Very sad news: Comic book and animation writer-artist Darwyn Cooke passed early this morning, losing his battle with what his family called "an aggressive form of cancer." Earlier in the day, a press release had shocked his friends and fans, announcing that he was receiving palliative care, which if you're unfamiliar with the term usually means that doctors see no way to save the life and are merely attempting to make what remains of it as comfortable as possible. Darwyn was 53 years old.
I seriously doubt that there is anyone who knew Darwyn or his work who isn't feeling a tremendous sense of loss at this news. A great guy and a great talent. I first met him in the halls of Warner Animation around 1996 when he was working on Superman: The Animated Series. He was a key storyboard artist as he had been on Batman: The Animated Series, which had preceded that program. He introduced himself and told me at some length how he had become an artist largely due to his love of Jack Kirby's drawing. Later, on panels about Jack, he would repeat the story of how he had learned so much by slavishly tracing every large-sized Kirby drawing he could get his mitts on.
There was little in his own style to suggest that inspiration. When he began drawing comics (mostly for DC), he didn't draw like Jack…or any of the other great talents that had influenced him. He drew like Darwyn. But like so many Kirby fans, he had developed an exciting sense of storytelling. There was something fresh and energetic about his work and his peers envied the light sense of humor and the simplicity of design. He especially dazzled with a 2004 mini-series, DC: The New Frontier, which would later become an animated feature. Everything he wrote and/or drew is well worth checking out.
Did I make clear what a nice man he was? At conventions, we often talked — mostly about Jack — and you could always feel the passion he had, along with the urge to draw better and better. We were all quite satisfied with what he had done but he never was. It's so awful to lose someone like that.