Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Visionaries of Tomorrow Newsarama: Bob Haney has died

Newsarama is reporting that Bob Haney has died:

It has been learned that comics legend Bob Haney died on Thanksgiving Day, November 25th. He was 78 years old.

Haney died at a nursing/hospice facility in El Cajon, CA where he was hospitalized following a stroke that had robbed him of his ability to speak or recognize people. Complications from the stroke were the cause of his death.

Haney was one of the great Silver Age comics writers, landing at DC in the mid-50s, where he soon came to write virtually every comic DC published at one time or another. Haney was the co-creator of the original Teen Titans, Metamorpho, Eclipso, Doom Patrol, and an array of other characters, including Sgt. Rock. Together with other writers of the era, Haney tried unsuccessfully to unionize talent at DC in the late '60s.

www.newsarama.com

I started collecting during the early 1980s, long after Bob left his mark on comics.

But I enjoy many of the characters he created. Without him and Nick Cardy to bring Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad together in the first place, there might not have been a Wolfman-Perez Titans.

And funny, I read that original Titans story a few days ago. It's in my Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told hardcover.

To echo comments on the Newsarama boards: I hope DC publishes that Titans Elseworlds story.

You're missed, Bob.

- Mike

*sigh*

I didn't realize he'd suffered a stroke recently. I guess his passing was a blessing with the condition he was in. Very sad news.

It's sad that another great comic book creator has passed away. RIP, Bob

Take a look at some of his co-creation:s Eclipso, Metamorpho, the Doom Patrol...talk about one hell of an imagination! Definately a uniquely creative portion of DC history!

Not to take away from any of Bob's accomplishments, but it always kind of bothers me that he gets credit as a co-creator of the Doom Patrol when the only member that he co-created was Negative Man, and that was basically him kibitzing with his good friend Arnold Drake when the latter decided to bounce some ideas off of him.

Haney will always be the grooviest Titans writer to me!

I'd already posted this on another thread, but in case anyone missed it, here we go again. (I knew none of this until Arnold told me.)


"Dreadful news. Bob was a very talented and decent man. We were extremely close for several years. Spent the summer of '65 (I think it was) working on a thriller-satire called "THE ASSASSINATOR". (The word didn't really exist. But we were turned on by its freshness.)

In the Spring of '62, I think it was, Murray Boltinoff asked me to come up with a new superhero to try and save My Greatest Adventure. Overnight I had most of The Doom Patrol
shaped up: a scientific genius in a wheelchair leads a pair of superheroes who don't like being 'freaks'. He cajoles/ taunts them into shaking off their self-pity and using their fantastic qualities to build a better world. When I brought the concept to Murray, Elastigirl and Robotman were well developed. Murray flipped over it and said, "Write it!". But I was convinced I needed one more character. And I had only a weekend in which to find the character and write a 16 page origin story.

Coming out of Murray's office I met Bob in the hall and told him a bit about the DP. He also loved the concept. He had no weekend assignment so he asked if he could help find the third superhero. He was always a pleasure to work with and time was breathing down my neck. I said, "Okay!"

So we sat down and began the search that eventually produced Negative Man. He was, I think, the most unique of the trio. And when I later developed that ghastly glowing figure under the banadages, he really became something else. But Bob was there when we midwifed Neg Man into being,

We wrote a storyline, "tore" it in half and went to our respective homes to write the script. I did the first half and he the second. Back in the city (he lived in Woodstock) we performed minor suregery to make the pieces fit neatly together. I wrote every story on my own after that. But Bob was there on day one and I've spoken of that countless times.

He is a great loss. There was no one I was closer to in the field. Though we saw each other only once ( '99 San Diego ComCon) after he moved to Mexico, I am going to miss him.

This has been a bitch of a year for me. And it doesn't help much to say, "It comes with the territory!"



To repeat, Haney was a dear friend for a lot of years and I'll miss him... May you pass the story on? Certainly. I've told it many times, so I feel as if every comics fan knows it well. But Mark Evanier once advised me. "Keep on telling those stories. There are always people who never heard them. And even those who have appreciate hearing it again from someone who was part of the scene.!"

Called Infantino to give him the bad news and then he gave me another bit: Irwin Donenfeld died about two weeks ago. He'd been very sick for many years. Had his colon removed about 20 years ago. Currently he was under dialysis. So his quality of life was miserable-- despite all his money. Some will say the guy was better off dead. I would say, "That's up to the guy to decide, not us".

Love&knishes"

Wow, I didn't know that Haney co-wrote the first Doom Patrol story. I did know that he and Arnold Drake were tight, though, so it's good to hear Arnold's response to the news.

The fanboy in me can't help but wonder if his comment, "This has been a bitch of a year for me," has anything at all to do with the Doom Patrol reboot this year, on top of all of the other bad news.

Well, a songwiter friend on mine once said, "If I write 90 percent of a song, but it doesn't work, I'm more than happy to give full co-credit to the guy who gives me the 10 percent that makes to work."