I’m Just In Australia
And I just found out Dwayne McDuffie died.
People who have followed my message board know how I feel about Dwayne. I think he was the most consistently under-rated writer in the business. He was also kind, whip-smart, tall, handsome, fun to talk to, generous, and honest to a fault.
I don’t think comics always treated him well. He always wrote wonderful, human stories with excellent plots. I frankly adored his writing…I said it a million times, “Why aren’t people talking about THIS guy?”
He had to go to animation to get the respect and assignments he deserved. They seemed to know what kind of asset he was, I think. He was a major reason I got the Justice League Unlimited assignment.
And then I got to actually be his friend, at least by mail and the occasional meeting at conventions. We talked a lot about how being female and being black in the industry had similar weirdnesses about it, nothing fatal, just a slight feeling of being askew and askance. He was my friend, but before all that, he was just this writer who I was crazy about because he wrote stories that moved me, about people I could actually care about.
I thought and will always think that Dwayne could outwrite the pants off of 99.9% of the comics writers out there. When he wrote funny, I laughed, when he wrote action, I gasped, and when he wrote humanity, he was just the goddamned best.
I can’t put my thoughts together yet…I just found this out a few minutes ago. It’s terrible, terrible news.
Love you, Dwayne. You are not replaceable.
