Who are the Comic Book Creators in the ‘Justice League’ Credits?

The recent DC Films releases have been prolific in naming comic book writers and artists for “special thanks,” and Justice League — now in its second week of release — is no exception.

The film lists over 20 comic book writers, artists, and editors from throughout DC’s history, including the creators of certain characters as well as key writers in the history of the heroes presented onscreen.

As we did with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman, we took some time to put together a list and explain who each one is and why they are likely included in the credits.

Jack Kirby got his own segment of screen, broken out from the others, and rather than a special thanks credit — Warner Bros.’ standard in these situations — he got “Fourth World created by Jack Kirby.” The spacing of the credits was such that, for a moment, there was no other text onscreen. For someone who has struggled to get the proper credit he deserves in comics and onscreen for decades, the way that Kirby has been celebrated and acknowledged by both Marvel and DC in the last year has been an inspiring change of pace.

The creators of Batman (Bob Kane with Bill Finger), Wonder Woman (William Moulton Marston), Superman (Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, by special arrangement with the Siegel family) and the Justice League of America (Gardner Fox) got similar created by credits as well. John Broome

Carmine Infantino was a major force in the creation of the Silver Age of comic books. His work in the ’50s and ’60s included the co-creation of numerous characters, most notably the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen. Infantino is widely regarded as one of the best comics artists of all time. He was also key in reimagining Batman for DC, and co-created Human Target, which became a short-lived FOX television series. He was also distinguished as an editor and, later in his career, worked on projects like Star Wars for Marvel Comics. It was under his editorial direction that DC wooed Jack Kirby, resulting in the creation of the New Gods, among many other enduring properties, for the publisher.

Robert Kanigher, along with his Suicide Squadron collaborator and Rick Flag co-creator Ross Andru, created years of fan-favorite Wonder Woman comics, collected in various formats including a pair of hefty, black-and-white Showcase Presents issue. From 1958 until 1967, the pair reinvented Wonder Woman, establishing her Silver Age status quo and introducing various members of the supporting cast. Given the importance of the Silver Age of comics to DC and Marvel’s multimedia franchises — you don’t see a ton of characters created before 1955 or after 1980, relatively speaking — it should be no surprise that the pair have their fingerprints all over the cinematic Wonder Woman and her world.

Harry Lampert was the artist on Flash Comics #1, making him the co-creator of the original Jay Garrick version of The Flash along with Gardner Fox. He did not work on many Flash comics, and did not have another hugely significant run in mainstream comics. Although he would occasionally work in comics, he split his time with animation and commercial art.

Jim Lee, the current co-publisher of DC Comics and one of the most popular artists of the last thirty years, is likely listed either for his editorial role, or because so much of the film is clearly inspired by the first arc of Lee’s run on Justice League from 2011, written by DC chief creative officer Geoff Johns, who has an executive producer role in the film.

Shawn Martinbrough is probably best known to DC fans as an artist on various Milestone comics in the ’90s, but he also had a run on Detective Comics, including the Batman: Evolution storyline, and served as a designer on The Dark Knight Rises.

Jack Miller had a wide range of contributions to DC’s silver age, although he was not closely identified with any one character who appeared in the movie. Per the DC Wiki, Miller created and wrote Sergeant Rock, and contributed to “Batman,” “Superman,” ” Wonder Woman”, “Showcase,” “Deadman,” “Tarzan,” “Action Comics,” “Detective Comics,” “Adventure Comics,” “Aquaman,” and “Phantom Stranger” comics. He has also done work as an editor and wrote for TV and animation.

Grant Morrison, who has had acclaimed runs on comics featuring Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, is also one of the most accomplished Justice League writers in decades, having rebooted the struggling franchise with 1997’s JLA alongside artist Howard Porter.

Paul Norris was an artist best known as co-creator of Aquaman, but he also worked on Golden Age titles like Sandman, and had a 35-year run as artist of the newspaper comic strip Brick Bradford.

George Perez was the creator of many of the most acclaimed and best-loved Wonder Woman stories of the modern era, as well as the writer and artist who reinvented the character for the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths era in the late ’80s. He also drew Crisis itself.

Howard Porter, who has had acclaimed runs on comics featuring The Flash and various other DC heroes, is also one of the most accomplished Justice League artists in decades, having rebooted the struggling franchise with 1997’s JLA alongside writer Grant Morrison before teaming with Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis on Justice League 3000.

James Robinson, the acclaimed writer of Starman, has also had lengthy runs on both the Superman and Justice League titles. He currently writes Wonder Woman.

Great Rucka and Nicola Scott were two-thirds of the acclaimed creative team (along with Liam Sharp) who reinvented Wonder Woman during DC’s recently-launched Rebirth initiative. Their run seems to have a symbiotic relationship with the films, both drawing from and contributing to the big-screen version of the heroine.

Curt Swan is possibly the most beloved artist in the history of Superman comics. Swan, among other things, drew Superman on Superman, Action Comics, and the Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane comics over the decades. He continued to contribute periodically to the Superman legacy after the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, but rarely, since his style was so closely associated with the pre-Crisis look of the character. His final work appeared in Superman: The Wedding Album.

Ethan Van Sciver was likely included for his work on The Flash: Rebirth, in which The Flash’s new origin (including his father’s wrongful incarceration) was established.

Len Wein was a longtime DC Comics writer and editor, who worked on dozens of titles including runs on Detective Comics, Justice League, and more. He also created Swamp Thing and was the editor on Watchmen. He passed away this year, and was given a full-page dedication in the final page of Doomsday Clock #1 this week.

Mort Weisinger was an editor best known for his time on Superman during the mid-1950s to 1960s, during which he helped to usher in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features as Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Johnny Quick, and served as story editor for the Adventures of Superman television series.

Marv Wolfman, one of the most influential DC Comics writers of the ’70s and ’80s, was (with Perez) the co-creator of Cyborg and Deathstroke, and was the writer of Crisis on Infinite Earths.