John Cassaday, one of the most famous and successful comic artists of his generation, artist on Amazing X-Men and co-creator (and artist) of Planetarydied at the age of 52.
Cassaday was a self-taught artist who attended film school and worked for a time in television news. His first comic work appeared in 1994 for Hart Fisher’s Boneyard Press and then in a story written by Fisher in Caliber Press’ Negative burning #28 in 1995…
Cassaday began to share his portfolio and received commissions from major publishers, including an edition of Spirit for Dark Horse in 1996.
This led to his biggest comic book assignment to date, when he created the Western series with Jeff Mariotte, Desperadosfor Wildstorm Comics (then known as Homage Comics) …
During this time he began working for DC and Marvel, but in 1998 he was part of a new book series by Warren Ellis at Wildstorm. authority by Ellis and Bryan Hitch, and Planetaryabout a group of interdimensional archaeologists, by Ellis and Cassaday …
Cassaday’s style continued to evolve during this time, becoming more and more realistic without losing the dynamism of his earlier work. Combined with his outstanding storytelling skills, he was now one of the top artists in the entire comics industry.
He started a new Captain America series in 2002 for Marvel, with covers inspired by classic World War II propaganda pieces…
He continued drawing Planetary during this time, but it was an irregular schedule as he worked on a number of other projects. His most famous during this time was the launch of Amazing X-Men with Joss Whedon in 2004….
For the series, Cassaday won two Eisner Awards for Best Pencil/Inker.
Cassaday moved I am Legion also for humanoids during this time …
Planetary ended in 2009. Since then, Cassaday has worked mainly on special projects, such as the launch Sinister Avengers for Marvel in 2012 …
and then the eagerly awaited return of star Wars to Marvel in 2015 …
Cassaday has largely stopped designing interior pages and instead continues to delight the comic book industry with his consistently amazing comic book covers, especially a striking series of Lone Ranger Cover for Dynamite Comics…
while I was working in film and television (design work for Guardianand directed an episode of Whedon’s Dollhouse TV series).
In 2018, Humanoids hired Cassaday as Chief Creative Officer.
Cassaday has continued to design covers for various publishers over the past few years, including an impressive series of connected covers for the Star Wars War of the Bounty Hunters event…
Cassaday’s older sister announced the news of Cassaday’s death today, writing, “My little brother John passed away at 6:51 p.m. Texas time. Please pray for me and my mom.”
Our sincere condolences go out to the friends and family of John Cassday.
