Steve Lightle...
I'm extremely saddened to learn that Steve Lightle passed away today due to Covid complications. I never met Steve outside many pleasant facebook conversations and a handful of private messages, but in truth, I might never have become a comic book writer without him. Early on in his career, Steve drew Batman and the Outsiders #10, a fill-in issue that didn't much reflect the distinct style that he would go on to develop later in his momentous work on Legion of Super-Heroes, Flash, Classic X-Men, and too many other comics to list. This particular issue of Batman and the Outsiders was a pretty standard tale, advanced by good storytelling and particularly dramatic character work. But for six or seven-year-old me, it was absolutely everything. This was the first comic I had ever read, and I read it over and over and over again. This comic sparked my interest in the medium, in reading in general, and in characters I would go on to embrace for my entire career. I'm not sure I w