1980s DC Artist Mainstay Steve Lightle Passes Away

Farewell To A Distinctive Superhero Artist

Sadly Covid-19 has claimed another victim. DC mainstay artist Steve Lightle, well-known for his runs on Doom Patrol and Legion Of Superheroes and his distinctive covers, has just passed away from complications related to Covid-19 at the age of 61…

Here’s a potted biography from his entry on Wikipedia

His first professional comic book work was a five–page story in Black Diamond #4 (Feb. 1984) published by AC Comics. He followed this with his debut at DC Comics, drawing a 10–page story in New Talent Showcase #4 (April 1984),a series intended to provide work for up-and-coming artists who did not have a regular assignment.

In 1984, Lightle followed Keith Giffen as the penciller of Legion of Super-Heroes. Lightle described it as being a “dream assignment” to work on the title. One of Lightle’s issues featured the death of the longtime Legion member the Karate Kid. Although Lightle’s tenure as interior artist was brief, he continued as the cover artist until 1988. Lightle co-created two Legionnaires, Tellus and Quislet,whose unusual appearances contrasted with the humanoid appearances of the other Legionnaires.

In 1986, Lightle was one of the contributors to the DC Challenge limited series and drew part of Batman #400 (Oct. 1986). The following year, he was the original penciller of the revival of Doom Patrol, but he left after the first five-issue story arc due to creative differences. Much of Lightle’s work after that was as cover artist, typically inking his own penciled artwork. In 1989 and 1990, Lightle was the regular cover artist for Classic X-Men (later retitled X-Men Classic). He produced new covers and frontispieces to accompany the reprinted stories.

On January 8, 2021, his son Matthew and wife Marianne announced that he had died from a cardiac arrest brought on by COVID-19.