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Carlos Pacheco, Artist and Writer, Dead at 60

By | November 10th, 2022
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Carlos Pacheco in 2009

Various sources, including Marvel and DC Comics, have confirmed that Spanish comic book artist and writer Carlos Pacheco died yesterday, November 9, a few days before what would’ve been his 61st birthday. The news comes two months after Pacheco announced he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and that he was retiring from comics. Various outlets had prematurely announced Pacheco’s death, while he had remained sedated at a hospital in La Línea de la Concepción, Andalusia.

Carlos Pacheco Perujo was born in San Roque, Andalusia, on November 14, 1961. According to Tom Brevoort, he grew up reading Marvel comics, and had “an enthusiasm to his work that went beyond the drive of the professional — he was truly invested in the characters and their fictitious lives.” He was studying biology at Seville when he broke into comics, drawing covers, posters and pin-ups for Spanish editions of Marvel titles by publisher Planeta DeAgostini.

His first published superhero comic was an eight-page back-up story called ‘American Soldier,’ which was published as a back-up in 1991’s “Marvel Héroes” #41. Two years later, he and writer Dan Abnett created the four-part Marvel UK series “Dark Guard,” starring various British heroes like Death’s Head II, which led to him landing gigs for Marvel US and DC, for whom he respectively penciled “Bishop” and “The Flash.” Pacheco subsequently contributed to Marvel’s 1995 crossover ‘Age of Apocalypse,’ “Starjammers,” “Excalibur,” “Fantastic Four,” and the adjectiveless “X-Men” series, penciling the ‘Operation: Zero Tolerance’ story in 1997.

He then worked with writers Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern to create the 1998-99 maxiseries “Avengers Forever,” an epic story revolving around Rick Jones and Kang the Conqueror. Busiek stated the series came about because Pacheco “was up for a contract renewal, and he told [then editor-in-chief] Bob Harras that he wanted two things: He wanted to do an Avengers project and he wanted me to write it. At this point, we’d never worked together, and had barely met.”

Artwork from 'Avengers Forever'

Pacheco came up with much of the book’s time-displaced cast, and he and Busiek would subsequently reteam on the creator-owned fantasy history series “Arrowsmith,” and “Superman” from 2006 to 2008. The project also marked the first time Pacheco worked with Jesus Merino, who would become his regular inker.

Pacheco then co-wrote “Fantastic Four” with Rafael Marín and Jeph Loeb, on top of drawing the title, until 2002, before concentrating on “Arrowsmith,” and DC projects like “JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice,” Loeb’s “Superman/Batman,” Geoff Johns’s “Green Lantern,” and Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones’s “Final Crisis.” In 2009, he signed a new, exclusive contract with Marvel, going on to pencil books like “Ultimate Comics: Avengers,” “Age of Ultron,” Rick Remender’s “Captain America” run, “Occupy Avengers,” James Robinson’s “Cable,” “The Life of Captain Marvel,” and “Fantastic Four: Reckoning War.” His final work also included this year’s “Arrowsmith: Behind Enemy Lines.”

During his life, Pacheco was honored with various awards in his native Spain, including the 2001 award for Best Spanish Cartoonist from the Granada Comic Fair, the 2010 Andalucía del Cómic Award, the 2011 Medal of the Campo de Gibraltar, and the 2016 Medal of the Province of Cádiz. He was named a Favorite Son of San Roque in 2001, and also had a street named after him.

He was ranked as one of Wizard magazine’s Top Ten Artists from 1997 to 2001, and was nominated for an Eisner for “Arrowsmith” in 2004. Juan Carlos Ruiz Boi, the mayor of San Roque, has declared two days of mourning, and had the town’s flags lowered to half-mast. Busiek commented, “It was always a great time working with Carlos. I’m so very sorry we won’t be doing more, but I’ll always have those years, those conversations, that energy.”


//TAGS | obit

Christopher Chiu-Tabet

Chris is the news manager of Multiversity Comics. A writer from London on the autistic spectrum, he enjoys tweeting and blogging on Medium about his favourite films, TV shows, books, music, and games, plus history and religion. He is Lebanese/Chinese, although he can't speak Cantonese or Arabic.

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