This last Monday the news came out that artist John Cassaday had died at the young age of 52.
Cassaday was a pure comic talent with a smooth artistic style that stood out on the rack. You knew a Cassaday book when you saw it. You didn't need to look for the signature, the mirror image of the J and C.
He was lauded for The Authority (which I didn't read) and Astonishing X-Men, which I did read. I don't have a lot of X-Men in my collection. I can say it was his art that kept me on that book as long as I was.
He was a superstar. And I was a fan.
Which brings me to why I am writing this post.
Because he was also one of the nicest creators I have met at conventions. He was a superstar. But he really was approachable, personable, and relatable to this fan.
When I met him at Terrificon, he had a huge line at his end table. People were bringing him X-Men books and the Authority and a lot of the licensed stuff he had done. Here I was bringing him the Superman books he did the covers for, from the Grounded arc of all things. It would have been easy to just sign the books and have me move on. But he paused and thanked me for bringing them to him. I had questions to ask him about this tiny little corner of his career and he was kind to answer them.
The first book I put in front of him was Superman #713, the only time that I know that he drew Supergirl. He told me he liked his time on the book. But didn't really have much to say about Supergirl other than he was glad he got to draw her.
But then I put Superman #706 in front of him and his eyes lit up. He talked about how he loved the Fleischer cartoons and he was always struck by this image where Superman spreads his cape to protect Lois from molten metal. He wanted to bring that sense of protection to this cover where Superman is shielding the United States. He was so glad that I brought him that one to sign because he loved the design.
He even commented that he thought it was cool getting so many sigs on Action Comics #1000.
I thanked him for his work and all the great comics.
It was a small, maybe 3 minute interaction but you could see he was a comic fan. And he was just so nice to talk to.
I guess this is a way for me to say that I was glad I met him and got to talk to him and got to thank him for all the joy he brought me. I think I'll make a point to thank creators from now on when I run into my favorites at conventions. They deserve to know. I'm glad I let him know. He'll be missed.
Rest in peace, John Cassaday. Gone too early.
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