Obituaries

Say goodbye to nine of Marvel's titles! Marvel Now! ushers in a new world without the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, or... Rogue/Gambit.

The Los Angeles Times has reported on the passing of Ray Bradbury. He leaves behind 11 novels, over 400 novelettes and short stories, at least 45 collections, numerous dramatizations, and various work. Wikipedia has an incomplete bibliography, and the Grand Comics Database lists the various comics adaptations.

The Filipino comics world has lost another giant with the passing of Ernie Chan at age 71. Chan, originally known as Ernie Chua, was another one of that generation of artistswho could and did draw anything, but he got has start doing covers for DC before going to the mystery/barbarian genre which made such good use of the heavily illustrative Pinoy style. Chan also had a long run as a definitive inker for John Buscema on Conan. This is a page that Chan only inked but there's a lot of his embellishment in the image.

Tony DeZuniga, co-creator of Jonah Hex and The Black Orchid, has passed away at age 71. He suffered a stroke in April and had been battling a series of health problems since then. DeZuniga was a seminal figure in the "Filipino Invasion" of the '70s and '80s which saw artists like Nestor Redondo, Alex Nino, and Alfredo Alcala entering the US market. He helped introduce many of the artists to US editors and then served as an agent for several years. Like most of the artists in this wave, DeZuniga was an impeccable draftsman who could draw just about anything. He's best remembered for his contributions to the barbarians and Westerns of the day, but he also drew romance, adventure, superhero, horror....like we said, he could draw anything.

Over the weekend, Cory Marder passed away after a long illness. The wife of Beanworld creator Larry Marder, Cory was best known to a small group in the industry, but loved by everyone she touched. Charles Brownstein has a beautiful tribute here that says everything. My heart goes out to Larry on this irreplaceable loss.

Pop culture writer John Tebbel passed away yesterday. An occasional contributor to ComicMix and frequent commenter here and at other comics sites, John was probably most familiar to the comics world as the husband of Martha Thomases, herself a comics writer and DC's publicity manager for most of the '90s. He was also an expert on animation and you can find some of his articles on the subject scattered about the internet. He and Martha also co-founded Comedy Magazine.

Famed kitsch painter Thomas Kinkade, who claimed to be the most collected artist in the world, has died at the sadly young age of 54. Like anyone who was rich and famous, he had a controversial side: gallery owners accused him of unfair business practices and he was known to like a tot or two.

New Yorker cartoonist Al Ross has died age of 100. Two of his brothers were cartoonists as well.

Long-time Steve Roper and Mike Nomad artist Fran Matera has passed away at age 88. An ex-Marine, Matera specialized in realistic adventure comics in a long career that also included a run on Kerry Drake.

The comics world lost one of its greatest visionaries with the passing this morning of the French artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud. One of the most influential artists of the last 40 years, Moebius died at his Paris home after a long illness at age 73.

Ward Sutton recalls an '80s Monkees revival tour for SPIN with touching detail. Actually, this is an OLD Sutton cartoon.

It's been a year since writer Dwayne McDuffie passed away. The world would be a better place if he were still here.