This is just terribly, terribly sad. He was a talented, brilliant writer, and an absolutely wonderful person. I’m stunned at the news, and my sincere condolences go out to his loved ones. Far too young for such a man.
I first discovered Dwayne McDuffie when I picked up the first issue of Static, which rocked beyond measure. Years later, when I was writing a comic with a black lead character, Dwayne took time to talk to a hopeful young new guy about representations of race in comics. He took time to go over how it had been done wrong and how I could do it right, not because he had to but because he wanted good stories to get written.
What’s with all these talented comics artists / writers dying sudden early deaths?
Mike Wieringo, Michael Turner and now Dwayne…
Why doesn’t this kind of stuff happen more often to the Mark Millars, Jeph Loebs and Liefelds of the comic world? It’s like they’re punishing them for making quality comics on purpose.
Then again, they could’ve suffered from Mozart’s curse – die young, and immortalize their works, leaving a generation of fans bemoaning over what could’ve been, rather than wail about how far they’ve fallen.
I got All Star Superman today on Blu-Ray immediately after I found out the news. Dwayne McDuffie was one of my inspirations to get into the entertainment industry, and I had hoped to meet him one day. My condolences to his family, my he rest in peace.
No one is questioning your villainous, villainous plan Thok, but after Grodd tried to turn the world into apes, you can imagine how seriously we take something like that.
What are you going to do, make everybody bald?
Oh and thanks to MGK for helping to fight the shock with laughter and cherished memories, like I imagine Dwayne would want us to.
RIP, Dwayne McDuffie.
Every now and then, somebody will talk about superhero insurance rates, and how someone should do a story about that. I then explain that someone actually did do that, with Damage Control. That’s how much of a “visionary of the obvious” and ahead of his time McDuffie could be.
He was guest of honor at one of our local Cons in 2009, and also attended in 2010. Both times I went to every panel he was on because he was such an interesting speaker on the comic industry and what it’s like to be a writer/creator in the field.
He’ll be greatly missed, not only a great talent, but a great guy.
The earliest work of his I recall reading was Damage Control which played with the conventions of superhero battles (for example, who the hell cleaned up the mess?) and did so with incredible awareness (and love) of the genre.
Usually when a writer, actor, ect I like dies I’ll post the standard “RIP X” response but it doesn’t seem to do McDuffie justice. Instead I’ve been posting the following at the boards I frequent …
Not only has he had a hand in some of my favorite cartoons and animated movies but McDuffie has been one of my favorite comic writers since I discovered Damage Control back issues years ago. It takes a special kind of brilliance to be the first to come up with an idea that appears so obvious in hindsight.
As much as being on the internet has opened me up to comics I never would have heard of otherwise; giving fans and writers an easy opportunity to interact with one another isn’t always a good idea. I’ve lost respect for creators whose work I liked because of their behavior online and I’ve seen people I already thought were hacks turn out to be awful people on top of that. McDuffie wasn’t one of those guys. I’ve only ever interacted with him once (he politely corrected me on something I was misinformed about) but I’ve seen enough posts by him to know he was tactful when dealing with even the staunchest of his detractors.
In addition he was one of the rare creators that had the integrity to call things as he saw them even if it might come back to bite him later. I guess we’ll never find out what his JLA would have looked like if he’d been left to his own devices.
This is a HUGE loss to comics in both terms of quality of creation and quality of creator. He’ll be missed.
(however, “God fucking dammit” sums it up pretty well too.)
Related Articles
28 users responded in this post
What? What the hell happened?
This is enormously saddening.
R.I.P. Mr. McDuffie. Thanks for all the wonderful memories over the years.
I read the article at Comic Book Resources and no one knows exactly what happened at this time, Joe.
I am very upset at this. Dwayne was a great writer, and from what I gather was a great guy as well.
I’ve only read a few of his stories, but this is still very sad.
Holy Crap. Crap Crap Crap.
Goddammit.
From the , the cause of death is complications from a surgical procedure on Monday.
Far too early. RIP.
FUCK. NO.
Sigh.
This is just terribly, terribly sad. He was a talented, brilliant writer, and an absolutely wonderful person. I’m stunned at the news, and my sincere condolences go out to his loved ones. Far too young for such a man.
I first discovered Dwayne McDuffie when I picked up the first issue of Static, which rocked beyond measure. Years later, when I was writing a comic with a black lead character, Dwayne took time to talk to a hopeful young new guy about representations of race in comics. He took time to go over how it had been done wrong and how I could do it right, not because he had to but because he wanted good stories to get written.
The world is a little poorer today.
What’s with all these talented comics artists / writers dying sudden early deaths?
Mike Wieringo, Michael Turner and now Dwayne…
Why doesn’t this kind of stuff happen more often to the Mark Millars, Jeph Loebs and Liefelds of the comic world? It’s like they’re punishing them for making quality comics on purpose.
Then again, they could’ve suffered from Mozart’s curse – die young, and immortalize their works, leaving a generation of fans bemoaning over what could’ve been, rather than wail about how far they’ve fallen.
Well obviously, I won’t wash my hands tomorrow. Because I’m evil.
(Question the above plan at your own peril. Any questions?)
…well shit
I got All Star Superman today on Blu-Ray immediately after I found out the news. Dwayne McDuffie was one of my inspirations to get into the entertainment industry, and I had hoped to meet him one day. My condolences to his family, my he rest in peace.
Unfortunately, I don’t think John Porter and Robin can fix this one.
Godspeed. 🙁
No one is questioning your villainous, villainous plan Thok, but after Grodd tried to turn the world into apes, you can imagine how seriously we take something like that.
What are you going to do, make everybody bald?
Oh and thanks to MGK for helping to fight the shock with laughter and cherished memories, like I imagine Dwayne would want us to.
RIP, Dwayne McDuffie.
Every now and then, somebody will talk about superhero insurance rates, and how someone should do a story about that. I then explain that someone actually did do that, with Damage Control. That’s how much of a “visionary of the obvious” and ahead of his time McDuffie could be.
Let’s not forget he was also one of the chief minds behind “Damage Control” at Marvel.
What a loss…
This makes me so sad. Just so sad.
And Nicholas Courtney in the same goddamn day. So fucking awful.
He was guest of honor at one of our local Cons in 2009, and also attended in 2010. Both times I went to every panel he was on because he was such an interesting speaker on the comic industry and what it’s like to be a writer/creator in the field.
He’ll be greatly missed, not only a great talent, but a great guy.
The earliest work of his I recall reading was Damage Control which played with the conventions of superhero battles (for example, who the hell cleaned up the mess?) and did so with incredible awareness (and love) of the genre.
“God fucking dammit.”
Exactly, precisely my sentiment.
JL/U, JLA, Milestone, Damage Control…I dug it all.
God fucking damnit.
Usually when a writer, actor, ect I like dies I’ll post the standard “RIP X” response but it doesn’t seem to do McDuffie justice. Instead I’ve been posting the following at the boards I frequent …
Not only has he had a hand in some of my favorite cartoons and animated movies but McDuffie has been one of my favorite comic writers since I discovered Damage Control back issues years ago. It takes a special kind of brilliance to be the first to come up with an idea that appears so obvious in hindsight.
As much as being on the internet has opened me up to comics I never would have heard of otherwise; giving fans and writers an easy opportunity to interact with one another isn’t always a good idea. I’ve lost respect for creators whose work I liked because of their behavior online and I’ve seen people I already thought were hacks turn out to be awful people on top of that. McDuffie wasn’t one of those guys. I’ve only ever interacted with him once (he politely corrected me on something I was misinformed about) but I’ve seen enough posts by him to know he was tactful when dealing with even the staunchest of his detractors.
In addition he was one of the rare creators that had the integrity to call things as he saw them even if it might come back to bite him later. I guess we’ll never find out what his JLA would have looked like if he’d been left to his own devices.
This is a HUGE loss to comics in both terms of quality of creation and quality of creator. He’ll be missed.
(however, “God fucking dammit” sums it up pretty well too.)
R.I.P Mr McDuffie (Allahi Yarhmik) & thanks for the JLU & Static shock & the last fantastic four story i found readable
Great episode, and like that all his writing was great. Was a big Milestone fan in the 90’s. Shame he is gone. 🙁
Sigh. Damage Control. TV stuff. Sigh agaikn.
I *just* found out about this, and I literally shouted “AW DAMMIT”.
Dwayne was on my “buy on sight” list.