John Cassaday, the artist who co-created the influential turn-of-the-century comic strip Planetary and then he drew a prize The X-Men comic book writer Joss Whedon for Marvel, has died. He was 52.
His sister Robin Cassaday announced his death on Facebook Monday. She had previously written that he had been admitted to the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai West in New York on Sept. 3. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Cassaday also designed the relaunch of Star Wars which became the best-selling comic of 2015.
“As [fellow artists] Neal Adams, Jim Steranko or Michael Golden, he is a touchstone, a point of reference for the dozens and dozens of artists whose work has been influenced by his,” said comics writer and curator Mark Waid. “Most people are lucky if more than a dozen people are still talking about them a month after they’ve passed. My friend John will be remembered and remembered by an entire industry for years to come.”
Born in 1971, Cassaday was a self-taught artist and film school graduate who pursued his craft while working in construction and as a local television news director in Texas. In the mid-1990s, he showed his portfolio to Waid at a comic book convention.
Waid then referred the artist to author and curator Jeff Mariotte, and this opened the door for Cassaday to be hired for illustration work that paid well enough to allow him to quit his day job and devote himself to drawing full-time.
In the late 1990s, he collaborated with author Warren Ellis on Planetaryan exploration of the superhero and pulp hero genres centered on a trio of archaeologist-adventurers who were part of an organization attempting to track the global activities of superpowers.
The comic was initially published bimonthly before Ellis's health complications (and Cassaday's penchant for exactitude) caused multiple delays. However, his 27-issue run, published by the Image Wildstorm imprint, would explore comic book tropes before such a thing became popular and gained a cult following. It also earned several Eisner Award nominations.
Cassaday achieved groundbreaking commercial success with The Extraordinary X-Mena 25-issue series in the mid-2000s that helped bring the mutant team back to prominence in Marvel titles. Its cinematic style proved a perfect complement to the stories of Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer AND Firefly. Critics loved it, with the series winning Eisner Awards for Best Comic Book in 2005 and 2006 and Cassaday winning Best Artist in 2005. One of the storylines even influenced Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).
The artist has worked on titles for several publishers, including I am the Legion for Humanoids, based in France, and went on to draw for Marvel, where he also worked on a Captain America comic. He also made a splash in Hollywood, working as a concept artist on Zack Snyder's 2009 adaptation of Guardiansamong other concerts.
When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 and then Marvel a year later, the license for Star Wars comics have returned to the latter. Marvel relaunched the title in 2015, marking the first time a Star Wars The comic has been published by the company since the 1980s.
Cassaday was chosen to draw the book's first story arc, propelling sales into hyperspace. The title became the best-selling comic book of the year, with the first issue selling over a million copies.
“We are devastated by the loss of our dear friend, artist and comics legend John Cassaday,” Marvel said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “His art was a masterclass in emotion, action and storytelling, and he captured the essence of every character he drew. John was one of the best, and he will always be a part of our Marvel family.”