Artist Darwyn Cooke Passes Away at 53
Darwyn Cooke, writer and artist for so many comic books, has passed away at age 53 after fighting cancer. The news came just a day after his wife Marsha had posted the news that Cooke had begun receiving palliative care for his illness.
In a statement on Cooke’s web site, Calum Johnston posted confirmation of the news:
We regret to inform you that Darwyn lost his battle with cancer early this morning at 1:30 AM ET. We read all of your messages of support to him throughout the day yesterday. He was filled with your love and surrounded by friends and family at his home in Florida.
Donations can be made to the Canadian Cancer Society and Hero Initiative.
Please continue to respect our privacy as we go through this very difficult time.
A longer statement will come later today.
“Then we shall not be weary. Then we shall prevail.” — John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier speech
Cooke, a Toronto native, was first published in New Talent Showcase #19 in 1985, but he left the industry for a career as a graphic designer before returning to the superhero world when Warner Bros. Animation hired him to draw storyboards for Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. In an interview with Steve Damm for ExpertComics.com, Cooke said of his time on the shows, “I was lucky in terms of working in Bruce’s studio on Superman and Batman. I was 35 when I got that job and most of the guys in the studio were in their early twenties. I think having been around as long as I had; I had a much better appreciation for how special the circumstances were there. I really was able to enjoy it every day knowing what it is like to work at other places it was a really special setup.
“The way that studio worked and the way Warner treated Paul and Bruce just made it an incredible place to work, and Bruce attracted so much talent that every day you were challenging yourself to keep up with these guys around you, and everybody was doing it, so it was just a very special pocket of time.”
Best known for his DC: New Frontier series, Cooke also was responsible for redesigning Catwoman with Ed Brubaker. The beginning of the aviator cap and goggles era, which is still the prevailing design for the character.
We saw her as a function for male readers, and we wanted to negate that and see what we could do with the female audience. That automatically took us into this area where we would have to redesign her look if we want any credibility with women. At that point my first thought was, “She has to look sexy, because women won’t accept her being unattractive, but you also have to look functional.” There has to be a realistic aspect to it, something that women can look at and go, “Well, it’s both. I could do that. And wow, she’s not wearing heels. There’s no push-up bra attached to it.” And Ed’s wife had a wonderful notion that instead of a mask, she wore an aviator helmet and goggles, and I thought that was brilliant. So taking Ed’s wife’s inspiration and the notion of [Catwoman] being attractive and yet, not being a joke, not being a pole rider, that’s where we ended up. Ed and I did it for a little while, and the minute I left everyone started pulling her zipper down to her belly button, and that was that.
His work on New Frontier set the DC Universe back in the 1950s, in the “Silver Age” when most of the current crop of DC heroes were created (Barry Allen has been around since 1956, for example). The story delivered favorite superheroes without the “grimdark” tones so popular nowadays, post-Dark Knight Returns.
The six-issue miniseries, later adapted as an animated feature, drew heavily from the influence of the comic books and movies of the time, as well as The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe’s account of the early days of the U.S. space program.
Post-New Frontier, Cooke won a “Best Single Issue” Eisner Award for Solo #5 (2005), featuring a number of art styles and a framing sequence starring Slam Bradley.
Cooke also won two Joe Shuster Awards for “Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Artists” (with J. Bone for their work on the Batman/The Spirit crossover) and “Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist” for his solo work on The Spirit. He won another Shuster in 2007 for “Outstanding Comic Book Writer” for Superman Confidential.
Cooke’s other notable work was on the graphic novel adaptations of Donald Westlake’s novel, The Hunter, for IDW. Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter was published in July 2009, with the other three — The Outfit, The Score, and Slayground — rounding out the series by 2013.
For the 75th anniversary of Batman, DC Entertainment released Cooke’s animated short set in the Batman Beyond universe:
At WonderCon 2015, Cooke joined iFanboy founders Ron Richards, Conor Kilpatrick, and Josh Flanagan on a panel about the artist’s work. His comments reflect many fan comments that can be readily seen on comment threads and discussion boards:
If we’re talking about mainstream comics, I think there have been a lot of real tactical errors made in this century. I can’t really read superhero comics anymore because they’re not about superheroes. They’ve become so dark and violent and sexualized. I think it’s a real wrong turn. I don’t know how a company like Warner Bros. or Disney is able to rationalize characters raping and murdering and taking drugs and swearing and carrying on the way they do, and those same characters are on sheet sets for 5-year-olds, and pajamas and cartoons. I think there’s a really odd and schizophrenic thing that’s happened within the industry. Everybody’s writing books for themselves. The median age of a creator is probably between 35 and 50 right now. Once they abandoned the notion that these characters were all-ages characters, they really limited the market.
I think the bravest and smartest thing one of these companies could do would be to scrap everything they’re doing and bring in creative people who would have the talent and were willing to put in the effort it takes to write an all-ages universe that an adult or a child could enjoy. If either one of these companies were smart enough to do that, I think they could take huge strides for the industry.
~ via CBR
In a press release, DC Comics wrote: “Once you saw his timeless designs and concepts for Batman, Catwoman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern or any other character, you immediately adopted his jubilant interpretation of these heroes as your own and wanted more. His take on the most iconic heroes in the world were breathtakingly direct and elegant, powerful and cool. His were some of the most beautiful, fun DC superhero images we have ever seen.”
“Darwyn Cooke lived life like a character from a Mickey Spillane novel, a throwback to a bygone era that was, more than occasionally, reflected in his work,” said DC co-publisher Dan DiDio in a statement. “He was both compassionate and combative, approaching everything he did with a tenaciousness and temerity that is now unheard of in a world afraid to offend.
“This is an industry-wide loss that I feel personally, but the sadness is mitigated in the knowing that the beauty and grace of his art will forever stand the test of time and be a monument to all that is great about comics.”
In remembrance of Darwyn Cooke #ripDarwynCooke https://t.co/MRZGLO4ANZ pic.twitter.com/mXndjuttg5
— DC (@DCOfficial) May 14, 2016
We are deeply saddened by the passing of Darwyn Cooke, and send our condolences to his loved ones and fans worldwide.
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) May 14, 2016
Former DC president Paul Levitz posted on his blog: “Darwyn Cooke climbed the mountain in comics with personal vision, and with a distinctly different track than almost any other creator. After achieving success as an animator, he simply woke up one day and decided to try his hand at comics, and from the first comics he produced, did them as brilliantly as any of his generation. His NEW FRONTIER reimagined the entire DC universe in the context of the times in which it was originally published, a time just before Darwyn’s own, and in a country and culture just adjacent to the one he grew up in. It was true masterwork, outrageous as a first effort in the form.”
Writer/Artist C.W. Cooke: “I want to see people start putting New Frontier in the same conversation as DKR or Crisis or any of the other groundbreaking or world changing comic books. It should be regarded in the same ways and looked over by people who want to know why some of us still hold parts of the Silver Age in high regards. His series was such a blessing and such a love letter to the many creators and artists who didn’t get the credit they deserve. And it was an incredibly fun and vibrant story.”
Star Trek author Kevin Dilmore: “In my 40+ years of reading comics, I’ve always been more of a writer fan than an artist fan, but Mr. Cooke’s art has just dazzled me since first seeing it. His renderings of GL and the DC Universe have been my favorites ever. The energy and imagination, the humanism, the sheer fun Mr. Cooke has placed in each of his drawings, even that little one he dashed off just for me, always remind me why I dig the medium and the characters so much.
His drawings are timeless, and they make me feel ageless. I will enjoy reading and re-reading his work the rest of my life. I’m so glad I got the chance to thank him in person for entertaining me so much.”
