X-Men : Age of Apocalypse 1; Alpha

One of the most famous eras in X-Men history begins - twenty years in the future, ruled by the evil mutant Apocalypse!

Charles Xavier is dead — killed twenty years in the past during a time-travel accident — and the world created by his absence is a nightmare! Apocalypse rules with an iron fist, ruthlessly enforcing his dictum that only the strong shall survive. But hidden in the long shadow of En Sabah Nur is a group of ragtag freedom fighters led by Xavier’s oldest friend, Magneto: the X-Men! When Bishop, last survivor of the true Marvel Universe, explains how the world went wrong, these embittered mutants and their tenuous allies must risk everything to put things right!

COLLECTING: Uncanny X-Men (1981) 320-321, X-Men (1991) 40-41, Cable (1993) 20, X-Men Alpha, Generation Next 1, Astonishing X-Men (1995) 1, Gambit And The X-Ternals 1, Weapon X (1995) 1, Factor X 1, X-Man 1, X-Calibre 1, Amazing X-Men (1995) 1, X-Men: Age Of Apocalypse Ashcan Edition

Scott Lobdell wrote both Uncanny X-Men and X-Men during the 1990s. He also launched Generation X and Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, and penned Alpha Flight and Fantastic Four. Elsewhere, he wrote Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Fabian Nicieza, Wildstorm’s Gen13, Top Cow’s Darkness, and IDW’s Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression and Galaxy Quest. Lobdell scripted Stan Lee’s animated film Mosaic and has performed as a stand-up comedian.

New York Times best-selling author Mark Waid has worked for every major company in the comics industry in a nearly three-decade-long career, writing thousands of issues, including runs of Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, Ka-Zar and Fantastic Four. His other works of note include his collaboration with painter Alex Ross on Kingdom Come, which earned an Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. Waid enjoyed his greatest outpouring of critical acclaim with the Eisner Award-winning Daredevil — which included a revered collaboration with frequent artistic partner Chris Samnee. He later took on such diverse pop-cultural icons as Princess Leia and Archie, and ushered in a new era of greatness for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in All-New, All-Different Avengers. His Marvel work continued with Avengers, Black Widow, Captain America, Champions and Doctor Strange.

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 multititle 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 Roger Cruz got his start as a comic-book letterer in his native Brazil, lettering American comics for the Brazilian market. In the early ’90s, Cruz joined Art & Comics International, an association that introduced a stable of talented Brazilian artists to the American comics scene. Cruz’s work was soon seen in dozens of Marvel titles, including Generation X, X-Factor, Uncanny X-Men, X-Man and Ghost Rider. Cruz’s career reached a highpoint in 1995 with the release of X-Men Alpha, a one-shot that became the highest-selling comic book of the year for Marvel Comics. With more than one hundred Marvel comics to his credit, in 1997 Cruz focused his attentions to launching The Comic Book Factory (Fábrica de Quadrinhos), a Brazilian art school and studio dedicated to educating a new generation of comic-book artists. After a two-year teaching run, Cruz made his long-awaited return to American comics with a revival of Amazing Fantasy, featuring a new teenaged Latina heroine, Araña. After completing the eight-issue X-Men: First Class series, Cruz continues to be a popular contributor to comics in both the United States and Brazil.

Having begun his career on G.I. Joe, Eisner Award-nominated artist Ron Garney is known for well-received runs on Captain America and Amazing Spider-Man. He has teamed with writer Jason Aaron on Wolverine, Wolverine Weapon X and Ultimate Captain America. Garney has also contributed design work to such films as Will Smith’s I Am Legend and Nicolas Cage’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. His later Marvel work includes Uncanny X-Force and a collaboration with Charles Soule on Daredevil. Garney reunited with Aaron on Thor: God of Thunder and then the creator-owned Men of Wrath for Marvel’s Icon imprint.

After an artistic apprenticeship under famed father Joe Kubert, Andy Kubert got his start on DC’s space-opera variations Adam Strange and Warlord, as well as the best-selling crossover Batman vs. Predator in collaboration with brother Adam. Kubert’s Marvel career began with a six-year stint on X-Men — continuing into Thor, Ka-Zar, Ghost Rider and others. He collaborated with Orson Scott Card on Ultimate Iron Man, Neil Gaiman on Marvel 1602 and Paul Jenkins on Wolverine: Origin.