Tag: passings

Rest in peace, Trina Robbins

The influential comics creator and pioneer has passed away at the age of 85.

“Trina wears her wampum beads
She fills her drawing book with line
Sewing lace on widows’ weeds
And filigree on leaf and vine
Vine and leaf are filigree
And her coat’s a secondhand one
Trimmed with antique luxury
She is a lady of the canyon”

–Joni Mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon

Trina Robbins, a comics creator, historian, advocate and pioneering figure in the underground comix movement — and, yes, the “Trina” Joni Mitchell sang about in 1970 — passed away yesterday at the age of 85.

Her death was first reported by her daughter on social media last night, followed by tributes and obituaries by her fans, fellow artists and news outlets, including The New York Times and Forbes. Forbes reported that Robbins passed away following a stroke that left her hospitalized earlier this year.

“Not only was she a legendary creator of comics, she was also one of comics’ greatest historians and researchers, and a guiding light to countless girls and women who had a hard time believing there was space for them in this art form,” Gail Simone said in a remembrance of her “hero, friend and mentor.”

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Rest in peace, Mark D. Bright

The artist of ‘Quantum & Woody,’ ‘Iron Man,’ ‘Icon’ and more was 68.

Mark “M.D.” Bright, an artist whose resume included drawing iconic runs on Iron Man and Green Lantern, as well as co-creating the Valiant Comics series Quantum and Woody and the Milestone Media series Icon, has passed away.

Bright died on March 27 at the age of 68. While no cause of death has been reported, an obituary posted by the funeral home notes he passed away “peacefully.”

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Rest in peace, Ed Piskor

The creator of ‘Hip Hop Family Tree’ passed away on Monday.

Ed Piskor, the creator of Hip Hop Family Tree and X-Men: Grand Design, has passed away at the age of 41.

According to the obituary posted on the Savolskis – Wasik – Glenn Funeral Home website, Piskor passed away “unexpectedly” yesterday. His sister, Justine Cleaves, confirmed her brother’s passing on Facebook.

The news followed a week of allegations against the artist for inappropriate behavior and grooming of an aspiring artist. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust  indefinitely postponed a gallery showing of Piskor’s artwork as a result of the allegations, and his longtime podcast partner Jim Rugg announced he was ending his working relationship with Piskor. Piskor posted an apparent suicide note on social media yesterday several hours before it was revealed he had died.

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Quick Hits | Nirvana Comics in Knoxville wins the first Image Select Retailer Award

Plus: News on Rob Liefeld, Scout Comics, G. Willow Wilson and the Robert E. Howard awards.

Nirvana Comics in Knoxville, Tennessee has won Image Comics’ inaugural Image Select Retailer Award. The winner was announced this weekend at the Emerald City Comic Con during an event hosted by Lunar Distribution.

Images Comics announced the award last month as a way to recognize retailers “that are going above and beyond to serve their customers, expand readership and grow a healthier marketplace.” Customers were able to vote for their favorite store via an online form.

“This is such a huge honor,” said Grant and Jasmine Mitchell, co-owners of the store. “Thank you Image Comics for all you’ve done to help the comic shop industry. Thank you to all our customers who nominated us. Your support and friendship is why we do this everyday. The best is yet to come!”

According to Image, the shop was in the top tier of most nominations by sheer volume from “happy customers eager to pay it forward to the store they love.” They’ll receive several prizes from Image, including a commemorative medallion and their choice of a comic with a gold foil exclusive variant cover branded with their store logo.

“The response to this award was phenomenal with thousands of nominations submitted in just a few days,” said Alex Cox, director of direct market sales at Image Comics. “Reading that many testimonials from people praising their local comic shops was a great reminder of how amazing the comics community can be, and Nirvana Comics stood out as a prime example of a store that truly values their customers, and makes new fans every day.”

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Rest in peace, Ramona Fradon

The Hall of Fame comics artist and co-creator of Metamorpho and Aqualad has passed away at 97.

Ramona Fradon, the longtime DC artist and co-creator of Metamorpho, passed away yesterday at the age of 97 — a little more than a month after officially retiring from drawing comics.

The news was announced by her art agent, Scott Kress of Catskill Comics, on Facebook.

“Ramona was 97 and had a long career in the comic book industry and was still drawing just a few days ago. She was a remarkable person in so many ways. I will miss all the great conversations and laughs we had. I am blessed that I was able to work with her on a professional level, but also able to call her my friend,” the post reads.

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Rest in peace, Paul Neary

The former editor-in-chief of Marvel UK and veteran artist passed away on Feb. 10 after a long illness.

Paul Neary, the former Marvel UK editor-in-chief and artist of Captain America, Excalibur, The Ultimates and more, has passed away at the age of 74. Neary died of a long illness on Feb. 10, as reported by his longtime colleague Alan Davis and shared by Paul Levitz.

“In a career of more than 50 years Paul earned international respect and recognition in numerous roles within the comic book industry,” Davis shared. “Paul could write, pencil, ink, colour, letter and edit. Skills he learned from studying the medium with an academic zeal.”

Neary was born in Bournemouth, England in 1949, and would attend college at Leeds University. According to Davis, Neary traveled to New York over his first summer at university to try and break into the comics industry.

“Comics were an enthusiastic hobby for Paul when he moved to Leeds University to study for a degree in Metallurgy, but in his first summer break Paul travelled to New York, bluffed his way into Jim Warren’s office, and secured his first professional work on Eerie magazine,” Davis said.

Neary’s work would regularly appear in Eerie, where he drew the “Hunter” series, which was about a half-breed warrior who fights for survival on a weird, irradiated alternate Earth.

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Quick Hits | Rest in peace, José Delbo

Plus: Amy Chu, Rob Liefeld, Frank Johnson and what the heck is going on with Cadence Comic Art?

José María Del Bó, known professionally as José Delbo, passed away at the age of 90 yesterday. The news was reported on social media by his grandson.

The Argentine comics artist career began in the 1940s as a teenager, with a science fiction tale that appeared Carlos Clemen’s Suspenso title. He left Argentina in the 1960s, migrating first to Brazil and then to the United States in 1965. He worked for Charlton, Dell and Gold Key, contributing art to many of their TV adaptations, including The Brady Bunch, Gentle Ben, The Monkees, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and Yellow Submarine.

In the late 1960s, he began drawing comics for DC, working on Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, World’s Finest, Batman Family and Wonder Woman, which he drew for about five years in the late 1970s. From there he moved to Marvel, where he worked on their popular Transformers comic, as well as ThunderCats, Captain Planet and the Planeteers and NFL SuperPro. He also worked on The Phantom and the Superman comic strips.

Together he and writer Simon Furman created Brute Force, a short-lived Marvel series that was intended to be a toy line, but that never came to pass. The series was revived a couple years ago as an Infinity Comics title.

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Quick Hits | Massachusetts police officer searched an 8th grade classroom for a copy of ‘Gender Queer’

Plus: News on IDW, Fantagraphics, Joe Sacco, Jim Lee, Chris Gooch and more.

In a chilling chapter in the ongoing culture war against LGBTQ+ books and graphic novels, several sources reported that a plain-clothes police officer searched an eighth grade classroom for a copy of the graphic novel Gender Queer in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

The officer notified the school he was coming and was accompanied by the principal as he searched for the memoir by Maia Kobabe, which has topped the most banned book list for the last couple years. The search reportedly took place after school hours and was the result of a single complaint by a community member.

“Police going into schools and searching for books is the sort of thing you hear about in communist China and Russia. What are we doing?” Ruth A. Bourquin, senior and managing attorney for the ACLU of Massachusetts, told the Berkshire Eagle.

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Rest in peace, Keith Giffen

The prolific writer and artist whose career spanned decades and countless titles at Marvel, DC and more has passed away.

Keith Giffen, co-creator of Lobo, Jaime Reyes, Jack of Hearts, Maxwell Lord, and Rocket Raccoon, and co-author of some of the best Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes comics of all time, has passed away.

The news broke on Giffen’s Facebook page, with a post that captured Giffen’s spirit and sense of humor:

“Keith was probably the most fertile creative mind of our generation in comics,” said Paul Levitz, who worked with Giffen on Legion of Super-Heroes. “He had an infinite number of ideas, pouring constantly out. Many, thankfully, never saw print as wholly insane or inappropriate. But the ones that did!”

The duo worked together on roughly five years worth of Legion stories. “Many of them he made far better than they might have been with any other collaborator, because of his ideas and contributions to character moments and drama,” Levitz continued. “A few we had rough times on, but I think no more than could be expected in a long relationship.”

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Rest in Peace, John Romita Sr.

The iconic artist of ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ and art director for Marvel passed away at the age of 93.

John Romita Sr., one of the greatest Spider-Man artists of all time and the amn who defined the look of many Marvel characters across several decades, has passed away, his son reported on social media. He was 93 years old.

“He was the greatest man I ever met,” John Romita Jr. said on Twitter. He said his father passed away “peacefully in his sleep.”

While Romita’s career started in the late 1940s with runs at Timely and then DC, where he drew romance comics in the late 1950s and 1960s, he’s best known for his long tenure at Marvel. He joined the company in 1965 to draw Daredevil, but soon replaced the departing Steve Ditko on Amazing Spider-Man, the character he’d most be associated with.

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Rest in peace, Al Jaffee

The world’s longest-working cartoonist and MAD Magazine veteran has passed away at the age of 102.

Al Jaffee, whose career as a working cartoonist spanned more than 70 years, has passed away at the age of 102.

Multiple outlets, from The Washington Post to the New York Times to the BBC and CNN and many more, paid tribute to the record-setting cartoonist. Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson.

At The Comics Journal, Michael Dean has written an extensive obituary for Jaffee, and I’ll also point you to Alex Dueben’s lengthy post from 2020 on Jaffee when the MAD Magazine icon retired. At the time, Dueben said:

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Quick Hits | ‘Dilbert’ fallout

Also: news on Dina Norlund, Cartoonist Cooperative, the Minicomic Awards and more.

With the comic strip Dilbert being dropped by both newspapers and its distributor after its creator’s racist remarks on YouTube, many newspapers have a gap to fill on their comics page. The Washington Post will fill their Dilbert-sized hole with Heart of the City by Steenz, and Women Write About Comics caught up with the cartoonist at the Emerald City Comic Con to talk about the change.

“I think it’s a big deal because of two reasons,” Steenz told WWAC. “Reason number one is that I’m Black, and he hates Black people. [laughs] No, but it’s a nice way to just stick it to him, you know? But it’s also a big deal because we still rarely see a new influx of creators and syndicated comic strips, and I would like to see more of that. Obviously, legacy comics are there for a reason. Everyone’s going to want to keep reading Zits, everyone’s going to keep reading, you know, Jump Start, because those creators are still around and they want to keep making those comics. But I also want to see some new things. You should be able to get a newspaper and find someone new and not just have the old standards.”

In related news, the Associated Press spoke with several cartoonists about Scott Adams and his remarks, including Candorville creator Darin Bell, who is running a response to Adams in his comic strip this week.

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