Darwyn Cooke

This article is written from the Real World perspective

Darwyn Cooke (born November, 1962 in Toronto, Ontario, died May 14, 2016 in Pinellas County, Florida) was a Canadian comic writer and artist, whose work has been honored with numerous Eisner, Harvey, and Joe Shuster Awards.

History

Darwyn Cooke began his career with Warner Bros. Animation at the age of 34 in 1997. Over time, his love for the work he was doing allowed for him to become the solo-animator for Batman Beyond's title sequence. However, wanting to become a director in the industry, Cooke quickly hit a wall with his aspirations in the field, and pivoted towards creating comics. Due to the style he used in Batman: Ego, he "became the guy they phoned when Bruce said 'No thanks'", leading to Cooke drawing covers for many DCAU Comics, including "Batman: Gotham Adventures", "Batman Beyond", and "Justice League Adventures".

Gallery

Below are the first 4 pages of the pitch deck which Darwyn sent to Warner Bros. Animation, resulting in his hiring by Bruce Timm.

Trivia

His first day working on Superman: The Animated Series staff (he freelanced on the show for several months prior), he invited his new boss, Butch Lukic, out for a few beers at a bar blocks away from Warner Brothers Animation Studio. The two had met earlier in the day after Lukic had approached him regarding revisions he had made to Cooke's storyboard. According to Lukic, while at the bar the two got into an argument about the revisions, leading to Darwyn suggesting they "take it outside". Butch was under the impression that Darwynn's comment was a joke. Apparently, it was not.

DCAU filmography

The New Batman Adventures

• "The Ultimate Thrill" (storyboard artist)
• "Legends of the Dark Knight" (storyboard artist)

Batman Beyond

• Title design
• Bloodsport (storyboard artist)

Justice League Unlimited

• "Task Force X" (writer)

DCAU Comics

Superman Adventures

• Issue 41: The Toyman's Christmas List (Pencils)

Batman: Gotham Adventures

• Issue 45: Running the Asylum (Cover)
• Issue 50: Second Timers (Cover)

Batman Beyond (1999)

• Issue 4: Magic is Everywhere (Cover)

Justice League Adventures

• Issue 7: Flash Fax (Cover)

External Links

• Darwyn Cooke at Wikipedia