Celebrating the Life and Work of Dwayne McDuffie

McDuffie at the Milestone launch

   Today was a sad day for comics and cartoons.  Pioneering creator Dwayne McDuffie has died of complications from a surgery performed on Monday today and is survived by his wife.  Here at Crakkajamma, we send out our deepest sympathies to his family and friends as the absolute suddenness of his death has most assuredly caught everyone unawares.

   However, I was raised that while still a sad event, memorials should be a happy time.  A time of celebration of the dearly departed's life and accomplishments.  So that's what we're going to do here today.  We're going to celebrate the life of a brilliant man who could make us laugh, make us think, and make quality entertainment while doing so.

   Few people outside of his dedicated fanbase know that McDuffie was a brilliant, highly educated, multi-discipline graduate student.  Graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in English, McDuffie went on to do graduate work in Physics and finally ended up attending NYU's film school.  It was there that he developed his trademark wit and humor, working under a pseudonym as a writer for various stand-up comedians and late-night tv comedies.  Moving on from those gigs, McDuffie found himself attempting a few more serious-minded jobs, eventually ending up as a copy editor for a financial magazine, before finally landing his first comics position at Marvel Comics.