J.M. DeMATTEIS After a career as a music journalist, J.M. DeMatteis began writing for horror comics for DC in the late 1970s. In the 1980s he started writing for Defenders and Spider-Man and had a lengthy run on Captain America. In 1987 he teamed up with Mike Zeck for the much-lauded Kraven's Last Hunt. He would go on to write for Justice League International, Mister Miracle, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and redefined the Spectre. He has also written for the original Star Wars comic. ROY THOMAS Roy joined Marvel as a writer and editor under Stan Lee, scripting key runs of nearly every Marvel title: The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, The Sub-Mariner, Thor, The X-Men and more. He wrote the first ten years of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan; and launched the Defenders, Iron Fist, The Invaders and Warlock. At DC, he developed All-Star Squadron, Infinity Inc. and related titles, proving instrumental in reviving the Golden Age Justice Society of America. He co-scripted the sword-and-sorcery films Fire and Ice and Conan the Destroyer. Throughout it all, Thomas has edited the award-winning magazine Alter Ego, contributing heartily to the research and history of the medium. JOHN BUSCEMA Best known for his run on the series The Avengers and Silver Surfer, and for over 200 stories featuring the sword-and-sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian, which he took the pencilling from Barry Windsor Smith. In addition, he pencilled at least one issue of nearly every major Marvel title, including long runs on two of the company's top magazines, Fantastic Four and Thor. In 1978 he collaborated with Stan Lee to produce the book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way which has never been out of print and still remains one of the best books available on the subject of drawing comics. His list of credits runs into the hundreds and includes such legendary characters as Doc Savage, The Punisher, Daredevil, Captain America, Deathlok and Tarzan. >GIL KANE In a career spanning five decades, Gil worked for almost every major comic book company and on nearly every character and almost single-handedly redefined the super-hero genre. He co-created the modern-day version of Green Lantern, Atom, Iron Fist and Adam Warlock and drew the seminal Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 which featured a comic-authority code breaking anti-drug story line at the behest of the U.S. Department of Health. He was also an early pioneer of the graphic novel format with his book: His Name is...Savage. He was inducted into both the Wil Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.
