Arnold Drake has Died

Mark Evanier is reporting what we all hoped we would not hear, that Arnold Drake, the creator of Deadman, the Doom Patrol and Stanley and his Monster and the writer of hundreds of other comic stories, died this morning. As I wrote here and here, Arnold had collapsed in his home a few days after attending the New York Comic Convention. It was reported that he was improving, but at Arnold's age we all knew that that might not be quite true or that his recovery might not be long-lasting.

I'm sure Mark and others will have much more to say about Arnold in the days to come. All I can say is that the few times I saw him at the SDCC, I was touched by his energy and drive. I will certainly miss him at this year's con. As he often does, Mark put it so very well:

Arnold was one of my favorite comic book writers of all time. Much of his early work was uncredited and I was delighted, as I learned more about who'd written what, to find him as the common thread among some of the best comics DC produced in the sixties. (The Showcase issues of Tommy Tomorrow are especially brilliant, and they were written by Arnold.) I was privileged to get to know Arnold and to spend many a convention panel and telephone conversation, hearing him discourse on his favorite subject in the world, which was creativity. At the time of his death, he had several projects in the work and the urge to write something wonderful was undiminished. We are all a little worse off that Arnold isn't writing and I can't begin to measure what those of us who considered him a good friend have lost.

You can read all of Mark's thoughts on his excellent blog.