Joe Kelly broke into Marvel in 1997, adding his own style of irreverence to Deadpool and turning the title into a cult sensation. After runs on Daredevil and X-Men, Kelly departed for DC Comics, where he delivered award-winning work on Action Comics and Superboy. He subsequently returned to Marvel, collaborating with the "Spider-Man Brain Trust" and penning several memorable arcs on Amazing Spider-Man. Kelly combined the two Marvel characters with which he is most closely associated in the riotous team-up series Spider-Man/Deadpool. Along with several fellow comic creators, Kelly established Man of Action, the studio that has produced the Ben 10 animated series. Writer Daniel Way has been one of Marvel's most prolific and influential writers, making a career of crafting defining stories for some of the House of Ideas' most popular characters. He is best known for lengthy runs on Ghost Rider and Deadpool, and took a turn at Marvel's most deadly father-son team in Wolverine: Origins and Dark Wolverine (co-written with Marjorie Liu). Way has also helped shed light on some of the Marvel Universe's darker corners, bringing back Starr the Slayer, introducing the world to Hit-Monkey, showcasing the assassin Bullseye's "Greatest Hits," declaring open season on Sabretooth and exploring the world of Supreme Power's ruthless vigilante Nighthawk in various limited series, as well as adding Deadpool to the roster of his reinvention of the Thunderbolts.
Re-imagining New Mutants into X-Force was only the start for industry maverick Rob Liefeld, one of the leaders of the 1990s comics revolution. After introducing both Cable and Deadpool, he launched an even bigger collaboration as one of the founders of Image Comics with his original property Youngblood. In 1996, he participated in Marvel's controversial multi-title Heroes Reborn event. After collaborating with Alan Moore on revamped Image creations, Liefeld reunited with co-writer Fabian Nicieza on an X-Force miniseries and then revisited Heroes Reborn in Onslaught Reborn with writer Jeph Loeb. Liefeld returned to his most famous co-creation with the graphic novel Deadpool: Bad Blood and introduced a new sensation in Major X. While working as a professor at the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design, Shawn Crystal has contributed art to a variety of comics projects -- including Birds of Prey Secret Files, Resident Evil: Fire and Ice, Negative Burn and the comic adaptation of the hit TV show Chuck. 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. 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. After establishing himself on Eternity's Ex-Mutants and First's Badger, Ron Lim went cosmic with a six-year penciling run on Silver Surfer, followed by a collaboration with Jim Starlin on the Warlock/Thanos Infinity multi-miniseries saga. With writer Tom DeFalco, he helped create the look and characters of the MC2 universe, while he explored a different Marvel future during a 35-issue run on X-Men 2099. Lim's other Marvel credits include Captain America, Spider-Man Unlimited and Venom: Lethal Protector.