X-Men Artist Passes Away..... Dave Cockrum

The main reason why is because so many of the earliest comics book creators lived and worked on the East Coast, and I was not able to attend Comic Conventions there on the East Coast very often in the past.

I have missed seeing so many of the Golden and Silver Age Greats because they didn't have a chance to come out to the West Coast for whatever the reason was. As an example it was great to see John Buscema on his one and  only trip out to SDCC, as he passed away before the next Con arrived.  Most of these Golden and Silver Age Greats are in their 70's 80's or older...

So it is a shock to see the obits of Bronze Age, (approx 1971-1984), Creators like Dave Cockrum. As the following states, he was a main catalyst in the revival of the X-Men, which had fallen into reprints before he and Len Wein took over:

"At Marvel Comics, Cockrum and writer Len Wein were handed the X-Men. The comic had been created in 1963 as a group of young outcasts enrolled in an academy for mutants. The premise had failed to capture fans."

"Cockrum and Wein added their own heroes to the comic and published "Giant-Size X-Men No. 1" in 1975. Many signature characters Cockrum designed and co-created -- such as Storm, Mystique, Nightcrawler and Colossus -- went on to become part of the "X-Men" films..."

Dave Cockrum was only 63....

(Samples of his work can usually be found in our eBay Store listings)

Michael