Versatile artist for Marvel dies

Illustrator co-created Spider-Woman

Marie Severin, one of the first women to become a major comicbook illustrator and who helped produce “Dr. Strange,” “The Incredible Hulk” and other classic works for Marvel Comics, died Aug. 29 at a hospice facility in Massapequa, N.Y. She was 89.

The cause was a hemorrhagic stroke, said a friend, Daniel Friedman.

Severin spent more than 50 years as an illustrator, handling all three of the major visual tasks in comicbook production: penciling, inking and coloring. She worked closely with Marvel’s editor in chief Stan Lee for decades and in 2001 was named to the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame.

In the 1970s, Severin was a co-creator of Jessica Drew, better known as the superhero Spider-Woman, and designed the character’s skintight red and yellow costume.

“Marie Severin did it all — penciler, inker, colorist, character creator,” historian and publisher Craig Yoe, the former creative director of Jim Henson’s Muppets, wrote in an email. He called her “one of the last of comics’ greatest generation.”

Severin began her career in 1949, when her brother, John Severin, asked her to help with comic books he was illustrating for EC Comics. She was often relegated to what was seen as the secondary role of colorist.

Severin worked on “Dr. Strange” after its creator, Steve Ditko, left Marvel, then was instrumental in reviving the “Incredible Hulk” series in the mid-1960s. Her illustrations, and not just her colors, came to be featured on the covers of many Marvel comic books.

“She basically worked on every character Marvel had,” Friedman, a physician, musician and author who has written about Severin, said in an interview.

In addition to her work on comic books, Severin worked on special projects for Marvel and also helped illustrated Muppet Babies and Alf comic books, as well as tie-in publications for the Star Wars film franchise.

She lived for decades on Long Island and retired in her mid-70s. She had no immediate survivors.

In 2001, she was named to the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, considered one of the highest honors for comic illustrators, and won the Icon Award at the 2017 Comic-Con gathering in San Diego.