Creator Spotlight

Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly have become one of the most prolific writing partnerships in modern comics, moving comfortably between Star Trek, Batman Beyond, the DC Multiverse, Marvel superheroes, fantasy, horror and creator-owned work.

They are often referred to as the Hivemind, a nickname that fits the way they write: not as two separate voices taking turns, but as a genuine creative partnership.

For Collector's Paradise, Lanzing and Kelly are also among the creators with whom we have built one of our deepest ongoing Signature Series relationships. We have worked with them across publishers, genres and franchises, from Star Trek and Outsiders to Power Man: Timeless, NYX, Principles of Necromancy and Wifwulf.

The Hivemind

Lanzing and Kelly have written together across comics, television, film and interactive media, but comics have become the place where many readers know their partnership best.

Their bibliography crosses nearly every corner of the industry. At DC, they have written Batman Beyond: Neo-Year, its sequel Neo-Gothic, and a radically reinvented Outsiders. At Marvel, their work includes Kang the Conqueror, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, Guardians of the Galaxy, NYX, Venom War: Spider-Man, Thunderbolts and Power Man: Timeless. Their creator-owned and independent work includes books such as Joyride, Wifwulf and Principles of Necromancy.

That range is a big part of what makes the partnership interesting. A Lanzing/Kelly book may be superhero continuity one month, space opera the next and strange horror after that, but their work usually revolves around systems, identity, legacy and the way people respond when the world they understood changes around them.

Star Trek

Star Trek has become one of the defining parts of Lanzing and Kelly's career.

Their first work in the franchise came through IDW, and they later took the helm of major ongoing Star Trek comics. Their run helped build toward large interconnected stories that drew characters and ideas from across the franchise's history.

Collector's Paradise has worked with Lanzing and Kelly on multiple Star Trek projects, including Star Trek #500, The Last Starship and the Lore War event.

Batman Beyond and Outsiders

At DC, Lanzing and Kelly helped reshape the future of Gotham through Batman Beyond: Neo-Year.

The series places Terry McGinnis in a Neo-Gotham where Bruce Wayne is gone and the city itself has become an adversary. DC followed the miniseries with Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic, reuniting the writers with artist Max Dunbar and pushing Terry into the buried history beneath the futuristic city.

Their next major DC project, Outsiders, took another familiar title in an unexpected direction. Rather than simply assembling another superhero team, the series used Batwoman and Luke Fox to investigate the forgotten, strange and unexplored corners of DC continuity. DC described it as a kind of comic-book archaeology, which is an unusually accurate description of Lanzing and Kelly's approach to established universes - and a hint to the project's true, hidden nature as a direct sequel to one of the Hivemind's favorite comics of all time: Planetary.

Collector's Paradise supported the entire run with signed Signature Series options, including both halves of the series and a complete Outsiders #1-11 set signed by Lanzing and Kelly.

Marvel: From Kang to Power Man

Marvel has given the pair another large playground.

The Hivemind is perhaps best known at Marvel for "The Revolution Saga" - a story centered on Bucky Barnes told across several different runs, from Devil's Reign to Captain America to Thunderbolts. Their characterization of Bucky's purpose beyond the Winter Soldier has become central to the Marvel Universe in the aftermath, helping to spur on the recent event Avengers: Armageddon.

Their work on Kang the Conqueror explored one of Marvel's most complicated time-travel characters. Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty placed Steve Rogers inside a conspiracy tied directly to the symbolism of his shield. Their Guardians of the Galaxy run pushed Marvel's cosmic heroes into a western-influenced frontier.

More recent work has included NYX, Venom War: Spider-Man, Thunderbolts and Power Man: Timeless. Marvel describes Power Man as a future Luke Cage transformed into an almost impossibly powerful hero and thrown back into the modern Marvel Universe.

Those projects have also become part of our ongoing relationship with the team. Collector's Paradise has offered signed editions for NYX, Venom War: Spider-Man, Thunderbolts, Power Man: Timeless and other Marvel work.

Beyond the Big Two

Some of the most interesting Lanzing/Kelly projects happen outside Marvel and DC.

Wifwulf is a violent, strange and deeply personal horror story. Principles of Necromancy approaches dark fantasy through the idea of necromancy as a developing science. Joyride is a bright, rebellious science-fiction adventure about escaping Earth and discovering a much larger universe.

They were even personally selected by Brandon Sanderson to create a brand new graphic novel, Dark One, based on the famous author's concepts - which became a humanist, dark meditation on the role of the villain in fantasy tales.

Those projects show why the writing partnership works so well across licensed universes: they are not dependent on established characters. They bring their own ideas, structures and obsessions with them.

Lanzing, Kelly and Collector's Paradise

Our history with Jackson and Collin now spans a remarkable number of books.

Collector's Paradise Signature Series projects have included Star Trek #500, Star Trek: The Last Starship, Star Trek: Lore War, Giant-Size X-Men, NYX, Venom War: Spider-Man, Power Man: Timeless, Thunderbolts, Outsiders, Principles of Necromancy, Wifwulf and Joyride.

And that list keeps growing. Current projects include signed editions of Dungeons & Dragons and You'll Never Leave This Place Alive, alongside several still-available Signature Series sets.

That breadth is what makes Lanzing/Kelly such a natural Creator Spotlight for us. They are not creators we worked with once on a single hit book. They are a team whose next project regularly becomes another opportunity for us to connect readers with signed copies directly from the writers.

Browse our Lanzing/Kelly collection for current signed comics, Signature Series sets and available pre-orders.

You can also explore more creator-signed projects in our Collector's Paradise Signature Series.