WHAT IF?: INTO THE MULTIVERSE OMNIBUS VOL. 2

Journalist, editor, filmmaker and more, Ann Nocenti has a long history in comics, both as a writer and editor. As an editor at Marvel, she oversaw such titles as New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men. As a writer, she has worked for both Marvel (Longshot, Spectacular Spider-Man, Wolverine) and DC (Batman, Kid Eternity), but is probably best known for her groundbreaking run with John Romita Jr. on Daredevil.

New Yorker Jim Valentino began his career in the late 1970s creating small press, self-published comics. He served as a storyboard artist for animated features before his work took him to Marvel and titles including What If? and Silver Surfer. His flair for cosmic action made him a natural to both write and draw Guardians of the Galaxy, the first series bearing the name of the titular team. Guardians established Valentino as one of the superstar artists of the early 1990s, leading him to band together with others and form Image Comics, where he introduced his signature creation, ShadowHawk. Valentino served as Image’s publisher, helping establish the company as an enduring major player in the industry.

Writer Michael Gallagher took over Guardians of the Galaxy from Jim Valentino and continued to chronicle the team’s adventures in the 31st century for three years until the book came to an end, even at one point spinning off the Galactic Guardians into their own limited series. Gallagher has contributed to MAD Magazine and demonstrated his flair for writing pop-culture favorites in comic-book form on titles including Marvel’s ALF and various Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Luke McDonnell penciled a long stint on Iron Man, encompassing the controversial storyline in which Tony Stark ceded the Iron Man armor to his friend James Rhodes. McDonnell’s work also appeared in Daredevil, Spectacular Spider-Man, What If? and elsewhere. At DC, he penciled most of John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad and its spinoff miniseries Deadshot, as well as a Justice League of America stint during its “Detroit JLA” phase. Eclipso, Green Lantern: Mosaic and Secret Origins are only a few of the other titles benefiting from his work. 

Dale Eaglesham started out penciling series peripheral to the mainstream Marvel Universe: Guardians of the Galaxy, Savage Sword of Conan, What If? and others. When he moved to DC, his artwork appeared in Justice Society of America and spinoff miniseries Thy Kingdom Come, and multiple Batman titles — including Detective Comics, Gotham Knights, Legends of the Dark Knight and Shadow of the Bat. He returned to Marvel to illustrate Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four, Captain America in the Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier miniseries and the complete run of the relaunched Alpha Flight. Elsewhere, he has penciled Eternal Warrior at Acclaim, Sigil at CrossGen and the Creep feature in Dark Horse Presents.

One of comics’ premier artists, Bryan Hitch found fame with his dynamic, detailed artwork on The Authority and JLA. His other credits include Marvel’s Sensational She-Hulk and X-Men; Marvel UK’s Action Force, Doctor Who, Mys-Tech Wars and Death’s Head; DC’s Superman; and Image’s Stormwatch. Hitch’s collaboration with writer Mark Millar on The Ultimates, Ultimates 2 and Fantastic Four established him as a comics mega-star. He continued to burnish his reputation on books including Captain America: Reborn, Age of Ultron and Venom. Hitch has provided character designs for the Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2 animated films, and the video game Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.