An award-winning critic and journalist, Kieron Gillen wrote for organizations such as PC Gamer, The Guardian, Rock, Paper, Shotgun and WIRED before turning his attention to comics. His previous credits include the critically lauded Phonogram with frequent creative partner Jamie McKelvie, as well as Thor, S.W.O.R.D. and Generation Hope. Gillen relaunched two long-standing Marvel series in Uncanny X-Men and Journey into Mystery before again teaming with McKelvie for an acclaimed take on Young Avengers. Gillen turned his attention to Iron Man for Marvel NOW! and proved the perfect scribe to put carefully chosen words into the mouth of a legendary Star Wars villain in Darth Vader. Gillen introduced Doctor Aphra into the galaxy far, far away in those pages, and continues her adventures in her own series.

Croatian artist Esad Ribić broke into the U.S. comic industry with Four Horsemen with writer Rob 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. Ribić’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. His interior art has also graced Silver Surfer: Requiem, Sub-Mariner: The Depths, Uncanny X-Force and Ultimate Comics Ultimates. Ribić reunited with Ultimates writer Jonathan Hickman on event series Secret Wars, and brought epic grandeur to the pages of Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder and Kieron Gillen’s Eternals.

Guiu Vilanova displayed his skills while depicting the dimension of the mind in The Twilight Zone series. For Marvel Legacy’s Punisher, he helped chronicle a new chapter in the character’s history as Frank Castle took up the mantle of War Machine.

A professional comic-book artist since 2003, Dustin Weaver’s work on Dark Horse’s Star Wars and King Kong led him to Marvel, where he’s drawn X-Universe storylines in X-Men: Kingbreaker, X-Men: Legacy and the X-Necrosha one-shot. Weaver has collaborated with writer Jonathan Hickman on two S.H.I.E.L.D. series, as well as Avengers. He wrote the Rocksteady and Bebop issue of IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villains Micro-Series and produces the webcomic Amnia Cycle on his blog.