Ernie Colon, an iconic comic book artist with six decades in the industry, has passed away. Earlier today, Colon’s family posted the following update on his Facebook page.
“I’m posting today with a heavy heart. The extraordinary Ernie Colón passed away yesterday afternoon in his home at the age of 88, surrounded by family, after over a year battling — and I mean battling — cancer. He did things on his own terms. The legacy he leaves behind is astonishing; a 60+ years career in comics, not to mention the work he did in other mediums including painting, writing, sculpting… I don’t think there was anything he couldn’t do. He loved to create — he was always creating. When people asked if he was “still drawing,” he said, “No idea what else I would be doing, since I would draw even when not paid for it. (half the story of my life).”
Colon was born on July 13, 1931 in Puerto Rico, but he spent most of his life in the United States. Colon’s career in comics began in the ’60s with stints as a letterer and an artist on Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost. In the ’70s, Colon lent his artistic talent to the horror titles Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella. He was also the first artist for Marvel’s Battlestar Galactica adaption in 1979.
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However, Colon’s most enduring creation, Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld, debuted at DC in 1983. Colon and the writing team of Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn introduced Amethyst/Amy Winston, a teenager who was thrust into a heroic role in a mystical realm. In 1988, Colon and writer Dwayne McDuffie created Damage Control. It was a comedic comic about the company that clean ups and also rebuilds after superhero battles.
Colon’s numerous credits also included Black Widow: The Coldest War, Dreadstar, Magnus: Robot Fighter, Beatlejuice, Savage Sword of Conan, Red Sonja, among several others.
In 2006, Colon and longtime collaborator Sid Jacoboson released The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. They re-teamed for several other projects, including 9/11: America’s War on Terror, A Graphic Biography: Che, and Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography. One of Colon’s last comic projects was The Warren Commission Report: A Graphic Investigation Into the Kennedy Assassination; which was released in 2014.
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Recommended Reading: Damage Control: The Complete Collection
