Marvel-Verse: Mary Jane

Wisconsin-born writer Sean McKeever is best known for titles featuring youthful protagonists — including Gravity; the cast of Inhumans; Juston Seyfert of Sentinel; Nomad; Young Allies; Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt; and McKeever’s personal hero, the web-slinger himself, in Marvel Adventures Spider-Man and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. His Marvel credits also include Ultimate X-Men, Marvel Age Fantastic Four, Mega Morphs, the Elektra movie adaptation, Mystique and Spider-Man Family.

Kurt Busiek is perhaps most famous for his Eisner Award-winning collaboration with Alex Ross on Marvels, a fully painted classic that still amazes a quarter of a century later. Busiek launched Thunderbolts in the wake of “Heroes Reborn,” later writing Avengers and Iron Man upon the heroes’ return to the Marvel Universe. He teamed his two signature supergroups in the Avengers vs. Thunderbolts miniseries and spanned the history of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers Forever. He has revisited the Modern Era’s early years in such titles as Amazing Fantasy, Iron Man: The Iron Age, Thor: Godstorm and Untold Tales of Spider-Man. At DC, he has written multiple Justice League and Superman titles, and even pitted the Avengers against the JLA in a blockbuster crossover. Busiek launched his own super-hero multiverse with his Astro City series, which he’s been writing since 1995. Busiek has returned to the world of Marvels for various projects, including curating Marvels Snapshots and writing the series The Marvels.

Writer and editor Louise Simonson launched Power Pack and Web of Spider-Man and wrote memorable runs on New Mutants and X-Factor — helping map out the “Mutant Massacre,” “Inferno” and “X-Tinction Agenda” crossovers. Her major editorial credits include Star Wars and Uncanny X-Men. At DC, she wrote multiple Superman titles and became one of the main creative forces behind the “Death of Superman” saga; her scripts also appeared in Detective Comics, New Titans and more. She returned to Marvel to write the Galactus the Devourer limited series and 1999-2000’s Warlock, starring characters from New Mutants.

Canadian artist Takeshi Miyazawa developed his style from his lifelong love of anime and manga. His unique artistry first flavored projects including Sidekicks, Runaways and Amazing Fantasy, leading to Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane in collaboration with writer Sean McKeever. Miyazawa has subsequently specialized in illustrating many of Marvel’s leading female characters, adding Mary Jane, Ms. Marvel, Silk and Ghost-Spider to his resumé.

Best known for long runs on Spider-Girl and Untold Tales of Spider-Man, artist Pat Olliffe has also illustrated such Marvel series as Nomad, Sensational She-Hulk, Thor, Thor Corps, Unlimited Access, Warlock and the Infinity Watch, Last Hero Standing and Last Planet Standing.

Artist Mary Wilshire’s career at Marvel Comics is perhaps defined by her portrayal of three very different redheaded heroines: Red Sonja, Firestar and — in a movie adaptation — the Little Mermaid. Her further credits include work with such diverse characters as Ka-Zar, Power Pack, Spider-Man, Barbie and Conan, while the many accomplishments of her wider career in illustration including designing the Blues Brothers logo.