10 Comic Book Creators Who Died In 2019

Batton Lash passed away in mid-January at the age of 65 after a long fight with brain cancer. Lash was a critically-acclaimed illustrator who is best known for his work on Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre (otherwise known as Supernatural Law), and many more titles, including Archie Meets the Punisher.

Lash studied cartooning and graphic art at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts before he began his professional career writing and drawing Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre, which was a weekly comic strip found in The Brooklyn Paper. He continued this work well into the 1990s.

In 1980, he was a courtroom sketch artist in the trial of John Gotti, the infamous mobster, but his real work was in creating comics. He and his wife, Jackie Estrada, founded Exhibit A Press, where they rebranded his strip to become Supernatural Law. He continued through the 1990s writing and drawing all sorts of comics, including many for Bongo Comics, Marvel Comics, and others.

Lash won numerous awards throughout his career, including two Don Thompson Awards for Best Achievement by a Cartoonist, Writer, & Artist. He also received the coveted Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication for 2002's Radioactive Man.