X-Force Epic Collection 8: Armageddon Now

John Francis Moore wrote memorable stints on X-Force and X-Factor, also scripting the latter’s “Age of Apocalypse” incarnation Factor X. He returned to the AoA for the Sinister Bloodlines one-shot and worked his way across additional timelines in Wolverine: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Phoenix and X-Men 2099, which he wrote from start to finish. Moore also launched Doom 2099 and wrote more than half that series. At DC, he co-created additional alternate realities in Chronos, Elseworld’s Finest and Superman: The Dark Side, as well as writing one-shots Batman/Scarecrow 3-D, Batman/Poison Ivy and, in collaboration with Howard Chaykin, Batman/Houdini, which won a Don Thompson Award for Best Graphic Novel. Moore and Chaykin also collaborated on DC’s Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution and First Comics’ American Flagg!.

Since his start on the New Universe’s Psi-Force and backup stories in Classic X-Men, Fabian Nicieza has written most of Marvel’s major super-teams — including Alpha Flight, the Avengers, the New Warriors, the Thunderbolts and the X-Men. Together with artist Rob Liefeld, Nicieza transformed New Mutants into the blockbuster X-Force. The writer also tackled solo heroes ranging from Cable and Deadpool (later combined in Cable & Deadpool) to Gambit and Nomad. He edited Marvel’s Star imprint, contributed to multi-title X-events like “X-Cutioner’s Song” and “Phalanx Covenant,” and wrote various “pre-modern” limited series such as Adventures of Captain America and Citizen V and the V-Battalion. Elsewhere, he has written both JLA and Justice League Adventures, The 99, Turok, X-Files, and others.

Artist Jim Cheung began his association with Marvel Comics in the 1990s, drawing titles such as Black Knight, Force Works, Iron Man, Maverick and an extensive run on X-Force. He also did popular work on the CrossGen series Scion. In 2005, Cheung launched the critically acclaimed Young Avengers with writer Allan Heinberg. He went on to illustrate New Avengers: Illuminati with writer Brian Michael Bendis, and reunited with Heinberg and their signature Young Avengers characters in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade. Cheung’s modern-yet-classic style has made him highly sought-after for covers and event series, including contributions to Infinity, Avengers & X-Men: Axis and Civil War II.

In addition to illustrating annuals for New Mutants, X-Factor and X-Force, Terry Shoemaker helped conclude the “Heroes Reborn” version of Iron Man and contributed to the armored Avenger’s subsequent relaunch. He also penciled Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes for DC, CyberRad for Continuity and Zealot for Image, as well several Wildstorm stories.

Tommy Lee Edwards worked his way up in the industry as an upstart artist taking on such popular characters as Batman, Hellboy, Daredevil and Star Trek. He soon found Hollywood fertile ground for his talents, his influence growing after his work on film style guides, with credits in big-budget movies such as Batman Begins, Superman Returns and Men in Black II. Edwards provided the art for Marvel’s Bullet Points, a limited series written by the renowned J. Michael Straczynski, and collaborated with writer Mark Millar on the high-concept series 1985.