Industry legend Chris Claremont is best known for his epic sixteen-year run on Uncanny X-Men. Claremont’s focus on the themes of prejudice and tolerance struck at the hearts of comics fans, and he built an unparalleled following during the next three decades. Under his pen, the X-Men franchise spawned a vast array of spin-offs, many of them written by Claremont himself. His other credits include Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Power Man and Spider-Woman. Claremont has returned to the X-Men universe in New Exiles, GeNext, X-Men Forever, Chaos War: X-Men and Nightcrawler.

Writer and editor Louise Simonson launched Power Pack and Web of Spider-Man and wrote memorable runs on New Mutants and X-Factor — helping map out the “Mutant Massacre,” “Inferno” and “X-Tinction Agenda” crossovers. Her major editorial credits include Star Wars and Uncanny X-Men. At DC, she wrote multiple Superman titles and became one of the main creative forces behind the “Death of Superman” saga; her scripts also appeared in Detective Comics, New Titans and more. She returned to Marvel to write the Galactus the Devourer limited series and 1999-2000’s Warlock, starring characters from New Mutants.

Industry giant Marc Silvestri entered the upper echelon of comics innovators in the late ’80s during fan-favorite, record-breaking runs on Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine. Silvestri left Marvel in 1992 to co-found Image Comics; his imprint, Top Cow, is one of its four longstanding autonomous studios. At Image, Silvestri created some of today’s most popular properties — including Cyberforce, Witchblade, Weapon Zero and The Darkness. Silvestri has returned to the world of Marvel’s mutants on New X-Men and X-Men: Messiah Complex.

After achieving industry acclaim for DC’s award-winning “Manhunter” feature in Detective Comics, Walter Simonson moved to Marvel where he introduced multiple characters and concepts from both myth and outer space during his revered run scripting and penciling Thor. He collaborated with his wife, Louise, on both X-Factor and Wildstorm’s World of Warcraft, later returning to Marvel to illustrate Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers.

Since his beginnings with Ann Nocenti in Longshot (which earned him a Russ Manning Award), Arthur Adams has most often displayed his distinctive and detail-intensive art in miniseries or one-shots (including several Uncanny X-Men Annuals) — along with brief but memorable stints on Fantastic Four, X-Factor and other titles. He co-created “Jonni Future” for Alan Moore’s Tom Strong’s Terrific Tales, and Dark Horse Comics has published his creator-owned Monkeyman and O’Brien. Renowned for cover art at Marvel, DC and elsewhere, Adams has also illustrated trading cards, posters and shirts, among other products; his art can be found in toy design, film advertisements and a series of X-Men-themed Campbell Soup labels. Jeph Loeb’s Hulk series featured a string of issues in which Adams provided interior art.