About the Author

Victor Gischler comes to Marvel Comics from the world of hard-boiled crime fiction. His debut novel, Gun Monkeys, was nominated for the Edgar Award; his novel Shotgun Opera was an Anthony Award finalist. For Marvel, he has written Punisher: Frank Castle MAX, Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool Corps, X-Men and more.

James Asmus is a writer and comedian. Branching into comics, Asmus’ first Marvel credits were stories focusing on Boom Boom and Nightcrawler in the anthology X-Men: Manifest Destiny. Since then, he has penned Captain America and Bucky, Deadpool Team-Up, Generation Hope and X-Men: Manifest Destiny Nightcrawler — as well as the “Escape From the Negative Zone” three-parter running through Uncanny X-Men Annual #3, Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier Annual #1 and Namor: The First Mutant Annual #1. Asmus has also contributed to Dark X-Men: The Beginning, Deadpool Family, Nation X, Origins of Marvel Comics, Runaways, Wolverine #900, X-Men: Curse of the Mutants — X-Men vs. Vampires, X-Men: Curse of the Mutants Saga, and X-Men: To Serve and Protect.

Writer Cullen Bunn first worked in comics with artist Brian Hurtt on Oni Press’s The Damned and its follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, as well as The Sixth Gun. Now one of Marvel’s leading talents, he has co-written Captain America with Ed Brubaker and Venom with Rick Remender, whom he later succeeded as writer, and assembled the fan-favorite, all-female Fearless Defenders. Bunn launched Magneto into his own series for All-New Marvel NOW!, then made him the star of a darker-than-ever Uncanny X-Men roster. Bunn has joined the ranks of iconic Deadpool writers with a diverse range of limited series featuring the Merc with a Mouth and the ongoing Deadpool & the Mercs for Money.

Re-imagining New Mutants into X-Force was only the start for industry maverick Rob Liefeld, one of the leaders of the 1990s comics revolution. After introducing both Cable and Deadpool, he launched an even bigger collaboration as one of the founders of Image Comics with his original property Youngblood. In 1996, he participated in Marvel’s controversial multi-title Heroes Reborn event. After collaborating with Alan Moore on revamped Image creations, Liefeld reunited with co-writer Fabian Nicieza on an X-Force miniseries and then revisited Heroes Reborn in Onslaught Reborn with writer Jeph Loeb. Liefeld returned to his most famous co-creation with the graphic novel Deadpool: Bad Blood and introduced a new sensation in Major X.

Paco Medina has illustrated a range of Marvel Comics — including New X-Men: Academy X, Captain Marvel, Thor, Venom, Marvel Team-Up, New Mutants and New Warriors, as well as relaunches of Deadpool and X-Men. Firmly established as a Marvel mainstay, Medina has enjoyed lengthy runs on Ultimate Comics X-Men, Nova and Legendary Star-Lord, as well as a major role in the Avengers storyline “No Surrender.”

Artist and cartoonist Kyle Baker was born in Queens, New York City, in 1965, and gained his first comic-book industry experience while a high-school intern at Marvel Comics during the early 1980s. Within the next five years, Baker emerged as a distinctive cartoonist through his comic strip Cowboy Wally (which was republished as a graphic novel); and his work on Classics Illustrated: Through the Looking Glass, original graphic novel Why I Hate Saturn and graphic novel Birth of a Nation (with Boondocks’ Aaron McGruder and Black Panther writer Reginald Hudlin). His writing and art have also graced DC Comics’ Plastic Man series, Dark Horse’s The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist and MAD Magazine. Baker’s non-comics work includes National Lampoon, The New Yorker, Vibe, and animation for BET and MTV. He also turned his family into comic strip characters with The Bakers, a strip about his family life. His work has earned a total of eight Eisner Awards and four Harvey Awards.