About the Author

After beginning his writing career on DC horror titles, David Michelinie moved to Marvel. He and co-writer/inker Bob Layton established Iron Man's battle with alcoholism, use of specialized armor variants and vendetta against Doctor Doom, as well as other aspects of the character that endure to this day. Michelinie's unique blend of action, suspense and humor distinguished not only Iron Man, but also Amazing Spider-Man. With artist Todd McFarlane, he introduced the vicious vigilante Venom; he also wrote the first Venom limited series, Lethal Protector. Michelinie's run as Amazing writer was second in length only to that of Stan Lee himself, while he also authored tie-in titles Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man and Spider-Man. He moved from Marvel's flagship character to DC's with a stint on Superman's Action Comics, later returning to the world of Tony Stark for writing collaborations with Bob Layton on Iron Man- Legacy of Doom and Iron Man- The End.

Al Milgrom, A.K.A. "Editori-Al," is renowned as writer, editor, penciler and inker - and held most of those positions on Spectacular Spider-Man. He also contributed to SSM's sibling Amazing Spider-Man. He penciled West Coast Avengers for four years and inked X-Factor for eight. His artwork has also appeared in Avengers, Captain America, Thor and most X-titles, including the classic Kitty Pryde and Wolverine. As editor, he oversaw Marvel's Epic imprint and the sixty-issue run of Marvel Fanfare, where his satirical self-portraits made his face as recognizable as any super hero's mask. At DC, he co-created Firestorm the Nuclear Man with Gerry Conway.

Gerry Conway wrote Daredevil, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and others. He was instrumental in Marvel's 1970s horror boom with work on Man-Thing, Tomb of Dracula and Werewolf by Night. His years on Amazing Spider-Man yielded such historic highlights as the groundbreaking death of Gwen Stacy and the debut of the Punisher. He also wrote DC's Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Legion of Super-Heroes. For TV, he has written and produced episodes of Diagnosis- Murder, Hercules- The Legendary Journeys, Huntress and Matlock.

Hired on the strength of his Official Marvel Tryout penciling submission, Mark Bagley rose to prominence as the artist of 1990s sleeper hit New Warriors. Following an acclaimed run on Amazing Spider-Man, he worked with writer Kurt Busiek on Thunderbolts. When Marvel launched its Ultimate line, Bagley and Brian Michael Bendis led the way with Ultimate Spider-Man, whose years of success made the pair the longest-running creative team in Marvel history. Bendis and Bagley have also collaborated on Avengers Assemble and the creator-owned Brilliant. His subsequent credits include Fantastic Four, Cataclysm- The Ultimates' Last Stand, Hulk, All-New X-Men and Venom.

Chris Marrinan has illustrated such titles as Nova, Spider-Man, Marvel Comics Presents and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme for Marvel, as well as DC's Wonder Woman.

Guang Yap began his comics career at Aircel Publishing, co-writing and co-penciling Dragonring, and inking Samurai. Moving to Marvel in 1991, he illustrated several Spider-Man and X-Men family annuals, plus a Ghost Rider/Cable team-up serial for Marvel Comics Presents. At DC, Yap contributed inks to several Green Lantern titles, including Mosaic and Green Lantern Corps Quarterly, before transitioning into the animation industry. Under the name Robert Yap, he has storyboarded several children's cartoons including Arthur's Perfect Christmas and the TV series Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat.