Writer/editor Stan Lee (1922-2018) made comic-book history together with Jack Kirby in 1961 with Fantastic Four #1. The monumental popularity of its new style inspired Lee to develop similarly themed characters — including the Hulk and X-Men with Kirby, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Steve Ditko, and Daredevil with Bill Everett. After shepherding his creations through dozens of issues — in some cases a hundred or more — Lee allowed other writers to take over, but he maintained steady editorial control. Eventually, he helped expand Marvel into a multimedia empire. In recent years, his frequent cameo appearances in Marvel’s films established Lee as one of the world’s most famous faces.
With a writing resume stretching across the romance, sword-and-sorcery, and Western genres, Denny O’Neil wrote four years of Iron Man — including some of the title’s most sweeping changes. His additional Marvel work includes runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil and Power Man and Iron Fist, as well as the one-shot X-Men: Heroes for Hope. At DC, his groundbreaking Green Lantern/Green Arrow run earned him four Shazam Awards. He also wrote and often revamped such mainstays as Batman (where he co-created Ra’s al Ghul), Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as adaptations of classic pulp heroes Doc Savage, Justice, Inc. and The Shadow. During the 1980s, he oversaw the groundbreaking death of Robin (Jason Todd). He has written multiple Batman graphic novels and novelizations, as well as The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics.
Jim Lawrence is the longtime writer of the British James Bond comic strip. He penned Bond’s adventures from 1966 until the strip’s finale in 1984 — starting with film and novel adaptations, and going on to write more than 30 all-new Bond tales. Lawrence also wrote a short Strange Tales run introducing Defenders foe Yandroth, and co-plotted and scripted Captain Britain’s Super Spider-Man series for Marvel UK. Titan has collected Lawrence’s classic Bond strips, making them available for the first time in decades.
An unparalleled talent, Bill Everett created Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, comics’ original anti-hero, whose ongoing adventures set the bar for sophisticated comic-book serials. Equally as skilled at illustrating horror and war comics, Everett continued as one of Timely’s top artists until 1957. Once the Marvel Age kicked off, Stan Lee brought Everett back into the fold to co-create Daredevil and return once more to his signature creation, the Sub-Mariner.
During the 1960s, when males dominated the industry, Marie Severin earned the respect of her peers with her seemingly limitless talents in every facet of comic-book production — from penciling to inking to lettering to coloring. Her earliest recorded work was for EC Comics in 1949, and she went on to contribute coloring across the famous publisher’s line before moving to Marvel’s predecessor Atlas Comics. In the Silver Age of comics, Severin made her mark in the Bullpen, drawing the adventures of Doctor Strange and becoming the company’s head colorist before going on to concentrate on penciling. Her extensive contribution to Marvel across a wide array of titles includes providing the original design for Spider-Woman. Severin was inducted into the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame in 2001.
Dan Adkins (1937-2013) worked on comic books and science-fiction magazines from an early age; as the Silver Age of comics dawned, he joined the Wally Wood Studio as Wood’s assistant, their collaborations including stories in such titles as Creepy and Eerie. Adkins arrived at Marvel in 1967 and worked primarily as an inker on an array of titles, including an extensive run on Conan the Barbarian. He also penciled the adventures of Doctor Strange, Ka-Zar and others. Also famed for his cover paintings, Adkins was inducted into the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame in the Inkwell Awards of 2019.
