John Paul Leon, R.I.P.

Very sad to wake up to the news that comic book creator John Paul Leon has passed away at the far too young age of 49, after a long battle with cancer.

Like a lot of people, I first encountered his work back in 1993 when he was the artist on STATIC #1 from Milestone. Incredible to check the dates now and realize he was 20 years old when he drew that issue, already remarkably good and getting better with every issue of his too-short initial run on the book. Might be the first time I was regularly buying a comic by an artist younger than I was. Also kind of sad to note that both the writers he worked on that book with, Dwayne McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III, also passed away before the age of 50.

That first year of STATIC, and his subsequent returns to the character, that's some special stuff. Very much a fresh and exciting take on classic comic book and comic strip storytelling, standing in stark relief to the common trend in young artists of the era to rely on excessive noodling and linework.

 

He did a lot of interesting stuff in the years since. The three career defining works are probably EARTH X (with Jim Krueger, Alex Ross and Bill Reinhold), THE WINTER MEN (with Brett Lewis) and BATMAN: CREATURE OF THE NIGHT (with Kurt Busiek).

He was also, understandably, very much in demand as cover artist for books he didn't draw, coming up with lots of striking images over the years.

There's a fundraiser for his family over here.