Artist John Cassaday died on Monday at the age of 52. His death was announced on Facebook by his sister, Robin, but news of his illness had been circulating in comics circles since he was hospitalized last week.
I’ll let someone else write the obituary here. John and I were good friends when I worked at DC, and we remained good friends after that. It wasn’t always like that, but we all got along well with John. He was handsome and charming, of course, but he was also humble, kind, smart, funny, easygoing, and just a good friend. We talked about good movies, old illustrators, and comics. We both loved the pulps and old comics and stories, and that love of the pulps always influenced his work, but was taken to another level by studying the great illustrators.
He was a truly brilliant cartoonist. His best-known work is “Planetary,” which he created with Warren Ellis and colored by Laura DePuy Martin. The three of them mined the mines of pop culture fantasy and nightmare, creating something spooky, evocative and larger-than-life at a time when conspiracies were fun and cool, not a way to disrupt everyday life.
Casadei’s art was the perfect medium for this story: he had a great sense of design, but he could also paint finer than human characters and make ordinary things seem mystical. And, in case you weren’t aware, he was the model for Drummer.
As Planetary was wrapping up its long and winding run, Cassaday had two other near-perfect serials: the six-issue Captain America miniseries he co-wrote with Jon Ney Reiber in 2002 (and several other Captain serials after that), and Astonishing X-Men 1-24, which he co-wrote with Joss Whedon from 2004 to 2008. The latter was another era-defining piece of work.
There are so many heartbreaking tributes out there, it’s too painful to collect them all now, but Mark Waid told the story best:
My dear friend John Cassaday passed away today at the shockingly young age of 52. I miss him already.
I think I met John in 1996; Google won’t reveal the exact year the Big Apple Comic Con took place at Madison Square Garden. John was personable, polite, and well-mannered, and when he showed me his portfolio, I could tell he was very talented for a newbie. The next morning, I was having breakfast with writer Jeff Marriott, who mentioned he was looking for an illustrator for his next series, Desperadoes. I had that exact artist in mind, so he mentioned the right person.
Outside of that fortunate introduction, I don’t take any real credit for “discovering” John Cassaday. I don’t take any credit for having a functioning eye. But we’ve remained friends ever since, and it’s been fun watching him rapidly develop into one of the most talented and popular comics illustrators of his generation. John did some impressive work with the X-Men and my favorite character, Captain America, but it was Planetary that made him famous. He was meticulous, and wouldn’t submit work unless he was dying to. Having served as his publisher for a short time at Humanoids, I had the wonderful, and now melancholy, pleasure of watching the epic pages of his magnum opus slowly take shape in his dream project, an unreleased creator-owned multimedia series that would now become his unfinished symphony.
Generally, male comedians aren’t blessed with leading man looks, but John was. You can tell by anyone who asks. With his good looks, charming demeanor, and the perfect blend of confidence and humility, he was pretty popular with a lot of women in his younger years. A lot of women. Effortlessly. Walking into a room full of women with John was a reminder that we all really, really needed to up our game. My favorite memory with John is when John and I and a bunch of other comedians were standing around at a big convention bar party and actor Michael Rosenbaum walked in. Every single woman’s head, instantly, every single eye was on Rosenbaum. It was like throwing a magnet into a box of iron filings. Conversely, the guy at the bar with his date suddenly had two drinks in his hand. In the midst of all that commotion, I calmly looked at John and said, “Now you know how we feel.”
I state without hesitation or fear of disagreement that John Cassaday is one of the greatest illustrators and storytellers to have ever worked in comics. Like Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, and Michael Golden, he is a touchstone and reference point for dozens of artists whose work was influenced by him. Most of us are lucky if more than a dozen people are still talking about him a month after his death. My friend John will be talked about and remembered throughout the industry for a long time to come, and rightly so. Rest in Peace.
John is mourned by his mother, sister and partner Tara. He is mourned by the entire comics industry and his many fans and readers. Our condolences to all who loved him.
Like this:
Like Loading…
