Carmine, George, and Roger.
So whenever I think of Star Wars comics, just, you know, as a general concept, and not as something specific I’m staring at on a rack or processing for the back issue bins, this is the cover that I picture:
The Star Wars comics were young Mike’s first regular exposure to the work of Carmine Infantino, and though in the past I’ve poked a little fun here once or twice at the somewhat off-model stylings of the Star Warriors in that series, they still remain some of the most memorable of my youth…almost certainly because of the work of Mr. Infantino.
Of course, I would come to learn and love his work on the Flash, especially in this wonderful issue that I read so often since buying it off the stands that I ended up having to buy a replacement copy a couple of decades later:
…And of course there were his Batman comics, Detective Chimp, Adam Strange, Elongated Man, and much more than I can easily list here.
Carmine Infantino passed away yesterday at the age of 87. So long, Carmine, and thanks for all the swell comics.
Another notable comics passing is George Gladir, one of the industry’s hardest working writers, having worked for both Archie Comics (cocreating Sabrina with Dan DeCarlo) and Cracked. To be frank, his was not a name I immediately recognized, but boy, did I read a lot of Cracked when I was a kid in the ’70s (the Nineteen-Seventies, you wiseacres) so certainly I must have been exposed to plenty of his work. My condolences to his family, friends, and fans.
And I would be remiss if I did not note the passing of Roger Ebert. The loss of his great wit and intelligence is a sad one, but thankfully he left behind no small amount of writing that will continue to entertain and educate us for a long time to come. It was he and his longtime reviewing partner Gene Siskel that introduced Young Me to the idea that film criticism was even a thing, and perhaps, even more generally, the idea that one’s entertainment can be thoughtfully considered and not just passively absorbed.
He was also a supporter of the silliness my friends and I perpetrated on Twitter, and his agreement to write the introduction to our book is one we are still infinitely grateful for.
Thank you, Roger, for everything.
It’s a shame that Chewbacca is off-model. By which I mean I wish he looked that awesome in the movies.
As a life-long Chicagoan, I’ve been reading Roger Ebert since he joined the Sun-Times staff. And after 46 years, it’s still hard to believe he was 70. He always seemed so youthful until his bout with cancer. Recently I was reading his book of movie reviews for movies he’panned when someone asked me why I’d waste time reading a book about bad movies. I explained I wasn’t reading for the movie, but for the quality of Ebert’s writing.
One of my earliest comics memories is the Flash issue that introduced Grodd. Infantino art could usually sell me on anything, no matter what was inside.
Damn, these hurt.
hmmmmm there’s never been a GRODD/CHEWBACCA team-up, BUT NOW IT SEEMS OBVIOUS!
The NYTimes obit says that Infantino was not that fond of superheroes and that his favorite creation was Detective Chimp!
And novelist Iain M. Banks announced he has terminal cancer, unlikely to live a year.
Not a good week.