Obituary: Dave Cockrum

Dave Cockrum, comic book illustrator. Died aged 63.

Comic book illustrator Dave Cockrum, who in the 1970s overhauled the X-Men and helped popularise the Marvel Comics title into a publishing sensation and eventually a major film franchise, has died. He was 63. At Marvel Comics, Cockrum and writer Len Wein were handed the X-Men, a 1963 creation. They published Giant-Size X-Men No.1 in 1975. Many signature characters Cockrum designed and co-created were part of the X-Men films starring Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry.