COMICS 2009

2/25 John Carbonaro, 58

- owner of the rights to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, 1981 –
2009
- brought out old and new adventures of the characters, from
black & white reprints to hardcover color archives

2/26 Rod Gilchrist, 58, brain cancer

- executive director of the Cartoon Art Museum in San
Francisco, 1998 – 2009
3/16 Jose “Pepe” Gonzalez, 70
- Vampirella artist
3/29 Monte Hale, 89
- Western movie star who headlined his own long-running
comic book, ‘Monte Hale Western’, for Fawcett (1948-53)
4/2 Frank Springer, 69
- uncredited assistant to George Wunder on ‘Terry & the
Pirates’ (1953-60)
- artist of the adult-oriented comic ‘The Adventures of Phoebe
Zeit-Geist’ (1965-66)
- Other strips: ‘Rex Morgan, M.D.’ (1979-81) and ‘The Virtue of
Vera Valiant’ (1976-77)
- Prolific comic book freelancer for Dell, DC and Marvel; his
work includes several issues of ‘Ghost Stories’, ‘Toka: the
Jungle King’, ‘Dazzler’ and ‘Savage She-Hulk’
4/7 Dave Arneson, 61
- Game designer; co-creator of the ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ role-
playing game, which set the template for the entire gaming
industry

4/16 Jim Lange, 82

- Editorial cartoonist; 58 years with ‘The Oklahoman’
5/1 Ric Estrada, 81
- DC comic book artist known for his work on their 1970s lines
of romance (‘Girls’ Love Stories’, ‘Young Romance’), kung fu
(‘Richard Dragon’, ‘Karate Kid’) and war (‘G.I. Combat’, ‘Our
Army at War’/’Sgt. Rock’) titles
5/21 Joan Alexander, 94
- voice of Lois Lane on the ‘Superman’ radio show (1941-50),
most of the Fleischer Studios ‘Superman’ cartoons (1941-43)
and various Superman cartoon series (1966-68)

6/9 Dave Simons, 54

- Inker – ‘Forgotten Realms’ (1989-91), ‘Ghost Rider’ (1982-
83)
- Penciler/Inker – ‘Savage Sword of Conan’ (1983-86)
7/6 Robert L. Short, 77
- Theologian/minister who built a career writing religious
interpretations of Charles Schulz’s ‘Peanuts’ comic strip

7/21 Heinz Edelmann, 75

- Art director/character designer for ‘Yellow Submarine’ (1968)
7/22 John Ryan, 88
- British cartoonist; creator of the ‘Captain Pugwash’ comic
strip, which was later adapted to books and animation

8/9 Frank Borth, 81

- Artist for ‘Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact’ (1950s-70s)
- Writer/artist on ‘There Oughta Be a Law’ comic strip, 1971-83
9/17 Bernie Fuchs, 76
- Illustrator for magazines/advertising/books/portraits/postage
stamps
10/12 Joe Rosen, 88
- Letterer; began working in 1940 for Fawcett, later for DC and
Harvey, then massive amounts of work for Marvel from the
1970s on; most of his pre-1970s work was uncreditd
- Primary letterer for ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ (1975-94) and
‘Conan the Barbarian’ (1975-82)
10/15 George Tuska, 93
- Comic book artist; Tuska worked for all the major Golden Age
publishers – Fox, Fiction House, Quality, Fawcett, Lev Gleason
– including long runs on ‘Crime Does Not Pay’, ‘Jungle Comics’
- a Marvel Comics mainstay for 30 years (1948-78), including
log runs on ‘Hero for Hire’/’Power Man’ and ‘Iron Man’
- worked for both Marvel and DC in the 1970s, but almost
exclusively DC for the last eight years of his career
11/3 Shel Dorf, 76
- Comic strip letterer, ‘Steve Canyon’ (1975-88)
- Editor, ‘Steve Canyon Magazine’ #1-3 (1983)
- Co-founder, San Diego Comic-Con International

photo by Alan Light

11/21 Ken Krueger, 73
- Co-founder and first chairperson of what is now San Diego
Comic-Con International

caricature by Milton Caniff

11/23 Sonny Trinidad

- Artist for Marvel horror titles of the mid-1970s
11/27 Irving Tripp, 88
- Comic book artist with 40 years at Western Publishing; best-
known for his work on ‘Little Lulu’
12/29 David Levine, 83
- Caricaturist – The New York Review of Books, 1963-2007