About the Author

An award-winning writer since 1973, Marv Wolfman succeeded mentor Roy Thomas as Marvel's editor in chief. Well-remembered for his Tomb of Dracula scripts, he also enjoyed runs on Dr. Strange, Fantastic Four and Nova, among other titles. New Teen Titans, his 1980s collaboration with George Perez, became DC Comics' biggest hit in years. Wolfman and Perez literally rewrote DC history with Crisis on Infinite Earths. He subsequently penned episodes for such animated TV series as G.I. Joe, Transformers and others.

Jim Shooter entered the comic-book field at age 14 as writer and penciler of the "Legion of Super-Heroes" feature in Adventure Comics. Later moving to Marvel, he wrote Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-in-One and other titles. As editor in chief, he tightened Marvel's publishing schedule; added new titles; nurtured fresh talent; launched the New Universe; and wrote the 12-issue Secret Wars and its sequel, Secret Wars II. Eventually leaving Marvel, Shooter wrote for Valiant, Defiant and Broadway Comics before entering different creative fields at Phobos Entertainment and TGS Inc. Later returning to DC to write Legion of Super-Heroes, he subsequently helped revamp Gold Key heroes at Dark Horse.

Bill Mantlo began his Marvel career on Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, in which he introduced White Tiger, one of the industry's earliest Hispanic super heroes. Eventually writing stories for almost every Marvel title, he did some of his most fondly remembered work on Incredible Hulk and Spectacular Spider-Man. He also launched Cloak and Dagger in a pair of miniseries and guided Alpha Flight through some of its most harrowing ordeals. Mantlo excelled at integrating licensed properties into the Marvel Universe, as demonstrated by Micronauts and Rom- Spaceknight, both of which he wrote from start to finish. At DC, he wrote the Invasion miniseries for one of the company's biggest crossover events.

The artistic career of Bob Brown (d. 1977) spanned the Silver Age in its entirety, culminating with his Bronze Age art in not only Avengers but also Daredevil. At DC, he co-created "Space Ranger," then helped define two of the publisher's pivotal Silver Age adventure teams, Challengers of the Unknown and Doom Patrol. His Batman work spanned almost all of the Dark Knight's books of the era.

The career of the late Gil Kane began in comicdom's Golden Age. Following his role in ushering in the Silver Age of Comics via the re-creations of Green Lantern, the Atom and others, he became Marvel's star cover artist and the regular penciler on Amazing Spider-Man. Kane also helped develop Iron Fist, Morbius the Living Vampire and other Marvel mainstays. In 1971, he published the sword-and-sorcery/science-fiction hybrid Blackmark, often called the first American graphic novel. He was a multiple winner of the National Cartoonist Society Award; in 1997, he was inducted into both the Eisner Award Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.

Following Golden Age work at Marvel predecessor Timely Comics - as well as at Fawcett, Hillman and others - Carmine Infantino (d. 2013) made history at DC Comics, helping usher in the industry's Silver Age with the reintroduction of the Flash, within whose title he cocreated the Elongated Man and several members of the hero's famed Rogues' Gallery. His 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds," which literally reshaped the DC Universe by introducing the Earth-1/Earth-2 concept, won Infantino two of his eventual 12 Alley Awards. After serving as DC's art director and publisher, Infantino returned to penciling on several titles; for Marvel, he provided notable runs on Nova, Spider-Woman and Star Wars, along with brief stints on Daredevil, Ghost Rider and Iron Man. He also drew Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, the historic first Marvel/DC crossover.