Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.52: Darwyn Cooke

No.52: Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn Cooke was a Canadian comic artist who brought his experience working in animation to bear in his comics work. He was also heavily influenced by the likes of Alex Toth, Frank Robbins, Jim Steranko, Tony Salmons as well as Will Eisner in his illustration. he also brought an Art Deco sensibility to his work as well.  Words: Joel Meadows

Cooke’s career in comics began fairly late as while he did try out for DC’s New Talent Showcase in the 1980s, he found that the page rates were far too low and he went off to animation.

So his comics debut was Batman: Ego, a one shot which was published in 2000. This led to his acclaimed run on DC’s Catwoman series with writer Ed Brubaker which also included a graphic novel Selina’s Big Score. The series after this, DC: The New Frontier written and drawn by Cooke was what really cemented his reputation as one of the finest artists in modern comics. Cooke managed to distill what makes superhero comics so fascinating while adding real world elements into the mix to create a series that just exuded cool.

His work at DC just prior to the New Frontier also led to Cooke working for Marvel on books like X-Force, Spider-man: Tangled Web and Wolverine/ Doop.

In 2005 he wrote and drew an issue of DC’s short-lived but renowned Solo anthology series which won an Eisner award. 

Cooke wrote and drew a run on DC’s The Spirit series, reviving Will Eisner’s acclaimed figure. He next moved on to work with writer Jeph Loeb on a Batman/ Spirit crossover one shot.

In 2008 Cooke collaborated with writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey on DC’s Jonah Hex series drawing a number of issues throughout the run which garnered him new fans. He also collaborated with them again on All-Star Western.

In 2009, IDW published Cooke’s adaptation of Richard Parker’s The Hunter. Cooke went on to adapt three further Parker books for IDW:The Outfit, The Score and Slayground.

Cooke’s final comic was Vertigo book The Twilight Children with writer Gilbert Hernandez which came out at the end of 2015.

Even though Cooke’s career only lasted for fifteen years in comics, he left a creative footprint that is still felt today, six years after his passing. His love of comics and his understanding of storytelling and his innate dynamism as an artist meant that his star burnt brightly but very shortly. 

His sense of composition and his seemingly simplistic but elegant linework placed him above his contemporaries as he really knew what gave a comic its emotional core. He was also an incredibly versatile artist just as easy to turn his hand to superheroes as he was to westerns or noir.

He packed a hell of a lot into a short career and his early death is a continued source of regret for the comic form that he gave so much to and for fans of quality comics work. DC The New Frontier is still one of the finest superhero comic series of the past twenty years. Cooke was a true original and we can’t help wonder what else he could have done if he’d had more time.

Here’s links through to the other entries in our 101 Greatest so far as well

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.53: Steve Dillon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.54: Gil Kane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.55: Michael Zulli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.56: John Romita

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.57: Joe Maneely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.58: Marshall Rogers

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.59: John Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.60: Alex Toth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.61: Brian Bolland

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.62: David Mazzuchelli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.63 Reed Crandall

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.64 Harry Anderson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.65 Nick Cardy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.66 Matt Wagner

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.67 Bryan Hitch

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.68 Shawn Martinbrough

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.69 Al Feldstein

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.70 Nestor Redondo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.71 Tarpe Mills

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.72 Eduardo Risso

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.73 JH Williams III

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.74 Irv Novick

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.75 Dan Zolnerowich

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.76 Gilbert Shelton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.77 Tommy Lee Edwards

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.78: Sean Phillips

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.80: Dan DeCarlo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.81: Marie Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.82: John Paul Leon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.83: Jim Lee

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.84: Denys Cowan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.85: Ross Andru

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.86: Paul Gustavson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.87: George Evans

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.88: Michael Golden

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.89: Matt Baker

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.90: Todd McFarlane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.91: Fiona Staples

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.92: Carl Barks

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.93: Carmine Infantino

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.94: Alan Davis

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.95: CC Beck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.96: Syd Shores

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.97: Bob Fujitani

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo

https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwires-101-greatest-comic-artists-of-all-time-no-100/

https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwires-101-greatest-comic-artists-of-all-time-no-101/