Correction: The Catwoman redesign was actually Ed Brubaker’s requirement for accepting the job to write the book, and he and Cooke created the new look together.

How different would this industry be if the first editor who ever saw his work would just say "let him cook".

For a guy who "couldn't get hired", Darwyn made some of the best comics to ever come out of DC

Waitwaitwait, you’re telling me the guy that made the visuals for the Batman Beyond intro was also the guy that made The New Frontier? Legend.

I met  Cooke once at a comic con in Halifax, Canada (Hal Con) just a few years before he died. He was brash, unapologetic and unforgettable. I asked why the comic book industry art wasn't being taken over by photorealism (a la Alex Ross), he responded, at a public panel, "who wants to see Aquaman's junk?" I liked him; for a Canadian, he was the opposite of polite (I'm Canadian, too).

2:22 Cooke blew his shot by bringing a "crime" comic to a company whose name literally stands for "Detective Comics."

My man fighting 40 yo gooners before the word even existed.

Whoah—i’m an illustrator graphic artist who was a storyboard artist who gave up on trying to get into comics who FINALLY landed an indy comic gig full black and white by design late in life. I draw the panels first and it is scripted after.

This is my new hero. I didn’t know who this man is and he is my people. WOW.

I have Cooke story, well sort of anyway.  I met Cooke at a convention years ago.  A friend and I had stood in line to meet him and get some books signed.  He was sharing a booth with Palmiotti and Conner, who he was good friends with from what I gather.  I remember he came into the convention kind of late.  When he got there he didn't really even setup he just kind of started signing.  This was day 2 of the convention (Friday his table had been unreachable).  While I wasn't the very beginning of the line, I wasn't terribly far from the beginning.  The guy in front of me had a New Frontier Absolute and Darwyn drew a quick Green Lantern in the book.  The previous day I had seen people with prints of some of covers that Cooke had running at DC at the time (a Batgirl, a Supergirl, and a Wonder Woman).  Since I hadn't seen them on his table I questioned my friend on where they could have come from.  Darwyn heard me and exclaimed: "Yeah, I have them.  My line is too big and I haven't had a chance to get them out yet."  So, when it got to my turn he took the time before signing my books to unpack the prints.  I managed to pushed my luck and asked if he would a quick something in my sketchbook.  He did the same quick Green Lantern that he done for the previous guy absolute book (which is awesome).  Afterwards, my friend gets his books signed and we are packing up and walking away from the side of the table, when my friend exclaims: "I forgot to buy a print".  To which, I look at the rather long line saying, "Well... I could let you have one my mine (as long as it isn't the Wonder Woman one)."  But I know he wants that Wonder Woman print.  I then notice Cooke has heard us and has looked up from what he was signing.  He looks at us, looks at the line, looks back at us and says "What do you want?" about as flatly as I ever heard anybody.  My friend got his print, and we left Mr. Cooke with that huge line.  My copy of that print is still sitting on one of my walls.

Art style, folks, never underestimate the power of your own art style.

Don't smoke, kids

This video is an indictment on how crap the comic book industry is. Comics are awesome but the people who run the business suck so badly

DC: New Frontier is so good you don’t realize the Trinity aren’t the main characters.

Parker is his best work, though. I feel like that was the book Darwyn was chasing his whole career.

They were insane for rejecting an artist that good and well-developed. He might've been rough around the edges socially, but he was classier and more mature in his approach to comics than everyone in the industry combined. Honestly, the entertainment industry has an epidemic of petulant, sensitive egoists, and artists that dont cater to that often have a difficult time because of it.

I once got Cooke to autograph the single page he drew in DC's multiverse guidebook. He went out of his way to tell me he was pissed that Grant Morrison's dialogue had changed New Frontier's ending. So, this video tracks.

How does he keep coming out with these amazingly produced, well researched and edited videos?! 😭

Every time i saw Cooke at a con he'd look at me with the familiarity of a long time friend, even though there's no way he'd recognize me among his fans. Just such a cool guy

Finally they just let him cooke

“The alphabet of imagery has been with humanity longer than the alphabet of letters, and the marriage of those two is what makes comics great” 33:14 🔥🔥🔥🔥

It’s such a shame that we didn’t get the graphic for The Score before losing a legend. He was such an inspiration to us. Darwyn Cooke, you will be missed.