Comic Book Deaths - nothing "comic" about it...
Nor do I mean Deadman - although his creator, Arnold Drake, just passed away indeed... DEATH has been very busy making sure comic-book CREATORS take note that when it strikes, no one can come back (save for Divine Intervention...) - so that, maybe, comic-bookie scribes and (pr)editors will want to stop trivializing the passage from this world into the next...?
(And when I say "the next", I do not mean alternate realities, other dimensions, "pocket universes", "bottled realms/cities", "elseworlds", "hypertime" type planes of existence, alternate timelines or "mirror universes" - none of that crap, no!)
Dave Cochrum - at only 63 years of age, Legion of Super-Heroes and X-Men artist D.C. (!) passed away, of complications from diabetes, back in November 2006.
His widow, Paty had been very vocal about her dislike of Marvel, both her husband's former employer as her own (she had worked in the infamous Marvel Bullpen.)
Was there some form of malicious/psychic backlash, generated by one of those accursed Marvel mutants, against her beloved husband?
Doubtful - but Joe Quesada's evil eye, alone, could cause some discomfort to the best of them, I am sure...
Mr. Cochrum had created a lot of "cool characters" for the new X-Men - Storm and Nightcrawler notably - as well as eventual DC property Tyr, who was going to be a part of the new X-Men but, instead, wound up in the Legion of Super-Heroes' rogues gallery, where he would have been forgotten for the remarquable chance to be selected to get his own first-rate action figure done -against all odds in many ways- as a part of the Super Powers line from 1985. Tyr was thus given that treatment long before the X-Men were - I am at a loss though as to whether Dave Cochrum got any percentage at all from the sales of his character's figure. Though his creation and all, DC is notorious to not give creators their due (see more about that in Arnold Drake's eulogy - and in assorted obituaries throughout this site, whenever DC comes up...!) Dave Cochrum was every bit as good for the Legion as Steve Lightle was - and he was every bit as good for teams such as The Champions and the X-Men as George Perez had been for the Avengers and the Fantastic Four (and MUCH better than John Byrns had been to the latter team... My opine! Paty Cochrum has her opine too! Sue us both - why don't you, Marr-v-hell...)
Dave Cochrum is sorely missed.
Much courage to you, Paty.
Martin Nodell - the man who came up with the idea for the Golden Age Green Lantern "after seeing a New York subway train operator waving a lantern with a green light" (who said riding the subway was a waste of time) died last December at his home in Muskego, Wisconsin. He was 91. Mr. Nodell had also helped develop the character of the Pillsbury Doughboy, as it turns out - he had left the comic-book industry in the 1960s to go into advertising, see... The Green Lantern and the Pillsbury Doughboy are, cousins thus - who knew. And both are bereaved now; and orphans.
My condolences to the Nodells - belatedly.
(Hey - I am bereaved too; and awaiting condolences from some parties that, I know, will NEVER come forth... Not even belatedly!!!)
Arnold Drake - the creator of Doom Patrol, Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadman is, hence, a dead man as well now. He was 83 - he had just celebrated his birthday, in fact, and was hospitalized days later, to die a few days into said hospitalization ultimately. His gravestone will bear similar markings than those on my father's - as both were born and passed on in the same month of March. Arnold Drake had similat bad luck to mine, to boot - although basically luckier for starters (he was commissioned by a publisher to come up with concepts - me, I sent them in, unsolicited... His were picked up, mine were not.)
He saw his Doom Patrol have the misfortune of coming out virtually at the same time than similarly-themed X-Men; and the latter project eventually became extremely successful, while his did not. He conceptualized "Stanley & His Monster" way before a certain well-known cartoonist came up with the hugely popular Calvin And Hobbes - both have striking similarities too, but not the same degree of success, at all.
Only Deadman (pictured below) remains, as his lone "great success" - yet it is too eclectic and sophisticated (as, also, close to the truth) to meet with wide approval from the masses. Arnold Drake fought the good fight too: he championed the cause of his fellow older creators who were not properly taken care of in their latter days by the publishers who'd enriched themselves at their expense. He fought editorial thick-headedness - to the point that he was ousted unceremoniously and never again "allowed back in" (into what - an accursed nepotitical system such as that is rampant and prevailing in places such as DC, Marvel and others? Maybe one is better off out of it entirely...)
Now, Arnold Drake is admitted into a much better exclusive club: Scribesmen' Heaven!
I am sure Boston Brand showed him the way to get there by now...
Rest In Peace, Arnold Drake.
Marshall Rogers - only 57, Marshall passed away in late March of "unknown causes", originally... A stroke could be the cause although, at lugubrious blogging time, the true causes had not been revealed. An artist of great talent, Rogers had drawn a plethora of eclectic characters; but his best known work remains that which he rendered on the damnable Batman. At least Rogers had more integrity than most - he did not sell out and simply keep churning out Batty material in a market already saturated with it...
Marshall Rogers was the best - and he got so few chances to display it.
Sounds like someone I know, once more... But I am digressing, again...
R.I.P. guys
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 9:45 PM
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ARNOLD DRAKE: 1924-2007
He wasn’t as well known as say, Bob Kane or Siegel and Shuster, but if you read DC Comics produced in the ‘60s and up, you surely read some of the work of Arnold Drake, who died March 12th, 2007, after a short bout of “a touch of pneumonia” and other complications for which he was recently hospitalized. News of Drake’s death came via writer and comics historian, Mark Evanier.
Though his comics writing career spanned thousands of stories and pages, fans will likely best remember Drake as the creator of Deadman and The Doom Patrol, as well as Stanley and His Monster.
In part, Evanier’s biography of Drake reads:
Drake was born on March 1, 1924. At age 12, a bout with scarlet fever kept him confined to his bed for a year. He spent much of the time drawing his own comics and, though he later did do some cartooning work, he found that his primary interest was not in drawing characters but in deciding what they'd say and do. That sent him off on a writing career and he studied Journalism at the University of Missouri and later at New York University.
Then he met Bob Kane, the official creator of Batman, who happened to be a neighbor of Arnold's brother. He worked with Kane on a few projects and the artist introduced him to the editors at DC. Before long, Drake was writing for DC books including House of Mystery, My Greatest Adventure, Mark Merlin, Space Ranger, Batman and Tommy Tomorrow. Most of his new creations in the sixties came about because an editor said to him, "This comic is in sales trouble and needs a new feature." My Greatest Adventure was down in sales so Drake, working with artist Bruno Premiani and fellow writer Bob Haney, invented The Doom Patrol, a band of misfit heroes very similar to Marvel's X-Men, which went on sale at almost the exact same time. Strange Adventures was in sales trouble so Drake, working with artist Carmine Infantino, came up with the acclaimed Deadman character. The Fox and the Crow was down in sales so Drake, teamed with Bob Oksner, fashioned Stanley and His Monster — a highly-imaginative kids' comic that preceded (but contained many of the elements of) the newspaper strip, Calvin and Hobbes.
But Drake was a feisty guy who had trouble getting along with editors. In the late sixties, he fought with the management at DC, partly over what he considered inept editorial direction and partly over business matters. He was a loud voice in a writers' revolt during which several of the firm's longtime freelancers were demanding health insurance, reprint fees and better pay. Many of them were ousted, including Arnold, and he then worked for a time for Marvel before settling down at Gold Key Comics for many years. For them, he wrote many comics including The Twilight Zone, Star Trek and a particularly long and delightful stint on Little Lulu.
Arnold wrote other things including plays, movies (Who Killed Teddy Bear? and The Flesh Eaters, among others) and novels. In the fifties, he authored a long comic book in book form called It Rhymes With Lust for a small publisher and later touted it, with some justification, as the first graphic novel. (Dark Horse will soon reissue it.) He also worked extensively with a group called the Veterans Bedside Network, writing materials to aid in the rehabilitation and nursing of men and women who'd served in the armed forces.
Re-discovering his fans over the past few years on the convention circuit, Drake had become a regular at the country’s larger cons where along with meeting with his fans, was a tireless crusader for the plight of older creators who had been mistreated by publishers over the years. It was Drake, in fact, who first suggested the Bill Finger Award, which would be given to shame people and companies who had mistreated creators over the years. Shortly after, and separate from Drake’s efforts, the Finger award was created, but rather than a sign of shame, the award was given to creators who had not been given the proper recognition for their efforts. Drake was one of the first reipients of the award, and in 2005, creator Jerry Robinson said of Drake:
"Like Finger and Siegel, Drake is a consummate professional writer. As the author of hundreds of stories from the Silver Age to the present, his credits demonstrate an amazing versatility, ranging from the superhero and adventure such as Doom Patrol to the wry humor of Little Lulu."
The award was presented to Drake at the 2005 Eisner Award ceremony, and the aging creator charmed the crowd, singing a satirical song about the industry while wearing a Doom Patrol t-shirt.
"I think the primary thing we can do for Bill is to wipe out the Bill Fingers of today -- that is, the writers who starve to do what they love,” Drake said.
Last November, Newsarama’s Daniel Robert Epstein had the pleasure of interviewing Drake about the DVD release of The Flesh Eaters as well as a variety of other topics showing that, even in his advancing years, Drake was still as vital as ever and a creative force with which to be reckoned.
Newsarama offers their heartfelt condolences to Mr. Drake's family and friends.
Iconic superhero Captain America shot dead -- maybe
NEW YORK (Reuters) - He fought the Nazis. He is revered by other crime-fighters worldwide. But the beloved, shield-carrying superhero, Captain America, has finally met his end -- or has he?
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(Reuters)
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Wed Mar 07, 03:56 PM EST
By Belinda Goldsmith
NEW YORK (Reuters) - He fought the Nazis. He is revered by other crime-fighters worldwide. But the beloved, shield-carrying superhero, Captain America, has finally met his end -- or has he?
The winged-hooded Marvel Entertainment Inc. hero created in 1941 is shot dead in New York by a sniper in the latest Captain America issue that hit newsstands on Wednesday, in a sensational comic-book plot twist that had been kept a closely guarded secret.
Blood seeps from his red-white-and-blue costume as life ebbs from Steve Rogers, the scrawny student who was transformed into the physically perfect superhero when he volunteered to be injected with "Super Soldier" serum during World War II.
But executives at Marvel acknowledged death is not always final in the superhero universe -- and they hope the same is true for flagging comics sales of Captain America, who has lost ground to more contemporary superheroes like Spider-Man.
"This is the end of Steve Rogers, the meat and potatoes guy from 1941," Dan Buckley, president and publisher of publishing, Marvel Entertainment, told Reuters.
"But Captain America is a costume, and there are other people who could take it over. He is iconic, and we're continuing the comic books," he added. But he declined to speculate who could step into the hero's 66-year-old boots.
He said the continuing comic series would initially be focused on the reaction of other characters to Captain America's death.
This was similar to the death of Superman in 1993, when the leading superhero of Marvel rival D.C. Comics was killed off after about 55 years -- only to be brought back months later.
Captain America has appeared in about 210 million comics in 75 countries, but currently his title sells up to 80,000 copies a month in the United States, down from about 150,000 in their heyday.
Unlike other comic heroes such as Spider-Man, Superman, Batman and the Fantastic Four, the Captain has yet to win Hollywood fame, though Buckley said there are plans for a Captain America movie.
"He is still popular, but he has not been getting the same attention as Spider-Man and others," said Buckley. "We hope this will make him more popular in the short-term at least."
Captain America's assassination secret comes in the aftermath of a seven-issue mini-series, Marvel's civil war, which divided superheroes as the government ordered them to reveal their true identities and register with authorities.
This caused a major rift and resulted in two super-powered factions, one led by Captain America, who went underground and formed a resistance movement, the other by Iron Man.
In the end, Captain America surrendered to Iron Man's pro-registration forces -- but is shot dead on the steps of New York's Federal Courthouse on his way to face charges.
Gerry Gladston, co-owner of Midtown Comics in Manhattan, said Captain America's assassination -- and the fact it had remained such a secret, even to some Marvel staff -- was "pretty Earth-shattering" and had sent sales soaring already.
"Captain America is still one of the most relevant comic book characters and the one with the most iconic status in the Marvel Universe who is revered by the others," said Gladston.
"I hope they bring him back. I miss him already."
Reuters/Nielsen
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Shocking event for Captain America
POSTED: 2:43 p.m. EST, March 7, 2007
Story Highlights
• Captain America a victim of Marvel Comics' "Civil War"
• Storyline plays off War on Terror, 9/11, says Marvel
• Is this really the end? "Cap" finale leaves questions
From Larry Holmes, Jonathan O'Beirne
and Glenn Perreira
CNN
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Editor's Note: The following story reveals information about the Marvel Comics' "Civil War" storyline and a key character. If you'd rather not know, stop reading now.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- He fought and triumphed over Hitler, Tojo, international Communism and a host of supervillains, but he could not dodge a sniper's bullet.
Comic book hero Captain America is dead.
After close to 60 years in print, Marvel Comics has killed off Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, one of its most famous and beloved superheroes amid an already controversial story line, "Civil War," which is pitting the heroes of Marvel's universe against one another.
In the comic series, Rogers was to stand trial for defying a superhero registration law passed after a hero's tragic mistake causes a 9/11-like event.
Steve Rogers eventually surrenders to police. He is later mortally wounded as he climbs the courthouse steps. (Watch the story of an American hero Video)
Marvel says the comic story line was intentionally written as an allegory to current real-life issues like the Patriot Act, the War on Terror and the September 11 attacks.
"Every child knew about 9/11," says Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Comics. "If [he] could see a TV he knew what 9/11 was. The other similarities [to] things going on are just part of storytelling."
It was a violent and strange end for an American hero.
Captain America first appeared in 1941, just as the United States entered World War II. He was a symbol of American strength and resolve in fighting the Axis powers, and later Communism.
As originally conceived by creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Rogers was a man born before the Great Depression in a very different America. He disappeared after the war and reappeared only recently in the Marvel timeline. For a superhero many thought perfect, it was perhaps a fatal flaw for "Cap," as he became known.
"He hasn't been living in the modern world and the world does move," says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.
Quesada said he wanted to readers find their own meaning in Cap's end.
"There is a lot to be read in there. But I'm not one who is going to tell people, this is what you should read into it, because I could look into it and read several different types of messages," he told CNN.
The character's death came as a blow to co-creator Simon, the Associated Press reported.
"We really need him now," Simon, 93, told The AP.
Still, one has to wonder: Is Captain America really dead? Comic book characters have routinely died, only to be resurrected when necessary to storylines.
Joe Quesada agrees -- but said times are different now.
"There was period in comics where characters would just die and then be resurrected. And the death had very little meaning and the resurrection had very little meaning," he said. "All I ask of my writers is if you're going to kill a character off, please let that death have some meaning in the overall scope of things."
Besides, he said, there are other important questions left unanswered.
"What happens with the costume? And what happens to the characters that are friends and enemies of Cap?" Quesada said with a smile. "You're going to have to read the books to find out."
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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We shall continue to be chronicling here the life and times of those comic-book creators (and, sometimes, notable characters too) who have met their demise recently...
Or not-so recently...
Truly, it is all up to me! ;)
And, truth is, their numbers can dwindle as well; but comic-book scribes and preditors alike have NOT learned a thing - slimey types such as Jeph Loeb continue to pen horrific stories aimed only at producing a BODY COUNT...
Marvel has decimated the ranks of a once-promising team that represented both their "next generation" (so much for the longevity of said generation...!) as also, alas, their envy of rival DC's Teen Titans - the New Warriors have pratically all been killed off...
DC takes it a step further - by killing off systematically and with regularity all manners of characters, throughout their publications too: supporting characters, so-called "throwaway characters", stagnant characters, tragic characters - all have been biting the dust!
Not only in "unevents" (rush jobs) such as 52, World War III, Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis and others...
But in regular series as well - the most shocking example of which would be the apparent demise of the one true AQUAMAN in his own book, which already starred his replacement...
AQUAMAN has been put through the ringer; losing wife, son; regaining wife; losing his throne, crown and kingdom; losing his hand; gaining a magical water hand; losing his trusted allies; gaining the Lady of the Lake who briefly joined his own mythos; losing that as well; succumbing to the dreaded curse of Kordax; losing his memory in the process (that makes sense, when one knows he's a superior mind, being both Atlantean and a telepath!) - and now, the only glimmer of hope is that, due to his current magical nature (call it aqua-evolution) his erstwhile teammates in the JLA can not tell whether he is dead or just awol again...
I'll tell you what he is: he is relegated to LIMBO once again, that's what he is!
While an impostor poses as him...
(At least not a villainous impostor/lookalike like Thanatos was... But that was another bad idea...)
Beating AQUAMAN to the land of the dead was his own son, bastard Koryak... His most trusted ally, counsellor and oldest friend, Vulko... And another water-logged character or two... Or more!
Many were the victims, after all - the death toll stands at 130+ so far...
I could lament some more, at this time, about the execrable editorial decisions made concerning the ousting from "main continuity availability" (in other words, the unceremonious killing of) characters I affectionated particularly...
As much as Captain America,
Neptune Perkins was a fave from the World War II era...
The Question was killed - and apparently replaced by something somewhat worse than an impostor: a lesbian Question!
And then there was the Lady Quark - last vestige from the CRISIS - and a dead ringer (now in more ways than one) to the first older woman I have ever dated, a fair German dame named Gudrun...
Is Mera safe in this awful blood-thirsty DCU now...?
If so, for how long?
(Leave the sea queen alone, you monsters!)
Aye, I could lament on and on...
But I will not
(lament some more...
about these characters' demises...
way too early, as it is...)
Comic-books have been trivializing DEATH for far too long already...
And now, they've truly gone TOO FAR... period.
Stemming from the unevent "52" (which undid the CRISIS of 1985 and re-introduced the silly MULTIVERSE... It had never really gone away anyway; parallel dimensions and alternate realities are a staple of these silly comic-bookies and sci-fi in general (as if ONE messed-up universe -heck, planet- was not enough...!) and, truth be told, there are as many "alternate realities" as there are different PERCEPTIONS OF REALITY out there; as there are, in effect, pairs of eyes looking at this madness we call LIFE...
But I digress... BIG TIME.)
so, stemming from that silly take/adaptation of the hit-TV series 24, came the rushed WORLD WAR III mini-series in three badly written comic-bookies...
(It goes to show how creatively bankrupt these guys are - they inspire themselves from a SONG to KILL SUPERMAN... Then they inspire themselves from a TV SHOW to try their luck again with a weekly anthology series - that went NOWHERE! And when that became apparent; they go the easy route: WORLD WAR III, folks!
Pathetic...)
In this umpteenth disappointing version (they all are, really) of the third global conflict that we keep expecting but never see realized, a second-tier villain known as BLACK ADAM (he's caucasian though...) goes on a rampage in some fictional country that reeks of the MIDDLE-EAST...
Black Adam, you see, is in Superman's class - so he goes around this country SNAPPING EVERY CITIZEN'S NECK...
A super-villainous twist to GENOCIDE - that is what the public wanted, yes...
He also murders a few heroes that TRIED to stop him...
(ballooning that 130+ figure I mentioned - but with all the civilian lives taken in this tale, it is next to nothing; as the story is, the country in which BLACK ADAM MURDERED WITH HIS OWN HANDS EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD was estimated to have a population "in excess of 3 MILLION"...
A small expendable nation, by American standards - indeed.)
HOW MORE REVOLTING, DISGUSTING AND SICKENING CAN ONE GET...?!?
AND KIDS ARE READING THIS CRAP?!?
WHERE WAS Superman when he was REALLY NEEDED?
Same place he was during the events of 9/11, I'm sure...
Probably in the Bat-Cave, up Batty's cape...
And Wonder Woman likes to watch...?
Yerrrrrrrrrrrrrk...
NOW, those three super-stooges are finally BACK...
And what for?
For another money-grubbing attempt at a mini-series UNEVENT - of course!
It's the three of them (whom DC has the gall to refer to as the 'TRINITY'... At least WCW had the good sense to call Diamond Dallas Page, his own gay buddy Kanyon/Mortis and Bam Bam Bigelow the TRIAD - not something that makes it sacrilegious, blasphemous and RIDICULOUS - but I digress again) versus THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE...
So soon after former HORSEMAN Chris Benoit killed his wife and young son...?
The three top DC clowns versus the HORSEMEN - who sponsored Black Adam's genocidal actions?
And what is B.A.'s punishment again...? Shouldn't HE get it first?
What can Batman actually DO up against entities such as PESTILENCE... FAMINE... WAR... and DEATH?!?
A fourth ally for the three DC amigos is rumored - and I only hope it is not the "currently magical" AQUAMAN - who'd only be used in order to save Bats and Supesy from the WELL-DESERVED THUMPING THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG TIME AGO...
The end of the world - the REAL ONE - the final conflict, World War III and beyond - will NOT feature queer chaps dressed as BATS, who wear their undies ON TOP and leap tal buildings in a single bound...
Nor will there be any amazon present, alas.
...
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