Legendary Comic Artist John John Cassaday Passes Away At 52

now available in paperback at e- Isis dark Incubus the goddess next door gets enrolled in a romantic entanglement with an evil Incubus in this all new Isis series Adventure get your copy of Isis dark Incubus and paperback in e-readers [Music] today yesterday we not only lost an icon of Cinema and theater when actor James Earl Jones wound up passing away we also lost an icon of the comic medium when legendary comic book artist John Cassidy wound up passing away at 52 years old now according to reports from the family of John Cassidy they say that John Cassidy wound up passing away as a result of a brain injury and I'm deeply saddened to hear about the passing of John Cassidy because he's only one year younger than me and it really saddens me to hear about his passing because he was what I consider to be one of the great comic artists of the 21st century with a signature style that is as I see it on the level of legendary artists who have passed such as Jack Kirby Neil Adams and George Perez and John Cassidy as I see it is again one of the most brilliant artists of the comic medium and it's just sad to see him pass because his fit mark on this industry which just is is one that again resonates over the course of the 21st century from his iconic runs on Comics such as planetary astonishing X-Men Captain America and the Star Wars Revival now John Cassidy started out as a selftaught illustrator learning from studying artists and one of the influences on his art was the legendary illustrator NC wyth and he was also inspired by pulp magazines and World War II posters and he basically turned this into a unique style of art that he Incorporated things I believe from his time attending film school now John Cassidy didn't come into Comics immediately he first attended film school first and then directed television news for 5 years and also worked a summer doing construction work while he was building up his portfolio to work in comics now as John Cassidy looked to enter into the comic book industry he first got his first published work with an independent publisher such as Boneyard press and caliber Comics then showed his art to Mark weade at a San Diego ComicCon and eventually after this he wound up getting off offers from comic Publishers and eventually quit his construction job and then left Texas for New York where he got his first full production work on the 27th issue of ghost which was Darkhorse Comics independent superhero character at the time and later on then started to get work getting hired for homage Comics Desperados and in 1997 he made he got a break as related to working in mainstream comics with Marvel and DC doing Teen Titans and Flash annuals and also did an X-Men and Alpha flight crossover and a Union Jack one shot and his work on X-Men basically was the thing that started to get him noticed by more mainstream fans and later on he started to build up more credits on titles like gen 13 Superman Batman The Hulk and the Avengers and eventually wound up after doing those issues starting out what many consider to be his iconic runs on books like astonishing X-Men a the the run that basically defined the mid 2000s as related to comic art in my opinion because with astonishing X-Men this was the place where John Cassidy basically established his own style and I believe what he did with this style was basically take from his techniques that he learned from film school and was able to give us what many call his widescreen approach to Comics a widescreen approach to Comics that basically um created his own unique form of Storytelling as he worked with former screenwriter Josh Weeden on astonishing X-Men as he worked with Josh Weeden on astonishing X-Men they basically made it like we were seeing a movie coming to life on screen as related to his comics and that's what made astonishing X-Men extremely unique as a comic and made it one of as I believe one of the greatest comic runs of the 21st century now the the art style that he used on astonishing X-Men was so bold and dynamic that it basically was must see must must see reading for comic book fans and many people consider that to be again one of the great one of the greatest runs of X-Men because X-Men was in a bit of a rut from about 1995 I'd say to about the time he did astonishing X-Men and this whole astonishing X-Men run basically revived the entire X team and created again one of the greatest runs of X-Men and this run was something he did in addition to working with Warren Ellis on the independent series for DC known as planetary and planetary was considered again to be one of the greatest comics of the 2000s and after doing astonishing X-Men and planetary John Cassidy then went on to do the Civil War Story um One Shot Fallen son the death of Captain America and then went on to go and do the other the other legendary books that he's done such as the Captain America run and he's also known for handling art Direction on other books such as dynamites The Lone Ranger and later on then did books like The Uncanny Avengers again another legendary comic book run and also did the graphic novel I am Legion which is considered to be one of his signature books and he's gone on to do other great comic runs but the last run that he did that was considered to be one of his greatest is the Revival for Star Wars at Marvel Comics now this came as Marvel had just purchased star Star Wars and as they just purchased the Lucas film and all the Star Wars properties they then assigned John Cassidy along with Jason Aaron to write the first brand new Star Wars comic and this comic basically was one of the first Comics to sell a million copies um since spawn number one and X-Men number one and Spider-Man number one came out in the 990s and it showed how popular John Cassidy was as an artist I mean he basically again I would consider him to be one of the greatest comic artists of the 21st century and I would consider him to be a brilliant artist on the level of greats such as Jack Kirby such as Neil Adams such as John burn such as George Perez and such as Todd McFarland I mean when I think of great artist I think of John Cassidy I mean his art style is just unique and and it was really sad to hear about his passing because just this year I had asked bill walko to pay homage to one of what I consider to be the greatest comic book covers of the 21st century which was astonishing X-Men number six when I had him design a cover for Isis dark Incubus the Isis dark Incubus cover was actually inspired by John Cassidy's work on astonishing X-Men number six and and I I thought that John Cassidy would again be around to hear about this homage but sadly he wound up passing away and what really saddens me the most is again he passed away on my birthday and he's only one year older than I am I mean I'm 51 and he was 52 and it's sad to hear that he wound up passing away also due to something related to his brain because I had a brain aneurysm at seven years old so I know how that can basically it's a a condition that can just end your life almost automatically but it was just sad to hear about the passing of John Cassidy because again this man was a brilliant artist he was an artist that basically defined comic book art for the 21st century he was a brilliant Talent who took techniques from uh from things he learned from film school and gave us this beautiful cinematic style as related to comics book art gave us a beautiful cinematic style as related to comic book art that basically took comic book art to the next level and his influences such as NC WTH and World War II posters you could see all of that coming to life in all of his art I mean you could see all of this just again beautiful colors just Dynamic compositions I mean it felt like you were watching a big screen movie and that's the contribution that John Cassidy brought to comic book art that I'll always appreciate because with each comic book artist you all there's something to appreciate as related to their approach to style now I myself as a writer I use again a very cinematic approach similar to what John Cassidy and and people like Jos Weeden use I mean and I could see again how he just had this beautiful approach to storytelling from just reading his comics and it's just sad that he will no long longer be with us to produce any more comic book art because he just produced masterpieces as related to his visuals and his style of Storytelling just brought stories and made them larger to than life which is what comic book artists are supposed to do I mean it's supposed to be larger than life and John Cassity art was way more Larger than Life it just was so beautiful to look at as related to the bright colors the dynamic compositions I mean he just told great stories with pictures and I'm sad to hear about his passing I'm sad to hear about him passing so young I mean 52 isn't that old and again it just gives me pause because again I was I'm just a year younger than he is and it's just sad to hear that he is no longer with us and no longer with us to again produce great comic book art I mean that he's again one of the great I consider again I'll keep repeating it because it is true he is one of the great comic book artists of the 21st century and it's really sad that he's no longer with us and will no longer be here to again give us more new comics and that's why we need to appreciate artists when they're alive we need to appreciate them and give them their flowers give them their flowers and and again show great respect for their work because they're only here for a short time and we need to appreciate them and when you go to a ComicCon again appreciate the comic artist by again doing things I mean go out here and say your thanks to them and and in many cases again give commissions to artist that are out here because again they're here one minute and could be gone the next and again I'm just really sad to hear about the passing of John Cassidy and but he as I see it he had a great impact in the time that he had and in the time that he had I'm glad that I was able to experience his comics and experience his beautiful art in the time that he produced it now available in paperback and e-readers Isis Legacy sorority secrets of the Goddess next door are revealed in this all new Isis series Adventure get Isis Legacy and paperback and e-readers at online book sellers everywhere support blackowned and black operated digital broadcast media www.nc network.com nicer Network broadcasting 24 hours a day 7 days a week