Sunday, April 29, 2012

Tony DeZuniga dead at 71

I have just heard that another of my favorite artists has died.

Tony DeZuniga, whose artwork graced the pages of just about any comic book genre you care to mention--passed away today in a hospital in his home country of the Philippines. He was 71. The cause of death has yet to be announced, but he had a stroke this past Tuesday and was already suffering from pneumonia.

I am particularly fond of the work he did on DC's and Marvel's horror titles; DC's "V", "Arak", and "Jonah Hex"; and Marvel's "Fool Killer" mini-series (even if he was unceremoniously and rudely dumped from the title before its completion) and "Conan" black-and-white magazine material. John Buscema reportedly did not like the way his and DeZuniga's styles interacted, but I thought they made a great combo. I also thought he was one of the best inkers for Carmine Infantino... as much as I loved Infantino when he was inked by less "heavy-handed" artists, DeZuniga had a knack for making Infantino more accessible to those who might not otherwise appreciate his unique style. (Their collaborations in the pages of "Spider-Woman" and "V" are ones I was particularly fond of.)

Here are some samples of DeZuniga's artwork. Click here to see other posts featuring some of his art, as well as reviews of graphic novels featuring his work.

3 comments:

  1. latest update from his wife: "Tony's update - He's responding very good except that his lungs is not clear yet, the doctors are still working on that but overall we hope to take him home in 2 or 3 days and he can start rehab. We don't know yet the damaged done by stroke until he's out of the bed but his left side seems like not responding we hope theraphy would help him recover that. We are just so thankful for all the people who prayed and gifted him. You guys are just wonderful, even some whom we never met personally, just amazing. We can't than you enough."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jerry Bingham. If he was wrong, then I'm delighted.

    At least I finally got around to posting a gallery of DeZuniga art! (Even if I still have to scan the pieces I own personally....)

    ReplyDelete