This week we learned about the sudden passing of comic book artist Joshua Cassara. Posting to his Instagram account, Martha Cassara, Joshua’s wife, wrote:
“I’m saddened to share the impossible news that Josh died on September 22nd of heart complications. You might know him for his celebrated work in comics, but he was also a good man, a wonderful father and husband, my best friend, and the love of my life. I’ll share more in the future, but for now that’s about all I can manage. If you knew Josh, you know that he approached the world with humor, sweetness, and kindness. He would not have wanted your condolences. He would have wanted your laughter and toasts. I would love it if you shared something below. Not your sadness, please, but any sort of happiness he brought you through his art, his friendship, or even a brief encounter. May he feel all the love he gave us all. He was one of a kind ❤️”
Cassara was the immensely talented artist behind some of the Krakoan era’s most beloved imagery. From his collaborations on X-Force with Benjamin Percy to a run on Gerry Duggan’s X-Men, Cassara was responsible for visually defining corners of the captivating island, including the iconic Green Lagoon, a setting that would be returned to repeatedly over the course of five years. Cassara was honored by Marvel Comics in 2020, when he was named one of their annual up-and-coming artists dubbed “Stormbreakers.”
Cassara’s most consistent collaborator, X-Force writer Percy, remembered his colleague on his Instagram, posting in part:
“He was a really, really good dude. Kind. Joyful. Sweet with family, friends, and strangers. This is a counterpoint to his art, which is bloody, brutal, packed with mayhem. His drawings hang framed above my desk, so even though we lived a thousand miles apart, it felt like we were always working together… It’s impossible for me to process Josh being gone, so I can only imagine him now at one of our creations — the Green Lagoon, shaking up drinks behind the bar, serving Wolverine and Storm and any friend or mutant in need of a cold one and good company. Here’s to you, pal. I love you like a brother.”
Cassara’s artwork was meticulously detailed, filled with the vines and shrubbery that surrounded the characters on Krakoa, but also provided the natural material ripe for body horror and the gore and guts that came along with the elements combining with the human form. Nowhere was this more evident than in his depiction of Black Tom, whose corporeal form was intrinsically linked with the landscape in fascinating ways.
Cassara regularly invited his fans to watch him draw on Instagram livestreams, crowdsourcing suggestions for whom to draw and chatting with those tuning in via his wife. His commission work was prolific, with a large swath of it drawn on brown craft paper, providing a base to make his linework, inks and colored pencils pop off the page. Not content with leaving his work to be solely finished by collaborating colorists, he often used inkwashes to add tone and shading to his inked linework.
Appearing on the Battle of the Atom podcast in 2023, Cassara talked about attending his first New York Comic Con and transitioning from being a bartender to a full-time comics artist,
“I went from the most sociable job to the least sociable job … but I love this. I get to create more. I get to tell stories, and these are the stories that I loved as a kid. … I found what I really love to do creatively.”
Cassara was by many accounts gracious with his time and advice for others in the field. Phillip Sevy recalled on Bluesky that “From the moment I met Josh, he always treated me like a peer and a friend (even though he was 10 years of success ahead of me). Always willing to give me feedback, advice, and guidance. He was always friendly and funny to chat with. Was just talking with him at SDCC. One of the nicest people.”
Cassara’s last sequential work was the Percy-penned Deadpool/Wolverine. It is unclear what his final unprinted work will be at the moment, but the last completed artwork posted to his social media was a variant cover for Steve Skroce and Ian Herring’s Tales of Wonder #3, an image featuring the artist’s own hand coloring his own comics page. A fitting depiction of his many incredible talents.
Per Martha Cassara’s request for “laughter and toasts,” it seems the best way to honor Cassara’s passing is to continue sharing and celebrating the many positive interactions so many have had with him. It also seems appropriate to acknowledge the loss of a true great. Joshua Cassara, you will be missed.
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom. Follow him @adamreck.bsky.social.
