Dwayne McDuffie passed away this morning. Unless you’re a diehard fan of comics or animation, it’s unlikely the his name means anything to you… But he had a huge impact and did a lot of amazing work in those fields; telling great stories, creating and redefining iconic heroes and villains, writing what he was passionate about.
Some career highlights: He created the respected (and really funny) Damage Control series for Marvel Comics; wrote one of my favorite runs of Fantastic Four (also for Marvel); founded Milestone Media in the 1990s and created and wrote a number of their comic book titles (published in association with DC Comics); wrote, story-edited, and produced the Justice League Unlimited cartoon series (acclaimed by many, myself included, as the best superhero animated show ever made); revitalized Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 franchise in the Alien Force and Ultimate Alien TV series; wrote and story edited the Static Shock animated series (based on his Milestone creation); and worked on some of the DC Comics animated DVDs from the last few years (including writing the script for the All-Star Superman feature, released just this week).
He worked endlessly to increase the visibility and positive portrayals of black characters in comic books, but never preached. He had a sharp sense of humor and a notable lack of self-importance. He had more than his fair share of run-ins with administrative powers, even being fired from DC at one point over his frank descriptions of the conflicts that arise between artistic and commercial concerns when working on a major comic-book franchise… And then he moved farther into animation work, and achieved even greater success.
And I think most vitally for me, he was a great guy. I never met him face-to-face, but I encountered him on the internet on a fairly regular basis and was always amazed at his frankness, humor, and lack of condescension. He’d always answer questions, take time to converse, and proceeded with integrity whether or not the situation demanded it. I have many friends who knew him far better than I, and I’ve never heard anything bad said of him. He was by all accounts a fine person, and his work carries the sense of that… He addressed matters of gender, race, and sexual orientation with a firm perspective of right and wrong and without conceit, dealing with important issues and never failing to entertain.
The world of comic books is richer for his efforts. The world of animation is richer for his efforts. And the world of people is richer for his having lived.