A friend of mine died this past year...and I didn't even know it until recently. An old comic book compatriot, Jon Adams, just found me on the Hellboy.com forum. We got to chatting because we were both part of the comic book company abortion called Dark Moon Comics. I won't go into detail about that here, but what I want to talk about about is a writer friend of ours named Steve Kendrick. He died in September and I didn't know it because we're all so damn busy and this is an impersonal world and we lose contact with one another. Steve was the writer of a book I started inking at Dark Moon called Thespian. Zoe Rochelle was the penciller and he needed a strong inker to help out his layouts. I was brought on and knocked the book out of the park. I don't think Zoe liked the book so I did some pencilling/inking samples and I was put on the book as penciller. Steve Kendrick was a young, eager writer. He wanted to be the best at what he was doing, and I think the work he was creating at DM could have propelled him into greatness. He was influenced by Neil Gaiman and that dark humor came out in his writing. I visited with him a few times at his home, got to meet his mom and his sister and we talked often on the phone, going over story ideas and character designs. DM came to a screeching halt after no one was getting paid and I had had enough and contacted the rest of the creators to let them know what was going on and then make up their own minds on what they wanted to do. Steve and I stayed in contact for a little while longer, but like any long distance friendship it faded. I feel bad that I lost contact with him, and yet I feel good that I knew Steve. His health was always tricky and with any organ transplant there are always complications and I'm guessing the body gave up, but I'm sure the mind never did. Here's to you Steve Kendrick, always a great writer and always a fantastic person.
