Prominent comic-book artist and Wolverine co-creator Herb Trimpe died at his home in upstate Hurley, N.Y., on Monday. He was 75.
Trimpe is credited as being the first comic-book artist to sketch the Wolverine character for publication back in 1974, when the clawed crusader made his debut in an issue of The Incredible Hulk.
During his time as an artist for Marvel Comics, Trimpe drew for other titles like Spider-Man, G.I. Joe, Godzilla, Captain America and Iron Man.
“To me, no artist is as synonymous with the Incredible Hulk as Herb Trimpe, who gave the Jade Giant a sense of pathos and scale that set the bar for every artist that followed him,” Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.
“Like a Hulk-punch, Trimpe’s art truly exploded off the page,” he said. “Comics lost a giant.”
Before he started earning a living at his trade, Trimpe served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He enrolled at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts upon returning home.
“He loved drawing but his real passion was airplanes,” said his wife of seven years, Patricia Velasquez-Trimpe. “He loved writing fiction, and had actually been writing just before he died.”
In the weeks and months after the 9/11 terror attacks, Trimpe, an Episcopalian deacon, worked at the World Trade Center site, serving as a chaplain. He also worked to clear away rubble.
“That was just his nature,” said Trimpe’s step-daughter, Natalia, 25. “He just wanted to help out, so when 9/11 happened, he just felt like he had to do whatever he could.”
His work after 9/11 earned him the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, an award given to artists in comics and animators who work tirelessly in their private lives to serve society.
After leaving monthly comics, Trimpe continued producing art and making public appearances at comic book conventions around the world.
He had just been meeting and greeting fans in New Jersey over the weekend at the East Coast Comicon at the Meadowlands Expo Center.
“He was a delightful man; one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met,” said Cliff Galbraith, the show’s promoter, adding that Trimpe’s influence on the comic world was substantial. “There are generations of comic book fans who grew up looking at his work and trying to emulate him. He made the Hulk his own.”
Trimpe’s fellow artists and friends called his death a loss for the industry.
“I can honestly say that his recent work is some of the best work he’s ever done,” said Guy Dorian, a Trimpe collaborator.
“Its a sad day,” added animator Bob Camp, who co-created “Ren and Stimpy” and was a friend of Trimpe’s.
“His work is just iconic Marvel,” he said. “There are only a few people who set the tone and style for a comic, and Trimpe was that guy.”