MARSHALL ROGERS DIES

[MattBrady]

Comics have lost another luminary. Details are still sketchy, but word came earlier today that Marshall Rogers died yesterday or Saturday. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

Rogers was born on January 22nd, 1950 in Flushing, New York.

From “DC Profiles #26” which appeared in 1978 (courtesy of the Marshall Rogers Fan Site):

Of all DC's rapidly rising new stars, Marshall Rogers' ascent has been swiftest of all. In less than a year, Marshall has gone from back feature artist to first-stringer on Detective Comics and Mr. Miracle.

Marshall almost didn't make it to comics. His studies in art school concentrated on architecture, but after two years of studying designing parking lots and shopping centers, Marshall decided "the world wasn't ready for another Frank Lloyd Wright" and left school seeking fame and fortune in the comic field.

Unfortunately, the comics world was not yet ready for Marshall Rogers. For the next two years, he worked in a hardware store while doing occasional illustrations for mass circulation magazines and sharpening his artistic skills.

Apparently, those two years did the trick. Marshall broke into comics, landing a stint pencilling for Marvel's Britain weeklies.

Not long after, Marshall showed up at DC Comics, portfolio in hand, and was given his first assignment: a two part Tales of the Great Disaster story for Weird War Tales. That was followed by some mystery stories, a Tales of Krypton piece and a four part feature in Detective Comics featuring a new villain named The Calculator. His work on the latter led Editor Julie Schwartz to hand Marshall a real plum for a newcomer: pencilling the book length Batman versus the Calculator story in Detective Comics. What came next surprised even Marshall. The powers that be assigned Marshall to Detective as the regular penciller. And he almost immediately picked up the art chores on the newly-revived Mr. Miracle book as well.

"What I try to do," Marshall told DC Profiles, "is first think of what's been done before and then I discard that and try to approach it from a completely different angle." After looking over Marshall Rogers' work, we'd have to say he's found his different angle.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Rogers’ career covered many different characters, Rogers is best known for his Batman work when collaborating with writer Steve Englehart. The two first worked together on the character in Detective Comics #471-#476 (inked by Terry Austin), and for years, their version of the character was considered to be the definitive one – a dark, brooding hero who stayed to the shadows and flowed with a natural grace.

An architect by training, Rogers' work always stood out for its attention to detail, from the cityscapes of Gotham and articulated (and realistic) muscles of the heroes, to the different techniques he would employ, from bold blacks and zipatone to a wide array of others.

Rogers work was seen in many other comics from the major publishers including brief runs on DC's Mr. Miracle, Marvel’s Silver Surfer, and Dr. Strange as well as a wide variety of independent titles: Detectives, Inc., Coyote (again with Englehart), his own Capt. Quick and the Foozle, and Scorpio Rose.

Rogers left comics for a period in the early ‘90s to work in videogames, but returned later in the decade, where his work was seen in projects such as Green Lantern: Evil’s Might and most recently, Marvel Westerns: Strange Westerns Starring The Black Rider, and Batman: Dark Detective, a continuation of his and Englehart’s story from Detective Comics two and a half decades earlier. The two were reportedly considering a third installment of the larger "Dark Detective" story.

[Tobey Cook]

Oh man. That sucks. I guess we'll never get to see that sequel to Dark Detective that he and Englehart were working on. Such a great loss.

[I am MODOK]

I really enjoyed Marshall's work on Mr. Miracle, and only recently finally read Dark Detective. Great art all around. He was a talented guy.

[Soto]

Terrible news.
Marshall was such a nice guy and I enjoyed working with him (although briefly).
He was always trying new things, and loved the medium. Very depressing news.

-Soto

[nosybrat]

This is just terrible news, I was becoming a bigger and bigger fan of his work over the last year or so since Dark Detective, and I was looking forward to a third entry into his and Englehart's magnum opus. My condolences to his family and friends. Just really, really sad.
Greg

[Dr. Crane]

What a loss. Marshall Rogers was one of the greatest Batman artists of all time. The only artist who's come close is Neal Adams. All my condolences to the Rogers family.

[kalorama]

Sad news. His last issue with Englehart on Detective was the first Batman comic I ever owned and my comic book introduction to the character.

[Action Ace]

Terrible news

For my money, he is the greatest Batman artist of all time.

He and his art will be missed.

[Green Llama]

This is truly sad and shocking news...I'll never forget how exciting his work was when I first was exposed to it...a true innovator...

My deepest condolences to his friends, family and fellow fans...

[Alexander Knox]

A shame. He was one of the great Batman artists.

[Duke Jupiter]

Before Terry Austin teamed up with John Byrne to revolutionize the X-Men franchise, the Rogers/Austin team drew what has been considered for years the definitive Batman in those legendary Detective Comics stories penned by Steve Englehart.

Rest easy, dear sir. You will definitely be missed.

- DJ

[Douglas]

Crap. Just crap.

He was my favorite Batman artist of all.

This really sucks.

[Stéphane G]

Sad news.
I really loved his art.
RIP

[KyleV]

Man, that sucks. As others have mentioned, his work on Batman stands up there with all of the other greats.

I hope DC does something to honor him.

[Earth2Comics]

Wow. This is sad, sad news. I hope he passed peacefully.

Not only was Marshall Rogers a brilliant artist, but he was generous with fans. He spent quite a bit of time chatting with me and my friends at a New York convention long ago when he was doing Batman in the late 1970s.

He will be missed.

[DarkNomis]

Oh my God NO!

He's my second favorite Batman artist after Neal Adams and one of my all time greats! This is so so, so, so sad.

My condolensces go out to all his family, friends and fans. He will be Sorely missed!

[Korvac]

I liked his Batman work, his Doctor Strange work, his G.I. Joe work. He covered a lot of bases. RIP.

[hondo]

A truly great and sorely underutilized talent.

The work that he, Steve Englehart, and Terry Austin did in the 70's was some of the best at that time.

He's definitely one of the definitive Batman artists of all time.

I also love his Dr. Strange. The great Paul Smith followed him on that when Roger Stern was still writing it, about 25 years or so ago.

His Mr. Miracle was very clean and crisp and a joy.

Dead at 57. Amazing. Not one of the old men of the industry.

His work will be missed.

My condolences to his family and friends.

[Sparro]

Sad News indeed. Rogers along with Adams is the definitive Batman artist.

[fedres]

He was the definitive Dr. Strange artist to me. A sad loss.

[mattmbird]

Right up there with the Englehart/Rogers Detective run is the Englehart/Rogers Silver Surfer run (vol. 2, issues 1-10). It's a fantastic epic storyline that, shockingly, has never been a trade paperback. They've just announced that it will appear in Essential Silver Surfer Vol. 2, but they really should give the storyline its own book in color, especially because the gorgeous coloring in the original was by Rogers himself. He was a master colorist.

It should also be noted that he re-launched the Batman comic strip in 1989 before handing off chores to Carmine Infantino.

[Titansmaster]

Another HUGE loss for the industry. At a time when a lot of veterans are starting to get the recognition that they deserve, it is very sad for this man to leave us.

His Batman and Mister Miracle work was wonderful.

I read above about missing he & Englehart's third installment in the Dark Detective stuff, did a second limited series come out and I missed it??

Sorry for the loss, Marshall. Thanks for the work you gave us.

[punjeb]

Damn. I'm in shock. For my money he was one of the industry's greatest craftsmen. My condolences to all who knew and loved the man...his work will be missed.

One last thing. Marshall Rogers was one of the artists I always wanted to meet and tell him how much I enjoyed his work. His loss drives home the point to all fandom. If you like someone's work...tell them. On-line, in a letter or if any way possible, in person. You may never get another chnace.

Godspeed from these streets of Gothan to skies of New Genesis.

[O.J. Flow]

What terrible news.
My heart goes out to his family, and thanks go to Mr. Rogers for his immense contributions to the Dark Knight legend.

[OM]

...Man, this was *not* the news I'd expected to see this morning. My condolences echo those of everyone else here, as Marshall was truly one of the greats. The man redefined Batman more than Neal Adams did, and gave Bruce a flowing cape that actually would strike fear in the hearts of evil-doers everywhere. The "Silver St. Cloud" arc he did with Steve Englehart was what got me back to reading the Bat-Books after having dropped them years earlier. Adams may have thrust off the "Batmania" look'n'feel, but Rogers was the one who recast the mold into what Batman was all about visually.

...And for those Marshall Rogers fans out there who are as torn up about this as I am, there's one thought that might comfort you: *if* Heaven really exists, what are the odds that all the Angels look like Silver St. Cloud?

Rest easy, sir. And thanks for the unforgettable visuals!