Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn Cooke was born on January 1st, 1962. Darwyn passed away May 14th, 2016 at 54 years old. Darwyn Cooke was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Cooke attended George Brown College.

Darwyn Cooke was a comics artist, cartoonist, writer, and animator. His work’s been honored with many Joe Shuster, Eisner, and Harvey Awards.

Darwyn developed an interest in creating comics came after he watched the Adam West Batman series. His grandma saved some of his earliest drawings, from when he was 5 years old, of Batman and Robin in crayon on construction paper, with Darwyn keeping them after she died. He found comics when he was a kid, however didn’t really become passionate about them until his teenage years.

His desire to become an artist crystallized when he was 13 years old after he read a reprint of Spectacular Spider-Man #2, with him buying boards and markers the day following reading the comic book and trying to copy John Romita’s artwork. The next week, he bought Detective Comics #439, which featured the story “Night of the Stalker”, and he’d found his calling.

He recalled tracing select panels of The Spirit by Will Eisner as a teen. He attributed the ability to develop his own style as being a byproduct of limited entertainment choices, allowing him to focus on deconstructing the comic books which inspired him. His dad didn’t believe comics would be a good avenue for him to pursue.

Darwyn set out on his own in 1985 for the first time to show his samples at DC Comics’ New York City offices. It resulted in his first published comic book work as a professional artist in a 5 page crime story in DC Comics’ New Talent Showcase #19, which coincidentally edited by Sal Amendola, the artist of “Night of the Stalker”.

He was only paid $35 per page and produced one page a week, and the resulting economic pressure made him leave comics. He decided that comics weren’t an economically feasible job, he worked in Canada as a magazine art director, graphic and product designer for the following 15 years. Darwyn eventually established a design studio of his own.

He eventually did return to comics during the early 90s, however found little interest in working for a major publisher. He got hired by Warner Bros. Animation after replying to an ad for storyboard artists in The Comics Journal. His successful pitch included 14 pages that eventually got published as Batman: Ego.

DC: The New Frontier collects together Darwyn’s space age adventure that bridges together comics’ Golden and Silver Ages in a single hardcover volume.

Welcome to 1950s America, a land without heroes. The masked mystery men that fought for freedom during World War II have all been outlawed. And those icons that still fight on: Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman, operate under their dueling ideologies and hidden agendas.

But this America needs heroes more than ever before. With darkness gathering on the horizon, just a bold new generation of adventures is equal to the challenge.

Darwyn Cooke: Awards & Accolades

Cooke's book, The Outfit was nominated for the Anthony Award, Best Graphic Novel, in 2011.

Related Authors

Fans of Darwyn Cooke also enjoy these authors:

1. Stephen King, author of The Dark Tower Series.
2. Bill Bryson, author of the Bill Bryson Travel Books.
3. Andy Weir, author of: Project Hail Mary.
4. Neil Gaiman, author of the American Gods Series.
5. John Scalzi, author of the Old Man's War Series.

Darwyn Cooke: F.A.Q