RIP Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn Cooke, comic book writer and artist, died today at the too-young age of 53 from cancer.  He was, by my reckoning, a special and amazing talent who loved what he did and had a gift for faces, layouts, and retro design.  He did the opening montage for Batman Beyond, and spent years working with Bruce Timm on Batman: The Animated Series.  He then made the jump to comics, where he wrote and drew the wonderful Spirit comic, helped redefine Catwoman, and gave us one of the few worthwhile Before Watchmen stories.  And his adaptations of four of Richard Stark's Parker novels were incredible.  No artist was better at capturing the past in all its glory.

I didn't love everything he wrote, but when he was doing the art, even the lesser stories were full of magic, style, and a love of the craft.  He was slated to help with a new series from DC bringing together the classic action heroes of Hanna Barbera, but that is now not to be.  It would have been wonderful.

Rest well, Darwyn, and thanks for everything.