Writer Jason Aaron's early collaboration with artist Cameron Stewart on DC/Vertigo's The Other Side was named one of the Washington Post's Best Comics of 2007. His next project, Scalped, garnered industry-wide praise and led to a guest spot on Wolverine, beginning Aaron's long association with Logan on various titles, as well as the rest of Marvel's merry mutants on books including X-Men: Schism, Wolverine & the X-Men and Amazing X-Men. Aaron rocked the Marvel Universe with Original Sin and unfolded a status-quo-shattering Asgardian epic across multiple Thor titles. He was the ideal choice to steer the Rebel crew of Star Wars into new adventures on the series' return to Marvel, and he ushered in a new era for the publisher with Marvel Legacy. In the wake of that one-shot, he took on Earth's Mightiest Heroes in Avengers and welcomed another iconic property back to the House of Ideas with Conan the Barbarian.

The late artist Steve Dillon had his first paying work at age 16 for the UK-based Hulk Weekly magazine. Like many of his British contemporaries, Dillon honed his skills on the legendary 2000AD. In 1993, Dillon joined writer Garth Ennis on DC/Vertigo's Hellblazer. Their work earned overwhelming praise from the title's devoted fan base and led to a second collaboration on Preacher, which earned an "A" grade from Entertainment Weekly and was later turned into a TV series on AMC. After Preacher's 66-issue run, Dillon again teamed with Ennis on a revival of Marvel's classic antihero, Punisher, cementing himself as arguably the character's most iconic artist. Dillon later illustrated Daniel Way's Wolverine: Origins, Ennis' Punisher: War Zone, Mark Millar's Ultimate Avengers and Jason Aaron's Punisher MAX. Dillon again drew Frank Castle for Marvel NOW! in the relaunched Thunderbolts and later in All-New, All-Different Marvel's The Punisher.