According to an official obituary, comic book and storyboard artist Mark D. Bright passed away on Wednesday, March 27. Bright, commonly credited as M.D. or “Doc” Bright, was best known for drawing the Iron Man story ‘Armor Wars,’ creating the Valiant superheroes Quantum and Woody with Christopher Priest, and Milestone Media’s Icon and Rocket with Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan.
Bright was born the fifth of seven children on December 27, 1955, and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Pratt Insitute in New York in 1978, but (as he put it) “bummed around” for four years, doing teaching consulting work, building a painting portfolio, and submitting work to DC and Marvel. His first monthly work came with 1983’s “Thor” #333-335, and the first solo “Falcon” miniseries, which also marked his first collaboration with Priest (then known as Jim Owsley).
He and Priest soon reteamed on the final ten issues of “Power Man and Iron Fist.” Afterwards, Bright became a regular penciler on “Iron Man,” beginning with the landmark 200th issue that concluded the Iron Monger arc, and “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero”; he also drew a “Captain America” back-up arc starring US Agent in 1989. He crossed over to DC by 1988, penciling “Batman,” “Action Comics Weekly,” and more, including “Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn,” the two miniseries that reimagined Hal Jordan’s origin for the post-“Crisis on Infinite Earths” era, a gig that led him to pencil the main “Lantern” comic.
Bright debuted “Icon” with McDuffie at Milestone in 1993, and penciled the series until its conclusion in 1997. He and Priest reunited to introduce “Quantum and Woody” at Valiant/Acclaim Comics that year. Bright was initially reluctant to take on the series, until Priest agreed to his suggestion to make the duo’s white foster sibling (Woody) the pair’s comic relief. It ran until 2000, except for one major interruption during Acclaim’s reorganization. The pair also reunited at Marvel for a few issues of Priest’s “Black Panther” run in 1999, and on the 2014 miniseries “Q2: The Return of Quantum and Woody.”
Other comics he worked on included “Wonder Woman,” the 1986 one-shot “Spider-Man vs. Wolverine,” Dark Horse’s “Predator 2” adaptation, Bill Jemas’s infamous satire “Marville,” the Christian webcomic “Level Path,” and 2006’s “Transformers Spotlight: Nightbeat.” Incidentally, Bright was best known in Transformers fan circles for one of his earliest works, the cover for Marvel’s “The Transformers” #5 (February 1985), which featured Shockwave proclaiming ‘The Transformers Are All Dead.’ His storyboarding work included various commercials, and the late 2000s films Step Up, 27 Dresses, Ghost Town, and The Last Airbender.
Bright also worked as a sexton and music player at his church, and performed bass in a band called The K-Otics with “G.I. Joe” writer (and lead vocalist) Larry Hama. He is survived by three siblings, seven nieces and nephews, and nine grandnieces and grandnephews. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, April 7. Priest shared a tribute at Bleeding Cool, noting their work often marked the first appearances of characters like Superman and Spider-Man to be written and drawn by African Americans.
He said Bright may’ve been the inspiration for both Quantum and Woody, as he was a “perpetual seesaw between stoicism and sarcasm. Doc may be the funniest guy I know, well educated, well-informed, and well deserving of his own late-night talk show. He can and often does mock virtually everything, has an opinion about literally everything, and has amazing creative skill in a number of disciplines.” He concludes saying, “Doc left us on the 27th of March, 2024, but his wonderful art and incessant complaining live on in our hearts (and ringing in our ears).”
