A fine friend and a fine artist, Dave Cockrum, died this morning from complications relating to Diabetes. Dave had been ill for some time and undergoing dialysis treatments. Still, here at Mid-Ohio Con (that's where I am), his friends and fans are shocked to hear that we've lost him.
Dave was one of the first people I knew to make the transition from drawing for free for fanzines to drawing for pay for the comics those fanzines were about. Years later, that would become a fairly common segue but in the early seventies, fans were fans and pros were pros and the former rarely became the latter. Dave did, starting first as an assistant to established artists, especially Murphy Anderson. When Murphy was asked to draw a Legion of Super-Heroes back-up story one day, he begged off — "too many characters" — and recommended Dave. Cockrum not only got that job but became the feature's steady artist and creative heart, helping to redesign the Legion and create new characters. Among his many strengths, he was a superb inventor of new costumes. Later, he did the same thing — only with greater success — when he and Len Wein revamped the old, cancelled X-Men strip into the new, highly-successful X-Men franchise at Marvel.
I had the pleasure of knowing Dave during his fanzine days, back when everyone knew that if anyone could move from the fan ranks to professional status, it would be that Cockrum guy. Just because he was so good. We later collaborated on several projects and it was always a joy to work with him…and sad that his health didn't allow him to do more. Very sad.