RIP, Dick Giordano

Overview of his life and career here:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25442

Inked some of my favorite art (over Neal Adam's on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, tons of different artists on Batman) and was the editor in charge of other things I value too (like Sword Of The Atom, COIE); both edited & inked the cover of one of my favorite single issues of all time:

http://www.comicbookdb.com/graphics/comic_graphics/1/215/26768_20071005234249_large.jpg

RIP, Dick.

aw man. one of those guys who i thought was kind of immortal, you know?

Yeah - I mean he was Editor-in-chief at Charlton back in the day, and then in a similar capacity oversaw things like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns 20 years later for DC. All reports were that he was one of the last true gentlemen as well.

RIP

informed a lot of my adolescent reading :(

wrote this elsewhere in response to a private email from someone bemoaning the loss of one of the 'good guys':

as for giordano, obv he was one of the all-time great american comic bk inkers - love him on gil kane just as much as on neal adams, and he did some rare and gorgeous work on gene colan on BROTHER VOODOO, mike sekowsky on WONDER WOMAN, john buscema on CONAN, ross andru on SUPERMAN VS SPIDERMAN etc. fwiw i remember once, long long ago, m1ke mcmah0n in comic showcase raving abt giordano, especially after m1ke found out that giordano mainly used a brush to ink (like mcmah0n, i always thought most of it was done w/ a pen - so, what control, what beautiful variation of line/texture!) not a huge fan of giordano's own pencils/ink - kinda stiff - and his line got cruder in the 80s and 90s. he can def claim to be the primary influence on comic book inking since the 70s - terry austin and klaus janson, in particular, worked for him and obv learned a lot.
don't know especially abt his 'good guy' status - obv he had sophisticated mainstream taste in the 60s, and proved to be an adventurous and imaginative editor both at charlton and DC. but having co-founded continuity studios with adams, the artist who did more than anyone to assert creator's rights, i was sorry to see giordano be a bit of a corporate shill/apologist for DC when he became an exec there in 80s, defending and participating in DC's refusal to grant full copyright ownership to creators on self-created projects at a time when companies like marvel/epic, pacific, eclipse etc were showing that it could be done.

i also remember br3tt 3wins shouting out that 'dick giordano is a wanker' at an old society of strip illustrators meeting in chelsea, when giordano turned up to 'lure' creators to DC, but that may not have been an entirely sober/rational judgement