So this is the second episode paying tribute to the late great John Cassaday, the award winning comics artist, best known for his co-creation of Planetary, which we revisited last week

John Cassaday passed away far too soon at the age of 52 on September 9, 2024 in New York City. Be sure to check out last week's replay of our episode of his work on Planetary - and of course, go pick up a copy - you will be blown away. This week we're revisiting one of our earliest episodes from our inaugural X-Month, where we read Cassaday's work on 2004's Astonishing X-Men - another solid read. We hope you'll make the time to revisit the work with us, to see the work of comics truly great artists.

Mr. Cassaday received an Eisner Award, the comic book industry equivalent of the Oscar, for best penciler/inker in 2004. He tied for the award with Frank Quitely in 2005 and won it again in 2006, for Planetary with writer Warren Ellis and Astonishing X-Men with writer Joss Whedon,

“There are basically three people that I would count as the easiest collaborations, the most natural, the best I’ve ever worked with,” Mr. Whedon said in an interview. “One is an actor, one is an editor and one is Johnny. He knew so much of what I was trying to convey that my scripts just got shorter and shorter.”

“The best page I ever wrote in comics has no words,” Mr. Whedon said. The page, which also has no sound effects, depicts Kitty Pryde, Colossus’s lover, gazing at him with a stunned expression as she places a hand over her heart.

“He didn’t swagger, he didn’t yell,” Mr. Whedon said of Mr. Cassaday, but “he was very exacting” about his art — an approach that included giving notes on the colors and lettering of his pages.

Laura J. Martin, the colorist on Astonishing X-Men, said that one of her favorite collaborations with Mr. Cassaday was the cover of No. 6 in the series, on which he depicted Kitty and Colossus caressing. The cover required extensive color work to convey texture and the silver sheen of Colossus’s metallic body. Mr. Cassaday gave Ms. Martin that cover as a wedding present.

Rest in peace John Cassaday.NY TIMES: John Cassaday, Award-Winning Comic Book Artist, Dies at 52
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/arts/john-cassaday-dead.html

A few weeks ago, we lost a great comics artist far too soon. John Cassaday was an award-winning American comic book artist, writer, and television director - who passed away on September 9, 2024 in New York City at the age of 52

i think it goes without saying that comics is a medium where great writing and art come together for a truly great medium of storytelling. and when both are firing on all cylinders, it truly something to behold. John Cassaday was one of those artists.

So on Quarantined Comics, we've had the good fortune to revisit some of the works Cassaday was best known for: This episode we'll be talking about 1998's critically acclaimed series Planetary, which he co-created with Warren Ellis.

John later went on to work on Marvel's relaunch of Star Wars with Jason Aaron, whose first issue sold more than a million copies. Acclaimed writer Mark Waid, who was one of the first to help Cassaday get his start said this — “I refuse to take any real credit for ‘discovering’ John Cassaday,” Mr. Waid wrote on Facebook. “I can’t take credit for having functioning eyeballs.”Next week we'll be re-sharing our episode about his work on 2004's Astonishing X-Men.

Rest in peace John Cassaday, you were one of the greats.

NY TIMES: John Cassaday, Award-Winning Comic Book Artist, Dies at 52

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/arts/john-cassaday-dead.html

BURMA CHRONICLES is the 2007 graphic travelogue by French-Canadian cartoonist Guy Delisle — which presents a personal and distinctively humorous glimpse into a political hotspot on the other side of the world, where the Delisle balances his ex-pat home-husbandry, the spinning politics a quasi-authoritarian state, and finding a way as a foreign cartoonist amidst a South Asian junta (gesuhndeit).

joining in Ryan's absence for our ongoing series of "international comics" is longtime friend of the pod Drew Tarvin, Humor Engineer, who much like the author of this week's comic, happens to be a dude who's a funny-jobbed, home-husbanding ex-pat dad in a foreign land. learn more @ AndrewTarvin.com