COMICS 2007 1/1 Tiberio Colantuoni, 71

- Italian comic book artist - Creator of Bongo

1/8 Drew Posada, 37

- comic book colorist and pin-up artist

1/8 Iwao Takamoto, 81

- animator & character designer for Disney and Hanna-Barbera

- designer of Scooby-Doo, Astro (“Jetsons”), Lady (‘Lady & the Tramp’) and others

- Director: ‘Charlotte’s Web’; Producer on numerous H-B series

1/10 Harry Horse, 46

- British children’s book illustrator and political cartoonist

1/21 Vic Kasinja, 49, malaria

- Malawi cartoonist; creator of the features ‘Joza’ and ‘Taxina’

2/9 Joe Edwards, 85

- MLJ/Archie artist from 1942-87; drew funny animal strips as well as the Archie gang

- Drew 4 stories in Archie Comics #1 - Creator/writer/artist of Li’l Jinx

2/18 Bob Oksner, 90

- comic book artist from the early 40s to the late 80s - worked primarily for DC on humor titles and great-

looking women - comic strips – ‘Miss Cairo Jones’ (1945-47), ‘I Love

Lucy’ (1952-55), ‘Soozie’ (1967-68); co-plotted ‘Dondi’ (1969-86)

- co-created ‘Angel & the Ape’

2/22 Irwin Caplan, 87 - Cartoonist – Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s - NCS Award for Advertising and Illustration, 1972

3/3 Osvaldo Cavandoli, 87

- Italian cartoonist and animator; best-known for his character created from one line (La Linea)

3/5 Yvan Delporte, 78

- Cartoonist; editor-in-chief of Spirou, 1955-68

3/12 Arnold Drake, 83

- comic book writer; co-creator of Deadman, Doom Patrol and ‘Stanley and his Monster’ for DC

- long runs on ‘Bob Hope’ and ‘Jerry Lewis’ comics, teamed with Bob Oksner (see above)

- wrote what some are calling the first “graphic novel”, ‘It Rhymes with Lust’

3/15 Jay Kennedy, 50, drowning

- Editor in Chief of King Features Syndicate, 1997-07 - Introduced ‘Mutts’ and ‘Zits’, as well as revived ‘Prince

Valiant’ - Cartoon editor of Esquire, 1983-88 - Editor, the Underground Comix Guide

3/21 Drew Hayes, 37, heart attack

- Comic book writer/artist; creator of ‘Poison Elves’, which ran from 1991-2004

3/25 Marshall Rogers, 57

- comic book artist best-known for his work on ‘Detective Comics’ and ‘Mister Miracle’

4/30 Franco Cosimo Panini, 76 - co-founder of Panini, an Italian publisher of comics,

stickers and trading cards

4/7 Johnny Hart, 77

- comic strip artist/writer; creator of ‘B.C.’ [1958-2007] and co-creator of ‘The Wizard of Id’ [1964-2007]

- recipient of the Reuben, the Segar Award and the Yellow Kid Award

4/12 Pierre Probst, 93 - French children’s book illustrator/author

4/15 Brant Parker, 86

- artist and co-creator of ‘Wizard of Id’ [1964-2007]

- co-creator of “Out of Bounds” and “Crock” - winner of the Reuben

4/21 Art Saaf, 85 - comic book artist, working primarily for Fiction House in

the 1940s (Jumbo, Ranger), as well as Better (Thrilling, Startling)

- left comics in 1954 but returned in ’67 to work for Dell and Gold Key; worked steadily for DC in the ‘70s on romance and ghost features, as well as a 5-issue stint on ‘Our Fighting Forces’

5/1 Tom Artis, complications from diabetes

- comic book artist, working primarily for DC in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s on the Spectre, Sensational She-Hulk, and his co-creation, Tailgunner Jo

5/15 Angus McBride, 76

- Scottish historical and fantasy illustrator

6/7 Roger Armstrong, 89 - comic book artist: ‘Looney Tunes’, Disney & Walter

Lantz comics for Western; - comic strips: Disney’s ‘Scamp’, 1978-88

6/20 J.B. Handelsman, 85

- cartoonist for Punch, Playboy and the New Yorker

6/28 Howie Schneider, 77

- creator of the ‘Eek & Meek’ comic strip, which ran 1965-2000, and other shorter-lived strips

7/2 Buck Brown, 71

- cartoonist who contributed over 600 cartoons to Playboy, most of them featuring his ‘Granny’ character

7/10 Doug Marlette, 57, car accident - editorial cartoonist from 1969 until his death, and

winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in that field - creator of the comic strip ‘Kudzu’, syndicated since

1981

7/17 Cheng Shifa, 86

- Chinese cartoonist/illustrator

8/12 Mike Wieringo, 44

- comic book artist – ‘The Flash’, ‘Robin’ and ‘Adventures of Superman’ for DC; various Spider-Man titles for Marvel

- co-creator of his own fantasy series ‘Tellos’

8/? Phil Gascoine, 72 - British comic book and strip artist who became

professional at age 17 - Late ‘80s/early ‘90s work for Marvel (Marvel UK, Epic)

and DC (Unknown Soldier)

8/26 Larry Woromay, 80 - comic book artist who worked for Atlas in the early ‘50s

and Charlton in the late ‘60s

9/12 Phil Frank, 64, brain tumor - comic strip artist – ‘Farley’ for the San Francisco

Chronicle [1975-2007] and the syndicated ‘Elderberries’ [2004-2007]

- Frank died three days after announcing his retirement

9/16 Robert Jordan, 58, rare blood disorder - fantasy author whose ‘Wheel of Time: New Spring’

novel was partially adapted into comic book form by Chuck Dixon

9/25 Richard Goldwater,70 - President, co-publisher and son of co-founder of Archie

Comics

11/6 Paul Norris, 93

- Artist; co-creator of Aquaman - artist for Western from late ‘40s through ‘70s - Comic strip artist, filling-in on ‘Flash Gordon’ and

‘Secret Agent X-9’ and later drawing ‘Jungle Jim’ Sundays (1948-52) and ‘Brick Bradford’ (1952-87)

- Native of Greenville, Ohio

12/7 Al Scarduto, 79 - comic strip/book artist; assisted on ‘Little Iodine’, 1946-

62 - stunning longevity on the daily feature, ‘They’ll Do It

Every Time’, from assistant in 1946, to artist, to taking over the strip in 1989

12/9 Wayne Howard, 59 - comic book artist, primarily for Charlton - assistant to Wally Wood, 1968-69