Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties. Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman. Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

Wiacek got his start in the mid-1970s as a member of the "Crusty Bunkers" inking collective. For a short time in 1975–1976 he inked backgrounds (over Curt Swan's pencils) on Superman for DC Comics. He moved on to regular inking work for DC, and then in 1978 began a long association with Marvel. Wiacek has inked over such pencilers as Carmine Infantino on Star Wars, John Romita Jr. on The Uncanny X-Men, June Brigman on Power Pack, John Byrne on Sensational She-Hulk, and Walter Simonson on X-Factor and Orion and George Pérez Brave and the Bold, volume 2. He has also worked with creators such as Bob Budiansky, Colleen Doran, Ron Garney, Mike Grell, Michael Netzer (Nasser), Kevin Nowlan, Don Perlin, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Barry Windsor-Smith. Over the years, Wiacek has also inked comics published by Dark Horse and Valiant. Photographed by Luigi Novi.