X of Swords (New Printing)

Jonathan Hickman

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 Marvel’s Secret Warriors, spinning out of Secret Invasion. He then wrote the Dark Reign: Fantastic Four limited series, which served as a warm-up for his revered runs on Fantastic Four and FF, as well as two S.H.I.E.L.D. series. Hickman penned numerous Ultimate Universe titles before bringing his intricate plotting to Avengers and New Avengers. Hickman’s years of planning culminated with the Marvel Universe-shattering Secret Wars. His impressive list of credits includes a trio of lauded series for Image: East of West, Secret, and the Eisner Award-nominated The Manhattan Projects. Hickman returned to Marvel to mastermind a transformative relaunch of its mutant titles, beginning with House of X and Powers of X, and continuing with X-Men.

Tini Howard

Tini Howard kicked her career into high gear by winning the 2013 Top Cow Talent Hunt, which led to her first comics credit as writer of Magdalena: Seventh Sacrament. She went on to write for major properties including Rick and Morty, Power Rangers, and Barbie, and created her own series Assassinistas and Euthanauts, published by IDW. Howard arrived at Marvel to join the Dawn of X team on the pivotal book Excalibur, going on to mastermind the X of Swords crossover with Jonathan Hickman. Her other Marvel titles include Strikeforce, Death’s Head, and Age of Conan: Belit.

Vita Ayala

New York-native Afro-Latinx writer Vita Ayala graduated from DC Comics’ inaugural Talent Development Workshop, soon working on some of the publisher’s most famous characters - including Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Suicide Squad. Their collaboration with artist Emily Pearson on zombie story The Wilds for Black Mask gained Ayala industry-wide attention, including at Marvel, where they demonstrated their talents on books including Shuri and Marvel Knights: 20th. The limited series Age of X-Man: Prisoner X followed, then the ongoing Morbius, and Ayala introduces a new generation of mutants for Dawn of X in Children of the Atom. In addition, they have written comic books featuring such diverse pop-culture icons as Xena: Warrior Princess and James Bond, as well as their critically acclaimed series Livewire for Valiant Comics.

Benjamin Percy

Acclaimed author and screenwriter Benjamin Percy broke into comics in 2014 with a two-issue Batman story arc in Detective Comics. He is also known for his work on Nightwing, Green Arrow, and Teen Titans for DC Comics, and James Bond: Black Box for Dynamite Entertainment. Percy wrote two seasons of Marvel’s Wolverine podcast series: Wolverine: The Long Night, which was listed as one of the top fifteen podcasts of the year by Apple and won the iHeart Radio Award for best scripted podcast in 2018, and Wolverine: The Lost Trail. In print, he was a key contributor to the X-Men’s Krakoan Era as writer of X-Force and Wolverine. Percy blazed a new trail for the Spirit of Vengeance with his deliciously dark revival of Ghost Rider and pitted some of Marvel’s greatest heroes against the iconic movie hunters, the Predators. After the mash-up concept Hellverine proved a smash hit in Percy’s Wolverine/Ghost Rider: Weapons of Vengeance crossover, the writer launched a Hellverine limited series followed by an ongoing series - with Wolverine’s son, Akihiro, assuming the mantle. And Percy was the ideal choice to unite the ultimate odd couple in the pages of Deadpool/Wolverine.

Ed Brisson

Ed Brisson is a comic-book writer who started to garner attention with his self-published crime series Murder Book. He broke into the spotlight in 2012 with the crime/time-travel thriller series Comeback (Shadowline/Image Comics). Brisson’s Marvel credits include Iron Fist, Old Man Logan, Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, Ghost Rider, Cable, and New Mutants. He has been nominated several times for the Joe Shuster Award for Best Canadian Writer.

Gerry Duggan

Gerry Duggan has become one of Marvel’s most influential writers, having first made an impression at the House of Ideas with a lengthy and always surprising Deadpool run alongside his frequent writing partner, Brian Posehn. Among Duggan’s solo credits are Nova, Hulk, and multiple tie-ins to the Secret Wars event. He added Deadpool to the revamped roster of Uncanny Avengers and brought his unique blend of action and humor to All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, leading up to the cosmic event series Infinity Wars. Marauders and Cable established him as a vital part of the storytelling team for the Dawn of X era, a role he has cemented further by launching the blockbuster new X-Men title. Duggan’s earlier collaboration with artist Phil Noto - The Infinite Horizon, a reimagining of Homer’s The Odyssey in a dystopian future - earned an Eisner Award nomination for Best New Series.

Zeb Wells

A writer for the Emmy Award-winning animated series Robot Chicken and co-creator of the stop-motion SuperMansion, Zeb Wells began making a name for himself at Marvel with his irreverent New Warriors limited series, which provided an inspiration for key story threads that would later appear in Civil War; he also wrote the Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways tie-in. His collaboration with the late Seth Fisher on Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan produced one of the 21st century’s most charming comics. Wells’ other credits include Daredevil: Battlin’ Jack Murdock, Venom: Dark Origin, Dark Reign: Elektra, and Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One. He also contributed to the thrice-monthly “Brand New Day” era of Amazing Spider-Man, most notably with the “Shed” storyline; wrote two Carnage limited series; and helped relaunch New Mutants. Wells has returned to the world of the wall-crawler, teaming with the legendary John Romita Jr. for a new volume of Amazing Spider-Man.

Leah Williams

Fast-rising star Leah Williams is a writer originally from Oxford, Mississippi, who has amassed an impressive list of Marvel credits in a short time. Highlights include What If? Magik, X-Men: Black - Emma Frost, Domino Annual, and Giant-Man. Williams demonstrated her flair for comedy and meta storytelling with Gwenpool Strikes Back, and took on a beloved character in the pages of Amazing Mary Jane. For Dawn of X, she has recruited a new team of mutant investigators in X-Factor, and then wrote the seismic X-Men: The Trial of Magneto. Williams’ debut novel was a YA fantasy book titled The Alchemy of Being Fourteen, and she is writing a sequel, The Divinity of Hitting Fifteen.

Pepe Larraz

Artist Pepe Larraz penciled Spider-Island: The Amazing Spider-Girl and pitted ‘90s rivals against each other in Deadpool vs. X-Force. Larraz worked on titles including Wolverine & the X-Men, Uncanny Avengers, Avengers, and the Star Wars: Kanan before proving himself among the industry’s finest talents with House of X. His thrilling artwork made him the ideal illustrator for the blockbuster 2021 relaunch of X-Men with writer Gerry Duggan.

Mahmud Asrar

The career of artist Mahmud Asrar got off to a fast start after collaborating with writer Jay Faerber on Digital Webbing Presents and the 25-issue run of the co-created Dynamo 5. At Marvel, Asrar has drawn War Machine, Nova, Thunderbolts, and Avengers: The Initiative, among other titles. He built an association with Marvel’s mutants on Wolverine & the X-Men and All-New X-Men, and was the ideal artist to welcome a new generation into Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in All-New, All-Different Avengers. Asrar joined writer Jason Aaron for an acclaimed run on Conan the Barbarian and worked on Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men.

Joshua Cassara

Joshua Cassara made a big splash with his work on the event Secret Empire, as well as its tie-in Secret Empire: Uprising one-shot. He joined writer Rodney Barnes to cha

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