Very sorry to learn today of the sudden passing of Darwyn Cooke, one of the greatest comic book artists ever. I had little interest in superhero comics until I saw his work, work that is so tremendously inspiring to even fellow cartoonists.
Back in 2012, I attended a charity auction that was raising money, in part, to help the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation in the name of Dave Stevens, the creator of the Rocketeer who succumbed to the disease only four years before. Darwyn was working on his own take on “The Rocketeer” at the time, and donated this drawing to the auction of which I was very happily the winning bidder. It is original Darwyn inks over printed pencils by Dave Stevens. It seems especially poignant today since cancer claimed both men.
