Amid the grousing about how Jack Kirby didn’t get proper credit on “The Avengers” and how “Before Watchmen” is mean to Alan Moore, Robert Washington III passed away from a series of heart attacks.
Washington co-wrote Static with Dwayne McDuffie. He also worked on “Shadow Cabinet”, “Ninjak”, “Extreme Justice”, and a host of other ’90s books. Unfortunately, once the industry crashed, his career went with it: he hadn’t worked in comics in a decade outside of a charity piece of the Hero Initiative, which had provided him with some assistance several times. He had been homeless on several occasions and had been working at a call center when he had a heart attack. He died from two more heart attacks at a New York City hospital.
The worst part about all this was that he was nearly dumped in a pine box and thrown in a ditch on Hart Island, since he didn’t have the finances to pay for a funeral. Thankfully, the Hero Initiative and its donors came through one last time for Washington, and he’s getting a proper burial.
Washington wasn’t in touch with his family, so instead we’d like to offer our condolences to his friends, the people who missed him and loved his work, the people willing to make sure his passing was marked with dignity and respect. We hope DC will find a moment to pay tribute to his work, as well.