R.I.P. and Thanks for Everything

[jjreason]

This one sucks. I consider myself a Romita guy, as opposed to a Ditko guy when it comes to 60's Spidey. I have the sad.

Do we even start the debate? Greatest first appearance panel ever? I think MJ is up there for sure. Thank you for that, JR SR.

[Tom Foolery]

This one sucks. I consider myself a Romita guy, as opposed to a Ditko guy when it comes to 60's Spidey. I have the sad.

Do we even start the debate? Greatest first appearance panel ever? I think MJ is up there for sure. Thank you for that, JR SR.

I have no idea how I acquired it, but I have that issue.
Part of that collection I got a couple weekends ago had the first three volumes of Essential Spider-Man in it. So I can read the first 60-ish issues of ASM if I ever get the time.

[jjreason]

What an awesome book to have. 39 & 40 are truly special (and so were 32, 33 & 34, just so we're giving Steve some props here as well). I am still taking the long route towards reading all of it as part of my big 60's read-a-thon. Speaking of which, I have taken a good long break from that & it's time to refocus.

[Tom Foolery]

Dan Green, inker extraordinaire, at age 70 after a long illness.

He was THE inker on Uncanny X-Men for Romita Jr’s and Marc Silvestri’s runs. So basically my introduction to the X-Men. He then followed Silvestri over to Wolverine during his and Hama’s run on that book. His ink graces what IMO is the definitive Uncanny X-Men cover, issue 251 with Wolverine trussed up on the ‘X’.

R.I.P. Mr. Green and thank you for everything.

[jjreason]

[Tom Foolery]

Keith Giffen, writer and artist on way too many things to list. Created Rocket Raccoon. Created Lobo.
From a stroke. He was 70.


The first thing he did that brought him to my attention was the absurdly hilarious Justice League International with JM DeMatties and Kevin Maguire. Batman knocked out Guy Gardner with one punch, J’onn J’onzz obsessed over Oreos, and Booster and Beetle became the Laurel & Hardy of DC.

RIP Mr Giffen and thanks for everything. Have one more ‘Bwahahahah!’ for the road.

[Tom Foolery]

Paul Neary; artist, inker, writer, editor. Age 74.

I mostly associate him with Alan Davis. He’d ink Davis’ pencils on Excalibur, X-Men, Detective Comics and plenty of other stuff.
He also was the editor on Marvel UK and introduced us to Death’s Head II, Motormouth, Dark Angel, Digitek, etc.

He also inked Bryan Hitch’s Ultimates and Authority runs.

R.I.P Mr. Neary and thank you for everything.

[jjreason]

Ed Piskor (Hip Hop Family Tree, X-Men Grand Design) has passed away following an apparent suicide. There were some unsavory allegations made against him over the past few weeks. As per usual the internet piranhas were quick to decide he was guilty before any real evidence was heard & went after him hard. Now he's dead & Rob Liefeld has a heartfelt message to share.

[Tom Foolery]

Mark ‘M.D.’ Bright, prolific artist for Marvel and DC. Age 68. He helped start Milestone and later on co-created Quantum & Woody.

Bright was drawing GIJoe just as I got into buying comics on a regular basis, and he was on Iron Man when I started my run on that series, so his art style was some of the earliest I could differentiate from other artists.

RIP Mr. Bright and Thanks for Everything.

[anarky]

So long, Don Perlin. I first encountered your work on Transformers, but you're best remembered for co-creating Moon Knight.

[Diabolical]

John Cassaday. 52.

His Astonishing X-Men run with Whedon will always be a favorite.

[Tom Foolery]

John Cassaday. 52.

His Astonishing X-Men run with Whedon will always be a favorite.

52?

Damn. That’s too young.

In addition to his phenomenal X-Men run, he launched the new Star Wars era for Marvel.

But mostly, Planetary will be his legacy.

RIP Mr. Cassaday, and thank you for everything.

[Tom Foolery]

Jackson ‘Butch’ Guice, artist on just about everything. 63.

I think the first thing I remembered him doing was an X-Factor Prestige oneshot starring the Beast. But exactly around that time, he also did the Deathlok prestige mini that introduced the Michael Collins version. So maybe one came out before the other, but I definitely took note of the artist either way.

He’s been a constant contributor since then, as recently as an Invaders series I read just a couple years ago.

R.I.P. Mr. Guice, and thanks for everything.

[anarky]

Guice was one of the greats. RIP.

[anarky]

Peter David, 68. He wrote practically everything at one point or another.

Fuck. All the greats we grew up with are dropping like flies.