The historic comic book seen above left introduced the new version of The X-Men, as revamped and refurbished by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. Dave, who designed many of them (and many of the rival Legion of Super-Heroes) is a terrific artist I've known since we were both contributing to the same fanzines in the sixties. His work in them was so good that absolutely no one was surprised when he went on to become a top artist for DC and Marvel. A nice guy, too. We labored together on a few projects and it was always a joy to see what Dave did with my silly scripts. So it was quite a wrench to hear that Dave's been ill lately, hospitalized for a severe case of double pneumonia, plus a bacterial infection in his lungs and blood. He is on the mend (they just took him off the respirator) but he has a ways to go before he'll be off the disabled list and able to draw again. So send good thoughts but it may help even more if you send some money.
A veritable Legion of Dave's Friends is contributing to The Uncanny Dave Cockrum Tribute, an art portfolio celebrating the talents of Guess Who. So far, the roster includes Murphy Anderson, Dick Ayers, Mark Bagley, Chris Claremont, Gene Colan, Peter David, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Ron Garney, Tony Isabella, Stan Lee, Mike Pascale, Johnny Romita, Marie Severin, Dave Sim, Walt Simonson, Mark Texeira, Roy Thomas, Lee Weeks, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Yours Truly. The book is being edited and coordinated by Clifford Meth, and he's also holding an auction of original art. All proceeds, natch, go to help out Dave and his lovely spouse, Paty. You can get yours here…and do take a moment and place your order. If you've been reading comics in the last thirty years, Dave's probably given you more than a few hours of enjoyment. You'll want a copy of the tribute book just to have one, but it's also a nice way of saying thanks.