Tim Sale Dies: Legendary Batman Comic Book Artist Was 66

Tom Tapp
·3 min read
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Legendary Eisner Award-winning comic book artist Tim Sale, who influenced generations of creatives in that medium as well as many in film and television, died Thursday according to his official Twitter account. He was 66.

The post on Sale’s account — which has changed its name to “Remembering Tim Sale” — indicated he “passed with the love of his life beside him, and loves all of you very much.”

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Last week, DC Chief Creative Officer and Publisher Jim Lee announced that Sale was not well, writing on Twitter, “I regret to share the very sad news that the legendary artist Tim Sale has been admitted to the hospital with severe health issues.”

Lee’s message was retweeted by Sale’s partner Susan Bailey last week who said she’d be “reading your replies to him to brighten his day. He’s in good spirits, despite everything.”

Much of Sale’s work was in partnership with writer Jeph Loeb, who was also a producer-writer on Smallville, Lost, Commando and Teen Wolf, a writer and co-executive producer on Heroes and later EVP of Marvel Television.

The duo created Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials, Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory which documented Batman’s early years, as well as Superman for All Seasons and Catwoman: When in Rome.

The Long Halloween has been mentioned as an influence on Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, and certainly seems to be part of the DNA of Matt Reeves’ more recent The Batman.

At Marvel, Sale and Loeb produced the so-called “Color” comic books which included Daredevil: Yellow, Spider-Man: Blue, Hulk: Gray and Captain America: White.

Marvel Entertainment mentioned the Color books in its tribute to Sale today: “Tim Sale was a legendary artist who created comic book masterpieces across and beyond the industry. At Marvel, his Color series became stunning classics and remain just a glimpse at his acclaimed legacy.”

According to the official DC account, “Tim Sale was an incredible artist, whose take on iconic characters had real human depth, and his groundbreaking page designs changed the way an entire generation thinks about comic book storytelling.”

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