[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Posted on www.newsfromme.com

RIP.

Comic book and animation artist Dave Simons has died at the age of 55 following a long battle with cancer.

David Lloyd Simons was a native New Yorker with a childhood passion for comic books. Art teachers encouraged and advised him, and while he was serving in the Coast Guard in the seventies, he began attending classes conducted by one of Marvel's star artists, John Buscema. Dave would later say he owed his career to those workshops, citing not only Buscema's teaching but also the friendships he forged there with other young artists, including Armando Gil and Ken Landraf. At a 1979 comic convention, he showed his work to Rick Marschall, who was then an editor for Marvel, and this led to Dave getting work at the company. His first assignment was inking a Falcon story that I wrote and which was pencilled by John's brother, Sal Buscema.

Dave followed it with work on many Marvel titles including Howard the Duck, Tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider, Red Sonja, Conan the Barbarian and many more, segueing from inking to also at times, pencilling. He also worked for DC and Disney, but by the early nineties, had moved more into animation work. Among the shows that featured his design and storyboard work were G.I. Joe Extreme, Captain Planet, Masters of the Universe, Exo-Squad and Courage the Cowardly Dog.

He was a very talented, enthusiastic artist. His work was well-liked and Dave was well-liked. A lot of folks are saddened to hear we've lost him.