Dave Cockrum

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Dave Cockrum
Dave Cockrum.jpg
Dave Cockrum by Michael Netzer
Born David Emmett Cockrum
(1943-11-11)November 11, 1943
Pendleton, Oregon
Died November 26, 2006(2006-11-26) (aged 63)
Belton, South Carolina
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker
Notable works Legion of Super-Heroes
Uncanny X-Men

David Emmett Cockrum (November 11, 1943[1] – November 26, 2006) was an American comic book artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus. Cockrum was also a prolific and inventive costume designer, who updated the uniforms of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and did the same for the new X-Men and many of their antagonists, in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Contents

Early life [edit]

Cockrum was born on November 11, 1943, in Pendleton, Oregon. His father was a lieutenant colonel of the United States Air Force, resulting in the Cockrums frequently transporting their household from one city to another for years. Cockrum discovered comic books at a young age; an early favorite was Fawcett's Captain Marvel, especially Mac Raboy's Captain Marvel Jr.[2] Other artists whose work the young Cockrum admired were Wally Wood, Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson, and Joe Kubert.[2]

As a young man, Cockrum was a dedicated "letterhack," who had many letters printed in comic book letter columns[3] such as Fantastic Four #22 (January 1964), FF #36 (March 1965) (return address "YN 'A' School, USNTC") and FF #44 (November 1965). (A letter from Cockrum in Fantastic Four No. 34 [January 1965] led to a correspondence with Andrea Kline, who later became his first wife.) [No such letter in #34][4]

Cockrum's ambition was to become a comic book creator himself. Following his school graduation, however, Cockrum joined the United States Navy for six years. During this time, Cockrum married Kline[5] and had a child with her, Ivan Sean.[5][6] He also created the character Nightcrawler during this time, though the character would not be used until years later.[7]

Career [edit]

Despite serving during the Vietnam War, Cockrum found time to contribute artwork to comics fanzines like Star-Studded Comics and Fantastic Fanzine.[8]

After leaving the military, Cockrum found employment with Warren Publishing.[7] He was then hired as an assistant inker to Murphy Anderson,[2] who was inking various titles featuring Superman and Superboy for DC Comics. At the time, Superboy featured a Legion of Super-Heroes backup strip.

When the position of artist for The Legion of Super-Heroes was left vacant, Cockrum sought the job and was rewarded with his first assignment drawing a series. Cockrum's work on the feature, beginning in Superboy #184 (April 1972), "established an exciting new vibe".[9] He redefined the look of the Legion, creating new costumes and designs that would last until artist Keith Giffen did a similar revamp in the 1980s. Cockrum drew the story wherein the characters Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel were married in Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #200 (Feb. 1974).[10] Cockrum eventually left DC and the Legion in a dispute involving the return of his original artwork from that issue.[2][8]

Prior to his departure, Cockrum had been preparing to be the regular artist on an ongoing Captain Marvel, Jr. back-up strip in the Shazam! series for DC.[2]

Marvel and the X-Men [edit]

Moving over to a staff position at Marvel, Cockrum and Len Wein (under the direction of editor Roy Thomas) created the new X-Men, co-creating such characters as Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus (Storm and Nightcrawler having been directly based on characters which Cockrum had intended to introduce into the Legion of Super-Heroes storyline had he remained on the title).[11] These characters made their debut in Giant-Size X-Men No. 1 (Summer 1975), and then in a relaunched Uncanny X-Men (beginning with issue #94).

Journalist Tom Spurgeon:

“ Cockrum's penciled interiors on those first few issues of the "new" X-Men were dark and appealingly dramatic . . . . Cockrum gave those first few issues of X-Men a sumptuous, late-'70s cinema style that separated the book from the rest of Marvel's line, and superhero comics in general. Reading those X-Men comics felt like sneaking into a movie starring Sean Connery or Sigourney Weaver, not simply like flipping on the television. Uncanny X-Men really felt new and different, almost right away, and Cockrum's art was a tremendous part of that.[5] ”

Cockrum stayed with the title until 1977 (as main penciller on issues #94–105 and 107), when he was replaced by penciller John Byrne with issue #108. The final issue of his run introduced the Starjammers, a spacefaring superhero team he had originally intended to debut in their own series.[7] He and Paty Cockrum were married on April 28, 1978.[12] Cockrum quit his staff job at Marvel in 1979 (his angry resignation letter was printed in Iron Man #127 [October 1979]),[13] but he continued to work for Marvel as a freelancer. Cockrum was Marvel's primary cover artist during this period, and also penciled and/or inked a number of other titles for DC during this time. Although not a regular artist on the book, he re-designed the costume for Ms. Marvel. When artist Byrne left the X-Men in 1981, Cockrum returned to the title with issue #145 but left again with issue #164 in 1983 to work on The Futurians.[2]

The Futurians [edit]

Main article: Futurians (comics)

In 1983, Cockrum produced The Futurians, first as a graphic novel (Marvel Graphic Novel #9), and then as an ongoing series published by Lodestone Comics. Though it did not last past issue #3, a collected edition was published by Eternity Comics in 1987 that included the "missing" issue 4. In 1995, Aardwolf Publishing also printed the "missing" issue as Futurians #0, with a new five-page story by Cockrum and author Clifford Meth. Futurians has recently been reprinted in France by Semic Comics.

Claypool Comics [edit]

In 1994, Cockrum was recruited by Claypool Comics to produce work for them, resulting in several stories for Claypool's Elvira, Mistress of the Dark series (beginning with #7). Those worked out so well that Cockrum was put into rotation on Peter David's Soulsearchers and Company, beginning with issue #13, and eventually resulting (with #17) in Cockrum becoming the series' regular penciller (issues #13, 14, 17–30, 32–5, 37–8, 40–3). That assignment continued through issue #43, which Cockrum also plotted, and which was inked by fellow comics great Marie Severin. Cockrum also contributed a short feature to Richard Howell's "Deadbeats" comic, issue #18.

Illness and death [edit]

In later years, Cockrum worked less frequently in comics. In 2004, he became seriously ill due to complications from diabetes and pneumonia; a number of fellow artists and writers led by Clifford Meth and Neal Adams organized a fundraising project. The auction, run by Heritage Auctions at the WizardWorld Chicago show in August, raised over $25,000.[8] Due to pressure from Neal Adams and Clifford Meth, Marvel also announced it would compensate Cockrum for his work in co-creating the enormously successful X-Men.[8]

Cockrum was due to draw an eight-page story in Giant Size X-Men No. 3 (2005), but a recurrence of his health problems prevented this. Neal Adams was able to fill in for his friend. [14]

Cockrum died at his home in Belton, South Carolina,[5] on the morning of November 26, 2006, due to complications from diabetes. He was survived by his wife of many years Paty Cockrum (a long-time member of Marvel's 1970s production staff), his son, and two stepchildren.[8]

Legacy [edit]

To honor Cockrum's memory, the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art bestowed the first annual Dave & Paty Cockrum Scholarship to a promising artist in 2008. The scholarship, which was organized by Clifford Meth, continues each year and is funded by sales of comics from Cockrum's personal collection.[15]

In the novelization of X-Men: The Last Stand, the President is named "David Cockrum." Cockrum's longtime associate Chris Claremont also created a character in homage to Cockrum in Exiles who eventually "moved on" at the end of X-Men: Die by the Sword, which ended with a full page tribute to Cockrum.[16]

Bibliography [edit]

Comics work (interior pencil art) includes:

DC [edit]

Marvel [edit]

Warren [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Comics Buyer's Guide #1636 (December 2007); Page 135
  2. ^ a b c d e f Cooke, Jon B. "Dave 'Blackhawk' Cockrum: The Marvel Days of the Co-Creator of the New X-Men," Comic Book Artist No. 6 (1998).
  3. ^ Smith, Stephen Scott Beau. "The LOCsmiths," Amazing Heroes No. 23 (May 15, 1983).
  4. ^ Jacobson, Aileen. "Serious Comics Fans," Washington Post (Aug 16, 1971), p. B2.
  5. ^ a b c d Martin, Douglas. "Dave Cockrum, 63, Comic Book Artist, Dies" The New York Times November 29, 2006. Accessed April 25, 2009.
  6. ^ Cockrum, Dave. (writing as "Dark Bamf"). "Nightcrawler FAQ: How Did Nightcrawler Come to be Created?" Nightcrawlers v2.0 (September 10, 2002). Accessed April 25, 2009.
  7. ^ a b c Meth, Clifford (August 1993). "How a Typhoon Blew in Success". Wizard: X-Men Turn Thirty. pp. 50–52. 
  8. ^ a b c d e Spurgeon, Tom. "Dave Cockrum, 1943–2006," The Comics Reporter (December 1, 2006). Accessed April 25, 2009.
  9. ^ McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "After more than a year as Murphy Anderson's background inker, Dave Cockrum landed his big DC break as the Legion of Super-Heroes artist." "Cockrum's debut story, which was written by Cary Bates, quickly established an exciting new vibe for the super-team." 
  10. ^ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 159: "Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel became the first Legionnaires to tie the knot. The wedding planners were writer Cary Bates and artist Dave Cockrum."
  11. ^ Larsen, Erik. "One Fan's Opinion" #65, Comic Book Resources (December 1, 2006).
  12. ^ "Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel Comics cover-dated November 1978.
  13. ^ Cronin, Brian. "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #46!" Comic Book Resources (April 13, 2006). Accessed May 2, 2009.
  14. ^ Nightscrawlers – Dave on the X-men Again? – Powered by XMB
  15. ^ Clifford Meth personal blog.
  16. ^ X-Men: Die by the Sword No. 5 Marvel Comics, December 12, 2007.

External links [edit]

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Preceded by
Sal Buscema
(in 1970)		 Uncanny X-Men artist
1975–1977		 Succeeded by
John Byrne
Preceded by
John Byrne		 Uncanny X-Men artist
1981–1982		 Succeeded by
Paul Smith
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