Dave Cockrum; NY Times obit (comic book artist)
Hyfler/Rosner
NY Times
Douglas Martin
Dave Cockrum, 63, Comic Book Artist, Dies
Dave Cockrum, an illustrator who in the mid-1970s helped
invent a dynamic new look and intriguing new characters for
the moribund "X-Men" comics, paving the way for what became
America's most popular comic books and a billion-dollar
movie empire, died on Nov. 26 at his home in Belpon, S.C. He
was 63.
The cause was complications of diabetes, Andrea Kline, his
former wife, said.
The X-Men are mutants who as a result of a sudden leap in
evolution are born with latent superhuman abilities that
usually manifest themselves at puberty. Stan Lee and Jack
Kirby, two creative legends at Marvel Comics, created the
odd group in 1963, but by 1970, fan interest, never great,
had petered out. Marvel put new X-Men adventures on hiatus.
Enter Mr. Cockrum, who with the writer Len Wein, under the
direction of the editor Roy Thomas, was assigned to restart
the series in 1975. After an issue and a half, Chris
Claremont replaced Mr. Wein.
New international characters with strange new powers sprang
to life. They included Thunderbird, Colossus, Nightcrawler
and Storm, and they joined compelling standbys like
Wolverine to eventually be the heroes of a dozen comic book
titles, cartoons and video games, as well as three movies
that have together brought in more than $1 billion in
worldwide box office receipts.
Mr. Cockrum saw the characters as dark and appealingly
dramatic; they became weathered adults instead of
smooth-faced children. Comics Reporter noted the
handsomeness of both men and women, as well as an overall
"sumptuous, late-'70s cinema style."
Clifford Meth, who has written extensively about comic-book
art, said Mr. Cockrum created a new look for superheroes,
featuring wide shoulder lapels, big belts and buccaneer
boots.
"It was space opera," he said. "It wasn't just Spandex
anymore."
Neal Adams, a well-known illustrator who drew the X-Men
before the hiatus, said Mr. Cockrum created "just crazy
characters." He said Mr. Cockrum and Mr. Claremont had so
much fun during their collaboration that they were like "two
kids in a playground."
David Emmett Cockrum was born in Pendleton, Ore., on Nov.
12, 1943. He grew up loving comic books, but his father, a
colonel in the Air Force, disapproved of them, Ms. Kline
said.
Mr. Cockrum majored in fine arts at Southern Illinois
University Carbondale, but left before he graduated to join
the Navy. He was assigned to Guam, where worked as a captain's
secretary. He used his spare time to paint colorful emblems
on fighter planes and to dream up interesting characters
that later appeared in comic books.
Ms. Kline said Mr. Cockrum created and named Nightcrawler,
who has blue fur, is acrobatic and can teleport, while on
Guam. The character was first imagined as a demon dedicated
to doing good deeds to avoid being sent back to hell.
Another character, Storm, whose superpowers are flying and
manipulating the weather, is played by Halle Berry in the
X-Men movies.
After his discharge from the Air Force in the early 1970s,
Mr. Cockrum moved to New York, where he worked as an inker,
who refines the art of the original artist, called a
penciller. He did this for Murphy Anderson, who created the
modern look of Superman, Batman, Flash and other characters
at DC Comics.
DC made him the first artist, or penciller, in redefining
the DC team the Legion of Super-Heroes. His costumes and
style for the group persisted into the 1980s.
After a dispute with DC, Mr. Cockrum moved to its
archcompetitor, Marvel. His first assignment was as an inker
on "The Avengers," and then, in 1974, he became the
penciller on the publication "Giant-Size X-Men" No. 1,
working with Mr. Wein.
"Giant-Size" referred to the length of the comic book, not
to the dimensions of its characters. The extra pages were
necessary for the huge cast Mr. Cockrum dreamed up, The
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in 2000.
Mr. Cockrum's rendering of Wolverine is scheduled to be used
on a postage stamp next year.
Mr. Cockrum is survived by his wife, Paty, his son, Ivan
Sean, of Seattle, and his stepsons Lauren and Philip Greer,
both of whom live in upstate New York, Ms. Kline said.
He worked less often as his health deteriorated. By 2004, he
was in a Veterans Administration hospital in the Bronx, and
in financial straits. Mr. Adams led a drive to persuade
Marvel to share some of the riches it had generated from his
characters.
Though the company contended it owed him nothing because he
worked as freelancer, it paid him $200,000 and royalties for
one character, Nightcrawler, his earliest, according to The
Comics Journal. The terms were not officially revealed.
While not confirming or denying the $200,000 figure, Mr.
Adams said Mr. Cockrum deserved more.
"They took his characters and made an industry out of them,"
he said.