Rest in Peace Dwayne and Nick
Posted By Kathleen David on February 23, 2011
It is hard enough to write one of these but today I have to write two for two gentlemen who I really liked and respected. One was someone I called friend and the other a nodding acquaintance but we did take time out of our convention to catch up on our lives.
First the friend.
Dwayne McDuffie first came across my radar when I was up at Yale. I was working under the table at Whirligig Comics since we were not allowed to have jobs outside the school. The school knew about it but it was also known that this was my outlet for all the pressure that Yale could be so they let it go. There was this comic called “Damage Control” about what happens after the superheroes ran rough shod over a city. I found it very funny and it was my pick for the week each time it came out. He was the writer for the series.
A number of years later I was working at Oxford comics when I read in previews about a new line for DC called the Milestone, which featured African-American writers and artists and minority heroes for the most part. We worked through the numbers and considered our cliental at the time and ordered pretty heavy on it. And when through those and any re-orders we could get. Favorites were Hardware and Static Shock both written by Dwayne. The series did well for us overall. The animated series renewed interest in the comics so we sold through what we had left in the back issues.
Fast-forward to the New York Comic Con a couple of years ago. It was the same one that we had the Passover Seder with Paul Cornell and his lovely wife Caroline. Dwayne came over to the table to talk to Peter who was signing. My first impression was that he was very tall and had a lovely voice. Peter introduced us and while he dealt with something. We talked about Damage Control and Milestone and Static Shock and other things. It was a nice conversation. After Peter started writing for Ben 10, Dwayne and I would catch up over the phone when Peter wasn’t available or not answering his cell. Always a gentleman and really great with fans.
Nicholas Courtney was best known as the Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart on “Dr. Who”. He was also known as a great guest to have at a convention. He would talk to the fans and was very much a gentleman. He really like talking to children who watched the show and seemed a little confused why grown-ups would love a children’s show but what the heck and went with it.
I honestly can’t remember which convention it was that we were introduced to each other. After a while things can become a blur. I do remember that a mutual friend introduced us and as I knew him as the Brigadier, he knew me at that Puppeteer. Over the years we would run into each other at this or that convention and catch up on news. He was always interested in what I was doing with the puppets and in the theater. He admonished me once for not doing anything with puppets because he said he could tell it was important to me because my face lit up when I talked about it. I promised to do better.
My one regret was that he never met Caroline. He knew she existed because I know a friend showed him a picture of her. But our paths never really crossed after I had her.
Yesterday I got an e-mail from a friend who asked me if I had heard that Dwayne had passed away and if it was true. I did some poking around on the Internet and it was true. I was devastated. Peter was off at the gym and I had to tell him when he got home. Caroline was very sad at the news and felt sorry for his family. She sat in my lap and cried and wished that Dwayne would come back. We watched an episode of Ben 10 that he wrote and later that evening watch All-Star Superman which had just come out today. Dwayne had written on his face book that he was going to be at Golden Apple this evening for a signing for the release of the DVD. Guess he’ll be there in spirit at least.
Later Peter got an e-mail about Nicholas Courtney from Rich Johnston, which just added to the suck of yesterday. I swear we held our breath for the rest of the evening hoping not to get another e-mail about someone else we knew.
Both will be missed. Both were really great guys and true gentleman. The world is a little sadder at their passing.
I am grateful that I did know both Dwayne and Nick.
