X-Men: X-Verse - X-Villains (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781302953218)

Fred Van Lente has been a comics fan as long as he can remember, initially hooked by his father's copy of Jules Feiffer's landmark anthology The Great Comic Book Heroes. Van Lente joined Syracuse University's comic-book club and met artist Steve Ellis, with whom he created indie super-crime comic The Silencers. That work got noticed by Marvel, where Van Lente was soon hired and introduced a heroic new Scorpion in Amazing Fantasy. Since then, the versatile Van Lente's many Marvel assignments have included three New York Times-best-selling entries in the Marvel Zombies series, as well as Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hercules, X-Men Noir, Iron Man Legacy, Chaos War, Herc and Alpha Flight.

As a boy, artist Dave Cockrum (1943-2006) dreamed of working in the comic-book industry; after a six-year stint in the Navy, he headed straight for the big time. With a natural talent for illustrating super heroes, Cockrum landed a gig on Legion of Super-Heroes for DC Comics. Soon after his debut, Cockrum showcased his knack for innovative costume designs, becoming the first artist to revamp the look of the classic futuristic super-hero team since its original Silver Age debut. After leaving Legion in 1975, Cockrum collaborated with writer Len Wein to create a new lineup of X-Men - including Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Colossus. Cockrum's bold new mutants quickly caught the attention of comic-book fans, transforming X-Men into a best-selling title. Although Cockrum has reduced his artistic output in recent years, his strong influence on modern creators remains steadfast - as evidenced by the release of The Uncanny Cockrum Tribute Book in 2004, boasting contributions from more than 75 notable writers and artists.

After achieving industry acclaim for DC's award-winning "Manhunter" feature in Detective Comics, Walter Simonson moved to Marvel where he introduced multiple characters and concepts from both myth and outer space during his revered run scripting and penciling Thor. He collaborated with his wife, Louise, on both X-Factor and Wildstorm's World of Warcraft, later returning to Marvel to illustrate Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers.