Darwyn Cooke (November 16, 1962 – May 14, 2016) was a Canadian comic artist, writer, and animator known for his work with DC Comics with titles such as Catwoman, DC: The New Frontier, the DC-licensed reboot of The Spirit, and comic adaptations of the Parker novels with IDW. He is best known for bringing his retro-inspired art style to many of the projects he worked on.
In terms of animation, he worked as a storyboard artist for several DCAU shows such as Batman: The Animated Series, The New Adventures of Batman, and Superman: The Animated Series. He also designed and animated the opening intro of Batman Beyond.
He tragically passed away shortly after announcing he'd been diagnosed with an "aggressive cancer" on May 14, 2016.
Comic book series where Cooke worked on include;
DC Comics
- Batman
- Batman: Ego (writer/artist)
- Batman: Black and White (artist)
- Before Watchmen
- Minutemen (writer/artist)
- Silk Spectre II (writer)
- Catwoman (Vol.3) (artist #1-4)
- Selina's Big Score (writer/artist)
- DC: The New Frontier (writer/artist)
- Future Quest (co-developed, did some cover art)
- Green Lantern
- Jonah Hex
- Jonah Hex (2005) (artist on #33, #50)
- All-Star Western (2011) (artist on #34)
- The Spirit (#1-6) note
- Superman: Kryptonite (writer)
IDW
- Parker
- Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter
- Richard Stark's Parker: The Outfit
- Richard Stark's Parker: The Score
- Richard Stark's Parker: The Slayground
Marvel
- Spider-Man's Tangled Web ( writer/artist #11, #21)
- X-Force (artist #124)
Tropes Associated with Cooke's work include;
- Adaptational Curves: Female characters who were otherwise more slim in other works were portrayed as more curvaceous and/or muscular under his style; notable standout being Wonder Woman in DC: The New Frontier and Tallulah Black from Jonah Hex.
- Author Appeal: City Noir, Spy Fiction, The Western, and The Heist were particularly favorite genres of his and showed up and incorporated much of them into, even his superhero work.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
- Admitted to doing this a lot in his Catwoman story "Selina's Big Score". Stark is Lee Marvin, Jeff is Chow Yun-fat, Swifty is Burgess Meredith and Chantel is Pam Grier.
- Hal Jordan in DC: The New Frontier was modeled after a young Burt Lancaster.
- Re Imagining The Artifact: Along with Ed Brubaker, revived the obscure Slam Bradley character as a Hard Boiled Detective supporting character for Detective Comics and early-2000s Catwoman series.
- Spy Catsuit: Even though it was first introduced in the 60s show and used in films and television, Cooke's re-design of Selina for Ed Brubaker's Catwoman series is what introduced a version of the famous all-black catsuit into mainstream comics continuity.
- Statuesque Stunner: Noticeably liked to draw women on the taller side. Most famous in DC: The New Frontier where Wonder Woman towers over Superman and Batman...and she's wearing flat sandals instead of her normal heels.
