Prolific Comics Artist Ernie Colon Dead at 88

Ernie Colón, an artist whose career in comics goes back over sixty years, passed away at his home yesterday, according to a statement released by his family via his official Facebook page. Colón, who worked on a wide range of comics over the decades and who co-created Amethyst of Gemworld, a character currently making a resurgence in Brian Michael Bendis's Young Justice series, was 88 years old. While his early career ran the gamut from children's comics to horror books, his later career focused on non-fiction; he made it into the news, and the bookstore market, with graphic adaptations of The 9/11 Report, The Warren Report (on the assassination of John F. Kennedy), and similar projects. Per the brief statement, Colón apparently passed away following a year-long battle with cancer.

Born on July 13, 1931, Colón began his career as a letterer for Harvey Comics, sometimes pitching in with uncredited artwork for comics like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich. In the late 1960s, he would draw Gold Key Comics' Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom, and in the '70s he would turn to Warren Publishing, where he illustrated comics Vampirella, Creepy, and Eerie.

Even after he moved to the Big Two he would combine original properties like Amethyst with licensed books like Marvel's Battlestar Galactica and Thundercats. Titles like Arak, Son of Thunder, Weird War Tales, and Young Love at DC showed off Colón's range, while Atari Force and Damage Control (which he co-created with the legendary Dwayne McDuffie) would give him a chance to show off a more traditional adventure comics/superhero style.

"Ernie was a master illustrator and our recent revisit of gemWorld only showed us how timeless his designs and ideas were," Young Justice writer Brian Michael Bendis told ComicBook.com. "We are so glad we were able to honor his work! Please go read the original series of amethyst and celebrate real and beautiful creativity."

Along with Ruben Moreira, Colón was one of the earliest and most influential Puerto Rican artists working in the comics industry.

"Ernie Colón was a prolific artist, one of the only Puerto Ricans in the 1960s to professionally break into comics," said Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, whose work for victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico earned him the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award this year at Comic Con. "His career, first as a letterer, then uncredited illustrator on Harvey's Casper (which we had all over our apartment as a child) to his universe creating work with DC on Amethyst, he truly was a visionary. Late into his career in the 2000s he continued to work with his own creator owned projects like Ax, Spycat, and more. He will be greatly missed, his art will be celebrated, and I will always champion his legacy in my work.

"With my work with my own series, La Borinqueña, his name always came up. I've been able to work with various professional Puerto Rican artists like George Perez, Tony Daniel, Rags Morales, Will Rosado, Gustavo Vázquez, Emilio López, Naomi Franquiz, Nicole Virella, Javier Salteres, Cesar Antomattei, Eric Jimenez, Sabrina Cintron, Chris Batista, Christopher Sotomayor, Juan Fernández, José Marzan, Jr., but I'll always regret never having Ernie add his art to my roster. Qué en paz descanse."

Colón would work with Harvey on and off for decades, providing art on books like Beetlejuice, Monster in My Pocket, and New Kids on the Block in the '90s. Along the way, he served as an editor at DC for years, overseeing books like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.

His last major comics work was his adaptaiton of the Warren Report, which was done in collaboration with his Amethyst co-creator Dan Mishkin.