Artist Steve Dillon has died
October 22, 2016 7:43 PM Subscribe
Artist and co-creator of the comic book Preacher, Steve Dillon, has died at the age of 54, his brother announced today on Twitter. Dillon was best known for his artistry on Preacher from Vertigo Comics, and the Punisher from Marvel Comics, both written by Garth Ennis. Some of his art can be seen here (not Dillon's tumblr).
Fuck this year and all who pledge allegiance to it.
posted by Palindromedary at 7:57 PM on October 22, 2016 [13 favorites]
posted by Palindromedary at 7:57 PM on October 22, 2016 [13 favorites]
One of the best visual storytellers in the biz, ever. A master of the nine-panel format. This is shitty.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 8:40 PM on October 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 8:40 PM on October 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
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posted by mikelieman at 8:53 PM on October 22, 2016
posted by mikelieman at 8:53 PM on October 22, 2016
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posted by Kevin Street at 9:20 PM on October 22, 2016
posted by Kevin Street at 9:20 PM on October 22, 2016
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posted by sleeping bear at 9:39 PM on October 22, 2016
posted by sleeping bear at 9:39 PM on October 22, 2016
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posted by Halloween Jack at 9:52 PM on October 22, 2016
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:52 PM on October 22, 2016
Something that I'd like to point out is that, even though Dillon is best known for his collaborations with Garth Ennis, some of his earliest work is with Alan Moore (in some of his earliest work) on "Abelard Snazz, the Man with the Multi-Storey Mind".
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:06 PM on October 22, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:06 PM on October 22, 2016 [10 favorites]
John Wagner even more so... he's one of the foundational JudgevDredd artists.
posted by Artw at 12:19 AM on October 23, 2016
posted by Artw at 12:19 AM on October 23, 2016
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posted by Joey Michaels at 12:37 AM on October 23, 2016
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:37 AM on October 23, 2016
Why the long face?
Oh, you're going to Hell for that one.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:26 AM on October 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
Oh, you're going to Hell for that one.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:26 AM on October 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
I have a lot of Steve Dillon drawn books on my shelf, and for all that he tended to draw the same five or six faces in his best know works, damned if there's anybody else in comics who could put as much emotion into them. I can think of several parts where the writing only works because you can interpret so much from his expressions.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 5:35 AM on October 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Dr.Enormous at 5:35 AM on October 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
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posted by crocomancer at 6:04 AM on October 23, 2016
posted by crocomancer at 6:04 AM on October 23, 2016
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Having found it hilarious as a child, I only learned upon purchasing a copy of How to be a Superhero a couple years back that Steve Dillon was responsible for the artwork, which so much of the humor in the book depends on (and which probably aged better than the writing), including the image I scanned to use as my profile pic here.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 6:25 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Having found it hilarious as a child, I only learned upon purchasing a copy of How to be a Superhero a couple years back that Steve Dillon was responsible for the artwork, which so much of the humor in the book depends on (and which probably aged better than the writing), including the image I scanned to use as my profile pic here.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 6:25 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Comics People Remember Steve Dillon.
posted by Guy Smiley at 6:27 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Guy Smiley at 6:27 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
I can think of several parts where the writing only works because you can interpret so much from his expressions.
If you look through Preacher it's a sixty issue long story that barely uses captions at all - everything is dialogue and visual storytelling, and Dillon's grasp of facial expressions is a huge part of why that worked.
posted by Artw at 6:51 AM on October 23, 2016
If you look through Preacher it's a sixty issue long story that barely uses captions at all - everything is dialogue and visual storytelling, and Dillon's grasp of facial expressions is a huge part of why that worked.
posted by Artw at 6:51 AM on October 23, 2016
In Memoriam: Comic Artist Steve Dillon, A true Legend of Comics
posted by Artw at 6:53 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 6:53 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
That absolute clarity of storytelling which Dillon brought to his work is a much under-valued skill in modern comics.
Greg Capullo's one artist who occupies the opposite end of the spectrum for me, producing art that's got a great deal more surface flash than Dillon's, but which often leaves me utterly baffled about what's supposed to happening in the story. The old masters of Curt Swan's era would have appreciated Dillon's discipline and unerring focus, I think.
posted by Paul Slade at 8:17 AM on October 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Greg Capullo's one artist who occupies the opposite end of the spectrum for me, producing art that's got a great deal more surface flash than Dillon's, but which often leaves me utterly baffled about what's supposed to happening in the story. The old masters of Curt Swan's era would have appreciated Dillon's discipline and unerring focus, I think.
posted by Paul Slade at 8:17 AM on October 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
This guy's work has a deep warm place in my heart and colors the way I see the world everyday. Cheers! I'm going to curl up with Hellblazer #63 and shed a manly tear.
posted by es_de_bah at 8:57 AM on October 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by es_de_bah at 8:57 AM on October 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Steve Dillon's early stints on Judge Dredd were the source of many an admiring schoolyard conversation, particularly Cry of the Werewolf which really highlighted that unshowy mastery of his around how to lay out a page and nail the story, as Paul talks about above. Abslom Daak was just brilliant. Awful news.
posted by specialbrew at 9:06 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by specialbrew at 9:06 AM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Very good BBC obit: Steve Dillon: Judge Dredd, Preacher and Punisher comic artist dies
posted by Artw at 9:46 AM on October 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 9:46 AM on October 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Just for creating Dogwelder, his place in the afterlife is assured.
posted by delfin at 9:58 AM on October 23, 2016
posted by delfin at 9:58 AM on October 23, 2016
From Warren Ellis's newsletter:
Steve Dillon died Thursday or Friday in New York City.
Which I am still having trouble processing. I hadn't seen him in a good few years - I stopped doing conventions, I drifted away from comics circles in general -- but I must have known him since around 1990. He was about six years older than me, which means he was around 54 when he died.
I wouldn't say Steve was indestructible, because I remember the day when he was trying to get to his convention panel from his hotel room via every toilet in between those two locations. But there was something of the immortal about him. He could soak up phenomenal amounts of damage and stress and keep moving. I think most of us assumed he would live to be a hundred, just to spite everybody, giant and inviolate to the end.
And that's how I'm going to remember him. Walking around a pub in Ireland making sure everybody had a drink. "You got your pint? Is everybody pinted?"
Everybody's pinted, Steve. You can sit down and rest now. You earned it, mate.
posted by zabuni at 10:21 AM on October 23, 2016 [7 favorites]
Steve Dillon died Thursday or Friday in New York City.
Which I am still having trouble processing. I hadn't seen him in a good few years - I stopped doing conventions, I drifted away from comics circles in general -- but I must have known him since around 1990. He was about six years older than me, which means he was around 54 when he died.
I wouldn't say Steve was indestructible, because I remember the day when he was trying to get to his convention panel from his hotel room via every toilet in between those two locations. But there was something of the immortal about him. He could soak up phenomenal amounts of damage and stress and keep moving. I think most of us assumed he would live to be a hundred, just to spite everybody, giant and inviolate to the end.
And that's how I'm going to remember him. Walking around a pub in Ireland making sure everybody had a drink. "You got your pint? Is everybody pinted?"
Everybody's pinted, Steve. You can sit down and rest now. You earned it, mate.
posted by zabuni at 10:21 AM on October 23, 2016 [7 favorites]
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posted by Smart Dalek at 12:31 PM on October 23, 2016
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:31 PM on October 23, 2016
I used to own a couple of pages of Steve Dillon original art, both from Warrior strips - one from Axel Pressbutton, one from the first Marvelman/Warpsmith crossover. I bought them not because I particularly liked those stories, but because I particularly liked the moods that those pages evoked hung large on my wall, where you could see the fine details and appreciate the technique.
posted by Hogshead at 5:18 PM on October 23, 2016
posted by Hogshead at 5:18 PM on October 23, 2016
Loved this bit from the Bleeding Cool link that Guy Smiley posted above:
Of late, there had been a meme regarding what was described as “Frank Face”, based on Steve Dillon’s inclination to draw this psychopathic murderer with the exact same expression from panel to panel, and to find it on other characters as well.posted by Halloween Jack at 9:42 PM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
I remember chatting with Steve at the MCM London Comic Con bar last year (lemonades all round) to find that a) not only was he very familiar with the meme but that b) was putting in examples of the expression on purpose into everthing he did, just to feed it further.
Jeff Lemire:
Steve Dillon and Garth Ennis' Hellblazer helped me survive high school and keep my dream of making comics alive. Rest In Peace, Steve.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:03 PM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Steve Dillon and Garth Ennis' Hellblazer helped me survive high school and keep my dream of making comics alive. Rest In Peace, Steve.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:03 PM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Steve Dillon lived up the road from me and was occasionally seen drinking in the local pubs, one of which was The Green Dolphin* which featured in a Dredd story. I never talked to him (preferring to leave him to his privacy).
I learned of his whereabouts in the local free paper when I was about 15, and I always thought it was cool that somebody of such talent lived up the road from me.
*The Green Dolphin is long renamed to something far less memorable, and lost a good deal of it's character when it was renamed and renovated.
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 6:25 AM on October 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
I learned of his whereabouts in the local free paper when I was about 15, and I always thought it was cool that somebody of such talent lived up the road from me.
*The Green Dolphin is long renamed to something far less memorable, and lost a good deal of it's character when it was renamed and renovated.
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 6:25 AM on October 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
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posted by OolooKitty at 8:29 AM on October 24, 2016
posted by OolooKitty at 8:29 AM on October 24, 2016
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I met him in New York at NYCC, about two weeks ago, and got to thank him for creating a character I'd used. He seemed a bit bemused by that but happy and then we all swapped a lot of 2000AD stories mostly from back in the 80s.
Genuinely lovely bloke, I'll be raising a drink to him tonight.
posted by Artw at 7:48 PM on October 22, 2016 [12 favorites]