Cartoonist John Cassaday (Texas, 1971) died prematurely at the age of 52, according to his sister on social media yesterday, September 9. The cause of death has not been revealed.
Cassaday was one of the most original and interesting comic book artists of the early 2000s, when the comic book industry was comic strip American was looking for new styles that could renew a panorama dominated by the hyperbolic, spectacular and unacademic aesthetics of artists like Jim Lee or Rob Liefeld. Cassaday was, on the contrary, a classically inspired designer, detailed, spectacular in his compositions and in his way of representing the action, very cinematic, but also attentive to the canonical rules of drawing.
John Cassaday began publishing for small independent publishers in the mid-1990s. His first major commission was an issue of the series. Ghost in 1996, published by Dark Horse, and featuring a female superhero who gained some popularity during that decade. Shortly thereafter, he worked on his first limited series, with writer Jeff Mariotte, Desperate (1998-1999), a supernatural western, a genre very popular at the time.
Cassaday’s talent soon became noticed by major publishers and he began to receive commissions for specials. But his first major work, and one of the most important he accomplished in his career, was planetary (1998-2009), with writer Warren Ellis, published by DC Comics’ Wildstorm imprint. The series tells the story of a secret organization, for which works a group of paranormal archaeologists with special skills, who solve cases related to other dimensions and various anomalies.
From this premise, planetary is developed as an exploration of 20th century popular culture, from pulp superheroes, horror and science fiction, because it is full of homages and versions of characters that make it an elaborate meta-referential cocktail. At the same time, it has managed to have its own personality and shine in a panorama, that of comic strip commercial, dominated by copying and repeating successful formulas. Cassaday applies his detailed and meticulous style to his personal reconstructions of heroes. pulp like Tarzan or Doc Savage, the Kaiyu Japanese Godzilla, dark superheroes from the 80s or HP Lovecraft creatures, among others.
In 2002, he was in charge of a limited series starring Captain America, his first major assignment for Marvel. Between 2004 and 2008, he developed another of his most memorable works: Amazing X-Menwith the screenwriter and creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Joss Whedon. The creative couple took on the difficult challenge of breathing new life into the franchise after the successful and revolutionary stay of screenwriter Grant Morrison, and offered a collection of fresh and fun adventures starring Cyclops, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde and the rest of the popular mutants. In those years, his sophisticated style also attracted the attention of the French market and he published, with Fabien Nury, the trilogy I am legion (2004-2007) published by Les Humanoïdes Associés.
After the end of planetary And Amazing X-MenAt almost the same time, Cassaday devoted himself mainly to special projects and covers. However, in 2015, another important work will arrive, in collaboration with writer Jason Aaron: the first six issues of a series of Star Wars produced by Marvel, coinciding with the purchase of the rights to the franchise by Disney, which in turn owns the publisher of Spiderman and the X-Men. Aaron and Cassaday returned to the classic films and told the events between A new hope (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Having had time to develop his particular style to the best of his ability, Cassaday did an excellent job of recreating the flavor of the original saga and achieving a great resemblance to his cast, without falling into the excess of photorealism.
In 2018 he became creative director of the publishing house Humanoids. He also had a certain relationship with the audiovisual industry, since he worked as a conceptual artist in films such as Guardians (2009), directed by Zack Snyder. He even directed an episode of the series. Dollhousecreated by his collaborator at Amazing X-MenJoss Whedon. Additionally, he has appeared in various documentaries about the American comic book industry.
Cassaday was recognized by the comics industry as one of the best cartoonists of his generation, with a style that was not free of influences, but also deeply original. His personal mix of North American classicism and European references stood out from the more conventional proposals, although the high number of working hours required by his baroque style undoubtedly made it difficult for him to adapt to an industry based on the monthly delivery of 24 pages, which implies great urgency in delivery times.
During the years he worked at planetary And Amazing X-MenJohn Cassaday’s name was a common one in nominations for the industry’s biggest awards, and he won the Eisner Award for best cartoonist in 2005 and 2006. His unexpected loss means goodbye to one of the great classics of modern comics.
