Marshall Rogers R.I.P

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http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=106531

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.
 
damn,that sucks. he is one of the greatest batman artists ever, if not the best. His style was fresh, and at the same time, seemed like a modern day version of Bob Kane's 1939 Batman
 
I'll never forget his fantastic work with Steve Englehart and Terry Austen in Detective Comics in the late 70's.

RIP Marshall.
 
R.I.P. Marshall Rogers. He was great. :csad:
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R.I.P. Marshall Rogers, totally awesome Batman artist....one of the greats.
 
That's really too bad.

Rogers' take on the Joker is one of my favorite depictions of the character. Maybe even my favorite. (If I could I'd scan in the "I'm warning you Francis" panel from the Laughing Fish as an example).
 
Really, the work he did with Englehart and Austin made me a Batman fan when I was a kid. RIP
 
My hearts is hurt so much after hearing this news. My deepest condolensces to his family, friends and fans. :csad:

As a very young kid the first BAtman artist I took note of was Neal Adams and then he left in the early to mid '70s and the was sort of a "lull" in anything really eye-catching with Batman artist after he left (with respect to some of the artist working during that time like Erin Chan and Mike Grell) although Jim Apraro and Irv Novick continue to grind away on the drawing boards respectively.

And then around '78 I saw the cover of Detective comics # 473 (the Maylay Penguin) with Batman and Robin swinging into action stoping some thugs and a shadow of a fimilar bird like criminal in the background. I was floored and quickly brought the book and was even more amazed by what was on the inside.

Batman never looked so menacing with those incredible long bat ears and flowing cape that went everywhere admist the fog Gotham night and the punk criminal was so freighten that he couldn't even shoot strait at Batman although at close range and Robin looked like he was fighting without fear and actually looked like a grown up.

I never seen the Dynamic Dou look so Dynamic.

That was my introduction the the GREAT Marshall Rogers (and subsequently Steve Englehart and Terry Austin) I quickly tried to find any back issues I can on him and keep up with the series till Marshall Rogers left and even followed him on all his projects after that (his Doctor Strange is proboly the best after the initial run of Steve Diko).

What a wonderful plesure to relive some of his great Batman artwork again recently with the "Dark Detective" storyline.

To say he was talented is an understement of giganic porportions. To say he was the best Batman artist after Neal Adams is respectively arguable. To say he was one of the greatest comicbook artist of all time is unquestionable.

I regretably never meet Mr. rogers but his passing fells like I lost someone I knew and that part of my childhood is forever gone.

Goodbye Mr. Rogers. Thank you for your talents and how you enhanced the childhood of so many people. You will be sorely missed.
 
First Jim Aparo, now Marshall Rogers. :( There go my two favorite Batman artists...
 
Man, shocking, sad news.His work was pioneering and his Batman run was one of the major milestones in the industry.He will be missed.

Rest In Peace Marshall. :(
 
That's sad news, looks like time to re-read his classic Batman stories again.
 
Definitely sucks. I really loved his work in the Dark Detective miniseries from a few years back. :csad:
 
Aw no. :csad: I love his work. It's like a mix of Miller, Aparo, and Breyfogle.

What a shame. So sad. He wasn't too old either. R.I.P.
 
I just heard about this today in the back of Action Comics 848. Since I'm a relatively new comics fan, I wasn't familiar with his work, but it always sucks to hear things like this.

And from what I've seen so far, his work was pretty amazing. RIP.
 

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