Ben Pullam

Ben Pullam has the distinction of being present at the very beginning of one of modern comics' most celebrated humanist superhero universes — debuting in the landmark first issue of Kurt Busiek's Astro City in 1996, crafted by Kurt Busiek and Brent E. Anderson. That's rarefied ground, sharing early pages with icons of the Astro City world like the Confessor, Crackerjack, and Jack-in-the-Box. While his catalog footprint is modest across the series' impressive 27-year run, his roots in that debut issue give him a genuine piece of comics history — a quiet corner of a richly imagined world that rewards the attentive reader who notices every face in the crowd.