Behind the Panel with comic book legends Walt and Louise Simonson

Within the comic book industry, you'd be hard pressed to find a couple more beloved than Walt Simonson and his wife, Louise Simonson. Separately, the Simonsons have more than earned a place in the comic book hall of fame. Louise Simonson helped guide the X-Men franchise through the '80s and wrote New Mutants and X-Factor, in addition to co-creating Apocalypse and Power Pack. Walt Simonson wrote and drew the definitive run of Thor before moving on to several other characters.

In the latest episode of SYFY WIRE's Behind the Panel, we caught up with the Simonsons and they shared the story about how they met in 1973 before Louise was even directly in the comic book industry. They also explained how Louise ended up on the cover of the comic that introduced Swamp Thing.

The Simonsons also looked back at the first X-Men crossover, The Mutant Massacre, and explained how they helped build that event into an annual Marvel tradition. Louise went on to tell us how she and Rob Liefeld co-created Cable, as well as her part in bringing Apocalypse to prominence in the X-Men titles. Walt made some important contributions to Apocalypse's Jack Kirby-inspired physical appearance, which may be why Jackson "Butch" Guice forgot that he co-created the character!

"Marvel came back to us about who created [Apocalypse]," recalled Simonson. "Jackson had forgotten that he had invented him. He thought I had done it. Like an idiot, I said, 'No, no, Jackson, it was you!' I should have just said, 'Oh yeah, send me the checks.'"

For more lovely tales from the first couple of comics, check out the full video!