One of comics’ great unsung heroes passed away on Sunday. Dave Cockrum had been unwell for many years, suffering from diabetes and related illnesses.
Dave’s first professional comics work was on Vampirella for Warren Publishing in 1971. Later that same year he did his first work for one of the big guns, working as inker on DC Comics’ Superman title. He soon progressed to penciling a memorable run on Legion of Superheroes.
A couple of years later he moved to Marvel, once again starting out with an inking job, this time on The Avengers. But bigger things were just around the corner…
When Cockrum and Len Wein created the new X-Men in 1975 the team was hardly the top seller it is today. In fact it had been on hiatus for several months and for months prior to that had been surviving on reprints.
Giant Size X-Men 1 changed all that. Building on the mutant team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963 they added new heroes who would become staples of the title for years to come. Several would even make the leap to celluloid in the three hugely successful X-Men movies.
Colossus, Storm, Mystique, and Phoenix are just a few who owe their look to Dave Cockrum. But his greatest creation must surely be Nighcrawler, a character he’d created years before and even offered to DC for their Legion of Superheroes.
Giant Size X-Men 1 reinvigorated the Uncanny X-Men title and Cockrum stayed with the team he helped create for the next couple of years, forming a creative partnership with Chris Claremont, who replaced Len Wein as writer on the book. By the time he left the groundwork had been laid for the huge success that followed.
In 1981 he returned to the comic, now one of Marvel’s biggest sellers, following John Byrne’s successful stint as artist. Among this second runs greatest achievements was the creation of the Alien inspired race The Brood, currently featured in the monthly Incredible Hulk comic.
Sadly as the years progressed Dave’s work appeared less and less in comics. Artists who were all show and little substance became the order of the day.
In December 2003, all but penniless, he was admitted to the Bronx, New York Veteran’s Administration Hospital (Dave had spent six years in the Navy prior to his comic career).
Championed by writer Clifford Meth and legendary comic artist Neil Adams he reached a settlement with Marvel over creative rights in March 2003 that allowed him to live out the remainder of his retirement in comfort.
Clifford Meth was also the guiding hand behind the 2004 tribute book The Uncanny Dave Cockrum. The list of contributors reads like a who’s who of comics legends past and present: Neil Adams, John Byrne, Gene Colan, Peter David, Alan Davis, Harlan Ellison, Sam Keith, Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore, George Perez, John Romita Sr, Walt Simonson, Ben Templesmith, Barry Windsor-Smith, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein are just some of the writers and artists who offered their work for free. It shows how highly regarded he was by his peers.
Dave Cockrum spent his final years in South Carolina with his wife Paty.
