The comic book industry suffered another huge loss this year with the passing of artist Steve Dillon. Dillon left a huge mark on comics thanks to his work on books like Hellblazer, Preacher, Wolverine: Origins and multiple volumes of The Punisher. From the beginning, Dillon set himself apart from the crowd thanks to a unique ability to blend horrific displays of violence, dark humor and raw pathos together. Dillon knew how to shock his readers, but more importantly, he was able to craft characters that lived, breathed and became like close friends to the reader.
As a tribute to Dillon, we're taking a look back at some of the most striking and distinctive pages the artist produced in his career. These pages barely scratch the surface of what the prolific artist accomplished in his career, but all serve as a perfect showcase of what made Dillon such a unique and talented artist.
Warning: some of these pages contain adult language!
As seen in: PunisherMAX #8 (2010)
With PunisherMAX, Dillon and writer Jason Aron introduced a very different take on Bullseye, one whose tenuous grip on sanity became even more fragile as he attempted to understand the mind of a man like Frank Castle. To truly put himself in his opponent's shoes, Bullseye held an innocent family hostage and role-played the act of a loving husband and father. And in this two-age sequence (yes, we're cheating here), Dillon heightened the fear and absurdity of the situation by transitioning from Bullseye's ordinary morning routine to a shot of a mother and her children in terror for their lives.
As seen in: Preacher #26 (1997)
Preacher is essentially a love letter to America from two creators who were born in the UK and found a new home across the Atlantic. This scene perfectly encapsulates that, as Jesse and Cassidy look out across the gorgeous Manhattan skyline and relish the thrill of standing atop one of the most iconic buildings in the world.
As seen in: The Punisher #4 (2000)
When Dillon and writer Garth Ennis relaunched the Punisher franchise under the Marvel Knights banner, they simultaneously grounded the character and made his world more absurd than ever. Dillon draws goofy Punisher stories better than anyone, as evidenced by this hilarious page where an unarmed Frank attacks a polar bear and lures it into attacking his mafia pursuers.
As seen in: Preacher #28 (1997)
Herr Starr was arguably the main villain of Preacher, but he also frequently served as the butt of many of Ennis and Dillon's jokes. Here, Starr is forced to deal with recent injuries that give his scarred, bald head a decidedly phallic appearance. Dillon's use of repetitive panels really made the most out of this recurring gag.
As seen in: Wolverine Origins #10 (2007)
Punisher isn't the only Marvel character Dillon had a profound impact on. He and writer Daniel Way shook up Wolverine's mythology in a major way by introducing Daken, the son Logan didn't know he had. Daken made his debut in this chilling scene, as Wolverine suffered a rare emotional breakdown and Daken left his father to wallow in his own misery. Not before disembowling him, though.
As seen in: PunisherMAX #13 (2011)
PunisherMAX was hardly Dillon's first stint on a Punisher comic, but what set this series apart is the fact that it featured an older Frank Castle, one whose decades-long war on crime had begun to take a severe physical toll. No page served as a more effective reminder of that fact, as an incarcerated Frank lost his footing in front of dozens of inmates. Suddenly, there was blood in the water and the sharks began to circle.
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