I just learned of Dwayne McDuffie's death yesterday. I guess I've been living under a rock or something.. Anyway, since I listed him as #6 on my "Top Ten Contemporary Comics Creators" list, I felt like I should jot down my thoughts:

When I first joined ComicVine about a year and a half ago, the first substantial wiki entries I submitted were related to Milestone comics. I felt that there were a lot of talented creators and interesting characters who were not being well represented on the site. One of these creators was Dwayne McDuffie. Justice League and Justice League Unlimited were among my favorite cartoons, and I think Dwayne's contributions to those shows had a lot to do with that. I thoroghly enjoyed all of the Milestone comics I read, although I did notice that the ones that really struck me (Icon, Hardware) were written by Dwayne as well. I just noticed he wasn't credited for this on Comicvine yet, but he also wrote one of my favorite Etrigan stories of all time: Political Asylum, in which Etrigan runs for president. Dwayne also had a good run on the most recent Justice League comic book, where he reintroduced Shadow Cabinet. He somehow managed to leave out my favorite character (Sideshow... see the avatar), but I guess I can forgive him for that. Most recently, he seemed to transistion to working on DC animated features. "Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths", is my favorite of the animated features I've seen so far, so I wasn't surprised to learn that McDuffie wrote it. I haven't been able to see All Star Superman yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Since I've learned of his death, I've done a little reading on McDuffie and learned that he wasn't very nice to his fans. I'm sorry to hear that, but it doesn't particularly change the way I feel about his work. Just because I learn Walt Disney is evil doesn't mean I'm going to stop liking Mickey Mouse. I don't know if that makes me a bad person, or just a little detatched from reality.

Dwayne McDuffie died from heart trouble on February 21, 2011 at the age of 49 years and 1 day. During his life, he made a significant impact to the world of comics. I believe if his career had not been tragically cut short, he would have continued to produce great material for years to come. Rest in Peace Dwayne.