Dick Rockwell, R.I.P.

Comic book/strip artist Richard Waring Rockwell passed away last Tuesday at the age of 85. Dick was a charming gentleman who lived too much of his life in the shadows of others. His name was rarely mentioned without noting that he was (a) the nephew of the great illustrator, Norman Rockwell, and (b) Milton Caniff's uncredited ghost artist on the Steve Canyon newspaper strip for some 35 years.

Dick began his comic book career in 1948 working for Stan Lee at what was then called Timely Comics. He also worked for Lev Gleason, Dell and several other publishers before (and occasionally, after) connecting in 1952 with Caniff. The way the story is told, Rockwell applied for membership in the National Cartoonists Society, which involved submitting a sample of his work. Caniff, who was then in charge of looking over applications, saw Rockwell's and immediately called him to say he qualified for membership and to ask if he was available for work. Rockwell was…and he was soon drawing a lot more of Caniff's strip than Caniff was. For much of the next 3.5 decades, Milton would write the strip, Rockwell would pencil it and ink in everything but the main characters, and then the art would go to Caniff who would finish things off and retouch wherever he deemed necessary.

After Caniff passed away in 1988, Rockwell brought the strip to a proper close and then turned his attention to his other projects. All the time he'd been working on Steve Canyon, he'd also been drawing editorial cartoons, illustrating books and working intermittently as a courtroom sketch artist. This article from 2003 discusses his work in this field. Dick also taught art for over thirty years at New York University and the Parsons School of Design, and had recently been teaching at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

I was privileged to work with Dick on a few projects, including a Blackhawk story of mine that he illustrated. He was a dedicated professional who deserved more time in the spotlight than he received.