Artist Marie Severin died today at the age of 89. Within the comics world, she loomed large, though she was never a household name in the way that contemporaries like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were. Severin recently suffered a stroke and one of her close friends confirmed her death today. Born in New York, she got her start in the industry when her older brother, John, needed a colorist for a 1949 issue of EC Comics’ evocatively titled A Moon, a Girl … Romance. She went on to become an EC staple, doing colors and touch-up art, but her greatest fame arrived after she went to work for Timely, the publisher that soon became Marvel Comics. There, she became a rare all-purpose artist, doing pencils, inks, colors, and production for a wide range of titles, from Iron Man to The Incredible Hulk and, perhaps most delightfully, the parody series Not Brand Echh. Her presence and success were all the more amazing given that she was a woman in an overwhelmingly male-dominated — and often actively misogynist — industry. She was also an innovator, co-creating characters such as Spider-Woman, the Living Tribunal, and Doctor Bong. Her work brought her an array of awards, including a coveted spot in the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2001. Since her death was made public, tributes from comics pros have been pouring in:
