Dave Lanphear, a comic book letterer and designer whose credits included Thunderbolts, Mighty Avengers, Secret Warriors, Spider-Man Noir, Batman: The Long Halloween, Superman ’78 and hundreds of other comics, died last week at the age of 58.
His death was shared by his sister, Tera Lanphear, on Facebook, as well as by his business partner, Jan Utstein, who said he died of complications from diabetes.
“David was kind and generous to a fault,” Utstein said. “He loved his family and he especially loved his fiance Laura Bee and their cats. What ultimately took him was an insanely high blood sugar level. Dave was an incredibly talented guy. I will miss him.”
Born June 5, 1968, in Lansing, Michigan, Lanphear studied commercial art and journalism at California State University Stanislaus. He began working professionally in comics in 1990, lettering books for Parody Press and then Malibu Comics, where he worked in their in-house art department. It was around that time they launched the Ultraverse, and Lanphear worked on several of those titles, including Night Man, Strangers and Solitaire. He also inked issues of Robotech and some of the trading cards they released.
In 1993, Lanphear went to work for the renowned design studio Comicraft as their third employee. In his five years there, he learned the still-current digital pipeline for comics lettering and production, and provided lettering for Marvel, DC, Image, WildStorm, Cliffhanger and Extreme, among others. He left his mark on books like Battle Chasers, Danger Girl, WildCATS/X-Men, Heroes Reborn and Heroes Return.
He left Comicraft for CrossGen, the start-up comics publisher founded by Mark Alessi in Florida, recruited him. He served as CrossGen’s design director from 1999 to 2004, working on more than 500 publications during his time there. He also helped develop CrossGen’s early digital comics subscription service, their Comics on the Web platform.
“Shocked and saddened to hear of Dave Lanphear’s passing,” said another CrossGen alum, writer Ron Marz. “I worked with Dave at CrossGen, went to his wedding. Great letterer and designer, the CrossGen books looked like they did thanks to Dave.”
Logo design by Dave Lanphear
After CrossGen’s demise, Lanphear founded Artmonkeys Studios and continued to work as a freelance letterer, designer, illustrator, colorist and artist. His lettering credits continued to grow at companies like Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, Valiant, Archaia, Bad Idea and more. At Marvel alone, they included Kurt Busiek and George Pérez’s Avengers, the original Thunderbolts, Mighty Avengers, Secret Warriors, Avengers Origins, Spider-Man Noir, Legion of Monsters and numerous other series. Marvel’s own catalog lists hundreds of publications associated with Lanphear.
But his work wasn’t limited to just superhero comics. Lanphear lettered Grendel, Mage, Fraggle Rock, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard and numerous independent and licensed comics. He lettered Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann and Janet Lee, which won an Eisner Award in 2011. He was also a multiple Harvey Award nominee for lettering.
“It is with a very heavy heart that news of another friend has passed,” McCann wrote on social media. “David Lanphear, artist and letterer and all around nice person has passed. Janet Lee and I always considered Dave as the third part of the Return of the Dapper Men family. He lettered almost all of my creator owned books and was an amazing soul. Rest in peace, my dear art monkey friend.”
Beyond his comics work, Lanphear worked as a storyboard artist and story producer, including on the first two episodes of the 2012 animated Ultimate Spider-Man series.
Many more of his fellow creators took to social media to remember him:
“I’m just hearing that we’ve lost another of the Crossgen family, the great Dave Lanphear. I’m having a tough time processing it. Gone far, far too soon. I’m having a hard time even thinking what to say, but Dave’s work was a key part of Crossgen and he was so incredibly kind to me in my short time there and in the years after. He is going to be very, very missed,” wrote creator Matthew Dow Smith.
“Sad to hear about the passing of friend and collaborator Dave Lanphear. Dave lettered and designed a lot of my books. From High Cost Of Happily Ever After to the Runner to Heart of the Hero to Foot Soldiers. Hopes and best wishes and prayers to his family and friends,” wrote writer Jim Krueger.
“R.I.P., fellow letterer Dave Lanphear. First noticed his work when he was the on staff letterer at Crossgen. He had an elegant look & style to his work which blended well with their books. Spoke with him a few times over the phone and via email and always enjoyed talking with him. Gone way too soon,” wrote letterer Pat Brosseau.
“My friend Dave Lanphear has passed away and I’m barely processing it. We hadn’t talked in a few years due to a slight falling out about money and work. Boring grownup shit, but I always assumed we’d hang out and laugh our asses off again, like we always did. Dave was my first friend when I moved to Los Angeles, where I literally didn’t know ANYone. He taught me SO much about art and art history and animation and just STUFF, in general. Always called him my flakey Obi-Wan Kenobi, because his work ethic could be a bit flaky. Over time he and I became like brothers, which also means we disagreed like brothers, but I’m gonna miss him like crazy and I just desperately wanna call him to see how he’s doing. I can’t stop crying and I’m not thrilled about being an only child again now that my estranged big brother has moved on. I already miss you, bub. Drop me a line when you get to where you’re going,” wrote letterer Troy Peteri.