Marie Severin, versatile Marvel comic book artist, dies at 89

Marie Severin, a multifaceted comic book artist whose confident hand drew most of the greatest heroes in the Marvel Comics pantheon at a time when women were rare in that field, died on Wednesday at a care facility in Amityville, New York. She was 89.

She had a stroke, said Scott Edelman, a friend and former Marvel colleague who confirmed the death.

Severin was a consummate comic book artist, engaged in most parts of illustrating a comic book, which involves penciling outlines of the characters and scenes, finalizing the images in ink and then coloring them in.

She started in the industry in 1949 as a colorist for EC Comics, working with her brother, John Severin, an artist known for his realistic war and Western comics. She was one of a handful of female artists who gained prominence during comics’ Silver Age, from the mid1950s until the early ’70s.

In an interview for the book “Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics” (2012), by Dewey Cassell and Aaron Sultan, Severin said that even though she had felt welcome at Marvel, “you had a separation.”

“I just didn’t feel like one of the guys, and I didn’t want to,” she said.

Among Severin’s most notable superhero work were runs of Doctor Strange, The Incredible Hulk and The Sub-Mariner. She also worked with her brother on Kull the Conqueror.

Marie Anita Severin was born on Aug. 21, 1929, in East Rockaway, New York. Her father, John, who had immigrated from Norway, was an artist who studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.