X-MEN EPIC COLLECTION: FATAL ATTRACTIONS

Scott Lobdell wrote both Uncanny X-Men and X-Men during the 1990s. He also launched Generation X and Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, and penned Alpha Flight and Fantastic Four. Elsewhere, he wrote Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Fabian Nicieza, Wildstorm’s Gen13, Top Cow’s Darkness, and IDW’s Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression and Galaxy Quest. Lobdell scripted Stan Lee’s animated film Mosaic and has performed as a stand-up comedian.

Since his start on the New Universe’s Psi-Force and backup stories in Classic X-Men, Fabian Nicieza has written most of Marvel’s major super-teams — including Alpha Flight, the Avengers, the New Warriors, the Thunderbolts and the X-Men. Together with artist Rob Liefeld, Nicieza transformed New Mutants into the blockbuster X-Force. The writer also tackled solo heroes ranging from Cable and Deadpool (later combined in Cable & Deadpool) to Gambit and Nomad. He edited Marvel’s Star imprint, contributed to multititle X-events like “X-Cutioner’s Song” and “Phalanx Covenant,” and wrote various “pre-modern” limited series such as Adventures of Captain America and Citizen V and the V-Battalion. Elsewhere, he has written both JLA and Justice League Adventures, The 99, Turok, X-Files, and others.

Writer/artist Larry Hama got his start as a penciler before becoming a respected editor and later a writer during the ’80s with his career-defining work on G.I. Joe and a memorable run on Wolverine. Through the years, Hama proved his versatility — writing Avengers, Blaze, Elektra, Generation X, Punisher: War Zone and multiple Venom limited series. Hama also contributed to Devil’s Due and IDW’s relaunched G.I. Joe franchises. At Continuity Comics, he created Bucky O’Hare, launching a franchise that extended to animation, video games and toys line. Hama revisited his era helming the adventures of Logan with the Wolverine: Patch limited series.

John Romita Jr. is a modern-day comic-art master, following in his legendary father’s footsteps. Timeless runs on Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man and Daredevil established him as his own man artistically, and his work on Wolverine and World War Hulk is among the most explosive comic art of the 21st century. In addition to Eternals with writer Neil Gaiman, JRJR teamed with Mark Millar on the creator-owned Kick-Ass, later developed into a blockbuster feature film starring Nicolas Cage. Spidey fans rejoiced at the artist’s return to Amazing Spider-Man with the “Brand New Day” storylines “New Ways To Die” and “Character Assassination.” He later helped relaunch Avengers with writer Brian Michael Bendis and Captain America with Rick Remender, and contributed to the blockbuster crossover Avengers vs. X-Men. For DC Comics, he has drawn big-name characters such as Superman, Batman and the Suicide Squad.

Artist Jan Duursema debuted on DC’s Sgt. Rock and drew nearly the entire runs of Arion, Lord of Atlantis and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. During the early 1990s, Duursema penciled a short stint on Incredible Hulk and worked on several X-books, becoming X-Factor’s regular artist. In 2000, she joined Dark Horse’s Star Wars franchise; her credits include arcs of the main Star Wars series, the Darth Maul miniseries, the Episode II: Attack of the Clones adaptation, several Jedi one-shots and a lengthy run on Star Wars: Republic. She was the regular penciler on Star Wars: Legacy and illustrated the spinoff Legacy War miniseries.

After an artistic apprenticeship under famed father Joe Kubert, Andy Kubert got his start on DC’s space-opera variations Adam Strange and Warlord, as well as the best-selling crossover Batman vs. Predator in collaboration with brother Adam. Kubert’s Marvel career began with a six-year stint on X-Men — continuing into Thor, Ka-Zar, Ghost Rider and others. He collaborated with Orson Scott Card on Ultimate Iron Man, Neil Gaiman on Marvel 1602 and Paul Jenkins on Wolverine: Origin.