Obituaries

Mark Evanier reports the death of Del Connell, the sadly obscure creator of a kajillion comic book stories, including Super Goof and Space Family Robinson. Connell recently won the Finger Award at San Diego but was too ill to attend the ceremony:

Artist Gene Colan, whose mastery of expression and action alike made him a giant of the Silver Age and beyond, passed away tonight, longtime friend and helper Clifford Meth reports. Colan had been in a coma following a fall and in general ill health from ongoing liver problems.

Golden Age artist Lew Sayre Schwartz, best known as one of Bob Kane's ghosts of the Batman comic, died over the weekend of complications from a fall, according to his son Andrew. A memorial service is planned for July.

Musician Larry "Wild Man" Fischer died on June 16th at age 66. Challenged by severe mental illness his whole life, he was one of the earliest known examples of Outsider Music with his tuneless, shouted ditties that somehow still tapped into the joy of music and performance.

The war between cars and wrestlers has claimed another victim. Randall "Randy Savage" Poffo, who thrilled the wrestling world with his hysterical rumblings and grumblings as Macho Man, died in a car crash this morning at age 58. He reportedly suffered a heart attack while behind the wheel, and veered across traffic into a tree. His wife of one year was also in the vehicle but was not seriously injured.

Jeffrey Catherine Jones, the fantasy artist who helped introduce fine art and illustration influences to comics in the '70s and beyond, has died of complications from emphysema and bronchitis, according to numerous reports. She was 67.

When you think of sports cartoons -- if you ever do -- you probably think of something by Bill Gallo -- he was the best known -- and probably one of the last -- practitioners of the art. The legendary NY Daily News sports cartoonist passed away yesterday in White Plains at the age of 88 after a 70 year career at the Newss.

Prolific Argentinean comics writer Carlos Trillo has passed away at age 68. According to reports, he was traveling in London with his wife when he began to feel unwell and was taken to the hospital where he died.

Comic strip historian and pioneer Bill Blackbeard has died at age 84, it has been reported. Blackbeard had been in a nursing home for some years, and passed away on March 10th. As the outpourings of appreciations have shown, Blackbeard was, perhaps more than any other individual, responsible for the emergence of comic strips and (by extension) comic books as a legitimate source of art to be treasured and preserved on an institutional level.

Tony Lee has a fine write-up of the late Who icon here,

No one rocked that '60s eyeliner style like her.

Former Wizard editor and comics retailer Rob Samsel died suddenly on February 18th at the age of 46. He's survived by his wife, Leslie, son, Rob Jr., and three step-children.