About the Author

Jonathan Hickman is the award-winning writer/artist of critically acclaimed independent titles Pax Romana, Transhuman and The Nightly News. Teaming with writer Brian Michael Bendis, he launched Secret Warriors for Marvel, spinning out of Secret Invasion. He has also scribed the Dark Reign: Fantastic Four miniseries, which served as a warm-up for his revered runs on Fantastic Four and FF, and two S.H.I.E.L.D. series. One of Marvel's cornerstone writers, Hickman helped launch the Ultimate Universe into its second decade with Ultimate Comics Ultimates, Ultimate Thor and Ultimate Comics Hawkeye before bringing his intricate plotting to the pages of Avengers and New Avengers. His impressively full plate includes a trio of lauded series for Image: East Of West, Secret and the Eisner-nominated The Manhattan Projects.After illustrating Death's Head II and Dark Angel for the Marvel UK imprint, Salvador Larroca scored a regular gig on Ghost Rider. He graduated to Fantastic Four, working alongside one of his favourite writers, Chris Claremont. From 2000 to 2006, Larroca depicted Marvel's mutants across Uncanny X-Men, X-Men and X-Treme X-Men. His popularity continued to build as he crossed over to new universal, a striking take on the New Universe by writer Warren Ellis. Following a stint on Amazing Spider-Man, Larroca began working on one of Marvel's biggest hits, Invincible Iron Man, with writer Matt Fraction.Croatian artist Esad Ribic broke into the U.S. comic industry with 4 Horsemen with writer Robert Rodi. His classic European-influenced artistic style garnered attention from Marvel Comics, leading to a career- making series of painted covers for Wolverine and Kingpin. Ribic also illustrated fan-favourite character Gambit's debut in the pages of Ultimate X-Men. Ribic's stunning interior artwork on the Rodi-penned Loki elicited critical comparisons to the legendary Alex Ross, firmly establishing him as one of the industry's premier painters. Ribic's interior art has also graced the stunning Silver Surfer: Requiem and Sub-Mariner: The Depths. He went on to launch Uncanny X-Force with writer Rick Remender and Ultimate Comics Ultimates with writer Jonathan Hickman.