Chuck Austen (born Chuck Beckum) is an American comic book writer/artist, TV writer and animator. In the comics industry, he is known for his work on War Machine, Elektra, Action Comics, and the X-Men franchise, and in television, he is known for co-creating the animated TV series Tripping the Rift.

Austen grew up a military brat, and after his parents divorced, he was raised by his single mother in a housing project, an upbringing that he described as a struggle.

Austen’s early commercial work began in the 1980s, when he briefly illustrated Alan Moore's superhero series Miracleman, under his birth name "Chuck Beckum", which he later abandoned out of a desire to disassociate from his father's family name. About the same time Austen wrote and drew the semi-autobiographical black-and-white pornographic comic book series Strips, as well as Hardball. In the late 1980s, Austen drew the first five issues for the short-lived series Hero Sandwich for by Slave Labor Graphics. He also was involved in the lesser-known Dr. Radium and Lee Flea series, and slowly crossed over into DC Comics when he was assigned to Phantom Lady and Green Flame and drew Disney's The Little Mermaid limited series.

Brian Michael Bendis (born August 18, 1967) is an American comic book writer and former artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work, and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, with his books selling consistently highly for over a decade.

Starting out with crime and noir comics, Bendis eventually moved to mainstream superhero work. With Bill Jemas and Mark Millar, Bendis was the primary architect of the Ultimate Marvel Universe, launching Ultimate Spider-Man in 2001, on which he continues as writer to the present day. He relaunched the Avengers franchise with New Avengers in 2004, and has also written the Marvel "event" storylines "House Of M", "Secret War", 2008's "Secret Invasion" and 2009's "Siege".

Though Bendis has cited comic book writers such as Frank Miller and Alan Moore, his own writing influences are less rooted in comics, drawing considerably on the work of David Mamet, Richard Price, and Aaron Sorkin, whose dialogue Bendis feels are "the best in any medium."

In the Woods is a 2007 mystery novel by Tana French about a pair of Irish detectives and their investigation of the murder of a twelve year old girl. The novel won several awards such as the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel By An American Author, the 2008 Barry Award for Best First Novel, the 2008 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel, and the 2008 Anthony Award for Best First Novel.

Twenty years prior to the novel's events, twelve year-old Adam and his two best friends failed to come home after playing in the familiar woods bordering their Irish housing estate. A search is called by the families, and the police find Adam shivering, clawing the bark of a nearby tree, blood on his shoes and slash marks on his back. He is unable to tell them what happened or where his friends are. His amnesia holds to the present day, where he goes by his middle name, Rob, to avoid the attention of the media to his famous case. His friends were never found.

The plot of the novel circles around the murder of a twelve year old girl, Katy Devlin, whose case Rob and his partner Cassie Maddox are given to investigate. The body is found in the same woods where Rob’s friends disappeared, at an archeological dig site, and the coincidence is enough to make Rob nervous, though he insists to his partner that he is fine.

Chuck Treece (born June 30, 1964) is a session musician and professional skateboarder from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His credits include starting the 1980s skate punk band McRad, remixing songs for Amy Grant and Sting, playing the bass line on "The River of Dreams" by Billy Joel, filling in on drums at a Pearl Jam concert, and touring with Urge Overkill and Bad Brains. In 2010, he was awarded a Pew Fellowships in the Arts.

Treece grew up in Newark, Delaware, where he attended John Dickinson High School, but moved to Philadelphia in 1982 because, according to Treece, "I was sick of high-school and I knew I wasn't going to college. I knew I wanted to do music and skate." Between 1982 and 1990, he was a professional skater with endorsements by several companies, including Santa Cruz Skateboards, Powell-Peralta, and Airwalk sneakers. Treece released two albums with his band McRad, Absence of Sanity in the 1980s (rereleased 2001) and FDR in 2007. He also played guitar with New York Hardcore band Underdog and recorded on their 1989 LP "Vanishing Point". In 1991, he also released a solo album on Caroline Records titled Dream'n. Most recently, Treece joined producer Chris DiBeneditto at Philadelphonic Studios to record the drum tracks for The Movement's 2008 rock/reggae album Set Sail. After recording the album, fellow McRad bandmember Gary Jackson took on the role as drummer for The Movement. Treece continues to skate at FDR Skatepark in Philadelphia and works closely with legendary producer Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo. In 2010 Treece joined Philly/NYC punk band Plastic Eaters as their resident drummer.

Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do. As a result of his "tough guy" image, an Internet phenomenon began in 2005 known as Chuck Norris facts, ascribing various implausible or even impossible feats to Norris.

Norris appeared in a number of action films, such as Way of the Dragon in which he starred alongside Bruce Lee, and was The Cannon Group's leading star in the 1980s. He next played the starring role in the television series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993 to 2001.

Norris is a devout Christian and politically conservative. He has written several books on Christianity and donated to a number of Republican candidates and causes. In 2007 and 2008, he campaigned for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who was running for the Republican nomination for President in 2008. In the 2012 election he endorsed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Norris also writes a column for the conservative website WorldNetDaily.