Obituaries

Prolific Argentinean comics writer Carlos Trillo has passed away at age 68. According to reports, he was traveling in London with his wife when he began to feel unwell and was taken to the hospital where he died.

Comic strip historian and pioneer Bill Blackbeard has died at age 84, it has been reported. Blackbeard had been in a nursing home for some years, and passed away on March 10th. As the outpourings of appreciations have shown, Blackbeard was, perhaps more than any other individual, responsible for the emergence of comic strips and (by extension) comic books as a legitimate source of art to be treasured and preserved on an institutional level.

Tony Lee has a fine write-up of the late Who icon here,

No one rocked that '60s eyeliner style like her.

Former Wizard editor and comics retailer Rob Samsel died suddenly on February 18th at the age of 46. He's survived by his wife, Leslie, son, Rob Jr., and three step-children.

The tributes are still coming in -- When Fangirls Attack and Tom Spurgeon have missive link collections.

Following the shock at his death, a well-justfied outpouring a remembrances of Dwayne McDuffie flowed out yesterday. A few words kept appearing over and over: respect and honesty. In a business where pettiness and jealousy are motivations far more than we'd like to admit, McDuffie seemed to rise above all that.

CBR is reporting the tragic news that creator Dwayne McDuffie has died of unknown causes. In addition to co-creating the Milestone Universe and its signature character, Static, McDuffie had a long career as writer, editor and producer, story editing the popular Justice League of America cartoon and most recently writing the All-Star Superman movie. As CBR reports, he was in full stride as a creator:

Joanne Siegel, the widow of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and inspiration for the Lois Lane character, passed away today at age 93. Her death comes only a few days after Jerry Siegel's childhood home in Cleveland, OH was restored and the streets in front of it honorarily renamed Joe Shuster Lane and Lois Lane.

In her 72 years, Tura Satana learned karate, dated Elvis Presley, tracked down the men who raped her when she was 9, starred in FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL!, was a noted burlesque dancer, broke her back, was married three times, had two daughters, and inspired the entire canon of gothabilly. Who knows how much of it is true, but she was pretty damn cool.

Jeff Alexander, a mainstay of the DC comics scene and former Executive Director of SPX, died suddenly over the weekend of a heart attack. He's survived by his fiance, Erika. Shocked remembrances poured out:

Canadian artist Clément Sauvé (1977-2011) has died at the tragically young age of 33 after a battle with cancer. He entered comics working as an assistant to Yanick Paquette but made his own mark with pencils on projects including G.I Joe, JLA Secret Files, Stormwatch and the fondly remembered Human Defense League. Most recently he had been working in character design.