Comic Con, 2008
Via Twitter, Walt Simonson has disclosed that longtime Marvel and DC artist and inker Dan Green has passed away. “Dan Green has caught the last train out,” he said. “One of my oldest friends in comics. A wonderful artist who inked an ‘X-Factor’ job I penciled. He had a beautiful line that complimented my own work, and I’ve always been delighted he inked it. Godspeed, pal. Thanks for the friendship.”
Green was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 26, 1952, and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City from 1970 to 1971. He made his debut at DC with 1972’s “Tarzan” #213, drawing a series of back-up stories written by Marv Wolfman. A slow penciler, Green quickly transitioned to inking, as well as finishing other artists’ breakdowns. His first work for Marvel came in 1974, inking Jim Starlin’s work on “Captain Marvel” #28.
In 1977, he worked with artist John Byrne for the first time on “Iron Fist” #14 (which marked the first appearance of Sabretooth), and the pair continued to collaborate on that series, as well as “Power Man and Iron Fist,” and “Avengers,” leading to him becoming Earth’s Mightiest’s main inker until 1982. He also worked during this time period with Gene Colan on “Doctor Strange,” a title he would later pencil a few issues of in 1983.
During his tenure on “Avengers,” Green worked on “Iron Man,” where he began a working relationship with John Romita Jr. This led to him joining “Uncanny X-Men” when Romita took over as main artist in 1984, and he would continue to ink the series after his departure two years later, working with the new regular artist, Marc Silvestri, as well as fill-ins like Rick Leonardi, and Jim Lee (on what became the artist’s first X-Men comic, 1989’s “Uncanny X-Men” #248.)
He only left the title after six years to ink Silvestri’s “Wolverine” run, and returned when Silvestri left to found Image, just in time to reunite with Romita for 1993’s “Uncanny X-Men” #300. Green continued to ink the title for another 20 issues, before returning to “Wolverine,” now penciled by Adam Kubert, in late 1994. His work for Marvel in the late 1990s and early 2000s included Byrne and Ron Garney’s “Hulk” relaunch; Dan Jurgens and Andy Kubert’s “Captain America” run; and “Amazing Spider-Man” and “Peter Parker: Spider-Man.”
In 2001, Green began taking work from DC instead, inking “Deadman,” “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight,” “Rose and Thorn,” “JLA” (with Garney on pencils), “Fables,” “Hellblazer: Papa Midnite,” and “52.” During the ‘New 52’ era, he inked “Animal Man,” “All-Star Western,” “Wonder Woman,” “Legion of Super-Heroes,” “Supergirl,” “The New 52: Futures End,” and “Convergence: Batgirl.” He also branched out to Dark Horse, inking Haden Blackman and Rick Leonardi’s 2011 series “Darth Vader and the Lost Command,” and returned to Marvel for a few issues of Dan Slott and Christos Gage’s “Amazing Spider-Man” run in 2012.
Outside of inking, Green illustrated 1986’s watercolor graphic novel “Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa,” and a 2001 collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s works, simply titled The Raven & Other Poems & Tales. J.M. DeMatteis, who wrote “Into Shamballa” with Green, commented the book demonstrated he wasn’t “just one of our best inkers,” but “a wonderful illustrator.” He adds, “He was also an old friend. A great loss, a great sadness, for all who knew him.”
Others who have paid tribute to Green include Ron Marz, Lewis LaRosa, Christos Gage, Pat Brosseau, Kurt Busiek, Bill Reinhold, Darick Robertson, and Mahmud Asrar. LaRosa said Green’s “work over Silvestri was hugely influential to me,” and its “bold, confident, and energetic brush work is just unbeatable, full of immediacy & spontaneity.” Busiek noted he only worked with Green a few times, “but his bold, confident line was a treat wherever it appeared, and our world is smaller without him. Thanks for all you gave us, Dan.”
