Startled/shocked to awake this morning to the news that editor-writer David Anthony Kraft had passed away. The saddest thing you may read this week are these words posted on his Facebook page by his wife, Jennifer Bush-Kraft…
For those who didn't know, David and I had been battling COVID pneumonia since April 28th. Yesterday morning, in the wee hours, he was too tired to fight anymore. He died quietly, holding my hand and looking into my eyes.
David, whose age is given as 68 or 69 by various sources, was a writer-editor-publisher-agent-critic. He came into comics in the mid-seventies with a background as a rock music journalist and worked, mainly for Marvel, on dozens of comics and special projects. The comics included The Defenders, Man-Wolf (in Creatures on the Loose), The Savage She-Hulk and Captain America among others. He tapped into his rock experience to script two acclaimed Marvel specials, one telling the life story of The Beatles; the other, an adaptation of the movie, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
He also worked for DC and Atlas, and founded Fictioneer Press, which published many acclaimed science-fiction authors and his popular magazines, David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview and Comics Revue. A very industrious, smart guy.
Others who knew him better than I did can tell you more about him. But I would expect that everything you hear from them will be flattering to the man and express grief over his loss. And here's a reminder that while COVID-19 seems to be going away, it's still taking a lot of good people with it.