Le abbiamo fatto gli auguri di compleanno (89) anni meno di dieci giorni fa e… eccoci qua.
Un’altra scomparsa più che illustre, in quest’anno infame come tanti altri, ma portatore (come gli altri) di infamie sempre nuove e se possibile inattese.

Marie Severin, ammiratissima, incrociata più volte nel nostro fumettistico cammino, se n’è andata.

Marie Severin, a comic book artist and colorist best known for her work on Marvel titles including The Incredible Hulk, Kull the Conqueror and the humor title Not Brand Ecch, has died. She was 89.

Severin’s death followed her move into hospice care after a second stroke this week; she suffered her first in 2007.

Insomma, questo blog non fa in tempo a registrare tutti gli eventi luttuosi e le altre orrende cose che accadono, che ne giungono sempre di nuove.

Incidentalmente Cartoonist Globale porge le sue condoglianze a Luisa e Martina Vianovi per la scomparsa di Antonio, pochi giorni fa.
Nel blob della memoria ho trovato delle foto per ricordare Antonio; le metto online al volo.

Inventore dalla rivista sexy Glamour a pari merito con Stefano Bartolomei (poi Antonio Vianovi, anche nei panni di Tony Newstreet, proseguirà da solo con una seconda serie della rivista),pubblicherà anche un numero congruo di oggi introvabili Glamour Book: un’intuizione geniale, per i primi anni Ottanta.

Sotto, una remota copertina del primo ciclo di Glamour, del quale scrissi una parte del testo a quattro mani con il buon Franco Fossati.
L’immagine di copertina, tratta da Coronet, mi fu fornita dal collezionista e disegnatore Loris Jacomelli, scomparso anch’egli tre anni fa circa.

Eccolo Antonio Vianovi con il sottoscritto, con Gallieno Ferri e Luca Raffaelli.
Grazie a chi ha scattato la foto, allo stato delle cose non potrei dirlo. Forse Gianfranco Goria? Forse Emanuela Oliva? Grazie a tutti e due.

Questa sopra, invece, è sicuramente una foto di Cristina Francesconi (grazie). Con Antonio facciamo gli scemi in qualità di babies del gigantesco Geof Darrow.

Ma avevamo iniziato a ricordare Marie Severin, scomparsa qualche ora fa. Su Antonio torneremo in modo degno in seguito.

Dunque, Severin worked as a production artist and colorist for the publisher in its 1960s incarnation before becoming a penciler and inker in her own right.
She was a particularly gifted artist when it came to likenesses, so she was a perfect artist for Marvel’s parody comic book series, Not Brand Echh. In the early 1970s, Severin gave up her job as Marvel’s lead colorist (handing the assignment over to comic book veteran George Roussos, who continued in the role until the 1980s) so that she could do more penciling work.

Severin initially entered the industry as a colorist for EC Comics when her older brother, the late comic book artist John Severin, was working for the company and needed someone to color his pages. She would go on to color titles across the company’s line until it folded, then ended up at the nascent Marvel Comics in the late 1950s, when she served as a production and paste-up artist and colorist before going on to pencil and ink stories in her own right. She served as Marvel’s head colorist until 1972, when she left the position to concentrate on penciling and inking.

In addition to her interior artwork, Severin designed the original costume for Spider-Woman, and designed and illustrated merchandise for Marvel’s special projects division. In the 1980s, she was one of the core artists on the short-lived “Star Comics” line, aimed at younger readers.

In the 1980s, she began working in Special Projects for Marvel, doing a lot of licensed work (again, her likenesses were always amazing). She was let go by Marvel during their restructuring following their late 1990s bankruptcy. She continued working as an artist until retiring in the mid-2000s.

Outside of her Marvel portfolio, she contributed to titles for DC, Claypool Comics and Fantagraphics.

She was named the Best Humor Penciler in 1974’s Shazam Awards and won the Inkpot Award at 1988’s San Diego Comic-Con. In 2001, she was inducted into the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame.

Per onorare Silvano “Nano” Campeggi, anch’egli scomparso, riprendo un articolo dal quotidiano che più amo leggere: La Gazzetta di Parma.