his eyes, DC Comics didn't place Wonder Woman in newsstand distribution, which meant that the comic book could only be found in comics specialty shops. George Pérez had also built up a plot to marry the characters Steve Trevor and Etta Candy in his final issue. When he discovered that DC Comics editors had decided to not only pass the Wonder Woman title's writing to William Messner-Loebs but also have William Messner-Loebs write the final wedding scene, George Pérez quit the title and separated himself from DC Comics for several years.
Also in 1991, George Pérez signed on to pencil the 6-issue limited series Infinity Gauntlet for Marvel Comics, which was written by Jim Starlin. However, due to the turbulence happening concurrently with War of the Gods, this was a very stressful personal period for himself, and he was not able to finish penciling the entire run of Infinity Gauntlet, leaving the project part way through #4. The Infinity Gauntlet editorial team decided to find a replacement artist to finish the mini-series, and Ron Lim was the artist chosen (although George Pérez offered to remain on as the inker over Ron Lim's cover art for the remainder of the mini-series).
Because of the debacles over War of the Gods and Infinity Gauntlet, it was during this time that George Pérez began to gain a reputation as a creator who could not finish projects as planned. Furthering that impression, he went on to work with independent comic book publishers Malibu Comics, drawing Break-Thru and Ultraforce, and then working at Tekno Comix drawing I-Bots. However, despite being paid well by both publishers, he had no enthusiasm drawing the characters, and lost interest in drawing the titles.
In the 1990s, George Pérez left the spotlight, although he worked on several popular projects, most notably at Marvel Comics with Sachs and Violens and Hulk: Future Imperfect, both written by Peter David. He first returned to DC Comics in 1996, returning to another incarnation of the Teen Titans. He finally returned to a major ongoing title for the third series of The Avengers, written by Kurt Busiek, where he remained for nearly 3 years, again receiving critical and fan acclaim for his polished and dynamic art. After leaving the book, he and Kurt Busiek worked to produce the long-awaited J.L.A. / Avengers inter-company crossover, which saw print in late 2003. This provided closure for George Pérez, since a J.L.A. / Avengers crossover was originally supposed to be published in the 1980s, but differences between DC Comics and Marvel Comics forced the comic to be canceled. As the artist on the story, he had drawn approximately 21 pages of the crossover, which were not been published until recently.
George Pérez has one creator-owned comic, the unfinished Crimson Plague. A science-fiction story about an alien with ultra-toxic blood, the first (and for years, only) issue was published in the late 1990s by the now defunct Event Comics. In 2000, the original first issue was published by Image Comics (under the Gorilla imprint) with additional material and pages, with a follow-up issue published soon after. Due to the extreme high costs of being a self-publisher, which ended up being a financial burden (and putting himself in major debt), he ended Crimson Plague a second time. It is unknown if he intends to do anything else with the title.
Also in the late 1990s, George Pérez provided artwork for various titles for CrossGen. Although he provided covers, pin-ups and pencils for various titles, his main project was penciling the interiors for Solus. Although intended to be an ongoing series, it only lasted for 8 issues before it was canceled due to CrossGen's bankruptcy. George Pérez recently came off a successful opening run on DC Comics' The Brave and the Bold with writer Mark Waid. He also worked on Infinite Crisis, the follow-up to Crisis on Infinite Earths, as a fill-in artist. He is currently working on Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, meaning he has worked on every chapter of DC Comics' official Crisis trilogy. He is currently co-chairman of the board of comic industry charity The Hero Initiative.

Official site : http://vu.morrissey-solo.com/moz/perez/index.htm
Unpublished artwork : http://www.titanstower.com/source/gallery/perezcommissions.html

Selected works :

• Action Comics #544, 563, 600, 643-652, Annual 2
• The Avengers #141-144, 147-151, 154-155, 160-162, 167-168, 170-172, 194-196, 198-202, Annual 6, Annual 8
• The Avengers #1-15, 18-25, 27-34, 1998 Annual
• The Brave and the Bold #1-10
• Creatures on the Loose #33-37
• Crimson Plague #1-2
• Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12
• Fantastic Four #164-167, 170-172, 176-178, 184-188, 191-192, Annual 14-15
• Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1-5
• History of the DC Universe #1-2
• Hulk: Future Imperfect #1-2
• Infinity Gauntlet #1-4
• J.L.A. / Avengers #1-4
• Justice League of America #184-186, 192-197, 200
• Logan's Run #1-5
• Marvel Two-in-One #56-58, 60, 64-65
• DC Comics Presents #26 ; The New Teen Titans #1-4, 6-24, 26-34, 37-40, Annual 1-2
• The New Titans #1-5, 50-55, 57-61
• Sachs and Violens #1-4
• Superman #423
• War of the Gods #1-4
• Wonder Woman #1-24, Annual 1
• Uncanny X-Men Annual 3

Marshall Rogers, born January 22, 1950 and died March 25, 2007 of an heart attack. Marshall Rogers studied architectural drawing, and his work was characterized by the depiction of characters with relatively human proportions rather than exaggerated musculature, and by detailed rendering of buildings and structures.
Some of his first comic-book work appeared in the black-and-white magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, where he worked with writer Chris Claremont on a story featuring the « Iron Fist » supporting characters Misty Knight and Colleen Wing as the Daughters of the Dragon. He eschewed the grey wash that was used in other black-and-white comics stories in favour of applying screentone.
With writer Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers penciled an acclaimed run on the character Batman in Detective Comics #471-476 (in August 1977), providing one of the definitive interpretations that went on to influence the 1989 movie Batman and be adapted for the 1990s animated series. The two creators also did a sequel mini-series, Batman: Dark Detective, and had worked together on other series, such as The Silver Surfer. Also striking was Marshall Rogers' short run on DC Comics' revived « Mister Miracle » series. Steve Englehart and Marshell Rogers' first Batman run was collected in the trade paperbacks Batman: Strange Apparitions. He had also done independent work at Eclipse Comics and others. This included the first Coyote series with Steve Englehart again, and his own Captain Quick and the Foozle.

Selected works :

• Batman Family #11-13
• Batman: Strange Apparitions TPB
• Detective Comics #466-468, 471-479, 481
• Doctor Strange #48-53
• Green Lantern #187
• House of Mystery #254, 274, 277
• Madame Xanadu
• Mister Miracle #19-22
• Mystery in Space #111
• Secret Origins #6
• Silver Surfer #1-10, 12, 21
• Superman #400
• Superman Family #182, 194
• The Shadow #7
• Unexpected #191
• Weird War Tales #51-52
• World's Finest Comics #259

« Jazzy » John Romita Sr., born January 24, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York. John Romita Sr. graduated from the School of Industrial Art in 1947. He broke into comics on the seminal series Famous Funnies. His first known credited comic book art is as penciler and inker on the 6-page story « The Bradshaw Boys » in Western Outlaws #1 (in February 1954) for Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics. He went on to draw a wide variety of horror, war, romance and other comics for Atlas Comics. His most notable work for the company was the short-lived, 1950s revival of Timely Comics' hit character Captain America, in Young Men #24-28 and Captain America #76-78. He also was the primary artist for one of the first series with a Black star, « Waku, Prince of the Bantu » - created by writer Don Rico and artist Ogden Whitney in the omnibus title Jungle Tales #1, and starring an African chieftain in Africa, with no regularly featured Caucasian characters. John Romita Sr. succeeded Ogden Whitney with issue #2.
At Marvel Comics, John Romita Sr. returned to super-hero penciling after a decade working exclusively as a romance comic book artist for DC Comics. He felt at the time that he no longer wanted to pencil, in favor of being solely an inker :

« I had inked an Avengers job for Stan Lee, and I told him I just wanted to ink. I felt like I was burned out as a penciler after 8 years of romance work. I didn't want to pencil any more ; in fact, I couldn't work at home any more - I couldn't discipline myself to do it. He said ' Okay ' but the first chance he had he shows me this Daredevil story somebody had started and he didn't like it, and he wanted somebody else to do it. ». « He showed me Dick Ayers' splash page for a Daredevil and asked me, ' What would you do with this page ? ', I showed him on a tracing paper what I would do, and then he asked me to do a drawing of Daredevil the way I would do it. I did a big drawing of Daredevil ... just a big, tracing-paper drawing of Daredevil swinging. And Stan Lee loved it. ». John Romita Sr. began a brief stint on Daredevil beginning with #12, initially penciling over Jack Kirby's dynamic layouts as a means of learning Marvel Comics' storytelling house style. It proved to be a stepping-stone for his famed, years-long penciling run on The Amazing Spider-Man. « What Stan Lee wanted was for me to do a 2-part Daredevil story (issues #16-17) with Spider-Man as a guest star, to see how I handled the character. ».

Selected works :

• Amazing Spider-Man #39-75, 82-88, 93-95, 106-119, 123, 132, 365, Annual 3
• Captain America #138-144
• Daredevil #12-19
• Fantastic Four #103-106
• Savage Tales #1, 3

John Romita Jr., born August 17, 1956 in New York City, New York. He began his career at Marvel U.K., doing sketches for covers of reprints. His American debut was with a 6-page story entitled « Chaos at the Coffee Bean ! » in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 11 (in 1977).
John Romita Jr.'s early popularity was based on his run on Iron Man with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton which began in 1978. In the early 1980s, he had his first regular run on The Amazing Spider-Man series and also was the artist for the launch of the Dazzler series. Working with writer Roger Stern on The Amazing Spider-Man, he co-created the character Hobgoblin and he drew an issue in which Spider-Man would encounter the Juggernaut where the villain would end up trapped in cement foundations. From 1983 to 1986, he had a run on The Uncanny X-Men with Dan Green and author Chris Claremont which brought him large popularity, as the X-Men had become a huge industry phenomenon by that time. He would return for a second very successful run on The Uncanny X-Men in 1993.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, John Romita Jr. enjoyed an acclaimed stint on Daredevil with writer Ann Nocenti and Eisner Award-winning inker Al Williamson, noted for its creation of long-running Daredevil nemesis Typhoid Mary. Working on Daredevil, John Romita Jr. defined his style and left behind all uncertainties which were still present in the X-Men pages. John Romita Jr. later collaborated with Frank Miller on a Daredevil origin story entitled Daredevil: The Man without Fear, considered to be a companion of sorts to Frank Miller's Batman: Year One tale. He worked on a host of Marvel Comics titles during the 1990s, including The Punisher War Zone, the Cable mini-series, The Mighty Thor, a return to Iron Man for the second Armor Wars written by John Byrne, and the Punisher / Batman cross-over.
In the 2000s, John Romita Jr. again came to prominence for his second run illustrating The Amazing Spider-Man for writer J. Michael Straczynski. He drew Marvel Comics' Wolverine with author Mark Millar as part of the character's 30th anniversary celebration. In 2004, John Romita Jr.'s creator-owned project The Grey Area was published by Image Comics. His art has since appeared in Black Panther, The Sentry and Ultimate Vision, a back-up story featured in the Ultimate line, written by author Mark Millar.
In 2006, John Romita Jr. collaborated with writer Neil Gaiman on the re-interpretation of Jack Kirby's Eternals in the form of a 7-issue mini-series. He worked with Greg Pak on the 5-issue main comic of Marvel Comics' 2007 crossover event, World War Hulk. In 2008, John Romita Jr. returned to The Amazing Spider-Man. He is also collaborating once more with Mark Millar, for a creator-owned series, Kick-Ass, published by Marvel Comics' Icon imprint.

Art gallery : http://www.geocities.com/romitapage/home.htm

Selected works :

• Iron Man #115-117, 119-121, 123-128, 141-153, 256, 258-266
• The Avengers Annual 16
• Contest of Champions #1-3
• Amazing Spider-Man #208, 210-218, 223-227, 229-236, 238-250, 290-291, 400, 432, 500-508, 568-573, 584-585, 587-588, 600, Annual 11
• Amazing Spider-Man #22-28, 30-58
• Dazzler #1-3
• The Uncanny X-Men #175-197, 199-200, 202-203, 206-211, 287, 300-302, 304, 306-311
• Star Brand #1-7
• Daredevil #250-257, 259-263, 265-276, 278-282
• Cable: Blood and Metal #1-2
• The Punisher War Zone #1-8
• Daredevil: The Man without Fear #1-5
• Punisher / Batman
• Spider-Man: The Lost Years #0-3
• Peter Parker: Spider-Man #57, 70-76, 78-84, 86-92, 94-95, 97-98 ; Peter Parker: Spider-Man #1-3, 6-12, 14-17, 19
• Thor #1-8, 10-13, 16-18, 22-25
• Hulk #24-25, 27-28, 34-39
• The Gray Area #1-3
• Wolverine #20-31
• Ultimate Vision #0
• Black Panther #1-6
• The Sentry #1-8
• Eternals #1-7
• World War Hulk #1-5
• John Romita Jr. 30th Anniversary Special
• The Last Fantastic Four Story
• Kick-Ass #1-Present

Nelson Alexander « Alex » Ross, born January 22, 1970 in Portland, Oregon. He grew up in Lubbock, Texas. His mother, Lynette C. Ross, was a commercial artist best known for her paper doll books. His father is a minister. From childhood, he wanted to work in comics. He was particularly influenced by George Pérez, Bernie Wrightson and Neal Adams. The telling facial expressions and realism of Neal Adams' work can be seen in much of Alex Ross'. He was also interested in mainstream American painters such as Andrew Loomis, J. C. Leyendecker and especially Norman Rockwell. In 1987, Alex Ross moved to Chicago to attend the American Academy of Art, where his mother had studied. His first published work was the 5-issue series, Terminator: The Burning Earth #1-5 (in 1990), penned by Ron Fortier. He created all of the art, from pencils through coloring for the series. He performed similar work on a variety of titles over the next few years. In 1993, he completed his first painted super-hero assignment, the cover of a Superman novel : Superman: Doomsday & Beyond.
During this time, Alex Ross met writer Kurt Busiek and the two began submitting proposals for series that would feature paintings as their internal art, an unexplored idea at the time. Marvel Comics agreed to a project that would tell much of the history of the Marvel Universe from the perspective of an ordinary person. That limited series, Marvels, was released in 1994, and chronicled the life of a photo-journalist, as he reacted to living in a world of super-heroes and villains. Many fans were astonished by Alex Ross' uncannily realistic portrayals of Spider-Man, Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Silver Surfer, The Human Torch and others.
Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, and penciler Brent Anderson went on to create Astro City, first published by Image Comics in 1995 and later by Homage Comics. The series features an original super-hero world and continues the theme of Marvels, exploring how ordinary people, and super-heroes and villains too, react to a world where the fantastic is commonplace. Alex Ross paints the covers and helps set the costumes and the general look and feel for the series, which has been published sporadically in recent years due to Kurt Busiek's health problems.
In 1996, Alex Ross teamed up with writer Mark Waid for the DC Comics limited series Kingdom Come, which unveils a possible future for the DC Universe, in which Superman and several other classic super-heroes return from retirement to tame a generation of brutal anti-heroes. He re-designed several important super-heroes, such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkman and Captain Marvel for the series. He also hid numerous visual references in his images, such as recognizable graffiti, objects and posters, and modeled Reverend Norman McCay, a minister who The Spectre appoints with judging who is responsible for a prophesized tragedy, on his own father, Clark Ross. Kingdom Come helped cement Alex Ross' place as a comic book industry superstar. He followed it with the risky Uncle Sam, a non super-hero work. A project of DC's Vertigo line, it was an experimental work that examined the dark side of American history. While not a sales success, the mini-series garnered favorable reviews from comic fans.
In the early 2000s, with writer Jim Krueger, he plotted and designed characters for a trilogy of Marvel Comics limited series, Earth X, Universe X and Paradise X, which combined dozens of Marvel Comics characters from various time periods in one galaxy-spanning epic.
Between 1998 and 2003, writer Paul Dini and Alex Ross produced annual tabloid-sized editions celebrating the 60th anniversaries of DC Comics' Superman: Peace on Earth, Batman: War on Crime, Shazam: Power of Hope and Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, as well as 2 specials featuring the Justice League of America, « Secret Origins » and « Liberty and Justice ». In 2004, DC Comics compiled the coffee table book Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, written and designed by Chip Kidd. In late 2005, a paperback version of the book was published to include new artwork by Alex Ross, including sketches for his « Justice » mini-series. In 2005, Alex Ross reunited with writer Jim Kreuger and penciler Doug Braithwaite to begin the epic 12-issue, bi-monthly limited series Justice for DC Comics. The series focuses on the enemies of the Justice League of America banding together to defeat the J.L.A.
After Justice, he started on projects showcasing his love for Golden Age characters : Project Superpowers with Jim Krueger for Dynamite Entertainment. And, starting in 2008, Alex Ross launched Avengers / Invaders featuring Marvel Comics characters but published by Dynamite Entertainment. The story will pit World War II versions of Captain America, Namor and other classic war characters against the modern Avengers groups. He has not stated what will happen in the series, but he has stated the recent death of Captain America has improved the story, since it was conceived a year before his death. He also collaborates on DC Comics' Justice Society of America. Alex Ross is also set to draw the covers of Dynamite Entertainment's comic book series featuring The Phantom. He will also redesign the hero's costume.

Official site : http://www.alexrossart.com
Art gallery : http://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=42

Selected works :

• Terminator: The Burning Earth #1-5
• Marvels #0-4
• Kingdom Come #1-4
• Uncle Sam #1-2
• Superman: Peace on Earth ; Batman: War on Crime ; Shazam: Power of Hope ; Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth
• Justice League: Secret Origins ; Justice League: Liberty and Justice
• Justice #1-12
• J.S.A. Kingdom Come Special: Superman

Bill Sienkiewicz | Boleslav William Felix Robert Sienkiewicz, born May 3, 1958 in Blakely, Pennsylvania. Bill Sienkiewicz moved with his family from Blakely, Pennsylvania to Hainesville, New Jersey when he was 5 years old. There, he attended elementary and secondary school. He later attended the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts in Newark, New Jersey.
Bill Sienkiewicz began drawing « when I was about 4 or 5 », and continued doing and learning about art throughout his childhood. His early comic book influences include artist Curt Swan's Superman comics and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four. After art school, Bill Sienkiewicz brought a portfolio of his work to DC Comics' art director Vince Colletta. He recalled in 1985 : « They didn't have any work for me, but that didn't bother me. I just figured that if comics didn't work out I'd done advertising or illustration. Vince Colletta called Neal Adams, who put me in touch with Jim Shooter. Soon after that I was drawing Moon Knight in the Hulk black and white magazine. ».
He continued as artist of the Moon Knight series in 1981. Two years later, he began working on the X-Men related series New Mutants with writer Chris Claremont, where his distinctive cover paintings and character design gained much attention for the series. His own first writing credit was for the painted story « Slow Dancer » in Epic Illustrated #34 in 1986.
Bill Sienkiewicz produced covers for a range of Marvel Comics titles including Rom, Dazzler, The Mighty Thor, Return of the Jedi and The Transformers, and drew the comic book adaptation of Dune. He illustrated the 8-issue limited series Elektra: Assassin written by Frank Miller. That same year, he contributed to the Brought to Light graphic novel with writer Alan Moore. Bill Sienkiewicz both wrote and illustrated the acclaimed limited series, Stray Toasters, an idiosyncratic work about a criminal psychologist investigating a series of murders. In 1988, Bill Sienkiewicz and Alan Moore published the first 2 issues of the uncompleted series Big Numbers. Two years later, he painted the Classics Illustrated adaptation of the novel Moby Dick.
In addition to his work in comics, Bill Sienkiewicz has also worked in numerous other media. In 1995, he illustrated the biography of Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix. The following year, he provided the artwork for the Bruce Cockburn album Charity of Night, and went on to provide album covers for RZA's Bobby Digital in Stereo and EPMD's Business as Usual. He has also published a children's book, Santa: My Life & Times - an illustrated autobiography. His artwork has been published in magazines including Entertainment Weekly and Spin Magazine.

Official site : http://www.billsienkiewiczart.com
Art gallery : http://www.comicvine.com/bill-sienkiewicz/26-1795

Selected works :

• Daredevil: Love and War
• Elektra: Assassin #1-8
• Fantastic Four #219, 221-231
• Moon Knight #1-15, 17-20, 22-26, 28-30, 33
• New Mutants #18-31
• Rampaging Hulk Magazine #13-15, 17-18, 20 ; Moon Knight Special Edition #1-3
• The Shadow #1-6
• Stray Toasters #1-4
• Uncanny X-Men #159, Annual 6

Marc Silvestri, born March 29, 1958 in Palm Beach, Florida. Marc Silvestri began his career at Marvel Comics and is best-known as the penciler of Uncanny X-Men between 1987 and 1990. He then spent 2 years penciling its spin-off title Wolverine.
In 1992, Marc Silvestri became one of the original 7 artists - along with Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane and Jim Valentino - to form the breakaway comics company Image Comics. His stable of titles was published under the imprint Top Cow with the first title released being Cyberforce. The demands of publishing meant his time to spend on his own artwork steadily diminished. Disputes among the Image partners led to Marc Silvestri briefly leaving the publisher in 1996, but he soon returned after Rob Liefeld severed his own ties with Image Comics.
In 2004, Marc Silvestri made a brief return to Marvel Comics to pencil several issues of X-Men, collaborating with writer Grant Morrison. Later, he launched a new Top Cow title, Hunter-Killer with writer Mark Waid. He provided covers for the Marvel Comics mini-series, X-Men: Deadly Genesis by Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine. In late 2007, he penciled the X-Men: Messiah Complex one-shot, as well as many covers in the crossover of the same name that followed.

Official site : http://www.marcsilvestriart.com

Selected works :

• Web of Spider-Man #16-20, 22
• Uncanny X-Men #218, 220-222, 224-227, 229, 230, 232-234, 236, 238-244, 246-247, 249-251, 253-255, 259-261
• X-Factor #8, 12, 54
• Wolverine #31-43, 45-46, 48-50, 52-53, 55-57
• Cyberforce Ashcan ; Cyberforce #1-4 ; Cyberforce #1-7, 9-13 ; Cyberforce #0
• Cyblade / Shi: The Battle for Independents
• Star Trek / X-Men
• The Darkness #1-7
• New X-Men #151-154
• Hunter-Killer #0-6
• Civil War: The Initiative
• X-Men: Messiah Complex

Walter « Walt » Simonson, born September 2, 1946. After studying geology at Amherst College, he transferred to the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1972. His thesis project there was The Star Slammers, which was published as a black and white promotional comic book for the 1974 World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, D.C. Some years later, he produced another version of the story in graphic novel form for Epic Comics, the Marvel Comics imprint that was a response to creator-owned lines of the early 1980s. He continued the adventures of the Star Slammers in a limited series in the mid 1990s as one of the founders of Malibu Comics' short-lived Bravura label. His earliest published art is believed to be in the early 1960s comic book Magnus, Robot Fighter, in the fan letters page.
Walter Simonson's first professional comic book work was producing war stories for DC Comics and other publishers. He also did a number of illustrations for the Harry N. Abrams, Inc. edition of The Hobbit, including the title page drawing for « A Short Rest ». The book was largely illustrated using stills from the Rankin-Bass television special adaptation, which featured character designs by his friend Lester Abrams. Gray Morrow also did illustrations for that edition, as did Charles Vess. Walter Simonson's breakthrough illustration job was « Manhunter », a backup feature in DC's Detective Comics written by Archie Goodwin. Walter Simonson was the first artist of the 1970s revival of Metal Men, and in 1979 drew an adaptation of the movie Alien, also in collaboration with Archie Goodwin. He collaborated again with Archie Goodwin when the latter, who was editing Star Wars for Marvel Comics, asked him to take over art duties from Al Williamson and Carmine Infantino.
He is best known for his work on Marvel Comics titles in the 1980s and 1990s such as The Mighty Thor and X-Factor. Thor in particular is often cited as a classic, as Walter Simonson took nearly complete control of the series and produced epic, operatic stories that rivaled Jack Kirby's best work and displayed an in-depth knowledge of Norse mythology. He also famously transformed Thor into a frog for 3 issues and introduced the popular supporting character, Beta Ray Bill, a monstrous alien warrior who unexpectedly proved worthy to wield Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. He started as writer and artist with #337 (in November 1983). Walter Simonson's run as writer / artist lasted until #367, although he continued to write - and occasionally draw - the book until #382.
In the late 1970s, Walter Simonson, Howard Chaykin, Val Mayerik and Jim Starlin formed Upstart Associates, a shared studio space on West 29th Street in New York City. The membership changed over time : Val Mayerik left to move back to Ohio, and Jim Sherman took his place. Then Jim Starlin moved upstate and Frank Miller replaced him. That group remained stable for several years, until Frank Miller left in the early 1980s. During this period, Dean Haspiel, while still in high school, served as Howard Chaykin's assistant on American Flagg !, occasionally helping Walter Simonson on Thor as well. Howard Chaykin moved out to the West Coast in 1986, leaving Walter Simonson to close Upstart Associates a few years later.
He also took over as writer and artist on the Fantastic Four series for the next year-and-a-half from 1990-1991. He started as writer with #334, and 3 issues later, began penciling and inking as well. With brief inking exceptions and one fill-in issue, he remained in all 3 positions through #354. From 2000 to 2002, he wrote and illustrated Orion for DC Comics. He also wrote Wonder Woman #189-194 in 2003, with artist Jerry Ordway providing art. From 2003 to 2006, he drew the 4-issue prestige mini-series Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer. He continued to work for DC Comics in 2006 writing Hawkgirl, with pencilers Howard Chaykin, Joe Bennett and Renato Arlem. Recent work includes World of Warcraft for Wildstorm Entertainment.

Art gallery : http://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=69

Selected works :

• Batman #312, 321
• Bizarre Adventures #29
• Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer #1-4
• Fantastic Four #334-350, 352-354, Annual 1990
• Galactica #4-5, 11-13, 15-23
• Hercules Unbound #7-12
• John Carter, Warlord of Mars #15
• Metal Men #45-49
• Orion #1-25
• The Path #5
• Rampaging Hulk #1-3
• Robocop vs. the Terminator #1-4
• Star Wars #16, 49-66
• The Star Slammers #1-4
• Sword of Sorcery #4-5
• Thor #260-271, 337-382, Annual 7
• Uncanny X-Men / New Teen Titans
• X-Factor #10-11, 13-15, 17-19, 21, 23-31, 33-34, 36-39

Jim Starlin, born October 9, 1949 in Detroit, Michigan. After writing and drawing stories for a number of amateur fan publications, he got his break into comics working for Roy Thomas and John Romita Sr. at Marvel Comics in 1972. Jim Starlin, along with Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Walter Simonson, was part of the generation of artists and writers who arrived in comics at that time who were primarily fans of Stan Lee / Jack Kirby and the DC Comics / Marvel Comics' Silver Age. His work was heavily influenced by the art of both Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. At the Steve Ditko -focused panel at the 2008 Comic Con International, he said : « Everything I learned about storytelling was due to him or Jack Kirby. Steve Ditko did the best layouts. ».
Jim Starlin's first job was as a finisher on pages of Spider-Man. He then drew 3 issues of Iron Man, which introduced Thanos, a homage to Jack Kirby's character Darkseid. He was then given the chance to draw an issue of on again off again title, Captain Marvel #25. He took over as plotter with the next issue and developed through the comic an elaborate cosmology for the Marvel Universe that has since been much referenced by other writers.
Jim Starlin co-created the kung fu craze cash-in character Shang Chi and then began his most celebrated work : a re-imagining of a minor Stan Lee / Jack Kirby creation, Adam Warlock. He scripted and drew a complex storyline with theological themes, as Adam Warlock, who had emerged from a kind of virgin birth, confronted a dictatorial Universal Church of Truth founded by his evil future self. After his departure, the Captain Marvel title had again declined and Jim Starlin was given the rare - for the time - opportunity to kill off the character in the first Marvel Comics' graphic novel, The Death of Captain Marvel.
In addition to his super-hero work for Marvel Comics (and later DC Comics), Jim Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the science-fiction anthology Star*Reach (in 1974). The magazine's independent status allowed Jim Starlin to further develop his ideas of God, Death and Infinity free of the restrictions of the Comics Code. Once again, the influence of his Marvel Comics predecessors was evident ; his depiction of God was clearly derived from Steve Ditko's character Eternity from Doctor Strange. Death and suicide are recurring themes in his work : personifications of Death appeared in his Captain Marvel series and in a fill-in story for Ghost Rider ; Adam Warlock commits suicide by killing his future self, and suicide is a theme in a story he plotted and drew for The Rampaging Hulk magazine, to give only some examples.
He also drew « The Secret of Skull River », inked by Al Milgrom, for Savage Tales #5, published in July 1974. He worked on fill-in stories for The Legion of Super-Heroes. The final part of his Omega story line was broken into 2 issues in The Legion of Super-Heroes #250-251 and re-edited. Upset with the editorial decision, Jim Starlin took his name off those issues and asked to be credited as « Steve Apollo ».
Most of the 1980s were taken up for Jim Starlin scripting and drawing Dreadstar for Epic Comics - an imprint of Marvel Comics -, and later for First Comics. In the late 1980s, he switched to DC Comics and wrote Batman including the story arc « A Death in the Family » (in which the second Robin died). The death was decided by the fans with DC Comics setting up a hotline for fans to vote on and helping build the Batman craze which exploded with the release of Tim Burton's Batman movie soon after. Jim Starlin wrote at least 2 storylines for Batman during the 1980s that reflected the era. His series « A Death in the Family » had the Ayatollah Khomeni recruit Joker to become the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations. Another storyline concerning the KGBeast had a Soviet super-villain accompanied by an Iranian partner go rogue from the K.G.B. and embark on an assassination campaign targeting all political figures involved in the then American « Star Wars » program. The KGBeast was portrayed as one of the toughest opponents the Batman ever met. Both storylines received criticism in subsequent letter columns of later issues of the Batman series concerning a biased view toward Iran's political actions at the time. The Joker's stint as ambassador to Iran reflected an American bias towards Iran as a terrorist nation willing to side itself with any homicidal maniac (i.e. the Joker) regardless of religious or political ideology. Such representations of terrorism, while well received, are disputed by some.
Returning to Marvel Comics after his successful Batman run, Jim Starlin took over the writing chores on Silver Surfer. His story arc featured the return of one of his best-known creations, the mad Titan Thanos. This storyline led to the Infinity Gauntlet crossover and the return of another character he had killed, Adam Warlock. In the story, Thanos uses the Infinity Gauntlet to kill half the Marvel Universe as a sacrifice for Mistress Death and Adam Warlock's effort to stop Thanos. Adam Warlock builds an army, consisting of characters ranging from Spider-Man to Galactus for this purpose. Characters including the Silver Surfer, Mephisto, Doctor Strange and Dr. Doom were also featured in this story. Infinity Gauntlet met with large sales figures for Marvel Comics and following the series other cosmic heroes were teamed with Adam Warlock in a series named Infinity Watch. There were several follow-ups to that story including Infinity War and Infinity Crusade.
For DC Comics, he created Hardcore Station. Jim Starlin has also written, with his wife Daina Graziunas, novels such as Thinning the Predators, Among Madmen and Lady El. In 2003, he wrote and drew the Marvel Comics' limited series Marvel Universe: The End. The series starred Thanos and a multitude of Marvel Comics characters and was well received, propelling Thanos into his own book. Unfortunately, Jim Starlin left the book after only a few issues, citing « irreconciliable creative differences », and it was cancelled shortly thereafter. In 2006, he stated : « At this point in time, I do not see myself working for Marvel Comics on any project. ».
Jim Starlin kept working for independent companies, creating Cosmic Guard (later renamed Kid Cosmos) which was published by Devil's Due Publishing then Dynamite Entertainment in 2006. He also returned to DC Comics and, along with artist Shane Davis, wrote a mini-series called Mystery in Space featuring Captain Comet and his earlier creation The Weird, and re-visiting Hardcore Station. More recently, he has worked on DC Comics' Death of the New Gods mini-series and Rann-Thanagar Holy War, as well as a Hawkman tie-in which is the latest of many stories which have altered the characters origins over the last 2 decades.

Art gallery : http://www.comicvine.com/jim-starlin/26-7922

Selected works :

• Captain Marvel #25-34
• The Avengers Annual 7 ; Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2
• The Death of Captain Marvel
• Death of the New Gods #1-8
• DC Comics Presents #26-29, 36-37
• Giant-Size Defenders #1, 3
• Infinity Abyss #1-6
• Iron Man #53, 55-56
• Marvel Feature #8, 11-12
• Marvel Universe: The End #1-6
• Mystery in Space #1-8
• Strange Tales #178-181
• Thanos #1-6
• Warlock #9-15

« Jaunty » Jim Steranko, born 5 November, 1938 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He earned lasting acclaim for his innovations in sequential art during the Silver Age, particularly his infusion of surrealism, op art, and graphic design into the medium. He began drawing while very young, opening and flattening envelopes from the mail to use as sketch paper. Despite his father's denigration of Jim Steranko's artistic talent and the boy's ambition to become an architect, Jim Steranko paid for his art supplies by collecting discarded soda bottles for the bottle deposit and bundled old newspapers to sell to scrap-paper dealers. He studied the Sunday comic strip art of Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond, Hal Foster and Chester Gould, as well as the characters of Walt Disney and Superman, provided in « boxes of comics » brought to him by an uncle. Radio programs, Saturday movie matinées and serials, and other popular culture of the time also influenced him. He learned stage magic using paraphernalia from his father's stage magician act, and in his teens spent several summers working with circuses and carnivals, working his way up to sideshow performer as a fire-eater and in acts involving a bed of nails and sleight-of-hand. At school, he competed on the gymnastics team, on the rings and parallel bars, and later took up boxing and, under swordmaster Dan Phillips in New York City, fencing. Up through his early 20s, Jim Steranko performed as an illusionist, escape artist, close-up magician in nightclubs, and musician, having played in drum and bugle corps in his teens before forming his own bands during the early days of rock 'n roll. Jim Steranko, whose first band, in 1956, was called The Lancers, did not perform under his own name, claiming he used pseudonyms to help protect himself from enemies. He also claims to have put the first go-go girls onstage. The seminal rock 'n roll group Bill Haley and his Comets was based in nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Jim Steranko, who played a Jazzmaster guitar, often performed in the same same local venues, sometimes on the same bill, and became friendly with Bill Haley guitarist, Frank Beecher, who became a musical influence. During the day, Jim Steranko made his living as an artist for a printing company in his hometown of Reading, designing and drawing pamphlets and flyers for local dance clubs and the like. He moved on after 5 years to join an advertising agency, where he designed ads and drew products ranging from « baby carriages to beer cans ».
After first attempting to find work at Marvel Comics in 1965, Jim Steranko instead entered the comics industry with Harvey Comics, landing assignments under editor Joe Simon, who was « trying to create a line of super-heroes within a publishing company that had specialized in anthropomorphic animals ». For Joe Simon and Harvey Comics, Jim Steranko created and wrote the characters Spyman, Magicmaster and the Gladiator for the company's short-lived super-hero line, Harvey Thriller. Shortly afterward, he showed his « Secret Agent X » proposal to Paramount Television's animation unit in New York City (nothing became of it), and met with Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee. Jim Steranko inked a 2-page Jack Kirby sample of typical Nick Fury scenes (first published in 1970 by Supergraphics in the extremely limited edition « Steranko Portfolio One » and then again 30 years later in slightly altered form in the 2000 trade-paperback collection Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., leading to Stan Lee's assigning him the Nick Fury feature in Strange Tales, a « split book » shared each issue with another feature. Future Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, then a staff writer, recalled Jim Steranko's arrival at Marvel Comics :

« I met Jim Steranko in 1965 ; he brought his work up to Marvel Comics then, I think, but it wasn't considered quite pro quality yet. The next year ... he came up to the office again - I presume he had an appointment - and I was sent out by Sol Brodsky to look at his work and basically brush him off. Stan Lee was busy and didn't want to be bothered that day. But when I saw Jim Steranko's work, which was even better than what I'd seen the previous year, on an impulse I took it in to Sol Brodsky and said, ' I think Stan Lee should see this '. Sol Brodsky agreed, and took it in to Stan Lee. Stan Lee brought Jim Steranko into his office, and Jim Steranko left with the S.H.I.E.L.D. assignment ... I think Jim Steranko's legacy to Marvel Comics was demonstrating that there were ways in which the Jack Kirby style could be mutated, and many artists went off increasingly in their own directions after that. ».

Official site : http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/8650
Art gallery : http://leroyaumedesavis.over-blog.com/article-19845985.html

Selected works :

• Strange Tales #151-168
• Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-3, 5
• X-Men #50-51
• Captain America #110-111, 113
• Tower of Shadows #1
• Our Love Story #5
• Superman #400
• The Steranko History of Comics #1-2

Michael Turner, born April 21, 1971 in Crossville, Tennessee and died June 27, 2008 at the Santa Monica Hospital, California, of complications from bone cancer. Michael Turner was a pre-medicine student at the University of Tennessee. Shortly before graduating, he moved to Aspen, Colorado, then to San Diego, California, where he taught martial arts. It was in San Diego that he developed an interest in comics. He was discovered by Marc Silvestri at a convention, and hired by Marc Silvestri's Top Cow Productions as an artist. He initially did background illustrations for Top Cow Productions titles before co-creating Witchblade. In the summer of 1998, he debuted the creator-owned Fathom, having also worked on his new series Soulfire. As well as an artist, Michael Turner was an award-winning water skier, held an instructor level red sash in martial arts, and was an avid video game player. In March 2000, he was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a form of cancer, in the right pelvis. He was treated at U.C.L.A. Medical Center with surgery in which he lost a hip, 40% of his pelvis, and 3 pounds of bone. The surgery was followed by 9 months of radiation therapy.
Michael Turner departed Top Cow Productions in late 2002 to found his own comic book publishing company, Aspen MLT Inc. (where MLT stands for Michael Layne Turner), located in Santa Monica, with a studio in Marina del Rey, California. The release of comics from Aspen MLT Inc. was delayed by a year-long lawsuit with Top Cow Productions over the rights to Fathom, and over the rights to the unreleased titles Soulfire (initially called Dragonfly) and Ekos, both of which Michael Turner had begun development on before leaving Top Cow Productions and before his diagnosis of cancer. Aspen MLT Inc. and Top Cow Productions settled the lawsuit out of court in 2003.
In 2004, Michael Turner contributed covers to various DC Comics titles, including The Flash and Identity Crisis. He also provided cover art and co-wrote the « Godfall » story arc that ran in the 3 main Superman titles in early 2004. He also illustrated the 6-issue « Supergirl from Krypton » story arc in Superman / Batman. His creator-owned title Soulfire also began publication in 2004, and Fathom resumed publication in that year as well, though this time with Aspen MLT Inc. rather than Top Cow Productions. On August 6, 2005, Marvel Comics announced the signing of Michael Turner to a work-for-hire deal for a 6-issue project and covers. This would turn out to be at least the variant covers for the mini-series Civil War and the ongoing series Wolverine: Origins. In addition, Michael Turner had been announced as the artist on Ultimate Wolverine.

Official site : http://www.aspencomics.com
Art gallery : http://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=148

Selected works :

• Codename: Strykeforce #14
• Ballistic #1-3
• Witchblade #1-8, 10-22, 25
• Wolverine / Witchblade
• Tomb Raider / Witchblade
• Witchblade / Tomb Raider
• Fathom #0, ½, 1-14
• Superman / Batman #8-13

George Tuska, born April 26, 1916 and died on October 15, 2009. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the youngest of 3 children of Russian immigrants Harry and Anna Onisko Tuska, who had met in New York City. His father, a foreman at a Hartford auto-tire company, died when George Tuska was 14. At 17, George Tuska moved to New York City, and a year later began attending the National Academy of Design. His artistic influences included illustrators Harold von Schmidt, Dean Cornwell and Thomas Lovell, and comic-strip artists Lou Fine, Hal Foster and Alex Raymond. At some early point, he took his first job in art, designing women's costume jewelry.
George Tuska then began working for comic-book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of companies at the time that supplied comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium. His first known published comic-book work appeared in Fox Comics' Mystery Men Comics #1 and Wonderworld Comics #4, both cover-dated August 1939. « I worked alongside Bob Powell, Lou Fine and Mike Sekowsky. ». His studio colleagues later grew to include artists Charles Sultan, John Celardo and Nick Cardy, and writer Toni Blum. George Tuska later left to work at packager Harry « A » Chesler's studio, helping to supply content for such Fawcett Comics publications as Captain Marvel Adventures. His colleagues at Chesler included Charles Sultan, Ruben Moreira, Mac Raboy and Ralph Astarita. Then, when Eisner-Iger client Fiction House formed its own bullpen to produce work on staff, George Tuska left Chesler to join Nick Cardy, Jim Mooney, Graham Ingels and other artists there. George Tuska produced a prodigious amount of work that included, for Fiction House, the South Sea adventure feature « Shark Brodie » and the investigative feature « Hooks Devlin », both for Fight Comics ; the rich-vigilante feature « Glory Forbes » in Ranger Comics ; and « Jane Martin » in Wings Comics. Before and during his 6 years at Fiction House, George Tuska freelanced such features as the North Atlantic seafaring adventure « Spike Marlin » in Harvey Comics' Speed Comics ; « Wing Turner » for Fox Comics' Mystery Men Comics ; « Archie O'Toole » in Quality Comics' Smash Comics and « Cosmic Carson » in Fox's Science Comics.
At some point, George Tuska again worked for Will Eisner, now split from Jerry Iger, with a group of artists that included Alex Kotzky and Tex Blaisdell. « While with Will Eisner, I penciled some Spirit and Uncle Sam stories » - his first Uncle Sam work was the cover and virtually every story in Uncle Sam Quarterly #3, cover-dated Summer 1942. Independently, he was assigned by Fawcett art director Al Allard to draw « a few more Captain Marvel stories. Al Allard had asked me to draw as close as possible to the way Captain Marvel had first appeared in Whiz Comics (...) After those freelance jobs, I never worked for Fawcett again. ». George Tuska's earliest Captain Marvel work appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #2-4 (in Summer-Fall 1941).
Drafted into the U.S. Army circa 1942, George Tuska was stationed at the 100th Division at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, where he drew military plans and was honorably discharged after a year for reasons the artist has not specified. Returning home, he took up again with Fiction House, drawing a host of stories featuring Reef Ryan, Rip Carson, Lady Satan, the western hero Golden Arrow, and Camilla, Queen of the Jungle. Following the huge popularity of super-heroes during the World War II years, those characters' appeal began to dwindle in the post-war era. Comic-book publishers, casting about for new subjects and genres, found a hit in crime fiction, the most prominent comic-book of which was Lev Gleason Publications' Crime does not Pay. George Tuska would soon make a name for himself as one of the genre's top comics artists. After starting with short backup features and spot illustrations for text stories, he was drawing the lead stories and more by Crime does not Pay #50 (in March 1947). He later became one of the last writer-artists of the comic-strip Scorchy Smith, which ran until 1961. He also did the comic-strip Buck Rogers from 1959-1967.
George Tuska freelanced primarily for Marvel Comics during the 1960s and beyond, penciling and occasionally inking other artists on series including Ghost Rider, Luke Cage, Power Man, Black Goliath, Sub-Mariner, The X-Men and the movie tie-in series Planet of the Apes. His first Marvel Comics story, a « Tales of the Watcher » feature in Tales of Suspense #58 (in November 1964), had a special introduction by editor Stan Lee hailing the return of the Golden Age great. He enjoyed a nearly 10-year, sometimes briefly interrupted, run on Iron Man from issue #5 (in September 1968) to #106 (in January 1978).
Later, for DC Comics, George Tuska drew characters including Superman, Superboy and Challengers of the Unknown. He had a 15-year run drawing The World's Greatest Super-Heroes comic-strip from 1978-1993, often inked by Vince Colletta. Retired from active comics work as of the 2000s, he lived in Manchester, New Jersey with his wife Dorothy, where he did commissioned art. The couple had 3 children. George Tuska died near the stroke of midnight, late October 15, 2009.

Barry Windsor-Smith, born May 25, 1949 in Forest Gate, London. In 1968, Barry Windsor-Smith travelled to New York and presented himself at the offices of Marvel Comics. A suitably impressed Roy Thomas gave him the job of drawing Uncanny X-Men #53, but with no studio and having been kicked out of his hotel, he was forced to do the work sitting on park benches. The resulting pages secured Barry Windsor-Smith further work with Marvel Comics, even though he was sent back to England within the year as he had no work permit. Initially credited as Barry Smith, he rose to prominence in the early 1970s as the original penciler for Marvel Comics' adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian character. At first drawing in a manner lifted from Jack Kirby, within a couple of years, he developed a unique style for comics at the time, borrowing from Pre-Raphaelites such as Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (whose influence would saturate Barry Windsor-Smith's artwork even more in later years). Along with writer Roy Thomas, he adapted the Robert E. Howard short stories « The Frost-Giant's Daughter », « The Tower of the Elephant », « Rogues in the House » and « Red Nails ». During their run together, Roy Thomas and Barry Smith also created original adventures and characters as well, including the flame-haired warrior-woman, Red Sonja, loosely based on Red Sonya, a character from one of Robert E. Howard's non-Conan stories.
Shortly thereafter, Barry Smith left comics, added Windsor to his professional name, and began to pursue a career in fine art (although he has returned to the comics field several times since). Granted residential status in the United States of America, Barry Windsor-Smith in 1974 set up Gorblimey Press, through which he released limited-edition prints of fantasy-based subjects that proved popular. As well, he was one of the 4 comic book artists turned fine illustrator / painters who, along with Jeffrey Jones, Mike Wm. Kaluta and Bernie Wrightson, formed a small artist's loft commune in 1975 known as « The Studio ». By 1979 they'd produced enough material to issue a handsome art book under the name « The Studio », which was published by Dragon's Dream. By this point, Barry Windsor-Smith had fully embraced a symbolist and Pre-Raphaelitism aesthetic.
Barry Windsor-Smith returned to Marvel Comics in the 1980s as the artist and colorist of a Machine Man limited series (in 1984), provided plot, pencils and colors for Iron Man #232 (in July 1988), and as the writer and artist of the serialized « Weapon X » feature in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84. The latter was Barry Windsor-Smith's own, original conception of the origin of the X-Men character Wolverine. During this period, he also produced a well-regarded story featuring the Thing and Human Torch that was published in Marvel Fanfare #15.
In late 1991, Barry Windsor-Smith was approached to act as creative director and lead artist at Valiant Comics, a start-up publisher that was trying to break into the comics market. Valiant Comics, founded by former Marvel Comics writer and editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, had licensed a few dormant characters from 1960s and 1970s publisher Gold Key Comics. Those characters, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Doctor Solar and Turok, Dinosaur Hunter, were then supplemented with Valiant Comics' own original titles, including Harbinger, X-O Manowar, Shadowman, Archer & Armstrong, Eternal Warrior, Bloodshot, Ninjak and Rai, among others. He was the chief designer of the Unity crossover for Valiant Comics and writer / artist for most of the first dozen issues of the title Archer & Armstrong. Valiant Comics became a phenomenon, selling nearly 2 million copies of premiere issues, and climbing to the third largest comics publisher in the United States behind the long-time industry leaders Marvel Comics and DC Comics. This success was due in large part to the quality of the material produced. In 1993, Barry Windsor-Smith abruptly walked away from Valiant Comics, as he wasn't aware of what his position was within in the company after Jim Shooter's departure, which was soon after sold to Acclaim Entertainment. Acclaim Entertainment neglected the publication of comics in favor of exploiting the characters for video games.
He did some work for Malibu's Ultraverse line (Rune) as well as for Dark Horse Comics, and at Image Comics, working on the crossover event « Wildstorm Rising » at WildStorm Productions. At Dark Horse Comics, he created an oversized series, Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller, that contained 3 ongoing features : The Paradoxman, Young Gods and The Freebooters, that last a lighthearted action series about a Conan-like character grown older and heavier and now running a tavern. The comic book was cancelled after 9 issues ; Fantagraphics Books has issued hardcover collections of Young Gods, The Freebooters and The Paradoxman. Each of these hardcover volumes includes supplemental features, essays and previously unseen art. Fantagraphics Books has also published Barry Windsor-Smith's Adastra in Africa, a hardcover starring a character from Young Gods in a story originally intended to be Life-Death III of Marvel Comics' Uncanny X-Men with the character Storm. Fantagraphics Books has also published Opus, a series of hardcover art books featuring Barry Windsor-Smith's work from throughout his career. These volumes also include his ongoing auto-biographical story Time Rise, which features details of his extraordinary experiences with seemingly paranormal phenomena.

Official site : http://www.barrywindsor-smith.com

Selected works :

• Archer & Armstrong 0-8, 10-12
• Astonishing Tales #3-6, 10
• The Avengers #66-67, 98-100
• Chamber of Darkness #3-4
• Conan the Barbarian #1-16, 19-24, Annual 1
• Daredevil #50-52, 83, 236
• Excalibur #27
• Iron Man #47, 232
• Marvel Fanfare #15
• Marvel Premiere #4
• Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #10
• Savage Sword of Conan #1, 82
• Savage Tales #1-4, Annual 1
• Solar, Man of the Atom #1-108
• Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller #1-9
• Tower of Shadows #3, 5, 7
• Uncanny X-Men #53, 186, 198, 205, 214
• Weapon X ; Marvel Comics Presents #72-84
• Western Gunfighters #4
• X-O Manowar #1

Wallace Allan Wood, born June 17, 1927 in Menahga, Minnesota and died on November 2, 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Wallace Wood began reading and drawing comics at an early age. He was strongly influenced by the art styles of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, Will Eisner's The Spirit and especially Roy Crane's Wash Tubbs. He graduated from high school in 1944, signed on with the United States Merchant Marine near the end of World War II and enlisted in the U.S. Army's 11th Airborne Paratroopers in 1946. He went from training at Fort Benning, Georgia, to occupied Japan, where he was assigned to the island of Hokkaido. Arriving in New York City with his brother Glenn and mother, after his discharge in July 1948, Wallace Wood found employment at Bickford's as a busboy. During his time off, he carried his thick portfolio of drawings all over midtown Manhattan, visiting every publisher he could find. He briefly attended the Hogarth School of Art (later changed to the Cartoonists and Illustrators School) but dropped out after one semester.
By October, after being rejected by every company he visited, Wallace Wood met fellow artist John Severin in the waiting room of a small publisher. After the two shared their experiences attempting to find work, John Severin invited Wallace Wood to visit his studio, the Charles William Harvey Studio, where he met Charlie Stern, Harvey Kurtzman (who was working for Timely / Marvel Comics) and Will Elder. At this studio, Wallace Wood learned that Will Eisner was looking for a Spirit background artist. He immediately visited Will Eisner and was hired on the spot. Over the next year, Wallace Wood also became an assistant to George Wunder, who had taken over the Milton Caniff strip Terry and the Pirates. Wallace Wood cited his « first job on my own » as Chief Ob-stacle, a continuing series of strips for a 1949 political newsletter. He entered the comic-book field by lettering, as he recalled in 1981 : « The first professional job was lettering for Fox romance comics in 1948. This lasted about a year. I also started doing backgrounds, then inking. Most of it was the romance stuff. For complete pages, it was $5 a page ... Twice a week, I would ink 10 pages in one day. ».
Artists' representative Renaldo Epworth helped Wallace Wood land his early comic-book assignments, making it unclear if that connection led to Wallace Wood's lettering or to his comics art debut, the 10-page story « The Tip-Off Woman » in the Fox Comics' Western Women Outlaws #4 (cover-dated January 1949, on sale late 1948). Wallace Wood's next known comic-book art did not appear until Fox's My Confession #7 (in August 1949), at which time he began working almost continuously on the company's similar My Experience, My Secret Life, My Love Story and My True Love: Thrilling Confession Stories. His first signed work is believed to be in My Confession #8 (in October 1949). He penciled and inked 2 stories in that issue : « I was Unwanted » (9 pages) and « My Tarnished Reputation » (10 pages).
Wallace Wood began at E.C. Comics co-penciling and co-inking with Harry Harrison the story « Too Busy for Love » in Modern Love #5, and fully penciling the lead story, « I was Just a Playtime Cowgirl », in Saddle Romances #11 (in April 1950), inked by Harry Harrison. Working from a Manhattan studio at West 64th Street and Columbus Avenue, Wallace Wood began to attract attention in 1950 with his highly detailed and imaginative science-fiction artwork for E.C. Comics and Avon Comics, some in collaboration with Joe Orlando. During this period, he drew in a wide variety of subjects and genres, including adventure, romance (which he really didn't care for) war and horror ; message stories (for E.C. Comics' Shock SuspenStories) ; and eventually satirical humor for now editor Harvey Kurtzman in Mad. Wallace Wood was instrumental in convincing E.C. Comics publisher William Gaines to start a line of science-fiction comics, Weird Science and Weird Fantasy (later combined under the single title Weird Science Fantasy). He penciled and inked several dozen E.C. Comics science-fiction stories, many considered classics. He also had frequent entries in Two-Fisted Tales and Tales from the Crypt, as well as the later E.C. Comics titles Valor, Piracy and Aces High.
Working over scripts and pencil breakdowns by Jules Feiffer, the 25-year-old Wallace Wood drew 2 months of Will Eisner's classic, Sunday-supplement newspaper comic book The Spirit, on the 1952 story arc « The Spirit in Outer Space ». Will Eisner, Wallace Wood recalled, paid him « about $30 a week for lettering and backgrounds on The Spirit. Sometimes he paid $40 when I did the drawings, too. ». Between 1957 and 1967, he produced both covers and interiors for more than 60 issues of the science-fiction digest Galaxy Science Fiction, illustrating such authors as Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Jack Finney, C.M. Kornbluth, Frederik Pohl, Robert Silverberg, Robert Sheckley, Clifford D. Simak and Jack Vance. He painted 6 covers for Galaxy Science Fiction novels between 1952 and 1958. His gag cartoons appeared in the men's magazines Dude, Gent and Nugget. He inked the first 8 months of the 1958-1961 syndicated comic strip Sky Masters of the Space Force, penciled by Jack Kirby. Wallace Wood expanded into book illustrations, including for the picture-cover editions (though not the dust-jacket editions) of titles in the 1959 Aladdin Books re-issues of Bobbs Merrill's 1947 « Childhood of Famous Americans » series.
Wallace Wood additionally did art and stories for comic-book companies large and small - from Marvel Comics (and its 1950s iteration Atlas Comics), DC Comics (including House of Mystery and Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown), and Warren Publishing (Creepy and Eerie), to such smaller firms as Avon (Strange Worlds), Charlton Comics (War and Attack, Jungle Jim), Fox Comics (Martin Kane, Private Eye), Gold Key (M.A.R.S. Patrol Total War, Fantastic Voyage), Harvey Comics (Unearthly Spectaculars), King Comics (Jungle Jim), Atlas / Seaboard (The Destructor), Youthful Comics (Capt. Science) and the toy company Wham-O (Wham-O Giant Comics). In 1965, Wallace Wood, Len Brown and possibly Larry Ivie created T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for Tower Comics. He wrote and drew the 1967 syndicated Christmas comic strip, Bucky's Christmas Caper.
For Marvel Comics during the Silver Age, Wallace Wood's work as penciler-inker of Daredevil #5-8 and inker (over Bob Powell) of issues #9-11 established the title character's distinctive red costume (in issue #7). When Daredevil guest-starred in Fantastic Four #39-40, Wallace Wood inked that character, over Jack Kirby pencils, on the covers and throughout the interior. He also penciled and inked the first four 10-page installments of the company's « Dr. Doom » feature in Astonishing Tales #1-4 (in August 1970), and both wrote and drew anthological horror / suspense tales in Tower of Shadows #5-8 (in May 1970), as well as sporadic other work. In one of his final assignments, Wallace Wood returned to a character he helped define, inking Frank Miller's cover of Daredevil #164 (in May 1980).
In circles concerned with copyright and intellectual property issues, Wallace Wood is known as the artist of the unsigned satirical Disneyland Memorial Orgy poster, which first appeared in Paul Krassner's magazine, The Realist. The poster depicts a number of copyrighted Disney characters in various unsavory activities (including sex acts and drug use), with huge dollar signs radiating from Cinderella's Castle. Wallace Wood himself, as late as 1981, when asked who did that drawing, said only, « I'd rather not say anything about that ! It was the most pirated drawing in history ! Everyone was printing copies of that. I understand some people got busted for selling it. I always thought Disney stuff was pretty sexy ... Snow White, etc ». Disney took no legal action against either Paul Krassner or The Realist but did sue a publisher of a « blacklight » version of the poster, who used the image without Paul Krassner's permission. The case was settled out of court.
During the 1960s, Wallace Wood did many trading cards and humor products for Topps Chewing Gum, including concept roughs for Topps' famed 1962 Mars Attacks cards prior to the final art by Bob Powell and Norman Saunders. Discovering (from Roy Thomas) that Jack Kirby had returned to DC Comics in 1970, he called editor Joe Orlando in an attempt to get the assignment to ink Jack Kirby's new work, but that role was already filled by Vince Colletta. Wallace Wood continued to produce periodic work for Marvel Comics during the early 1970s, primarily as inker, and then worked on a handful of comics for DC Comics between 1975 and 1977, producing in particular several covers for Plop ! and inks for issues of All Star Comics and (over Steve Ditko) on Paul Levitz' 4-issue mini-series Stalker. Active with the 1970s Academy of Comic Book Arts, Wallace Wood also contributed to several editions of the annual A.C.B.A. Sketchbook. His last known proper credit was inking Wonder Woman #269, cover-dated July, 1980.
Over several decades, numerous artists worked at the Wallace Wood Studio. Associates and assistants included Dan Adkins, Richard Bassford, Tony Coleman, Nick Cuti, Leo and Diane Dillon, Larry Hama, Russ Jones, Wayne Howard, Paul Kirchner, Joe Orlando, Bill Pearson, Al Sirois, Ralph Reese, Bhob Stewart, Tatjana Wood and Mike Zeck. In 1966, Wallace Wood launched the independent magazine Witzend, one of the first alternative comics, a decade before Mike Friedrich's Star*Reach or Flo Steinberg's Big Apple Comix (for which Wallace Wood drew the cover and contributed a story). He offered his fellow professionals the opportunity to contribute illustrations and graphic stories that detoured from the usual conventions of the comics industry. After the 4th issue, Wallace Wood turned Witzend over to Bill Pearson, who continued as editor and publisher through the 1970s and into the 1980s.
Wallace Wood additionally collected his feature Sally Forth, published in the U.S. servicemen's periodicals Military News and Overseas Weekly from 1968-1974, in a series of 4 oversized 10x12 inches magazines. Bill Pearson, from 1993-1995, re-formatted the strips into a series of comics published by Eros Comix, an imprint of Fantagraphics Books, which in 1998 collected the entire run into a single 160-page volume. In 1969, Wallace Wood created another seminal independent comic, Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon, intended for his « Sally Forth » military readership. Artists Steve Ditko and Ralph Reese and writer Ron Whyte are credited with primary writer-artist Wallace Wood on 3 features : « Cannon », « The Misfits » and « Dragonella ». A second magazine-format issue was published in 1976 by Wallace Wood and C.P.L. Gang Publications. Larry Hama, one of Wallace Wood's assistants, said : « I did script about 3 Sally Forth stories and a few of the Cannon's. I wrote the main Sally Forth story in the first reprint book, which is actually dedicated to me, mostly because I lent Wallace Wood the money to publish it. ».
For much of his adult life, Wallace Wood suffered from chronic, unexplainable headaches. In the 1970s, following bouts with alcoholism, he suffered from kidney failure. A stroke in 1978 caused a loss of vision in one eye. Faced with declining health and career prospects, he committed suicide by gunshot 3 years later.

Official site : http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/wood.htm

Selected works :

• Numerous stories and covers at E.C. Comics : Aces High, Mad, Piracy, Shock SuspenStories, Tales from the Crypt, Two-Fisted Tales, Valor, Weird Fantasy, Weird Science, Weird Science-Fantasy
• The Spirit in Outer Space
• Sky Masters of the Space Force
• Daredevil #5-8
• Astonishing Tales #1-4
• Tower of Shadows #5-8
• Sally Forth
• Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon #1-2

Bernie Wrightson, born October 27, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland. He received training in art from reading comics, particularly those of E.C. Comics, as well as through a correspondence course from the Famous Artists School. In 1966, Bernie Wrightson began working for The Baltimore Sun newspaper as an illustrator. The following year, after meeting artist Frank Frazetta at a comic book convention in New York City, he was inspired to produce his own stories. In 1968, he showed copies of his sequential art to DC Comics editor Dick Giordano and was given a freelance assignment.
His first professional comic work appeared in House of Mystery #179 in 1968. He continued to work on a variety of mystery and anthology titles for both DC Comics and its principal rival, Marvel Comics. In 1971, with writer Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson co-created the muck creature Swamp Thing for DC Comics. He also co-created Destiny, later to become famous in the work of Neil Gaiman. Bernie Wrightson had originally been asked by DC Comics to handle the art for its revival of The Shadow, but he left the project early on when he realized he could not produce the necessary minimum number of pages on time.
By 1974, he had left DC Comics to work at Warren Publishing. For whose black-and-white horror-comics magazines, he produced a series of original work as well as adaptations of stories by H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. In 1975, Bernie Wrightson joined with fellow artists Jeff Jones, Michael Kaluta and Barry Windsor-Smith to form The Studio, a shared loft in Manhattan where the group would pursue creative products outside the constraints of comic book commercialism. Though he continued to produce sequential art, Bernie Wrightson at this time began producing artwork for numerous posters, prints, calendars, and even coloring books.
He spent 7 years drawing approximately 50 detailed pen-and-ink illustrations to accompany an edition of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, which the artist considers among his most personal work. He illustrated the comic book adaptation of the film Stephen King -penned horror film, Creepshow. This led to several other collaborations with Stephen King, including illustrations for the novella « Cycle of the Werewolf » and the restored edition of Stephen King's apocalyptic horror epic, The Stand.

Official site : http://www.wrightsonart.com/forums/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=sc&cat=2
Art gallery : http://www.comicvine.com/bernie-wrightson/26-10689

Selected works :

• Showcase #83-84
• House of Mystery #179, 183, 186, 195, 204, 207, 221, 224, 226, 228
• House of Secrets #85, 87, 89-90, 92-94, 96, 100
• Swamp Thing #1-10
• The Shadow #3
• The Spectre #9
• Chamber of Darkness #7
• Creepy #62-63, 87, 103, 113
• Eerie #61-62, 64
• The Weird #1-4
• Batman: The Cult #1-4
• Punisher: P.O.V. #1-4
• Bernie Wrightson, Master of the Macabre #1-5
• Captain Sternn: Running out of Time #1-5

Mike Zeck, born September 6, 1949 in Greenville, Pennsylvania. He attended the Ringling School of Art, and began his comics career in 1974 doing illustration assignments for the text stories in Charlton Comics' animated line of comics, which led to work on their horror titles.
In 1977, Mike Zeck started working for Marvel Comics by doing fill-in work on Master of Kung Fu, and has since worked on such titles as Aquaman, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Green Lantern, Captain America, G.I. Joe, Lobo and Deathstroke, The Terminator.
He may be best known for his 1987 work on the classic « Kraven's Last Hunt » storyline, written by J.M. DeMatteis, in the Spider-Man comic books, and the Punisher mini-series of 1985-1986 (written by Steven Grant, and collected as Punisher: Circle of Blood), as well as the 12-issue event mini-series Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars. For this series, he and fellow artist Rick Leonardi designed a new black-and-white costume temporarily worn by Spider-Man, which eventually led to the creation of the villain Venom.

Official site : http://www.mikezeck.com

Selected works :

• Logan's Run #6
• Master of Kung Fu #55, 59-60, 64, 66-69, 71-101
• Captain America #224, 258-259, 261-270, 272-283, 286-289, Annual 8
• Punisher #1-4
• Secret Wars #1-12
• Kraven's Last Hunt: Web of Spider-Man #31-32 ; Amazing Spider-Man #293-294 ; Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132
• Challengers of the Unknown #16, 18
• Legends of the Dark Knight #69-70