Per a notice on Dignity Memorial, comic book artist Ryan Bodenheim passed away on December 20, 2021, aged only 44. The cause of death was not given. Bodenheim, whose work included titles for Marvel and Valiant Comics, was the co-creator of the Jonathan Hickman series “A Red Mass for Mars,” “The Dying and the Dead,” and “Secret,” as well as Tara Butters and Marc Guggenheim’s comic “Halcyon.”
Ryan Matthew “Bode” Bodenheim was born in Oklahoma on March 9, 1977, and grew up in Ohio. His earliest known comics work was “Black Panther” #57-58, a two-part arc with writer J. Torres, published in 2003. He rose to prominence with “A Red Mass for Mars” in 2008, and collaborated with Hickman again on “Secret” from 2012 to 2014, and on “The Dying and the Dead” from 2015 to 2017.
He contributed to Marvel’s 2011 miniseries “Fear Itself: Fearsome Four,” and penciled issues of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Black Panther” run from 2019 to 2021; his other work for the company included 2019’s “Immortal Hulk” #21, 2021’s “Death Of Doctor Strange: Avengers,” and the upcoming tie-in one-shot “Eternals: The Undying.” He regularly contributed covers to Valiant in the late 2010s, and worked as an interior artist on 2018’s “X-O Manowar” #11-13.
Many of Bodenheim’s colleagues expressed shock at his unexpected passing, including Kieron Gillen, Ray-Anthony Height, Al Ewing, Hunter Gorinson, Alex Paknadel, Dinesh Shamdasani, and Warren Simons. Hickman wrote, “I loved working with him. I think that’s the highest compliment you can pay a creative partner, and over the past decade it was such a joy to watch him also grow as an artist. He got so good. And now it’s just devastating that he’s gone.”
Bodenheim is survived by his mother, his two brothers, and a son and daughter. In lieu of flowers, they have asked fans to donate to the Hero Initiative, or to a charity of their choosing; you can also send your condolences to his Dignity Memorial page.
