John Cassaday

Johnny Mac Cassaday (/ˈkæsədeɪ/; December 14, 1971 – September 9, 2024) was an American comic book artist, writer, and television director. He was best known for his work on the critically acclaimed Planetary with writer Warren Ellis, where his art style conveyed a sense of realism despite that book's fantastical settings. His later works included Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon, Captain America with John Ney Rieber, and Star Wars with Jason Aaron.

Both Marvel Comics and DC Comics include many of Cassaday's iconic images in their marketing, and in their art and poster book collections. Marvel Comics-based animated films have made extensive use of his art. He received multiple Eagle and Eisner Awards and nominations for his work.

Johnny Mac Cassaday was born on December 14, 1971, in Fort Worth, Texas. A self-taught illustrator, Cassaday listed his influences as, among others, NC Wyeth, classic pulp magazine-culture iconography, and popular music. Cassaday studied film in school, calling it "an equal passion to comics."

Cassaday directed television news in Texas for five years before moving to New York. He spent one summer working a construction job while working on his portfolio in preparation for San Diego Comic-Con.

In 1994 Cassaday broke into the comic book industry with a one-page illustration and a short story for Boneyard Press.

In 1996, at San Diego Comic-Con, Cassaday showed his portfolio to popular comic book writer and editor Mark Waid, who recommended him to writer Jeff Mariotte, with whom Cassaday would create the series Desperadoes, a Weird West series that was published from 1997 - 2002. Waid recalled, "I refuse to take any real credit for 'discovering' John Cassaday. I can't take credit for having functioning eyeballs." Soon after, Cassaday began receiving job offers from bigger publishers. He quit his construction job and left Texas for New York.

In December 1996 he produced art for Dark Horse Comics' Ghost. Within a year, he was hired to be the regular artist on Homage Comics' Desperadoes.

In late 1997 Cassaday was hired by DC and Marvel as artist on the Teen Titans and Flash annuals, X-Men/Alpha Flight, and Union Jack. His work on X-Men made him one of the title's most popular artists.