Star Wars comic book artist John Cassaday has died

Well-known comic book artist John Cassaday has died at the age of 52. Star Wars fans may recognize some of his work from the early days of new canon Marvel comics in 2015.

Before working on Star Wars, Cassaday began his career as an artist for independent comics publishers. His career took off when he started drawing for Marvel and DC Comics, particularly with his work on Teen Titans and Flash.

His work on Astonishing X-Men, Planetary, and I Am Legion: The Dancing Faun won him the Eisner Award (basically the comics version of an Academy Award) for Best Penciller/Inker in 2005. He won the award again in 2006, along with the Eisner Award for Best Ongoing Series for Astonishing X-Men.

When Marvel reached an agreement with Lucasfilm and regained its Star Wars license, it relaunched the iconic Star Wars comic run in 2015. Cassaday had the honor of drawing the first arc of the series, which continued on until the series relaunched again in 2020.

Star Wars author Charles Soule paid tribute to the artist on Twitter, calling him a "once-in-ever talent." Soule worked with Cassaday occasionally throughout the writer's over 100 Star Wars comic issues and counting.

In a 2014 interview with Marvel.com, Cassady revealed that it was a true honor for him to be approached about working on Star Wars.

"Marvel contacted me not long after the agreement with Lucasfilm was finalized," he said. "They knew I was quite a fan and guessed I’d be interested. They weren’t wrong! Star Wars means a lot to me."

Cassaday is known for his extremely detailed art, an example of which can be seen in Soule's tweet above. The care that went into drawing Boba Fett's armor as it appears on screen alone is proof that the artist's unique style and love for the franchise will be greatly missed.