Dave Cockrum

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Dave Cockrum
Birth name David Emmett Cockrum
Born November 11, 1943(1943-11-11)[1]
Pendleton, Oregon
Died November 26, 2006 (aged 63)
Nationality American
Area(s) Penciller; Inker; Writer

David Emmett Cockrum (November 11,[1] 1943 – November 26, 2006) was an American comic book artist.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Dave Cockrum was born on November 11, 1943 in Pendleton, Oregon. His father was a lieutenant colonel of the United States Air Force, resulting in the Cockrums frequently transporting their household from one city to another for years.

He discovered comic books at an early age. His reported favorites were Captain Marvel by Fawcett Comics and Blackhawk by Quality Comics. *A letter from Cockrum praising the creation of the Inhumans was printed in Fantastic Four #49 (April 1966). He also had a letters printed in issues #22 (January 1964) and #36 (March 1965) about Fantastic Four Annual #2 and issue #33, respectively. Additionally, a letter written by Cockrum appears in the letters pages of The Avengers #35 (December 1966).

His ambition was to be become a comic book creator himself. However following his school graduation, Dave joined the United States Navy for six years. After leaving the military, Dave managed to find employment by Warren Publishing. He was then hired as an assistant inker to Murphy Anderson. Anderson was responsible for inking various titles featuring Superman and Superboy for DC Comics. The later title was featuring a backup strip by the name of The Legion of Super-Heroes.

When the position of artist for The Legion of Super-Heroes was left vacant, Cockrum sought the job and had his first assignment at drawing a series. Cockrum's work on The Legion (beginning in the early 1970s) is generally seen as redefining the team. Certainly he redefined the look of the Legion, creating new costumes and designs that would last until artist Keith Giffen did a similar revamp in the 1980s. Cockrum eventually left DC and the Legion in a dispute involving the return of his original artwork for Superboy #200.

At Marvel, Cockrum and Len Wein (under the direction of editor Roy Thomas) created the new X-Men, co-creating such characters as Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus. These characters made their debut in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (Summer 1975), and then in a relaunched Uncanny X-Men (beginning with issue #94). Wein left after an issue and a half, succeeded by Chris Claremont, the team's primary writer from then on. Cockrum stayed with the title until 1977 (as main penciller on issues #94-105 and 107), when he was replaced by penciller John Byrne with issue #108. When Byrne in turn left in 1981 with issues #144, Cockrum returned to the title, but left again in 1983.

Cockrum has also pencilled and/or inked a number of other titles for both Marvel and DC, and was Marvel's primary cover artist in the late 1970s.

In 1983, Cockrum produced The Futurians, first as a graphic novel (Marvel Graphic Novel #9), and then as an ongoing series published by Lodestone. Though it did not last past issue 3, a collected edition was published by Eternity Comics in 1987 that included the "missing" issue 4. In 1995, Aardwolf Publishing also printed the "missing" issue as Futurians 0, with a new five page story by Cockrum and author Clifford Meth. Futurians has recently been reprinted in France by Semic. At the time of Cockrum's death, there were plans for a movie and a new series; how these plans will be affected by his death is not known.

In recent years, Cockrum worked less frequently in comics. In 2004, he became seriously ill due to complications from diabetes and pneumonia; a number of fellow artists and writers led by Clifford Meth and Neal Adams organised a fundraising project. The auction, run by Heritage Comics at the WizardWorld Chicago show in August, raised nearly $40,000. Due to pressure from Meth, Marvel also announced it would compensate Cockrum for his work in co-creating the enormously successful X-Men.

Cockrum was due to draw an eight-page story in Giant Size X-Men #3 (2005), but a recurrence of his health problems prevented this. [2]

Cockrum passed away on the morning of November 26, 2006 due to complications from diabetes. He was survived by his wife of many years Paty Cockrum.

[edit] In popular culture

In the novelization of X-Men: The Last Stand, the President is named David Cockrum.

His longtime associate Chris Claremont has recently created a homage character in Exiles who eventually "moved on" at the end of X-Men: Die by the Sword, which ended with a full page tribute to Cockrum.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Comics Buyers Guide #1636 (December 2007); Page 135
  2. ^ [1]

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Neal Adams		 Uncanny X-Men artist
1975–1977		 Succeeded by
John Byrne
Preceded by
John Byrne		 Uncanny X-Men artist
1981–1982		 Succeeded by
Paul Smith