Category: Obituaries

Bil Keane, creator of “The Family Circus”: 1922-2011

The Family Circus

There’s one more ghost looking over Billy, Jeffy, Dolly, and P.J. The AP is reporting that Bil Keane, who started drawing the one-panel cartoon The Family Circus in February 1960, died Tuesday at age 89 at his longtime home in Paradise Valley, near Phoenix.

Jeff Keane, Keane’s son who lives in Laguna Hills, Calif., said that his father died of congestive heart failure with one of his other sons by his side after his conditioned worsened during the last month. All of Keane’s five children, nine grandchildren and great-granddaughter were able to visit him last week, Jeff Keane said.

“He said, ‘I love you’ and that’s what I said to him, which is a great way to go out,” Jeff Keane said of the last conversation he had with his father. “The great thing is Dad loved the family so much, so the fact that we all saw him, I think that gave him great comfort and made his passing easy. Luckily he didn’t suffer through a lot of things.”

Jeff Keane has been drawing “Family Circus” in the last few years as his father enjoyed retirement. His comic strip is featured in nearly 1,500 newspapers across the country.

via Bil Keane, creator of ‘Family Circus’ that entertained for nearly half-century, dies at 89 – The Washington Post.

Our condolences to his family.

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

Steven Paul Jobs, co-founder, chairman and former chief executive of Apple Inc., former owner and CEO of Pixar, and the single largest shareholder of The Walt Disney Company (now owner of Marvel), passed away Wednesday at the age of 56.

It would be almost impossible to overstate Steve Jobs’ impact on the world at large, and many other obituaries will do so. We’ll merely touch upon his impact on comics and popular culture: from the creation of the Macintosh, the computer of choice for most comics creators, to his stewardship of Pixar, which revolutionized the animation industry, to the iTunes store, the largest digital sales platform on the planet, to the creation of the iPad and iPhone, widely agreed to be the platform of the future of comics.

He will be sorely missed. Our condolences to his family, friends, and fans.

Jack Adler: Tribute To A Comics Original

Back in 1937 a King Features Syndicate staffer was given the job of taking over the coloring and engraving their fairly new full-page weekly comic, Prince Valiant. It was a remarkable assignment; one that only a truly talented artist could perform. The job was given to a 19-year old named Jack Adler.

That assignment was his full work load: he had a week to do it, and given the complexity and beauty of Hal Foster’s work, Jack needed every minute of the work day to make his deadline. Given this workload and his youth, we can forgive him for making a politically incorrect faux pas. His boss was taking an executive on a tour; clearly, this executive was a comics fan who really new his stuff. He asked Jack all kinds of questions that were answered perfunctorily without the teenager taking his eyes off of his work. Finally, his boss cleared his throat and Jack swiveled around just in time to meet the executive’s glower.

The executive was the incredibly powerful William Randolph Hearst, the owner of the joint and a man used to deference.

Jack Adler kept his job. That’s quite a tribute to his talent.

Adler went on to a career in comics that lasted for nearly a half-century. Teaming up with his friend Sol Harrison – the engraver on, among other projects, Superman #1 (the first one), the two revolutionized the world of comics color. They recreated the engraving system at the New York Daily News, they helped organize for the engraver’s union and they wound up at DC Comics. Continuing to color – particularly covers – Jack became assistant production manager in 1960 and was promoted to production manager when his boss, friend Harrison, became DC’s president.

Of all his work, Jack is perhaps best known for his wonderful wash covers in the late 1950s and early 1960s: Sea Devils, Green Lantern, Adam Strange, Challengers of the Unknown and others.

A passionate photographer, an audiophile and a watercolor artist, Jack was quite the Renaissance man. I used to joke that he invented papyrus; he thought it over and said no, he would have invented a paper that would absorb color more efficiently.

Jack was saddled with all kinds of allergies and medical conditions and, during his final days at DC, needed help to get through the workday. But he still hung on and was a frequent advisor to a number of so-called independent comics publishers; Adler gave me all sorts of suggestions when we were doing the original First Comics.

Oddly, he might have been better known outside of the comic book donut shop because his cousin, Howard Stern, mentioned him frequently on the air.

Jack Adler passed away Sunday night at the age of 94.

Stern dedicated the opening of Tuesday show to his “super cool Cousin Jack,” calling him a “genius” photographer who supported his passion by becoming a comic book artist.

I called Jack Adler my friend.

 (Caricature by Neal Adams)

Minck Oosterveer with Nikki Saxx at MoCCA

Minck Oosterveer: 1961-2011

Minck Oosterveer with Nikki Saxx at MoCCA

Renee Witterstaetter passes on the sad news that Minck Oosterveer, a Dutch artist best known in this country for his work on The Unknown for BOOM! and Ruse for Marvel, was killed on September 17 in a motorcycle accident. He was 50.

Born July 19, 1961, he grew up in The Netherlands with European comics, but was soon more interested in American comics, especially the newspaper comics of the 1930s-50s. The pulp-ish, direct style and the usage of black and white in the realistic artwork of Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond, and Will Eisner attracted his attention, although he also showed a Herge style in some of his more cartoony work. After working for a studio on productions like ‘Tom & Jerry’, ‘Sesame Street’, ‘Paddington’, ‘Ovide’ and ‘Spider-Man’, Minck moved in the direction of another stylistic forte, working with Willem Ritstier on the series ‘Claudia Brücken’ for the franco-belgian publishing-house ‘les editons Lombard’ and Tintin-magazine . Minck also became known for ‘Jack Pott’, ‘Zodiak’, ‘Rick Rolluik’, ‘Arachna’, ‘Excalibur’, ‘Nicky Saxx’ (pictured above in a picture to benefit MoCCA), ‘Storm’, and ‘Ronson Inc.’.

Minck Oosterveer debuted in American comics with Zombie Tales for BOOM! Studios. He’s best known in the US for his collaborations with Mark Waid on The Unknown for BOOM! and Ruse for Marvel.

Our condolences to his family and friends.

Tom Wilson: 1931-2011

Tom Wilson, the creator of the comic strip Ziggy and artist from 1971 to 1987, passed away in his sleep last Friday at the age of 80.

Born August 1st, 1931 ,Wilson served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955. He attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1955. He was a former faculty member of the Cooper Union Art School from 1961 to 1962.

Wilson’s career began in 1950 doing advertisement layout for Uniontown Newspapers, Inc. In 1955, he joined American Greetings as a designer, becoming Creative Director in 1957 and vice-president of creative development in 1978. While at AG, he developed the Soft Touch greeting card line. He also served as president of Those Characters From Cleveland, AG’s character licensing subsidiary.

Ziggy first appeared in the 1969 collection When You’re Not Around, published by American Greetings. The newspaper strip began in June, 1971. He retired from the strip in 1987 and the strip was continued by his son, Tom Wilson, Jr.

Ziggy was licensed in a wide variety of forms, including greeting cards and calendars, and an Emmy-award winning Christmas special called Ziggy’s Gift:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSVGv2nQQz8[/youtube]

Our condolences to his family and friends.

Michael S. Hart, eBook Pioneer, 1947-2011

The godfather of eBooks has passed away. Michael Stern Hart, the founder of Project Gutenberg, died on September 6, 2011 in his home in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 64.

Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, or eBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as one of the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects. He often told this story of how he had the idea for eBooks: He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network. From this beginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was to be Hart’s life’s work, spanning over 40 years. By the time of his death Project Gutenberg hosted over 36,000 items in its collection in 60 different languages, and was frequently highlighted as one of the best Internet-based resources.

Hart was an ardent technologist and futurist. One of his favorite speculations was that someday, everyone would be able to have their own copy of the Project Gutenberg collection or whatever subset desired. This vision came true, thanks to the advent of large inexpensive computer disk drives, cheap bandwidth, and to the ubiquity of portable mobile devices, such as cell phones.

Michael S. Hart left a major mark on the world, and everyone who has ever toiled in electronic publishing, or who enjoys reading anything off of a computer screen, text or comics, owes Michael a great debt. The invention of eBooks was not simply a technological innovation or precursor to the modern information environment. A more correct understanding is that eBooks are an efficient and effective way of unlimited free distribution of literature. Access to eBooks can thus provide opportunity for increased literacy. Literacy, the ideas contained in literature, creates opportunity.

Michael and I corresponded back in the early 90’s, when I was trying to build a commerce system so people who wanted to could sell books online. Michael was always supportive, even though he worked with public domain works and I tried to make a system where authors could be paid, because he knew more eBooks to read, of any kind, was always a good thing for the world.

In July 2011, Michael wrote these words, which summarize his goals and his lasting legacy: “One thing about eBooks that most people haven’t thought much is that eBooks are the very first thing that we’re all able to have as much as we want other than air. Think about that for a moment and you realize we are in the right job.” He had this advice for those seeking to make literature available to all people, especially children: “Learning is its own reward. Nothing I can say is better than that.”

His is survived by his mother, Alice, and brother, Bennett.

Special thanks to Dr. Gregory B. Newby for portions of this obituary.

Martin H. Greenberg: 1941-2011

Martin Harry Greenberg, the leading anthologist and packager of short science fiction, fantasy, and superhero prose stories, and senior editor of Tekno Comix, died at his home in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Saturday. He was 70.

Marty’s output was staggering– here’s one partial list of the books that he actually received credit on, and here’s another. Notice how little overlap there is between the two lists, and there are hundreds more where he did back end editorial, production, or most often financial work. Marty’s packaging company, Tekno Books, produced over 2,000 books since its creation, with more than 55 New York Times bestselling authors. His collaborators have included the likes of Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, Nora Roberts, Deepak Chopra, Robert Silverberg, Jane Yolen, Esther Friesner, Ed Gorman, and the late Isaac Asimov. In the 90s, he lent his corporate name and expertise to Tekno Comix. He packaged the Further Adventures Of series of short story collections featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, The Penguin, and Catwoman for Bantam Spectra in the 90s.

He is the only person to have won the Milford Award for science fiction editing, the Ellery Queen Award for mystery editing and the Bram Stoker Award for supernatural horror editing. He also received the Prometheus Award in 2005 and was one of the first recipients of the Solstice Award in 2009. He was also a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay from 1970 until his retirement in 1996, where science fiction was often used as a teaching tool.

Like almost everyone else in science fiction, I’ve received a check from Marty at least once in my life on a book I didn’t even know he was involved in. He will be missed.

Gene Colan

Gene Colan: 1926-2011

Gene Colan

I regret to announce that my friend Gene Colan died at about 11 pm on June 23. Gene spent this last week in a quasi-coma state following a broken hip and complications from liver disease. He was 84.

I am terribly saddened to lose Gene. He was a gentle and deeply spiritual man, a bright light in every context, and those who knew him at any level were enriched by his warmth and generous nature. Below are some thoughts I cobbled together when he slipped from consciousness earlier this week.

I leave the historical perspective and details of Gene’s significant career to my friends Tom Spurgeon and Mark Evanier. For now, I mourn.

My Friend Gene Colan

When I was in Morristown, New Jersey, in the early 1990s, there was a girl of about 12 or 13 who lived around the corner. Every time I saw her, she was out walking a German Sheppard puppy. I’d see the pair every two weeks or so. But as the years passed, I realized the girl’s puppy didn’t seem to age. My young neighbor was blossoming into a young lady, but her little dog was like Peter Pan, or Jefty in Harlan Ellison’s story. Eventually, I inquired and learned that the young lady took her young dog from the Morristown Seeing Eye. After she had house-broken and bonded with the little dog, she returned it when it was ready to be further trained to help one of the blind. And then she’d get another puppy and start over again.

It must be heart-breaking, I thought, getting to love something the way only taking care of it will allow you to love, just to say goodbye so quickly.

(more…)

Jeffrey Catherine Jones, 1944 – 2011

Noted illustrator and sometime comics artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones died yesterday of complications from emphysema.

In comics, her work appeared in Heavy Metal, the various Warren magazines, Epic Illustrated, and many, many others. Committing herself to illustration in general and expressionism in specific, she was a member of the legendary Studio along with Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith and Bernie Wrightson. Jones’ illustrations graced a great many science fantasy novels (Michael Moorcock, Dean Koontz, Fritz Lieber, Andre Norton, and others) and magazines as well as publications such as The National Lampoon.

Her work has been reprinted in a number of albums, most recently IDW’s [[[Jeffrey Jones: A Life In Art]]]. This ironically titled tome was released at the beginning of this year.

Jones married Mary Louise Alexander (now Louise Simonson) in 1966 and had a daughter, Julianna, the following year. In 2001 Jeffrey had gender reassignment surgery. In recent years she suffered from numerous ailments, but had made a sadly brief return to the drawing board last month.

In one of the highest compliments imaginable, illustrator Frank Frazetta called Jones “the greatest living painter.”

Anant Pai

Anant Pai: 1929-2011

Anant PaiIndians mourned Saturday the death of Anant Pai, known as the father of the nation’s comic book industry, whose vibrant adaptations of Hindu mythology educated and amused young people for years.

Pai, credited with launching a series of comics to narrate Indian epics and folk tales, died of a heart attack at the age of 81 in the western city of Mumbai on Thursday, according to his family.

His very popular comic series Amar Chitra Katha, or Immortal Picture Stories, launched in 1967 with the goal of retelling stories from mythology, and still finds nearly three million buyers each year and is sold in 20 languages.

“We are still in a state of shock,” said Samir Patil, head of ACK Media, which now owns the comic series. “Mr Pai was a pioneer and an inspiration for everyone who worked in the field of children’s entertainment and education.”

Pai began producing comics because he was distressed with what he saw as Indian children’s lack of knowledge of mythology, culture and religion. “If the children of India dream, let them dream of India,” he said in a 2009 interview.

An editorial from the English daily Hindustan Times credited Pai with keeping Indians in touch with their culture and praised his ability to reach out to children.

In 1987 Pai established Tinkle, another comic book series featuring a lively cast of characters that included the foolish Suppandi, Tantri the Mantri, a scheming royal adviser, and a forgetful hunter Shikari Shambhu.

The writer and illustrator was affectionately referred to as “Uncle Pai” among his fans of every age group, who expressed sorrow at his passing.

Users of social microblogging network Twitter posted comments remembering “Uncle Pai”.

“A tear and a prayer for the demise of the legendary Anant Pai. He is as much a part of my childhood as my education at school. RIP Uncle Pai,” an Indian actor, Siddharth, tweeted.

Last week, the comic books convention held in New Delhi awarded Ananth Pai a lifetime achievement award for helping sire India’s comics industry.