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As we all know by now, Dave Cockrum died last Sunday, November 26th. There's been a surprising number of obituaries for him in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Blogcritics. The Times article has quotes from Neal Adams and reports that Marvel only offered Cockrum $200,000 during the time he suffered from crtical pnuemonia. What a shame! You would have to think that Marvel would be deeply embarassed by this news and work to put together policies that could at least give more to their veteran creators. DC Comics has been better about this than Marvel, although Adams shamed them into helping Siegel and Schuster back in the 1970s. Click to enlarge one of Cockrum's most famous pieces above, the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel, rendered in black and white from Amazing World of DC Comics #9.
Most fans first encountered Dave Cockrum in one of two historic series, either the Legion of Super-Heroes or the X-Men. I caught up on the Legion later on, but my introduction to Cockrum was in Giant-Size Avengers #2 (1974). This issue was notable for a number of reasons. One, written by Steve Englehart, it concluded an ongoing Avengers drama involving Kang, Rama-Tut, the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Mantis. Two, the artwork was spectacular, because Cockrum pencilled and inked the story. And if that wasn't enough, Hawkeye returned to the team in his classic costume, as we found out on the splash page!
Englehart's stories were often cosmic in scope. He had a sense of wild dramatic flair, and a respect for Marvel continuity. At the climax of the story, Rama Tut starts fighting Kang the Conqueror in order to stop his plan to capture the Celestial Madonna. (no, it wasn't the blonde yoga singer.) This is a unique event, because Kang and Rama are actually the same person! Rama is the future incarnation of Kang, who came from the past into the present via a time travelling sarcophagus! Yes, thinking about it does warp your brain, and Cockrum warped this page, bending time to show a number of cool Avengers elements.
The page that followed was even more trippy, when everyone present at last realizes that Mantis is the Celestial Madonna. The fear on the Swordsman's face is evident, and it makes his heroic sacrifice at the end (where he saves Mantis using his own body as a shield) all the more bittersweet. I had no idea who Cockrum was, but from this point forward, I would be a Cockrum fan for life!
Outside of the Neal Adams Kree-Skrull war, this was the finest Avengers artwork I had ever seen. I kept thinking that some day, Cockrum would return to the series as the regular penciller. Seeing these Cockrum pin-ups (click to enlarge) in FOOM #6 (1974) fanned that flame for a while, but alas, it was not to be. I was happy when I found that out that he would revive my beloved mutants in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), which thrilled me to no end. Rest in peace, Mr. Cockrum. Nuff said.
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