Comic book artists who committed suicide

[Adric]

I can think of two comic artists of widespread fame who killed themselves, both two of my favorites:

Wallace Wood, of EC fame and beyond

Jack Cole, of Plastic Man fame

to my understanding, they both shot themselves in the head, Wood as he was losing his vision and in poor health, Cole under less 'understood' circumstances. I recently discovered this, after many years of admiring their work and found it an interesting, if not morbid, factor to consider in terms of their outputs.

Does anyone know of any other comic book greats (or not so greats) who pulled the plug in this fashion?

I was just listening to the song 'People Who Died' by the Jim Carrol band when this came to mind.

Adric

[Kid Omega]

Vaughn Bode died during an act of auto-erotic asphyxiation.

Ham Fisher overdosed on sleeping pills after a particularly ugly spat with longtime rival Al Capp.

That's the only tow I can think of, aside from Wood and Cole. But I think there are more...

[Dennis K]

As far as artists go, aren't poets the most likely to commit suicide?

[Sir Tim Drake]

George Caragonne committed suicide, though I think he was a writer rather than an artist.

[zilch]

A lot of them killed themselves slowly w/ alcohol.

Read through some of the interviews with GA artists and writers and when a name comes up, he/she will say "Oh, they drank alot/were alcoholics/ect."

[Bright-Raven]

Completely different situation, zilch

[Reptisaurus!]

Vaughn Bode died during an act of auto-erotic asphyxiation.


Whoah. I didn't know that.

I've got two "Tribute" fanzines, published right after Bode's death. Neither of them mentioned this.

Still, probably not technically suicide, right? (I'm a little unclear on some of the finer points.)

[Kid Omega]

Whoah. I didn't know that.

I've got two "Tribute" fanzines, published right after Bode's death. Neither of them mentioned this.

Still, probably not technically suicide, right? (I'm a little unclear on some of the finer points.)

You are correct- he did not intend to kill himself...

As the story goes, (and I don't have my source in front of me, so disclaim this as hearsay) his son was staying with him one weekend, and found him hanging from the ceiling by a belt, completely nude except for a bondage mask.

He was heavily into sex and drugs and sex some more, and apparently practiced a lot of auto-erotic asphyxiation....

[thehod]

Rob Liefeld committed professional suicide with his Captain America boobs (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Liefeld_captain_america.jpg) piece.

[JeffreyWKramer]

As far as artists go, aren't poets the most likely to commit suicide?

Poets and writers are probably equally likely to commit suicide, and both are somewhat more likely, on average, to commit suicide than are visual artists. Individuals who are highly verbally-oriented have a higher rate of depression than the general population, and depressed people who have better expressive language abilities tend to be more severely depressed than those who are less verbally adept. It is believed that some of the same genetic factors which contribute to verbal intelligence may also contribute to a predisposition toward depression, and possibly toward bipolar disorder as well. Heck, the list of Nobel Laureates for Literature practically reads like a who's who of famous depressed folk. Sylvia Plath, Hemingway and many other famous writers have committed suicide, and many others, including Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving, have had chronic histories of depression. Abraham Lincoln - one of the greatest wordsmiths to have ever been President - struggled with depression on and off through his entire adult life.

I'm not aware of any greater propensity for suicide among poets as compared to prose writers, though, despite the stereotype of the suicidal adolescent girl poet.

There is some evidence that people with exceptional graphic/visual artistic capacity may have a higher-than-average tendency toward schizophrenia, but the results there are much less conclusive than the connection between verbal ability and depression, and many studies have failed to find any such correlation.

[TinMan]

Rob Liefeld committed professional suicide with his Captain America boobs (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Liefeld_captain_america.jpg) piece.

Genius, pure unadulterated genius!

Damn that drawing is horrible! I still can't figure out how that man gets work!

[HomerJay]

Rob Liefield, Chuck Austen, and Judd Winick are the only ones that come to mind.

Oh ok, my mistake...I read the thread title as "Comic creators you'd want to commit suicide".




Wow, did I just type that?

[JeffreyWKramer]

Rob Liefield, Chuck Austen, and Judd Winick are the only ones that come to mind.

Oh ok, my mistake...I read the thread title as "Comic creators you'd want to commit suicide".




Wow, did I just type that?

Ouch.

Really, I have to say, that goes over the top. I don't think Austen or Liefeld deserve to be working in anything more creative than burger chef or car wash technician, but dead? Nah.

And remember, Winnick *did* do "Pedro" and Barry Ween.

Besides, by all accounts, Rob Liefeld - untalented as he is - is an extremely nice guy. As I understand, he sold off some of his artwork after Katrina and donated the proceeds to the relief effort. I hate his art, but it's hard to have any animosity toward the guy himself.

Now, Todd McFarlane, on the other hand...

[HomerJay]

Ouch.

Really, I have to say, that goes over the top. I don't think Austen or Liefeld deserve to be working in anything more creative than burger chef or car wash technician, but dead? Nah.
Yeah, I know, but over the top and shocking was kinda what I was going for. Kind of a literary version of StoneGold's picture posts.
Do I really want them dead? No.

[Ayo]

Walt Kelly kind of committed suicide since he participated in activities that he knew could likely precipitate his own death.

He was diabetic, but also an alchoholic. One day, he just said "fuck it."

[Adric]

Wow, that was interesting to hear about Vaughn Bode. In Jr. High, in the 1980s, a kid in my class died by auto-erotic asphyxiation. They found him with a plastic bag over his head, listening to a Prince tape on a Sony walkman, with the usual evidence. I remember the school had this big announcement about it and at age 14 or 15, it didn’t make a lot of sense. I remember that there was a claim that if you played a certain Prince song backwards, it said something about auto-erotic asphyxiation. Somehow Bode’s mode of death is not surprising, but is unusual.

Walt Kelly brings up an interesting point: what exactly is suicide? How suddenly do we have to undertake destructive actions for it to be deemed as such? In my mind, there are many slow paths to death, as if an internal switch has been flipped, and an individual’s actions lead them towards death by whatever means---drinking, smoking, driving recklessly, &c. I doubt drawing comics has ever proved a very stable way to make a living….I assume it would entail a lot of stress over how to get by financially, mingled with the personal satisfaction.

Thanks for all the input

Adric

[Dennis K]

George Caragonne committed suicide, though I think he was a writer rather than an artist.


Writer's are artists, IMO.

[Reptisaurus!]

Writer's are artists, IMO.

Yes, but when we're talking comics, the "artist" is the guy who draws the book. Always, always, always.