Artist John Cassaday passed away on Monday at age 52. His death was reported by his sister Robin on Facebook, however news of his illness had been circulating in the comics community since he was hospitalized last week.
I’m going to let others write the obituary here. John and I were good friends when I worked at DC wayyyyy back in the day….and stayed good friends after, which didn’t always happen. But everyone was good friends with John. He was, of course, handsome and charming, but also humble, kind, smart, easy going, and just a good pal to have. We’d talk about good movies, old illustrators, comic books. We both loved pulpy, old school comics and stories and that love of pulp always informed his work, but levelled up with studying the great illustrators.
He was a really great comic book artist. His best known work was Planetary, co created with Warren Ellis and colored by Laura (DePuy) Martin. The three of them made something that was eerie, exciting, and larger than life, even as it mined the ore of our pop culture fantasies and nightmares. It was made when conspiracies were fun and cool and not a way to thwart everyday life.
Cassaday’s art was the perfect vehicle for this story. He had an amazing design sense, but also drew spectacularly more than human characters, and could make the ordinary look mysterious. And he was the model for The Drummer, if you hadn’t figured that out.
As Planetary wrapped up its long winding run, Cassaday had two other near perfect runs: A six issue mini on Captain America with John Ney Reiber in 2002 (and then several other runs on Cap) and Astonishing X-men 1-24 with Joss Whedon from 2004-2008. The latter was another era-defining work.
There are many many other tributes out there, many heartbreaking. I’m too heartbroken to collect them right now but Mark Waid told the story best:
My dear friend John Cassaday passed today at the absurdly young age of 52 and I miss him already.
I met John in, I believe, 1996–Google will not give up the secret of exactly which year the Big Apple Comic Con was held at Madison Square Garden. John was pleasant, he was polite and well-mannered, and when he showed me his portfolio, I also knew he was tremendously talented for a newcomer. The next morning, I was having breakfast with writer Jeff Mariotte, who mentioned he was looking for an illustrator for his next series, Desperadoes. Boy, did he say that to the right guy, because I had just the artist in mind.
Outside of that fortuitous referral, I refuse to take any real credit for “discovering” John Cassaday. I can’t take credit for having functioning eyeballs. But we were friends forevermore after that, and watching his quick ascension to becoming one of the most gifted, most sought-after comics illustrators of his generation was a blast. John had a memorable stint on X-Men and another on his favorite character, Captain America, but it was Planetary that rightfully put him on the map. He was meticulous, he wouldn’t turn in a single piece of art until he’d worried it to death, and as his publisher for a brief time at Humanoids, I had the great and now melancholy pleasure of watching magnificent pages, his best ever, come in slowly on his dream project, an unannounced creator-owned multimedia series that will now be his unfinished symphony.
Men in comics, as a general rule, are not exactly blessed with leading-man looks, but John was. Ask anyone. Between his handsome appearance, his charming manner, and his perfect blend of confidence and humility, he was quite the favorite of many, many ladies in his youth. Many. Effortlessly. To walk into a room of women with John was a reminder that the rest of us really, truly needed to work on our game. My single favorite memory with John was when he and I and a bunch of other comics dudes were standing around at a big convention bar-party when actor Michael Rosenbaum walked in. Every woman’s head turned, instantly, every eye upon Rosenbaum. It was like throwing a magnet into a box of iron filings. Conversely, every man in the bar who’d been there with a date was suddenly holding two drinks. In the tumult, I had the presence of mind to look at John and say, “Now you know how WE feel.”
John Cassaday, I will say without hesitation and with very little fear of disagreement, was one of the very best illustrators and storytellers to ever work in the comics medium. Like Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, or Michael Golden, he is a touchstone, a reference point to the dozens and dozens of artists whose work was influenced by his. Most people are lucky if more than a dozen people are still talking about them a month after they pass. My friend John will be talked about and remembered by an entire industry for ages. And rightfully so. Rest in peace, sir.
John is survived by his mother and sister and his partner, Tara, and mourned by the entire comics industry and his many, many fans and readers. I send my condolences to all who loved him.
