Bill Mantlo began his Marvel career on Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, in which he introduced White Tiger, one of the industry's earliest Hispanic super heroes. Eventually writing stories for almost every Marvel title, he did some of his most fondly remembered work on Incredible Hulk and Spectacular Spider-Man. He also created Rocket Raccoon, launched Cloak & Dagger in a pair of miniseries and guided Alpha Flight through some of its most harrowing ordeals. Mantlo excelled at integrating licensed properties into the Marvel Universe, as demonstrated by Micronauts and Rom, both of which he wrote from start to finish. At DC, he wrote the Invasion miniseries for one of the company's biggest crossover events. Steve Gerber (1947-2008) first came to attention writing Defenders, in which he gave the non-team a non-traditional outlook equaled by few. In Adventure of Fear, he introduced Howard the Duck. Gerber's other 1970s contributions included scripts for Iron Man, Sub-Mariner and more.

Elsewhere, he is equally well-remembered for DC's Phantom Zone, Eclipse's Destroyer Duck and others. Having established himself in the British comics scene, Dave Gibbons illustrated one of the stories in the first "Prog" of 2000AD, going on to realize a dream by drawing Dan Dare for the magazine. After a lengthy stint on Marvel UK's adaptation of sci-fi series Doctor Who, Gibbons was recruited to America by DC Comics. Collaborations with writer Alan Moore led to the pair uniting on Watchmen, a critically acclaimed work that remains one of the top-selling graphic novels of all time. Also a writer, Gibbons' work for Marvel includes a stint as scribe on the Marvel Knights Captain America series and a tale in the Marvel Edge Savage Hulk special that he wrote, drew, colored and lettered. Working with Mark Waid, Gibbons also drew the Super-Soldier issue that formed part of the Amalgam Comics crossover between Marvel and DC. Michael Golden is a highly influential artist whose realistic style graced many Marvel comic books and covers -- including the all-time-great Avengers Annual #10 that marked the first appearance of Rogue, future fan-favorite member of the X-Men. Golden illustrated significant runs on Micronauts and The 'Nam, and for a time served as Marvel's senior art director.