In Memorium: John Severin
Veteran comics artist John Severin passed away on February 12, 2012 at the age of ninety. His extensive resume included classic work on such titles as Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, MAD, Incredible Hulk, Conan the Barbarian, Captain Savage, Blazing Combat, Creepy, and a couple of silver age series that remain among my favorites: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos and his collaboration with his sister Marie on Kull the Conqueror. Severin never rested on his laurels over almost six decades in comics. His work just in the past decade garnered attention for a revisionist version of The Rawhide Kid, and his work also appeared on The Punisher, Suicide Squad, American Century, B.P.R.D. and Witchfinder. Whether as primary illustrator or inker, John Severin was really one of the true legends of the comic book business and I regret never having had an opportunity to meet him in person. The Catacombs extends its sincerest condolences to his family, friends and worldwide fans.
7 comments:
John Severin was the last of the true comics illustrators! I just recently finished reading his five issue run on Dark Horse Comics Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever on which he did both the penciling and inking. The artwork is astoundingly detailed and realistically rendered. It is amazing to think that he was most likely 89 when he drew this. Any fan of comics art owes it to themselves to read this or any other of Mr. Sevein’s fantastic work. The comic book genre has lost it last giant talent.
I enjoyed his western art but I think Severin loved drawing military books. The stuff he did on The 'Nam and Semper Fi count among some of his best. I have some copies of his 'Nam work on my blog.
I was unaware that John had died. I'm sorry to hear it. He was a great artist, much more than Harvey Kurtzman gave him credit for. Is his sister Maria still alive? The last I heard (less than 5 years ago) she was still coloring at Marvel.
Marie is still alive, but she suffered a stroke a few years back (2007) and hasn't done convention appearances since to my knowledge.
I met her once in the early 1990s, and am very glad that I got to speak to her in person.
In the early 2000s or late 1990s at DragonCon in Atlanta I met Al Feldstein. He was very friendlly and had all the time in the world for me. I think it was because his table was far away from the main flow of traffic and thought it was best to have at least one person talking to him, instead of just sitting there alone. At that same convention I talked to Denis Kitchen and he also had all the time in the world for me, yet he was in a room full of people wanting to talk to him. What happened to him after Kitchen Sink went under?
Pretty sure that I was at that show. I think it was the first time that I spoke with both of the creators that you mention. Kitchen was accepting donations to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Neil Gaiman was there also, and it was he that directed me to Denis to make a contribution. Kitchen is fine - as far as I know - he actually contacted me via email some months back, when I did a post here in the Catacombs about Kitchen Sink Press.
Got the links, Eddie (great pics)! Thanks for sending them.
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