DAVE COCKRUM PASSES AWAY – NEWSARAMA

This is really sad news.  I literally grew up with Mr. Cockrum’s work on the Legion of Super-Heroes.  He will be missed.

DAVE COCKRUM PASSES AWAY – NEWSARAMA

DAVE COCKRUM PASSES AWAY

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According
to several sources, legendary X-Men and comic book artist Dave Cockrum
passed away in his sleep last night, his death a result of diabetes and
its resultant complications. He was 63 years old.

Cockrum, a fixture of the American Comics scene in the ‘70s was born in
Oregon to a father who was a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force. As
a result, Cockrum traveled frequently as a child, which allowed comic
books to provide some semblance of stability from city to city.

Following his father into the military, Cockrum served in the Navy for
six years following high school, and then entered comics and
publishing, first at Warren Publishing, and then as an assistant inker
to Murphy Anderson at DC Comics. It was during this period that
Cockrum’s art became known with the Legion of Super-Heroes, helping
them to move from their Silver Age roots into a more modern look.

While his Legion work is widely known to Legion fans, Cockrum will
forever be known as the artist who, with Len Wein, and later with Chris
Claremont, created the new X-Men, and redefined both the existing
characters and revitalized the world of the mutants and the franchise
for Marvel. Cockrum had two major stints as artist on Uncanny X-Men, from Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975 through 1977, and then from 1981-1983.

Though he had worked less and less in comics in recent years, Cockrum
had never left the hearts of his fans, as they rallied around him when
it was announced in 2004 that he was seriously ill due to complications
from diabetes and pneumonia. A benefit book and action was held, while
Marvel Comics announced that it would pay Cockrum retroactively for his
work in design and co-creation of the new X-Men.

According to Clifford Meth, a family friend of Dave and his wife,
Patty, there is no information about a funeral service at this time.
According to his wishes, Cockrum will be cremated, and those wishing to
send messages to Patty are asked to e-mail them to: magnetorampant@yahoo.com rather than calling.

Newsarama extends its deepest condolences to Dave’s family and friends.

Technorati Tags: comic books, Dave Cockrum, Legion of Super-Heroes, X-Men

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Blog@Newsarama » More than occasionally super, perhaps.

Here is a great follow-up about the blog that I wrote about earlier this month, and the ripple effect that it is having on the rest of the comic blogverse.

You can read the rest of the article at the link below.

Blog@Newsarama » More than occasionally super, perhaps.

More than occasionally super, perhaps.

Friday November 24, 2006, 2:01 pm

Valerie D’Orazio has had a hell of a couple of weeks. She has, in fact, had a hell of a life, as her blog Occasional Superheroine
illustrates (Go to the bottom of the page and work your way up, if you
haven’t already read it). I’m not breaking any news by identifying
D’Orazio’s identity, as Rich Johnston revealed that at the start of this week
(with her permission), even though the blog itself uses psuedonyms for
all involved, including the publisher she worked for (DC), perhaps for
obvious reasons; the blog reveals things about DC editorial and
internal practices that I’m sure they would rather have kept quiet,
which is just one of the reasons (and one of the more minor of the
reasons) why it’s such a brave and important piece of writing.

Needless to say, it’s also the kind of thing that gets a lot of attention.

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