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#597608 - 05/11/12 10:59 AM
Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
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Member
Registered: 11/11/02
Posts: 11936
Loc: Lexington, Ky.
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Legendary comic artist Tony DeZuniga, co-creator of Jonah Hex and Black Orchid, passed away early Wednesday at Las Piñas Doctors Hospital in the Philippines after suffering from a stroke, heart failure and brain damage, GMA News reports. The 79-year-old artist was surrounded by wife Tina, his daughter Sheryl and his sisters-in-law.
“Tony is very smart, clever, and funny,” Tina DeZuniga told the website. “He is my knight in shining armor.”
DeZuniga was admitted to the intensive care unit in mid-April following a stroke, leading friends and fans to rally to help cover his medical expenses. On Free Comic Book Day, Filipino artists came together to sell sketches and T-shirts to raise money for the fund.
Born in Manila, DeZuniga began his comics career at the age of 16 as a letterer for a weekly magazine then moved to the United States in 1962 to study graphic design. He returned to the Philippines to work in advertising before heading back to New York City, where he was hired by DC Comics editor Joe Orlando, making DeZuniga the first Filipino artist to work for a major American comics publisher.
He used the opportunity to open the door for other Filipino creators, convincing Orlando and DC Editor-in-Chief Carmine Infantino to visit the Philippines in 1971 to recruit such artists as Alex Niño, Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, Fred Carrillo, Vicatan and Gerry Talaoc.
That same year DeZuniga collaborated with writer John Albano to create Jonah Hex, the disfigured Western antihero with whom the artist is so closely associated. “[John] asked me to draw the concept for the character, and one day I was at the doctor’s office and I saw this chart with a man, showing him half muscle and half skeleton,” DeZuniga recalled in a 2010 interview with Comic Book Resources. “I thought to myself, ‘This is neat,’ and I got the concept. When John Albano saw it, he was very happy.”
Although perhaps best remembered for his work on DC’s Jonah Hex, Arak, Son of Thunder, The Phantom Stranger and Weird Western Tales, he also drew Dracula Lives, The Savage Sword of Conan and Thor for Marvel.
“He was, and still is a huge inspiration,” cartoonist Gerry Alanguilan wrote on his website. “I’m not exactly a very young man anymore, but whenever I think of Mang Tony, who was still active and still pushing his artistic boundaries well into his 70′s, it was terribly, terribly inspiring. I wish I could be as active and creative when I reach his age. Now that he’s gone, I have no doubt that he will continue to inspire us. And while our conventions may seem empty now without him, as if something would always be missing, his memory will help keep us going, and keep us making comics.”
DeZuniga returned to Jonah Hex in 2010 with No Way Back, a 136-page graphic novel written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, and released to coincide with the character’s big-screen debut.
“I really enjoyed doing Jonah Hex again,” he told CBR at the time, before expressing his distaste for the way the character has been depicted in more recent years. “I have seen the new comics, and I am not too happy with some of the artists making him [more like] Clint Eastwood; exaggerating the scars; wrong hats,” he said. “See, small things are important in a character. That’s always a part of making it whole.”
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#597609 - 05/11/12 12:14 PM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: Lawson]
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Member
Registered: 07/19/01
Posts: 3386
Loc: Waterloo, Iowa, United States
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#597610 - 05/11/12 12:33 PM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: MBunge]
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Member
Registered: 11/11/02
Posts: 11936
Loc: Lexington, Ky.
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I wasn't nuts about his inking on superhero comics. Bad fit.
Then I discovered, after the fact, his fine work on the original JONAH HEX series. Great stuff. Not everyone is supposed to draw superheroes.
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#597611 - 05/11/12 12:45 PM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: Lawson]
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Member
Registered: 05/10/99
Posts: 1080
Loc: Mason, MI, USA
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No, DeZuniga was not among my favorite super-hero artists but I loved his work on Jonah Hex and Arak. And he pencilled some Supergirl stories in the early '70s that were inked by Bob Oksner that turned out quite well, with Oksner smoothing Tony's rough edges nicely.
_________________________
Ted J. Kilvington, Jr.
*****
"I still have that comic, only now it's in liquid form!"
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#597612 - 05/11/12 12:55 PM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: Lawson]
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Member
Registered: 07/19/01
Posts: 3386
Loc: Waterloo, Iowa, United States
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I mostly remember him as a Marvel artist, but I've got that Jonah Hex Showcase at home I haven't gotten around to yet. Guess that settles my weekend plans.
Mike
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#597613 - 05/11/12 01:35 PM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: MBunge]
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Member
Registered: 11/11/02
Posts: 11936
Loc: Lexington, Ky.
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I usually prefer my comics reprints to be in full-color if that's how the original comics were published.
But many of the old Western genre comics look great in black and white. JONAH HEX is one. BAT LASH by Nick Cardy is another. BAT LASH actually preceded JONAH HEX at DC by a few years and was co-created and co-written by Sergio Aragones, of all people.
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#597628 - 05/11/12 03:44 PM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: Lawson]
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Member
Registered: 11/29/09
Posts: 1093
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RIP I didn't know about him, but prior to this thread I read a Johnah Hex collection, don't know if it was the DC black n whites or not. But in it there was a story where the towns people hate him, I guess because of the way he looks and he ends up saving them. A little kid at the end goes up to him, Jonah thinks atleast the kid is going to thank him and looks past his appearance but the instead says "G'wan, get out of here ugly."
Jonah gets stone faced again and says, "I didn't like any of you either," obviously very hurt but trying to hide it with the not too convincing remark.
I always thought he was a western Punisher type, but that story made him pretty interesting. I'm going to see if I can track down some of those original Jonah Hex stories.
_________________________
"My head's lopsided *****!"-Red Gumby
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#597633 - 05/11/12 05:53 PM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: Gerald]
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Member
Registered: 05/08/00
Posts: 6909
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I loved the work of all those Filipino import guys. There are but a few left, sadly.
_________________________
"The trouble with being a ghost writer or artist is that you must remain anonymous without credit.
If one wants the credit, one has to cease being a ghost and become a leader or innovator." — Bob Kane
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#597641 - 05/11/12 11:12 PM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: Allen Montgomery]
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Member
Registered: 08/28/00
Posts: 3227
Loc: Salem, MA, USA
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Sorry to hear this, Arak was one of my favorites. RIP Tony DeZuniga.
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#597644 - 05/12/12 12:56 AM
Re: Tony DeZuniga, R.I.P.
[Re: Peter Urkowitz]
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Member
Registered: 06/22/01
Posts: 12277
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I had only recently become a big fan after discovering the Jonah Hex Showcase, but I remember enjoying his work on Savage Sword and other stuff from when I was a kid.
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