|
Born in 1932 in New York City, Dick Giordano rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as executive editor of Charlton Comics' fabled "Action Hero" line, which included such titles as The Question, Blue Beetle, and Captain Atom. In 1969, he moved to DC Comics, where he edited such critically-acclaimed series as Aquaman, Secret Six, Beware the Creeper, Hawk and Dove, and Deadman. In the early '70s, Dick departed DC to found Continuity Studios with partner Neal Adams. Dick returned to DC in 1980 and, as V.P., Editorial Director, presided over relaunches of DC's major characters, including Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
|
|
Charlie Novinskie, a lifelong comics fan, served as the sales and promotions manager for Topps Comics from 1993-1998 and was the publisher of Comics Spotlight. Novinskie continues to work on a variety of comic and trading card projects and is the driving force behind Century Comics, a company dedicated to working with Golden and Silver Age creators.
|
|
One of comics' most acclaimed writers, Denny O'Neil graduated from St. Louis University around the turn of the '60s and joined the Navy just in time to participate in the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After leaving the service, he worked briefly in journalism, until fellow Missourian (and now fellow-board member) Roy Thomas facilitated his entry into Marvel Comics. Denny shortly moved on to Charlton, and then DC, where he would pen his most famous work.
At DC, Denny participated in the creation of the "Emma Peel"-style Wonder Woman, revitalized Justice League of America, and brought social consciousness back to comics for the first time in decades with the groundbreaking Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. His work on Batman—first as writer, then as editor—returned that character to its dark, gothic roots and has influenced every bat-scribe since.
Denny is semi-retired and lives in Nyack, New York, with his wife Marifran.
|
|
George Pérez started his comics career over 32 years ago and has since won just about every national and international award the industry can bestow. With writer Marv Wolfman, George created the hugely popular New Teen Titans and was one of the architects of DC Comics' revolutionary maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths and its follow-up History of the DC Universe. From 1987-91, he both scripted and drew Wonder Woman, redefining the character for a new era of readers. An acknowledged master at drawing "team" series, George had two enormously successful runs, almost two decades apart, on The Avengers, and has also drawn Fantastic Four, The Inhumans, Justice League of America, and X-Men, as well as dual-team crossover series JLA/Avengers.
In addition to his work on Hero's board, George is also a staunch supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a First Amendment advocacy organization for the industry.
|
|
John Romita is widely regarded as one of the two "definitive" Spider-Man artists. His nearly sixty-year career began in 1949 as a "ghost" penciller at Timely Comics. It was interrupted by a two-year hitch in the Army, where John put his talents to work on recruiting posters. He returned to Timely (by then known as Atlas) in 1951 to draw countless war, mystery, romance, science fiction, and western tales, and briefly worked on the 1953 revival of Captain America. In 1958, the comics industry hit a slump, Atlas's production was cut back severely, and John moved to DC, where he drew romance stories for nearly eight years.
In 1965, Stan Lee enticed John back to Atlas (by then known as Marvel, of course) to assume the penciling duties on Daredevil. The following year, John began his much-acclaimed run on Amazing Spider-Man; his work on that title would define the look and feel of Marvel's most famous character for decades to come. Later, as Marvel's executive art director, John supervised and trained an entire generation of Marvel artists. He also designed the Spider-Man balloon for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and costumes for dozens of Marvel heroes and villains, including Wolverine and the Punisher. John retired in 1996, but still does occasional covers.
|
|
One of the founders of comics fandom and among the first of its ranks to "turn pro," Roy Thomas has worked as a writer and editor in the field for more than forty years. In 1965, he left his native Missouri for New York City, where he served for eight days as assistant to Mort Weisinger at DC Comics, before making the move across town to Marvel, which became Roy's creative berth for the next sixteen years. In 1972, he became Stan Lee's first successor as Marvel's editor-in-chief.
Roy is perhaps best-known for single-handedly bringing the sword-and-sorcery genre to comics with Conan the Barbarian; for his long stints as writer of Marvel's Avengers and X-Men titles; and as DC Comics' "Earth-2 editor" during the 1980s. Over the years, in his capacity as editor and writer, he helped launch the careers of countless other fans-turned-pro. Currently, Roy is involved in a number of new comics projects and edits Alter Ego, the famed superhero fanzine he helped to found more than four decades ago. He is also the author of Stan Lee's Amazing Marvel Universe and Conan: The Ultimate Guide, both books to be published in the fall of 2006.
|
|
Jim Valentino was born in the Bronx, New York in 1952. He started his career in the late 1970s creating small press, self-published comics such as Christmas Comics and Kid Stuf’. His first full-color series, normalman, was published in 1984 by Aardvark-Vanaheim. In 1985, at Renegade Press, he launched his second series, the eponymously-titled Valentino. Jim left comics to work for a time in animation, He returned in 1989 at Marvel, where he re-created the Guardians of the Galaxy series. In 1992, he left Marvel along with a cadre of other artists to form Image Comics, for which he created the ultra-violent, HIV infected vigilante, ShadowHawk and the critically-acclaimed A Touch of Silver. He served as publisher of Image from 1999-2004, reshaping the company into one of the most stylistically diverse in the industry.
Jim has served on the Board of Directors of the Cartoon Art Museum and Image Comics, Inc., as well as on the steering committee of Free Comic Book Day. He has worked in an advisory capacity with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. He currently lives in Southern California with his sons Aaron and Joel.
|
|
