Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Doug Marlette was killed in an auto accident yesterday. Marlette, 57, was killed when a truck he was riding as a passenger in hydroplaned in heavy rain and struck a tree outside Holly Springs, MI.

Marlette was a cartoonist, author and playwright. While he was known for his comic strip Kudzu, celebrating Southern culture, he recently wrote a pair of well received novels, The Bridge and Magic Time. His career as an editorial cartoonist included stints at the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat, Newsday of Melville, N.Y., The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. At the time of his death he was at the Tulsa (OK) World.

Marlette is survived by his wife, Melinda, and his adult son, Jackson.

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Tony Lee posts the sad news at the Engine that Brit comics writer James Reddington died suddenly of a heart attack last weekend:

I just got told by Cher, who heard from his best friend.

James Redington, writer of SBC’s The Panel, also of Portent Comics, the writer and creator of Rob & Ducky and Elite has passed away.

Cher recieved an email via MySpace from his best friend Jamie, who explained that he suffered from an unexpected heart failure last Thursday.

Anyone who’s been to the UK cons will have met him at some point, I was lucky enough to have done several ‘The Panel’ panels with him both online and at Bristol and spend many con evenings in the Bar with him. I’m honoured to have known him, and to have called him a friend.

He was a great writer, a passionate lover of comics in all it’s forms and a good man. The comic’s world is that little bit darker with his passing.

I’ll post up details of the service when I get them. I am, understandably a little crushed right now.

UPDATE: Please note this is the English James Redington (one d) not the American artsit James Reddington, who is alive and kicking.

More here.

Shock and sorrow continue to ripple through the internet over the sudden death yesterday of Daniel Robert Epstein. In a medium where any yahoo with an internet account can be an “interviewer,” Epstein was a real writer and conversationalist, and the outpouring not just from his co-workers but publicists and even people he interviewed is testament to this. More remembrances from Suicide Girls, Blog@, The Reeler, Ed Douglas at Coming Soon, Chris Arrant, Eric Reynolds, Jamie Qualls at D&Q, and Mark Millar. It’s not often you’ll see that mix of people talking about the same person, and it’s another tribute to Epstein’s vast level of skill and interest. I’ll quote something from Ed Douglas which probably shows the professional side of Epstein better than anything — the guy took chances. And in this line of work, that was very very rare.

I won’t bore you with too many stories but my favorite Dan moments were when we used to do roundtable interviews together back in the day, and he’d always want to ask the questions that everyone else was afraid to ask… usually something personal that no one would ever have the nerve to bring up. You have to understand that Dan was a BIG guy who could probably get away with it since no one would ever dare take a swing at him. Of course, more than once, I was the poor soul who was caught in the middle of Dan and whoever he was interviewing at the time he decided to ask one of those questions. But that said, he wasn’t one of these journalists who was trying to purposely get dirt on celebrities or be mean to the people he was interviewing because he really was a fan of their work and he had an encyclopedic knowledge of movies and character actors and things that most people would have to go onto IMDb to find out.

Matt Brady has the sad news and a touching remembrance:

Daniel Robert Epstein, one of Newsarama’s writers (as well as a writer for many other sites) died this morning. Details about his death are still coming together, but Dan was found late last night by his wife Andrea. He was 31, soon to be 32.

Dan was, simply, a machine. He threw himself into his stories, and cranked out dozens per month for us here at Newsarama, UGO, SuicideGirls, FilmStew and others. He would hit up directors, actors, writers, comic artists, producers, musicians and…well, anyone for a story. His passion showed through his work, and sometimes, carried his interviews off on interesting, highly personal tangents.

My personal interactions with Epstein were fleeting, but his work was outstanding…he was one of the few “website” journalists whose work stood head and shoulders above the rest, and it was no mystery why he got the big interviews time after time. His voice will be missed, and I send my condolences to his family and friends.

Mark Evanier reports on the passing of cartoonist Roger Armstrong, a very prolific cartoonist whose work was doubtless known to anyone who read kids comics from the 40s on. He worked on numerous Dell/Western/Gold Key titles, before moving on to Hanna-Barbera strips, then Bugs Bunny and Little Lulu in the 70s. He also drew the daily Ella Cinders. It was his teaching that he will really be remembered for, Evanier recalls.

Roger Armstrong, a giant in the world of cartooning and a teacher to countless art students, passed away in his sleep on Thursday at the age of 89.

This is a very difficult obit to write because Roger did so much and meant so much to so many people. I want to underscore, so it doesn’t get lost in the career details, that while he had an amazing life as a cartoonist, he had an equally important — perhaps more important — life as an art teacher and watercolor artist. His landscapes were exhibited in every major gallery in Southern California and hundreds of accomplished artists cite him as a great tutor and source of inspiration. He encouraged so many to paint and draw, and led by example.

Mike Lynch has a bit more. You can see Armstrong’s later watercolors at his website.

©2007 Roger Arnstrong

Lloyd Alexander, 83, a critically acclaimed fantasy and adventure writer whose coming-of-age novels use vivid action and elements of mythology to depict contemporary struggles between good and evil, died May 17 at his home in Drexel Hill, Pa. He had cancer.

Mr. Alexander wrote more than 40 books and is regarded as one of the best-known writers of juvenile fiction of the past several decades. He won over adult reviewers with cliff-hanging plots, stylish prose and believable characters that make his fanciful, long-ago settings seem plausible and relevant.

Crunchings and munchings. =(

ComicMix is reporting the death of artist Tom Artis:

Comics artist Tom Artis died of complications from diabetes today at his home in Springfield, Illinois.

Tom had been hospitalized off and on for the past several years. According to his friend, fellow artist Doug Rice, Tom had been in a hospice since the beginning of the year. His wife Kim and children, Duke and Hope, were there with him when he died.

Tom’s many credits included Judge Dredd, Aliens vs. Predator, Justice Society of America, She-Hulk, The Spectre, Green Arrow, and his own creation for DC Comics (with friend and writer Peter Gillis), Tailgunner Jo.

Wow, they’re going fast. ‘Wizard of Id’ cartoonist Brant Parker has died at age 86, Parker of course collaborated on Id with Johnny Hart who passed away last week. Parker had given up drawing the strip some time ago and died in a nursing home.

The Kingdom of Id sprang to life in a New York hotel room when Parker and Hart papered the walls with two-dozen Wizard panels. After touring the impromptu gallery, a syndicate executive bought the strip.

Launched in 1964, Wizard appears in more than 1,000 newspapers.

Hart was already drawing the Stone Age strip B.C. when he sought out Parker to help wring humor from the Middle Ages. They had met in 1950 when Parker, an artist for the Binghamton Press newspaper in upstate New York, judged a high school art contest that Hart had entered.

While Parker drew the Wizard pictures, Hart came up with the gags that they refined together.

“It’s two different kinds of thinking, always,” Parker told the Los Angeles Times in 1986. “The trick is to find two people who are basically alike. … We both enjoy the same kind of humor, so it’s been a great relationship.”

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Both B.C. and The Wizard of Id will continue under the auspices of Hart and Parker family members.

Speaking of Hart, there’s a nice report of his funeral here:

With a mixture of laughter and tears, hundreds of mourners said goodbye Friday to Johnny Hart, a man who was as well known for his generous Christian spirit as he was for his world-renowned comic strips.

Hart’s funeral, held at the Nineveh Presbyterian Church, included the testimony of family and friends who described the “B.C.” comic strip creator as an eternal child with a heart of gold.

“Johnny Hart loved children,” said Pastor Emrys Tyler, who officiated at the ceremony.

Hart, a devout Christian and a Sunday school teacher at the small country church for more than 15 years, died last Saturday after suffering a stroke in his Nineveh home. He enjoyed nearly every aspect of life, Tyler said, and made those he knew feel like a celebrity

.

So it goes.

Much much remembrance to mark the passing of cartoonist Johnny Hart. The syndicate has already announced that his two strips — B.C. and The Wizard of ID — will continue. Family members had already been assisting him for years.

Endicott native Johnny Hart was 76 when he died over weekend. Family members say he was battling lymphoma since November but was in remission.

“He was feeling great. He had breakfast Saturday morning, told my mom I’m going to the studio to work and went over and was sitting at his drawing desk and that’s where she found him, it was like he had just fallen asleep there,” said his daughter Patti Hart.

Meanwhile, 84 year old Bil Keane, of the Family Circus, has his own memories.

“He had a very simple style and I always admired him because he could do more with just a rock. He could make it into anything,” he said.

In fact, after Peanuts creator Charles Schulz died in 2000, Keane was asked who his favorite cartoonist was. “I would always say Johnny Hart because of the simplicity and what he could do with just a few lines. Yeah, it was so simple, which is really a gift. Schulz had the same gift, but it was in a different way,” Keane said.

Hart used a lot of puns in his cartoons and was able to get away with some borderline gags because his characters were so outlandish, Keane said. “Like calling the one lady Fat Broad, which in any of the old-time cartoons you would never ever be able to get away with that,” he said.

Charles McGrath offers analysis in the New York Times:

Like the comic strip artists a few years ahead of him — Mort Walker, Mel Lazarus, Charles M. Schulz — he grew up listening to radio comedians and watching the movies of Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. He loved slapstick, pratfalls, one-liners.

Like those other artists, Mr. Hart received what now looks like a classic American art education, the kind of apprenticeship that enabled a golden age of cartooning: he pored over strips like “Dick Tracy” and “Smokey Stover” as a child; studied a little commercial art as a teenager; did some time in the military, where he drew cartoons for Stars and Stripes; and then peddled single-panel cartoons to Colliers and The Saturday Evening Post before finally catching on with a newspaper syndicate. By the time he created “B.C.” in 1958, influenced partly by Mr. Schulz, he had pared his style to one of eloquent simplicity.

Famed comic strip artist Johnny Hart died yesterday the AP is reporting.

Cartoonist Johnny Hart, whose award-winning “B.C.” comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, died at his home on Saturday. He was 76.

“He had a stroke,” Hart’s wife, Bobby, said on Sunday. “He died at his storyboard.”

“B.C.,” populated by prehistoric cavemen and dinosaurs, was launched in 1958 and eventually appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with an audience of 100 million, according to Creators Syndicate, Inc., which distributes it.

After he graduated from Union-Endicott High School, Hart met Brant Parker, a young cartoonist who became a prime influence and co-creator with Hart of the “Wizard of Id” comic strip.

Via DC:

Artist Marshall Rogers, who won acclaim for his stylish depiction of Batman, has died at age 57.

“Marshall was one of the radical young stylists bringing new looks to DC in the ‘70s, especially with his memorable collaboration with Steve Englehart on Batman,” says DC Comics President & Publisher Paul Levitz. “His debonair smile and charm were every bit as endearing as his art was energetic, and his colleagues at DC are all shocked to have a great artist pass so young.”

Born January 22, 1950, Rogers studied architecture at Kent State University before pursuing a career in comics. His earliest work appeared in Marvel Comics’ black and white magazines; in 1976, his art first appeared in a backup story in DETECTIVE COMICS, the title with which he is most identified.

Rogers quickly moved up to pencilling the lead stories in DETECTIVE, working with his frequent collaborators, writer Steve Englehart and inker Terry Austin, on a run of issues that featured the acclaimed “Joker Fish” story. He simultaneously drew a memorable run on MISTER MIRACLE.

Rogers returned to Batman frequently after his initial run on DETECTIVE, contributing stories to BATMAN FAMILY and other titles, including a new look at the Dark Knight’s beginnings in SECRET ORIGINS. In the 1980s, Rogers began working for Eclipse Comics, with projects including Coyote, Scorpio, the graphic novel Detectives, Inc., and his own creation, Cap’n Quick and A Foozle.

By the mid-1980s, Rogers was working for Marvel Comics, where he illustrated Dr. Strange, G.I. Joe, Howard the Duck and more, as well as a long run on Silver Surfer. He became the artist on the Batman daily comic strip at the end of the decade.

More recently, Rogers illustrated the miniseries GREEN LANTERN: EVIL’S MIGHT, then returned to the Dark Knight for a 5-part story in BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT. He reteamed with Englehart and Austin for the 2005 miniseries BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE, a follow up on their classic work of the 1970s.

Word is going around that POISON ELVES artist Drew Hayes has passed away. He had apparently had several health issues over the years, but we don’t know any more than that. Hayes self-published POISON ELVES in the early 90s before moving it over to Sirius, gaining a following for its quirky storyline and detailed art that mixed fantasy with dark humor.

You can see a little bit about POISON ELVES publishing history here, and a tribute page is here. More info when we get it.

UPDATE: Since there has been no other confirmation of this, we called up the source of the news, Jeannie Savell, of The Comic Boxx in Cleburne, TX for any more information. Jeannie confirms that the news is true, reported from Bryan Chapman, a close friend of Hayes.

Our condolences to Hayes’s family and friends.

FURTHER INFO: Newsarama posts obit from Sirius:

Sirius Entertainment is saddened to report that Drew Hayes, the maverick creator of POISON ELVES, has died in his hometown of Bellingham, Washington. Drew had a heart attack while suffering from pneumonia. He is survived by his daughter, Mary and his mother, Sharon.

Drew had been hospitalized more than once over the last several years, but his return to good health had been anticipated, so the suddenness of his passing was an unexpected shock to those that knew him. Drew was 37 years old.

Very sad news going around this morning that Jay Kennedy, the highly respected editor in chief at King Features syndicate has died in a drowning accident while on vacation in Costa Rica. No further details are available at this time.

Kennedy was a major figure in the comic strip business, liked and respected by all, and this is a huge loss.

feeling a xanax high give does

Today mobile payments ranging from mobile banking to mobile credit cards to mobile commerce are very widely used in Asia and Africa, and in selected European markets.

Writer Arnold Drake, a mainstay at DC Comics during the 60s and 70s and best known as the creator of THE DOOM PATROL and DEADMAN, died Monday at the age of 83 of complications stemming from a recent bout with pneumonia.

“Arnold was one of the craftsmen who built the DC universe,” said Paul Levitz, President and Publisher of DC Comics. “He loved telling tales, making readers laugh or jump in their seats, and making the world a more interesting place. He went out as he lived-talking with me two weeks ago at the NY Comic Con about new tweaks to the Deadman legend, for a film version being developed, and enjoying every twist he added.”

Born on March 1, 1924, Drake began his writing career as a journalism student at the University of Missouri and later at New York University. It was a meeting with BATMAN creator Bob Kane that opened the door for Drake to enter the comic book field. Kane worked with Drake on a number of his first stories, later introducing him to the editorial staff at DC Comics. Drake’s early writing credits for DC included HOUSE OF MYSTERY, MY GREATEST ADVENTURE, STRANGE ADVENTURES and BATMAN.

Drake’s uncanny knack for revitalizing staid properties, in addition to his ability to introduce exciting and energetic new characters to the DC mythos cemented his place among the most prolific and well-respected writers of his era. Working with fellow writer Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani, Drake gave birth to the Doom Patrol, a team of outlaw and freakish heroes that first appeared in the pages of the DC anthology series MY GREATEST ADVENTURE. Similarly, in tandem with legendary artist Carmine Infantino, Drake introduced the deceased superhero DEADMAN as a feature in STRANGE ADVENTURES.

In addition to his voluminous work for DC, Drake also worked for Marvel Comics - introducing Havok and Lorna Dane/Polaris during a short, but essential stint on X-Men - and Gold Key, most notably writing the Star Trek and Twilight Zone comics for the latter. Drake also penned It Rhymes with Lust, considered by many to be a precursor to the graphic novel, in 1950.

In recent years, Drake had reconnected with his fans, becoming a regular presence at comic conventions, continuing to be a strong advocate for aging Golden and Silver Age creators. Drake was the first recipient of the Bill Finger Award in 2005, which honors creators not given proper recognition for their creative work in the field of comics.

As reported yesterday, writer Arnold Drake passed away yesterday of complications from pneumonia and septic shock. He was 83.

Drake was a busy writer at DC in the 50s and 60s, creating THE DOOM PATROL with writer Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani and DEADMAN with Carmine Infantino. He went on to write many kids comics, creating STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER with the also-recently deceased Bob Oksner, and settling in for a long run on LITTLE LULU. With artist Matt Baker, Drake also pioneered the American graphic novel, creating the paperback IT RHYMES WiTH LUST which was published in 1950, and Dark Horse is reissuing it this month.

Clearly, Drake was a man ahead of his time, or at least at the forefront of his times. He was one of those quirky creators I was talking about a while ago. In his later years he was a fixture on the New York convention scene, and memorably appeared at the 2005 San Diego Comic-con where he won one of the first Bill Finger Awards, and charmed everyone with his singing.
Ian Brill has a nice remembrance and a good accounting of the Eisners that year:

At the Eisners award Drake received his Bill Finger award for both his writing and his cause. He ended his speech with, of all things, a song. It was a bit funny and a bit weird but something special happened after he sand the lyrics “I hears somebody said it/that Stan Lee would take credit/for Spider-Man to the King James testament.” I have never before heard a room of many hundreds simultaneously and with an equal amount of energy gasp and guffaw at the same time. It’s an odd sound but an enjoyable one. I was sitting next to TCJ then-Managing Editor Dirk Deppey and he immediately declared “We have to interview him!”

Mike Catron has an earlier video of another Drake singing performance.

I wrote about my own encounter with Drake here:

Don’t let Arnold Drake fool you, he’s sharp! Anyway we talked about his work on Little Lulu — he took over after John Stanley retired — and the movie he wrote and co-produced back in the 60s. We also asked him if he thought there was a difference between how his generation viewed writing comics — as a slightly pulpish vocation perhaps, compared to today’s writers who see comics as an artform.

“Yes, but there were always those of us who knew it could be something more,” he told us.

That was my only lengthy encounter with Drake and I sadly regret not having more, because he was a smart, creative person who paved the way for a lot of what we take for granted now.

Mark Evanier has a lengthy, personal remembrance of Drake which is MUST reading:

But Drake was a feisty guy who had trouble getting along with editors. In the late sixties, he fought with the management at DC, partly over what he considered inept editorial direction and partly over business matters. He was a loud voice in a writers’ revolt during which several of the firm’s longtime freelancers were demanding health insurance, reprint fees and better pay. Many of them were ousted, including Arnold, and he then worked for a time for Marvel before settling down at Gold Key Comics for many years. For them, he wrote many comics including The Twilight Zone, Star Trek and a particularly long and delightful stint on Little Lulu.

You can also see Drake in this group shot of the 2005 Eisner winners. I had written earlier about something he said while winning his Finger award. It wasn’t as colorful as his song, but was even more accurate: He told the people there to look down at the vast, bleating, blinking star studded show floor and “Remember that you are the ones who created it.”

Drake created it and lived it and we are much the poorer without his presence this day.

More: Tom
Johnny Baccardi
Liz Glass
Matt Fraction
and many more.

Ken Gale is reporting that writer Arnold Drake passed away today from pneumonia and septic shock. Drake is best known for his work on DEADMAN, DOOM PATROL and X-MEN and his early graphic novel IT RHYMES WITH LUST, recently reprinted by Dark Horse.

We’ll have more on Drake’s passing tomorrow.

Via Archie pr:

Harlan Stone, a longtime radio actor best-known as “Jughead” on the Archie Andrews show, died Wednesday from complications of valve transplant surgery. He started out as a child model and went on to direct TV commercials. Hal wrote a book called “Aw…Relax, Archie! Re-laxx!” which chronicalled his life in entertainment. He was a frequent guest at the Friends of Old-Time Radio convention, up through last fall. We at Archie Comics send our deepest sympathy to his family at their time of loss.

Bob Oksner, one of the true pillars of comics, died of pneumonia at age 90 yesterday. Mark Evanier has a full obit. Oksner created the comic strip MISS CAIRO JONES, but went on to a long career in comics drawing what could truly be called “funny books”: BOB HOPE, JERRY LEWIS, LEAVE IT TO BINKY, STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER and many many more. He also created ANGEL AND THE APE.

Sheldon Mayer, an editor at DC, had been a fan of Miss Cairo Jones and he invited Oksner to work for DC…an association that kept Bob occupied for the rest of his career. He started on The Black Canary and other strips featuring pretty ladies and soon segued to humor features, especially ones based on licensed properties. Oksner drew The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis until that team split up, whereupon his assignment became The Adventures of Jerry Lewis. He also drew Sgt. Bilko, Doberman, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Pat Boone, The Adventures of Bob Hope and non-licensed humor titles like Leave it to Binky, Miss Beverly Hills, A Date With Judy and Stanley and His Monster. One of his more memorable stints was as artist/co-creator of the short-lived The Angel and the Ape in the late sixties. He received the National Cartoonists Society Award in its Comic Book Division for 1960 and 1961 won the Shazam Award in 1970 for Best Pencil Artist (Humor Division).

Manga-ka Emiko Sugi died on the 10th of stomach cancer at age 47. Although little of her work was translated into English, she was the auther of several popular shojo manga Dirk digs up the most information:

So near as I can tell, the only published work by Emiko Sugi to appear in English is a chapter she wrote for the how-to book Mezase!! Manga no Hoshi, which was recently published Stateside by Viz Media under the title Shojo Beat’s Manga Artist Academy. There’s rather little information available online about Ms. Sugi; she debuted as an artist in 1977 and seems to have specialized in tittilating shoujo manga; Niko-Niko.net reviews what sounds like a typical Emiko Sugi manga series, Ubu Ubu, about a high-school girl who aspires to be a famous nude model.

According to ComiPress her works have sold over 18,000,000 volumes.

Mark Evanier reaport on the death of Archie artist Joe Edwards:

Another of the great artists of Archie Comics, Joe Edwards, has left us. Details are a bit sketchy but Mr. Edwards had been in poor health for some time. He died this morning at the age of 85.

Edwards was an amazingly prolific artist. After education at Rome Academy and something called the Hastings Animation School, he began drawing comic books in the late thirties, about the time the medium was first established. He worked at first for the Demby Studios shop, then did funny animals for Dell and Timely. He began working for MLJ (which was later known as Archie Comics) in 1942, initially doing several funny animal strips, including Squoimy the Woim, Cubby the Bear and Bumbie the Bee-tective. All three of these appeared as short features in the first issue of Archie Comics.

UPDATE: Archie has sent out an announcement:

Veteran comic book artist Joe Edwards died on Thursday, February 8. In a career spanning over 65 years, Edwards wrote and drew comic book stories for various companies, most prominently Archie Comics. After studying art at Rome Academy and Hastings Animation School, Edwards landed a job drawing for Demby Studios, one of several outfits generating comic book stories for various publishers in the fledging days of the industry. After drawing comics for Dell and Timely, he joined Archie, which was then known as MLJ Comics. Edwards’ animation training made him perfect for “funny animal” features including Squoimy the Woim, Cubby the Bear and Bumbie the Bee-tective, all of which have the distinction of gracing the pages of a milestone comic from MLJ: Archie Comics #1 from 1942. When the Archie comic series took off, Edwards drew many stories featuring the flagship characters as well. Over the years, he continued to contribute to the company with stories and art on features including Super Duck, Captain Sprocket and the series he is most associated with, Li’l Jinx. The mischievous little girl was so named because, like Edwards’ son, she was born on Halloween. The feature appeared for years not only as its own series but also as a backup in such titles as Little Archie and the Archie Giant Series. Joe Edwards was 85 years old. Funeral arrangements have been made for Sunday, February 11. We art Archie Comics send our deepest condolences to his family.

Wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow was found dead yesterday, cause unknown.:

Bigelow, a major star in the 80s and 90s throughout the world, was found dead by his girlfriend at their place of residence in Hudson, Fla. when she woke up at 10 a.m. Police haven’t been able to pinpoint the time of death nor a cause of death.

Bigelow had severe back problems stemming from his years in pro wrestling, and was involved in a bad motorcycle accident that nearly killed his girlfriend a few years ago.

Bigelow was also badly burned in an incident even more years ago where he rescued children from a forest fire. No lie. We knew a few people who knew Bam Bam well and they never had a bad word to say about him. It was also our own chance encounter with Bam Bam perhaps a decade ago where a discussion of echinacea and goldenseal revealed to us that behind the kayfabe was a world of real people with their own hopes and dreams and goals.

As someone on a wrestling board said, the chances of a former WWE/F star in his mid forties dying unexpectedly are so high as to come as no surprise. Sad but true. The price these gladiators pay for our amusement is sickeningly high. Scott Bigelow, may you rest in peace.

I learned only yesterday via Elayne that Leah Adezio was in the hospital and not expected to pull through.

I was shocked and stunned. Now I have received word that she passed away last night of liver and kidney failure.

Leah was an artist, wife, mother and friend. When I moved to New York 12 years ago she was part of the core of the then-New York Friend of Lulu chapter. I also knew her from various online message boards. She swiftly became the kind of friend you could share anything with. We had many convention adventures together across the US, staffing the Lulu booth, lugging the “blue bongos” and or just hanging out eating cheese at the wonderful Lulu clubhouse that Elyane made available.

Sadly, I hadn’t seen Leah much over the last few years, as conventions are now a place where every minute is spoken for without much time to catch up with old friends. I ran into her at Wizard World Philly a few years ago, and she told me her husband had died suddenly. She seemed sad, understandably but seemed to be dealing with it with a great deal of dignity and wisdom — two words that definitely applied to Leah in all things.

She had a hard life. Her brother died violently, and that had affected her deeply. She loved her two kids dearly and talked about them all the time, but they weren’t always perfect and that caused the usual heartaches, also.

As an artist, Leah never had a big break, but she kept at it. She took her art and her comics seriously, and I remember once when she got to collaborate with Nick Cardy — she was over the moon, as any one would have been.

Through it all she was a mensch and a friend, someone who always reached out or had a laugh. I can’t imagine that there is anyone whose life she touched who isn’t going to miss her terribly.

More remembrances: Peter David, Colleen Doran, Elayne Riggs. UPDATE: Another remembrance by Tegan, talking about Leah’s love of all things Aquaman.

Also, memorials from Johanna and Jen Contino.