Steve Dillon, known best for his seminal work on the comic book series Preacher, passed away today in New York City at the age of 54. Dillon began his artistic career in his teens working for Marvel UK. His unique talent was soon noticed and he began drawing stories about Judge Dredd and the like. In the early 90s his hard work paid off and he began drawing Animal Man for DC Comics. In 1991 the Comic Book Gods paired Gath Ennis and Steve Dillon on Hellblazer, and soon the duo were almost inseparable. When their run on Hellblazer ended they began a 66 issue run on Preacher which cemented their duo power in the industry. Once Preacher ended Dillon went on to draw many other series; Punisher, Thunderbolts and was currently drawing the latest Punisher series for All-New Marvel.
Generally, when I hop onto Twitter and find a comic book artist or writer trending it’s bad news. This was a huge shock to me. This is the exact same way I found out about Darwyn Cooke’s passing as well, yet another great artist that will be sorely missed. I remember meeting Dillon at San Diego Comic Con in the late 90s, which feels like a lifetime ago. I remember him being extremely polite and thrilled to sign my huge stack of books. On my wall in my room hangs a personalized issue of Preacher from Dillon and Ennis – an issue that I cherished prior to this news and now I will cherish it even more. If there are any comic book fans out there that haven’t read Punisher: Welcome Back Frank, then please read that series. That mini-series shows us how the Punisher should be written and drawn. It is one of the best Punisher series out there and definitely my favorite. Steve Dillon will be missed by myself and millions of comic book fans alike. Rest in peace Steve. Thank you for the memories.