That time Steve Dillon drew Swamp Thing growing some…herbiage for John Constantine’s 40th birthday party.

§ October 24th, 2016 § Filed under obituary, swamp thing § 2 Comments

hellblazin63
As I’m sure you’ve heard, Steve Dillon, artist of Punisher and Hellblazer, as well as the co-creator of Preacher, passed away over the weekend at the much-too-young age of 54. I’m sure I’d come across his work before this, but it was his run on Hellblazer (with writer Garth Ennis) that I really began to notice and appreciate his work. As I said on my post about his passing on the store site (where I scanned and posted a Preacher sequence that I particularly like), he had a very clean, uncomplicated style that managed to convey huge amounts of detail and wide ranges of emotion. In a way, his style reminds me a bit of Jaime Hernandez’s, particularly in his later work (as opposed to that slightly rougher-edged, but still wonderfully expressive, artwork on view in those panels above).

He was a wonderful artist, and judging by some of the tributes I’ve seen on Twitter, he seemed to be a pretty darn good guy as well. I mean, look at this swell Scarecrow he drew for a little kid.

My most sincere condolences to his family, friends and fans. So long, Steve.
 
 

image from Hellblazer #63 (March 1993)

2 Responses to “That time Steve Dillon drew Swamp Thing growing some…herbiage for John Constantine’s 40th birthday party.”

  • Chris G says:

    I’ve never read Preacher or the Punisher comics he drew, but his work stood out to me on an ATOM special he drew around when I graduated high school/left for college. I probably reread it the first half-dozen times I came home for holidays, breaks, etc., and I’m pretty sure it’s still on the dresser in my old room at my parents’ house.

  • Pal Cully says:

    You summed up his style so well. I’ve always loved his clean, yet graphic way of telling stories. I hope his loved ones realize how much the fans of his work truly appreciate having his work in our lives. Thank the world for Steve Dillon.